Little Ginger girl

Love the name Little Ginger. I have been reading all about her and I'm so glad she is staying with you and doing so much better. Bless you for taking her into your home.

That's such great news that the other kitties are accepting her. Yey!!

Well this is all going SO much better than I expected.  Today Picassa joined Little Ginger on her shelf.  LG was suspicious and grumbled a bit but Picassa just settled herself down and pretended to go to sleep (she wasn't, I could see her eyes were watchfully open!) LG backed away to the edge of the blanket so they were about 18 inches apart - but stayed.  After an anxious 10 minutes braced for trouble that never came, I left them to it.  A half hour later they were both sleeping.   It seems Picassa, once a real rough tough feral kitten (who bit me more than once in the taming process!) has found an affinity with this poor little abused cat and taken it upon herself  to bring her protegee into the household despite her bad behavior   So she has a friend and mentor now    It occurs to me they may actually be related - Ginger Tom (long gone now) is the putative father of my brood and likely of LG as well, so that might help explain this surprisingly altruistic behavior.  Whatever the reason, I give thanks for it as it makes all our lives much easier.

Oh, and Mama Patience has had no more diarrhea so hopefully it was just something she ate, or being stressed being supplanted from HER spot.  Happily she has decided the couch is a good substitute!  This is actually a good side effect of LG - Patience has apparently realized someone else is "the other" and has become much more secure and affectionate. 

LG has her vet follow up on Thursday so we will see how she makes out, but she seems much much better now.   

Meantime, Picassa seems to have subverted my plan that LG is going back outside once she is recovered.  I can't argue with my own cat can I!

Oh, your residents are rescuees them too?  In that case, they are more tough than any average home cat.  They are survivors, after all.

Thus, the risks of contagion are lesser than otherwise.  Bigger than null, so wise you are taking precautions, but  lesser.

Im in joy together with you over the good steps forward!    Also the other cats touching friendliness.

Good luck!

I am so happy all is going well and that Little Ginger will have her furever home!!!  I love to hear of her progress.  Are you keeping the name Little Ginger?

I'd like to give her a proper name but Little Ginger has kind of stuck.  We will have a better idea when her personality develops beyond the sleeping and hissing stage.  She is still not venturing much beyond the shelf in the basement, although she uses the downstairs litter box regularly and I think she has been upstairs during the night and polished off leftover food in the other cats' bowls.

StefanZ, yes all of ours are rescues - a litter of 3 (a boy and 2 girls, the 2nd boy was successfully adopted to a home where he is spoiled rotten) and recently their Mama Patience who wisely switched from coming to be fed outside and using a shelter to eating inside then staying inside when the weather turned bad.  I have a vet appointment for her today as she's had diarrhea on and off the past week; she does not seem in any distress but I've been meaning to get her checked out anyway.  Not sure how she will behave, she is only half tame, but must be done.  They are all neutered/spayed and have shots, and seem in robust health so I'm not too worried about LG being in - just trying to be careful.   Her breathing is still a bit husky at times, especially when eating, but she is no longer sneezing, coughing or dripping.  She'll be going back to the vet soon for a follow up.  I'm so relieved she is inside with this awful weather bearing down on us, it's snowing gangbusters here already.

Hope everyone is safe, especially those who refuse to come inside.

Yes, having her inside is SUCH a relief!!!

I love the way cats interact with one another. I've seen the grouchiest old boys snuggle up to and groom the youngsters. My teenage boyT J , just loves the two new little boys. Every time they see him they throw themselves down in front of him for a washing.

If I did this right there should be a photo of Marbles and China preparing to do the " kitty head bump" greeting.

Yes it's amazing.  Picassa is the last cat I would have expected to be welcoming, given her "I'm beautiful adore me" attitude (she is a striking calico with random patches on white and has the build and temperament of a pure-bred Siamese!) but - there she is, determined to welcome the newcomer.  Go figure. And what totally lovely cats you have, love the head butt.

Mama Patience is sulking in the basement after a trip to the vet today.  She was surprisingly good but obviously resents the liberties taken (especially the rectal thermometer!) and blames me for it all ... and for the fact that Little Ginger is in Her Favorite Spot. 

Just now I went to check Patience's outdoor house, which she is no longer using being inside, because there are postings up all around our area for a missing cat and I was hoping she just might find the shelter.  The missing girl is a house cat not a feral so her chances aren't good, how I wish she would find the safe and somewhat warm haven we have available. 

The snow and cold wind are awful, how's everyone doing?

