advice on adopted stray behaviors

hi everyone! just joined this forum to gather some wisdom  we had been feeding a stray for about 7 weeks in our backyard and were able to trap her and bring her in before the east coast snow storm and bitter cold (yay!). While still outside, we had made great progress from her not coming within 10 feet of us, to her running to us with tail up, vocalizing, and allowing quite a lot of pets.  We placed her in a spare bedroom 11 days ago and she has spent 100% of her time lying down in a closet or under the bed.  When in the closet she will allow a brief head pet. She has been to vet, and was given Panacur for a giardia issue. Other than that has no diseases, ear mites, etc. She had already been TNR'd and has an ear tip. About 3 years old.

Anyway...last night we noticed that she was not lying on the folded blanket in her closet, but had rumpled it up and pushed it aside. When we took it out she had pooped on her blanket, which is why she didn't want to lay on it I suppose.  Up until this point she had been using a littler box.  Does anyone have experience with Panacur and how it can make cats feel?  I'm hoping she soiled her bedding because it was urgent...she has not eaten her breakfast and is under the guest bed now.  I know we should just leave her alone and let her set her own schedule, but I try to go in several times a day and sit on the floor where she can see me and read a book and talk quietly to her.  This is the first time we've taken in a semi-feral (she's about 3 years old).  Is it normal for a semi-feral to sit in one place for weeks?

She is likely an abandoned stray turned semi feral, or she wouldn't allow pets, ever. Or at least not for a very long time.

However the learned scared behavior is acquired during the period of being un-owned, which means a huge lack of people socialization, which does turn around with time I'm happy to say.

Things are still quite new for her now. Mentally/emotionally, it takes a full 2 weeks for her to not want to be back in her familiar environment, the 3rd week she will become much more aware of her surroundings, and the 4th week becomes accepting that this is her new home and you will be her mom.

You are doing the right thing by spending time on her level, reading, or talking to her like that.

The panacur may have given her a cramping feeling so she pooped on the blanket. I would def. not take that as a future behavior issue since she has been using it up until that time.

It may very well have been a one time thing due to the panacur.

Thank you so much! It's been very hard to find any kind of socialization timeline since every cat is obv very different, but knowing what to look for in 2, 3, and 4 weeks as a general guide will help me be patient with her and not push things too hard.

littleone1 said:

I'm hoping she soiled her bedding because it was urgent...she has not eaten her breakfast

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It may be because she has these cramping feelings.   But look out if she isnt getting sick.  Not eating and soiling may be such alarming signs, if she continues with it.

Otherwise her  behavior is quite common in such a situation, and your trys to socialize her too.

When you are coming in, have food and treats with you, so she knows you are all niceties.

Good luck!

Oh boy just went back to visit with her and she had come out of hiding to poop and pee on our guest bed. I just changed her litter and put fresh layer of potting soil on it. I'm worried . I took off all soiled bedding and sprayed nature's miracle and folded the bed back into a couch. Should I put some sheets of aluminum foil on couch now? But I hate the thought also of her jumping up on couch and getting a bad fright due to foil when we are so early in the "please trust me phase"...?

Where do you have her litterbox located?

Yeah, you can't be dealing with potty issues, not exactly sure why she did this but it's obviously not a good thing for you.

Has anything, like anything AT ALL different now than before when she was using it?

I would hate to think you would have to start at square one with her. Square one being to either cage her or close her in a small area where she has only space for her bed, food and a litterbox.

No fun after having the freedom to move around in her own room.

I would suggest for now at least to drape a cover over the sofabed, just so you know she won't go there again....and we will see what her future behavior is in the next couple of days.

Be sure she has her box damn near right under her nose, never next to her food though. (cats are funny about that)

Funny she would use it fine and now went on the bed.  Natural instinct is to be able to dig and bury it from predators smelling the scent, so going on a surface that isn't dug out or able to cover it is odd for her.

Just like how she ruffled her bed up after pooping on it.

Thanks for responding . She was here almost 6 days before she pooped at all but it was in litter box. Then the next day we had to basically trap her under a blanket to get her into a carrier to go to the vet. Very scary for her. She was sedated for the vet exam and shots etc and then when we brought her home she went back on her blanket in closet and used the litter box to pee. Following day we started giving her panacur in her food for giardia. She ate 3 meals with the medication in her food and then yesterday evening we noticed she was not on her blanket, but laying beside it on the floor of closet. About 2 hours later we pulled the blanket out to refold it and found that she had pooped and ruffled the blanket to hide it. She hid under the bed because we were cleaning the closet floor. I used a little bleach cuz of giardia and I know cats hate that smell....? Anyway the patch of floor where I used bleach was between the sofa bed and her litter box so maybe she didn't want to go there. Woke up this am she is still under bed, did not eat her food from last night but I saw paw impressions on bed covers so she did investigate bed during night. On a later visit to her room I saw that she had pooped and peed in 2 places on bed.

