stray....NOT feral!

metalheadmommy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
3
Purraise
1
on Oct 3 we had a "stray" show up. She was immediately obsessed with my 5 yr old daughter. We fed her as she was obviously hungry. She stuck around and when the weather got bad about a week later we took her inside to a spare bedroom. She was content with actually living in the spare bedroom and never even tried to leave the room. I contacted the SPCA and several rescue groups, the SPCA was the only organization to call me back, sadly our SPCA is very limited with resources and have about 60 cats over their suggested space allowed at the shelter. The SPCA wished me luck and thanked me for helping her. I posted fliers, a craigslist ad and advertised on social media. On October 27 I realized she was in heat. Then on November 2 when I was taking my 3 dogs outside she suddenly made a break for the door. I felt horrible because our 2 cats NEVER in 12 years have tried to get outside so I just simply was not used to guarding the door from kitty escapees. I could not catch her. We looked for her but she was gone....over a week later she was back on our front steps, I didn't see her until it was too late and the dogs scared her off. It's really hard to explain this next part but our basement has 2 entrances, an outside one and then one from the inside. the outside one has a long hallway and a second door. The cat had managed to get into the first door from outside (my husband frequently does not check that it has latched) she then was stuck in the hallway between the  outside door and the door that opens into the actual basement. She ended up in the crawl space under an addition and I heard her meowing. I opened the second door and she came running. She has been living (for the most part) in our basement as she is not a fan of my 3 dogs and my husband isn't crazy about having a 3rd cat. She no longer has access to outside. I lined a tote with warm towels and blankets, she has a liter box down there and I feed her. I understand she is probably pregnant and I will be taking her to the vet on my next day off(after the holiday) but she is EMACIATED! should I worm her now with otc meds? How do I put weight on her in a healthy way? She is even skinnier now than when she showed up in Oct.

PS. My daughter has named her "Punkin" we call her Punky

 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Good you do have her separated from your other animals,  you cant know what she has with her...

Good also you are taking her to the vet.  If she hasnt visible fleas, you prob dont need to do much.  OTC remedies may be dangerous, some are OK, but you must know what they are -

Advantage II has good reputation, so has Revolution spot on....

Are you willing to let spay her, even if she is almost surely preg?  The pregnancy isnt very advanced, so medically it isnt any big deal to spay her, but its late enough quite a few people would say no.

If she eats wet food, give it to her - wet food, as long it isnt no fancy low fat variation, is very good.   Not too much at once, better small portions but often (as she is emaciated).

Some nice, kitten type dry food, is also OK.   Goat milk, full fat plain youghurt, some cheese,  raw egg yolk, are good too.

She is surely a dumped home girl.  Dumped perhaps she had a loudly first heat...

After she is better, and no quarantine is longer necessary, etc etc, you may decide, find her an adoption home on your own, or try to incorporate her in your home, with an not so happy hubby, two resident cats, and three dogs.

She will surely become friend with these dogs too, with time, dont worry.   :)

Tx a lot for caring!

Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

metalheadmommy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
3
Purraise
1
i'm pretty sure she is our cat now. our area is mobbed with homeless animals and cats are a dime a dozen so I doubt I will have luck rehoming her. If my vet thinks she should be spayed but is pregnant then I will go along with what she says, I trust her and her decisions, if the cat is pregnant and not far along then I'm confident my vet wouldn't even mention it to me.....she knows me too well. we do have a total of 6 pets not counting our new friend, she sees me a lot.
 I let her into my bedroom this morning, and shut the doors. She has slept on  my bed all day. I plugged in a timed heating pad down there for her and now that is all warmed up I will put her back in basement until after the vet. I'm going to buy wet food and some kitten food all I have now is the dry we feed our cats (taste of the wild) my mom told me to buy meat baby food too so i'll try that.
 

shadowsrescue

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
7,023
Purraise
5,084
Location
Ohio
Thank you for caring and taking care of this sweet soul.  As for feeding, I would buy canned cat food.  Meat baby food is fine for special treats and training purposes, but it is not a substitute for a meal.  Also many meat baby foods (except stage 2 gerber) contain added spices that can be harmful to a cat.  Just pick up some canned food first. 

I would wait to worm her at the vet.  Since she is using the litter box, you can take in a stool sample.  The vet might actually give her the first dose of dewormer.  That is always helpful. 

I would guess that she is pregnant so get her to the vet soon.  The pregnancy can be terminated at this stage which would be easier than kittens.
 

ziggy'smom

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Messages
659
Purraise
42
If she is a healthy cat she should put on weight as long as she has regular access to food. To get her to eat more canned food may help and baby food, the kind that only contains chicken, turkey or beef, helps. If you can, feed her 4 times a day instead of twice a day. I'd also try to give her some kitten formula, either as-is or mixed in with food. That would give her extra calories and a boost in nutrition and would be especially good if pregnant.

As far as de-worming goes I see no benefit to wait until you go to the vet as long as you get the right stuff. The dewormer most vets use, and that you can get yourself, is called Pyrantel Pamoate, aka Strongid. It kills roundworm, hookworm and pinworm. It is not absorbed into the body of a mammal at all. It just goes through the stomach, killing the worms on the way. This makes it a very safe medication and is also very effective. It's not something that needs to be given by a vet. Most OTC wormers for cats contain piperazine, though, and that is not effective and can have serious side effects. When it works it only works for roundworm too.

Pyrantel Pamoate is sold under many different names and different strengths so it's important to know what strength the product is and what dose to give. The vet I used to work at used a Pyrantel suspencion made for humans that was 50mg per ml. The dose for a cat is 50mg and you have to give at least 2 doses 2-3 weeks apart. Some vets recommend 3 doses.

Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

metalheadmommy

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 22, 2014
Messages
3
Purraise
1
Thought I would stop in and update. She is horribly under nourished and the vet gave me an additive to help fatten her up. She is so sweet and very docile. My mother in law has decided to adopt her as the SPCA still has no room and nobody else has even called me back.
 

bonepicker

Animal Lover Extraordinare
Top Cat
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
3,350
Purraise
439
Location
ON THE LAKE NORTHEAST OHIO
Hip hip hooray for MIL![emoji]128525[/emoji][emoji]128576[/emoji][emoji]128077[/emoji][emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]10084[/emoji]️[emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]128062[/emoji][emoji]128062[/emoji]
 
Top