I have just found out that my kitten is an African Wildcat, Felis silvestris lybica

I forgot to add that she threw up some liquid that appeared to be water, didnt smell, & she was crying for food prior, but I had fed her a lot 2 hrs ago. But post vomit, she ate about 3 meals worth of meat. So is she making up for the loss of appetite & malnutrition from the worms? Thanks everyone!

alkemist said:

 
that really looks like a cool place to just relax, wheres this? colorado?

& i did some "research" & those electronic things don't stave off scorpions. But bright side, I haven't seen any last night, & today. 

Nala has soooooo much, if not too much energy, & her appetite is insatiable. She keeps wanting more & more food, & I'm unsure to how much to keep giving her. 

After eating all the lizards & bugs I show her, now she's got this habit of eating anything she finds on the floor or wall; which is so odd bc anything i ever give her, she smells to make sure what it is before eating. 

I feel bad I wasn't able to procure the meds earlier, bc in 2 days, she's totally different. I see her groom herself fully & often now, I didn't see this much before bc I guess she lacked the energy. 

But yes, the scorpions alone she's doing more than her job, they totally perturb me. & I think she likes the live lizards & bugs/scorpions more than the food I give her, bc she keeps crying & asking for the bugs/lizards & thinks I "give/put" them for her to find, its kind of cute!

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@alkemist   I live in Southern California, about  40 miles south of Los Angeles where everything in between is built up with little cities adjacent to each other so that you can't tell where one ends and the next one starts, which is why they call it "Greater Los Angeles" and that in turn touches Orange County which again is made up of a lot of small cities and I live in one of the more southern cities in Orange county (you can google it).  At the rate this is going there will be just one big metropolis from Santa Barbara to San Diego. However, for the last 30 or so years there has been made a real effort to leave green spaces, big parks and wildlife corridors which is why I can hear coyotes howling at night and people keep their cats inside or they would be coyote lunch as they are quite bold. People are encouraged to scare coyotes  if they meet one so that they will stay in their wilderness areas instead of roaming built-up areas where they could be a danger to people.

Norachan said:

 
My cats are all scared of crows. We get really big ones out here who come and sit in the tree tops and yell "CAAAAAT, CAAAAAT, CAAAAAT!" at them. I'd be scared too.

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oh, I'll have to send you the Rogue - recently seen trying to stalk a turkey vulture. Those things are HUGE. But so is the Rogue 

roguethecat said:

 
oh, I'll have to send you the Rogue - recently seen trying to stalk a turkey vulture. Those things are HUGE. But so is the Rogue 

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I saw a report once where a regular sized house cat was stalking DEER!!! This cat also lived with a puma (mountain lion) hanging around as if that big cat were a house cat. The puma would come out of the bushes and greet the female owner coming home as if it were a pet and purring just like one, only louder. This was a wild animal who decided on its own to not be wild, at least not with this woman and her cat. You just never know. There was also a video report of a wild female lion in Africa somewhere that had adopted a gazelle baby which eventually was killed by another (male) lion, I saw that video on TV. 

Norachan said:

That looks like a really nice spot to sit and relax @segelkatt
 

My cats are all scared of crows. We get really big ones out here who come and sit in the tree tops and yell "CAAAAAT, CAAAAAT, CAAAAAT!" at them. I'd be scared too.

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Aaaah! Japanese crows are huge and obnoxious! I once saw one kill and eat a pigeon in Ueno Park, right there in the middle of the crowd like it owned the place. People walking 2 feet away and he didn't care one bit. I was surprised by how small and mild-mannered American crows are when I first moved here :tongue2:.

segelkatt said:

@alkemist
  I live in Southern California, about  40 miles south of Los Angeles where everything in between is built up with little cities adjacent to each other so that you can't tell where one ends and the next one starts, which is why they call it "Greater Los Angeles" and that in turn touches Orange County which again is made up of a lot of small cities and I live in one of the more southern cities in Orange county (you can google it).  At the rate this is going there will be just one big metropolis from Santa Barbara to San Diego. However, for the last 30 or so years there has been made a real effort to leave green spaces, big parks and wildlife corridors which is why I can hear coyotes howling at night and people keep their cats inside or they would be coyote lunch as they are quite bold. People are encouraged to scare coyotes  if they meet one so that they will stay in their wilderness areas instead of roaming built-up areas where they could be a danger to people.