I've been reading your story on L.G., you are a blessing. I have a stray I feed and also adopted a few strays and made them indoor babies. It's nice to read about people like me. In my neighborhood they hate cats. They would rather see them gone. It breaks my heart as felines are the greatest! If people weren't irresponsible they would be no strays! Anyway I just wanted to say God bless you for helping L.G. and the others!

thanks to everyone for all the well wishing

Tonight I saw the guy at the house where she had been "living" out shoveling so I went and talked to him, explained I had her and what was being done, very calm and non confrontational.  He was actually quite friendly, said "I figured you had the cat since you had talked to me" (huh, like did we bother to check even?).  I asked if she had been spayed, of course not - was it ok for me to get her spayed, oh sure.  I mentioned the already substantial vet bill and got a "thank you for taking care of "the cat" (!!) so obviously no intention to contribute, but at least I don't have to worry about the neighbors going after me for taking "their" cat.  But heck, a little concern or interest maybe??  I suppose a "thank you" is better than a curse.

LG is still a bit snuffly and raspy in her breathing so I'm taking her back to the vet this weekend for a follow up - would have done it sooner but for the awful weather.  No more discharge though and she cleaned her face.  Socialization seems at a standstill, she is still hunkered down in her adopted space on the shelf in the basement and still hisses at me and/or the other cats when approached,  though it seems more of a ritual now as she has not seriously tried to bite or scratch me for a while, and she purrs when I am able to stroke her which is such a contradiction.  I keep telling myself she will come around, she's just confused.  I was hoping with the breakthrough with Picassa that she would move forward but I guess it's too soon, any contact still makes her feel threatened.  But, she is still eating and drinking well (has visibly put on weight) and using the litter box.   Poor little girl, she doesn't know that a whole world of play and friendly cats and a nice warm fireplace awaits her upstairs if she would just take the plunge.  Still she is safe and warm and well fed.

we'll see how she does at the vet. 

Well... she's officially yours now. :heart2: :rub: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr on the neighbor - but as you say, a thank you is better than a curse! Poor little girl.... I'm just so thankful you were there for her!

I hope you find out what's up with her breathing. Around here, lung worm is pretty common, and it sounds like a URI. Did she have a fecal done? If slugs are an issue there, you might want to have the vet take a look at a stool sample. It's easily treatable, but only with Ivermectin. Of course, it could just be a lingering URI.

To help her fight it, you might consider adding bovine lactoferrin to her food, if you feed her wet food. The dose is 125mg 2x a day. I buy the Jarrow 250mg capsules (from Amazon) and just sprinkle 1/2 a cap on twice a day (it is bovine lactoferrin, I confirmed that with them). It resolved Billy's sneezies - it seems to really help herpes infections when Lysine doesn't - sometimes works best in combo with lysine. But it bolsters the immune system as an anti-viral overall, and most URI's are virus-based. Just another thought...

As to the socialization, it sounds like things are actually going pretty well! :lol3: The hissing means she's comfortable expressing her boundaries - but the purring means she's comfortable enough to enjoy the pets. It's that "between" time, where they're still sorting things out. :lol3: She'll eventually take that plunge. :heart2:

to you, and continued vibes for LG!

I know what you mean about being surprised by the cats. We had two middle aged females in the house when I just had to have one of a litter we were feeding join the household. My hubby was so nervous about how the resident cats would react to him. We named him Trouper because of the way he acted the first time he went to the vet. He was fresh off the streets and had his first car ride. He said " mew" one time in the car. When he met the vet she poked, prodded, inserted and gave him shots and he just acted like it was a day at the park. Hence the band " trouper".

One of our girls is sort of a grouch and doesn't like anything so we didn't expect much from her. The other cat is the queen of the world and we expected some fireworks. Luckily Trouper was very self confident and he wasn't intimidated by her antics. It took just a few days before they were chasing each other all over the house, playing.

Since then we have added one kitten last year and two others just a few weeks ago. It was a smooth transition each time. I think the younger ones are good for the older cats. They entertain and challenge them to be more active.

None of the new ones have been exactly feral. Trouper

let us handle him from the first time we saw him as a kitten. The next boy was part of an orphaned litter that we hand raised from about 2 months old. The last two were in our backyard alone when we found them. They were about 3 months.

It sounds like your new one will be part of the family soon. Please keep us posted.

When making introductions, we use scent. What you might want to consider doing is rubbing your upstairs cats with a clean cloth - focus on the cheeks (the friendly glands!). Put this cloth under LG's food dish. And maybe make more than one, and leave treats out for her on the other. This will help her associate their scents with happy things.

