Update on Patches

So at long last Patches my indoor feral has had her vet visit!   I was able to trap her in the Trucatch trap.   And now you better believe I'll try to get some sedatives to have on hand for next time.    She had two painful resorbing teeth that had to be extracted so I'm really glad this was able to happen and I'm still waiting on the bloodwork results.   The best part of all is that she's even friendlier to me than she was before - she doesn't seem to be holding the vet visit against me at all!   I'm so relieved because her backsliding to full feral was my greatest worry.    Still when the trap closed behind her she showed her inner feral - she flailed against it so bad she bruised her mouth in two places and howled so loud I think an entire city block must have heard her.   Weirdly when I trapped her originally years ago, she didn't make a peep and didn't flail at all.   Thank you all so much for your encouragement and courageous examples, you all inspire me!   

Oh congratulations on catching Patches.  That is super.

And I find that cats don't hold grudges when they know the 'heart' of the person doing the trapping, vet visit, etc.

Thanks Ritz - you know I was just amazed though about the non-grudge holding.   Truly amazing creatures.

that is excellent Bastfriend! definitely ask for some sedatives sooner than later, just to be safe in case something comes up. i know what you are saying about the affection shown after a trip to the vet, it is like they are so relieved to be safe from all of those strange people that they cant restrain their emotions.


funny enough, i just had a situation where i needed to get pretty girl to the vet, but w/o the sedatives. all day long as the appointment neared i became more and more stressed - i seriously needed a sedative (or twelve) for myself :lol3:

Thanks Whaler!  Are you able to just pick up Pretty Girl and put her in a carrier now or it sounds like it is still a dangerous operation?  

what i did with her was this - i had my transfer cage sitting against a wall and the top opened and leaning against the wall (easier/quicker to shut compared to the top being all the way down). next i warmed up a little grilled chicken since she goes nuts for it and had her hop onto an office chair to eat some. i squatted down so that the cage was on my left and the chair was immediately on my right. as i fed her i brought the next piece a little closer to the cage, that way she had to walk onto my lap to get it. then in one fell swoop, i offered her a piece, grabbed her, put her in the cage and closed the top.

will this work next time? i hope so :lol3:

Crafty!   I bet she was surprised     It's amazing how much creativity these cats require!    I got a transfer cage with the kit too so maybe I can do that next time.

she sure was surprised! i did immediately cover the cage with a blanket but i am not sure how much i really helped. i did spray the snot out of it with feliway a while before, but i doubt that helped much in this case.

i would definitely recommend using the transfer cage next time, the large top opening does make it easier. one funny thing, the vet tags all "carriers" so the cage has a sticker attached that says "this carrier belongs to pretty girl". i haven't used it to bring a feral in (yet) so i haven't removed the sticker -gotta make sure i remember to when i have a feral in there.