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Oh im familiar with OC have some good friends that live there, huntington beach etc. I did hear on joe rogans podcast of coyotes running around there eating ppls dogs & livestock, id def prefer coyotes over scorpions tho

segelkatt said:

I saw a report once where a regular sized house cat was stalking DEER!!! This cat also lived with a puma (mountain lion) hanging around as if that big cat were a house cat. The puma would come out of the bushes and greet the female owner coming home as if it were a pet and purring just like one, only louder. This was a wild animal who decided on its own to not be wild, at least not with this woman and her cat. You just never know. There was also a video report of a wild female lion in Africa somewhere that had adopted a gazelle baby which eventually was killed by another (male) lion, I saw that video on TV. 

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Yes, the cats here try to get the baby goats, ive seen it happen a couple of times, but the mother goat is super protective, & they hurt with those horns when need be, but if the mothers not around, im sure the cat could def do some damage

alkemist said:

haaaaaa, that should be interesting, maybe we should find out whether it is. I've been feigning some katzs pastrami since the 4 months I've been here. i know its unhealthy but I'm sure nala would love some as well. Glad you guys are all enjoying it, me too! esp since I'm patronized by the locals doing all the "extras" like digging sand, feeding her good meat etc. they're attitude is, she's wild, just let her be; theres no sense of "pets" here, except this 1 guy i know who has a few ostriches & dik diks (these are absolutely adorable I've been trying to get a pair.theyre like mini antelope, size of a cat, super fast & stay in a monogamous relationship entire lives). Oh & I found out this is basically where they smuggle cheetah cubs from, a thousand or 2 usd even though its outlawed...

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I love dik diks.

They're also halal/kosherb aren't

She is adorable.   I wouldn't feed raw meat because of the possibility of parasites.    Someone mentioned profender for worms -- I used that on my cats, but in the US it is only available from a vet.  It is a "spot-on" topical treatment, dispensed in vials of different sizes depending on the weight of the cat.  the good thing about profender is that it kills round worms and tapeworms and possibly another worm (can't remember the name of it).  All kittens have roundworms, and tapeworms come from ingesting fleas (inevitable for a cat).

About the fleas, shampooing kills them but not their eggs, so they usually reappear in about a week. The fleas will nest in her bedding.  It can be near impossible (without a fogger or bomb) to rid a residence of fleas once they are established.  the weekly bath and washing of her bedding is a good idea until all the eggs are hatched.  Use as gentle a shampoo as you can find.  In between shampoos you may be able to remove fleas with a flea comb (the teeth are spaced just right to trap fleas).  The  easiest way for me to kill a flea is by submerging it in a glass of soapy water.  If I can catch one on a hard surface, smashing it with the back of my fingernail will usually kill it.    For the long term, weekly shampooing will be too drying for her skin.

Nala must  have been socialized when she was younger, possibly by local children (they are the usual socializers of street cats).  The critical period for socialization of cats is roughly between 2 and 7 weeks of age.   If they are not handled by people during this period they become fearful of humans and difficult to socialize.  If the mother is social she may allow people to handle the kittens, but if she isn't then it is less likely that the kittens will have opportunities to become socialized but it is still possible.   If Nala is a wild species she is virtually identical to the domestic cat genetically, but she could never be considered feral.  A feral animal is a domestic species that lives in the wild or is not socialized. 

You will have a difficult time containing her when she goes into heat.  In most cases it's just a matter of time before they become pregnant.   And it is much better for her health to be spayed.  I would start looking for a vet now.  You also need the vet for vaccines and travelling papers.  

If the vet is not a possibility I would start looking for a  home for her.   It would be heartbreaking to have to abandon her after she's become dependent upon you.

Welcome, SheilaO. Everything you say is true although getting rid of fleas is much simpler and more effective now with meds like Advantage and Revolution which will get rid of the fleas on the cat and when the fleas jump back on the cat from carpet and furniture they will kill the fleas again for a total of 30 days when you apply the meds again. So, yes, it is quite possible to rid your home of fleas without bug-bombing. Some cats also will not let you give them a bath, I have one that would tear me apart before he would get wet and another who is not fond of it either and will scratch me while trying to get away from the water. Unless a cat has been trained from babyhood it is unlikely that it will take to getting wet. My Persian loves a bath and the hair dryer but she has had baths since she was tiny.