Sorry this is so long! So I stripped bed, sprayed with nature's miracle and put bed back into sofa shape and put strips of foil on it. Litter box: originally by door to bedroom which is at end of long hallway. After the first few days with no poop activity I read that I should put soil on litter and that seemed to work. After she pooped in closet I moved litter box down hall closer to sofa bed, thinking maybe the frequent opening and closing of door was not a quiet enough place. There was really no soil/dirt left in litter box at this point so I sterilized the box and put in new unscented litter and new dirt from outside as a top layer. When I made the bed she ran back down hall by door and was crying. She stopped when I spoke softly to her. She has stayed there too afraid to move even though we are going in and out right where she's crouching. I put the litter box back up by door where she is right now and she moved right against it to hide as much as she can. At least I'm sure she knows where the litter box is!! She will not go back in cosy closet even though I went back and used a little soap and water to get rid of any bleach smell. That's my story. I hope it's from discomfort from the panacur that makes her want to poop and pee on something soft

Mmmm.....it may very well be the bleach, I hate to say.

They also aren't too keen on moving the box, especially when she is still just new there and adapting.

It can also be the door going in and out, too much activity.

Things are sort of touchy right now, she is inside your home, and going to the vet is traumatic on it's own, plus given meds etc so you want to keep things as normal and the same as possible.

I still have a feeling it's the cramping that time on her blanket, then the bleach is a HUGE deterrent.

I know, all the details, so touchy they are! It will be okay )

well...affection-wise we have some progress: when I greet her in the morning with her food I pet her lightly on the head.  Both yesterday and today she stood up and arched her back/stretched under my hand and I was able to pet her from head through her whole tail.  I petted her while she eats for a few seconds and then let her be.  HOWEVER she is still spending all of her time laying down in the closet. She still does not want to wander at all in the guest bedroom. It's now been 15 days since we trapped her and brought her inside.

As for litterbox issues the last 3 days: she has peed a few times in the litter box, but has only pooped on the wood floor by the back door of the bedroom which leads to the back yard.  We had a soft brown rug by the door which she pooped on a few days ago, then day before yesterday she filled my boyfriend's shearling slipper with pee (quite a feat since they are ankle-high slippers) - his slippers were also by that same back door...and this morning she had peed in his sneaker and pooped right next to it  - both in the same spot on wooden floor by back door (rug has been removed).  I have dumped a lot of Nature's Miracle and soap and water on that spot.

so...  do I  1. put the litter box in the place she's been soiling by back door?  2. put ANOTHER  litter box there in case she only likes to pee in one box and poop in another? 3. use the cat attract litter?  4. use ONLY potting soil instead of only a thin layer on top of regular unscented litter? 5. block off access to the bedroom so that she only has her closet, hallway and litter box at night? I am so at a loss

WIthout being there/seeing her/etc. ---my gut says that:

1. Yes, put a SECOND litterbox there  - we had kittens who refused to use a box that had even been used once. And now we have an adult cat who will only pee in one and poop in another. So two boxes - even for one cat - is always a good idea. Rule of thumb is one more box than you have cat.

2. If I'm understanding the layout/her past access --- I would be tempted to block that bedroom off at night. I do honestly think that if you need to block her into a large dog crate to kind of "start over" and make sure she sues it consistently, it won't really freak her out. It actually might calm her down. At this stage in her taming, smaller areas are actually better. I think if you have access to a large (and I do mean large) dog crate and can them put a litterbox, cat carrier with door open, and food and water in there.....I'd do that. That way you can see if she's truly avoiding the box entirely.

2. Where does the back door lead to? Does it go outside? Could she be reacting to something outside?

Keep us posted - this is a tough one!

thank you for responding   yes, the back door in the bedroom is a big glass door that leads out into the backyard. I drew the blind on the door all the way down last night, and as far as I can tell she has held her bowel movement and pee all night.  Couldn't find any signs anywhere where she might have soiled.  I put about 2 inches of the cat attract litter on top on her unscented litter that she has at least peed in, so hopefully some time today she will use the litterbox

I will get a 2nd litter tray and put only the cat attract litter in it and place it by the back door tonight.  I have no dog crate or access to one, and I am making progress with her getting more curious about leaving the closet so I don't want to mess with that too much by forcefully placing her anywhere.  this morning when she heard me come in she stood up and popped her head out from the closet to look down the hall and greet me - this was a first, and made my heart sing.