And if you can do it without getting bitten, you can put her scent on a cloth, and leave treats out for your other kitties on the cloth with LG's scent on it.

thanks,  I will look into the bovine lactoferrin. Her breathing is up and down, some days seems normal, other times still a bit raspy.  We do have slugs here in summer so lungworm is a possibility, but yes it may also just be a deep seated URV, for which she had a slow release antibiotic shot which may still be working in her system.  The great thing is that her eyes and nose have cleared and she has stopped sneezing, so I am less worried about infection.  We will get her sorted.

I plan to take her to back to the vet on Saturday.  Fingers crossed I can get her into the box and she doesn't freak out and need sedating again. Getting a poop sample will take some strategy.  In an effort to get Mama Patience to use "her" litter box I got cat attract litter - and everyone else started going to the basement to use it, sigh. It sure works for attracting cats to the litter box, but it's a real pain because unlike our usual Feline Pine which just expands with pee and poops are easy to remove, pees make huge heavy clumps that have to be removed so there is a lot of waste.  And it does smell!  Meantime Mama took to pooping in the bathroom (well I guess that's appropriate, and easy to clean now her diarrhea is clearing up!) until I introduced another litter box in that spot.  Yeah, she used it tonight.  My DH thought I was crazy, dancing around the house chanting "Patience used the litter box, Patience used the litter box!"  so to get an LG sample I will have to close the door to the basement tomorrow night to make sure we just get hers!

also good thought on the scent transfer, though I think she is by now well accustomed to our cats scent as they do keep 'visiting' her.  My sense is she knows who they are, especially Picassa, she just isn't ready to socialize.  I was encouraged by her visit upstairs yesterday but haven't seen her do it since.  I keep reminding myself that unlike our kits, who are brother and sisters (and now Mama) she is not part of that family unit - at best maybe a cousin if Ginger Tom is also her father.   When the weather is too cold to go out like it is now, the three of them run around chasing each other and their various toys all around the house rough-housing and pouncing on one another being rambunctious and although it's all in fun (they are equally likely to cuddle up and wash each other in quiet moments) it is probably intimidating for a newcomer who doesn't know their rituals.  Mama Patience just ignores them, but then she's their mother, and she's named "Patience" for a good reason!

I look forward to the day that LG joins in the fun and we have another cat to drive us crazy with her antics. 

Does anyone else have trouble getting dressed for work in the morning because one or more cats "helps" by ... grabbing the bottom of your pants when you try to pull them on, chases your belt, sits on your sweater, tries to eat your shoelaces, sits on your foot, climbs up your leg, etc. !!!

Lrosewiles said:

My DH thought I was crazy, dancing around the house chanting "Patience used the litter box, Patience used the litter box!" 

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:lol3: Well we sure don't think you're crazy! Now I hope she keeps it up!

Lrosewiles said:

also good thought on the scent transfer, though I think she is by now well accustomed to our cats scent as they do keep 'visiting' her.  My sense is she knows who they are, especially Picassa, she just isn't ready to socialize. 

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Well, the idea of this kind of scent swap isn't so much to familiarize kitties with each others' scents so much as to get them associating those scents with good things, happy things - creating good associations with those scents. :rub:

Ah LGD I get it, guess I didn't think that through.  Today LG was snuffly again so I gave her another "steaming" with a pan of hot water which seems to help her.   I wanted to take her to the vet today but it's snowing again and our roads are terrible, plus I'm hoping to get her a little tamer before the trauma of the travel and vet again.  She came up to the kitchen again this morning, only for a minute or so but it's another small advance.

Our gang have cabin fever, they are fed up being stuck inside and being especially rambunctious, so it's not the best time for her to leave her area.  One plus is the terrific entertainment offered by the birds mobbing the bird feeder by the back window, I swear that is TV for cats!  I think we've been through a few pounds of bird seed just today (oh yes, we feed birds as well as cats). 

I just read through this whole thread with building anticipation of seeing what happened next with LG.  Glad she's getting her happy ending.  Still need pictures though.

BTW, I think you should just call her LG, with her official name "Little Ginger".   Or you could come up with a fancy spelling tor it like Elle-gee,  or something like that.  Or even Ellie.   What do you call her now, btw?

And I too think it is wonderful that you took in a poor stray and paid the vet bills before you even knew if you were going to be able to keep her.   My one little Ruby girl is expensive enough that I'm not sure I could afford to adopt a roomie for her.

Good to hear Little Ginger is continuing to do well. Yes, every step, no matter how small is a good one! 

I also like the name Little Ginger!   

I just bought a little bird house at Hobby Lobby on Friday. I am going to put it up on the porch overhang outside a window Angel sits in.

I hope some birds will like it, & give Angel something to watch!