The problem with this kitten is that it might not be a house cat but a wild animal and there would be a real problem getting this cat into the US. You might want to read all of the comments on this thread so you won't be repeating what has already been discussed.

roguethecat said:

 
oh, I'll have to send you the Rogue - recently seen trying to stalk a turkey vulture. Those things are HUGE. But so is the Rogue 

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We have turkey vultures here, too and yes, they are huge. We have black vultures too. they don't bother anybody. The Rogue must have been feeling extra brave that day.

Hello Segelkatt,  Yes, I completely forgot about those spot-on flea treatments.  It's been a while since I've had to deal with fleas.  My current cats are miraculously immune to fleas. I have a formerly-stray mother cat and 2 of her "kittens"  (now 7 years old). Momma cat is 15.  She still lets one of the "kittens" suckle (she's not lactating, though).  

Bathing cats -- I do know how stressful it can be.  In the days before the topical flea treatments I found a stray with fleas, took him to a vet who examined him and sprayed him with insecticide.  I brought him home and a week later gave him a flea bath.  The guy I was dating at the time broke up with me over this bath.  He was actually the one who found the cat and persuaded me to adopt him.   I asked him to help me give the bath, but during and after the bath the guy freaked out.  I had done it before so I knew what to expect.  I think I told him it would be hard but that I wanted to avoid more insecticide if possible, and he thought it was a reasonable plan -- until the cat got wet!  The cat did hate me after the bath but came around after a few days.     I flea-combed him for a while and by some miracle we avoided a flea infestation.     I've bathed other cats over the years and the only one who didn't give me trouble was a tiny kitten.

OP said she was giving Nala baths already, so in the absence of flea powder or topical treatments, baths might keep the fleas under control at least. 

I actually did read the entire thread, and I thought that a competent vet (one who is accustomed to doing exams for travelling cats),  might be able to judge whether Nala is wild, hybrid or domestic and whether or not she could immigrate to the US.   As others have said,  if she looks like a domestic cat  then there may not be a problem, but  I'm not qualified to address that issue.   However I do feel that she must see a vet if there is to be any hope of transporting her.    And I do think it is a good idea for Nala's well being in general.  

If you are concerned about parasites in the meat you can partially cook it and then feed it to her, she will need a source of fresh bone, preferably chicken. Also might mix in an egg yolk or two, no white, it is not good for them, the white. If you can get fish oil, you can mix a few drops in her food. I make food for my cat Cookie as he could never tolerate anything else, no dry, no canned, nothing. I think she is a beautiful cat. I do agree with the others about her going into heat and such, if she does, she will get out and be with kittens by the time she comes back. 

Would yogurt be good for her?   I wonder if the cultures in it might help her tummy.  I know the diarrhea is from worms but maybe the cultures might help with replacing some of  what is lost.   Also it has a high water content and calcium.   

By the way, the guy, Scott,  who fought with me about the bath,  came back but still yelled at me about it.   Then he started yelling at me about the way I was feeding Sal (the cat).   He said I should mix dry food with canned food.  I kept a bowl of dry food available and would feed one canned meal a day.   Scott said that I should mix the dry and wet together because the "wet food makes the dry food taste so much better."   I told him Sal prefers dry food, but  he didn't believe me.  I couldn't take arguing with him all the time so I just let him yell about it.  Then one day he came over during feeding time and when I put out the wet food Sal ate just the dry and ignored the wet food.   He shut up about it after that.  Scott didn't last long -- I couldn't take his ridiculous drama.  But I've always been grateful to him that he found my beloved, wonderful Sal.  

Most adult cats are lactose intolerant. Goat yogurt, maybe? Since we know she has no problem with goat milk. The question this brings up is whether it's available.

Margret

Goat milk and cow's milk both have lactose.   Yogurt bacteria partially consume or convert the lactose to simple sugars. Many people who are lactose intolerant can eat yogurt.  Goat milk is more digestible for some who have cow's milk allergies, possibly because of the smaller fat globules or a certain protein in cows milk that is not present in goat milk.   I had a cat who liked yogurt and it didn't cause problems.  The vet actually recommended it for her.  My sister used to have goats and she would sell some of the milk to a family whose child could not drink cow's milk.   they said it was because of size of the fat globules.  

She's domesticated now, so wouldn't she needed to be kept as a pet rather than a wild animal in whatever country she lives?