Update on my feral...and I need some opinions

To refresh your memory, I am the dog person that trapped a kitten and got a bonus feral male in the trap.  The kitten has come along wonderfully, but the feral bit me, and then spent a month with my vet calming down and being petted, and he is now at my home and has issues.  My vet (whom I used for TWENTY FIVE years!) seemed annoyed that I kept calling to seek advice on the feral.  But the feral literally threw up 16 days in a row!  My vet said I was feeding him too much.  So, I meticulously measured his food...but he was still throwing up.  I did not want to bother my vet again, so I changed his food, and he stopped throwing up for about 3 wonderful days.  I thought he must have had a food allergy.  But, alas, he started throwing up again.  I called another vet who suggested I bring in a stool sample, since I could not bring the cat in b/c I could not touch him.  It turns out he has lung worms and giardia.  But since the new vet has never seen the cat, she felt uncomfortable prescribing a dewormer, so she is going to call my vet tomorrow and hopefully he will just prescribe the meds and I'll be on my way.  I feel like my vet should have trusted me that there was an issue.  It is going to be very uncomfortable picking up the meds (b/c I used another vet), but I have to do it for the cat and for my sanity.  I am so tired of cleaning up vomit!  He has now vomited nearly every day in November!

I did find someone very nice to adopt the kitten.  I never wanted two cats, and I want to get dogs soon (mine had passed away a few months before I found the kitties).  But I am feeling so bad for my feral.  What will be his joy in life?  He doesn't really play with the kitten, but sometimes they snuggle.  He is confined to a small room (with a nice window to the outside world).  He no longer gets to wander or hunt for food.  I feel like I've ruined this guy's life, and that I should keep the kitten for him.  Eventually I'll adopt dogs (cat friendly ones, of course), and his world may be ruined again!  Because he has been sick since I found him, I feel like I don't really know his true personality.  But maybe the worms don't make him that ill, and this is his real personality (shy and untrusting)?  He still wants to eat everyday.  I'm rambling but this experience has really sent me in a tailspin.  I have so much respect for cat rescue people.  It is not for wimps, that is for sure!

FYI: This was the kind of carrier I got, in case you want to try it. It really makes it easier with pets that are hard to load into the carrier. The smaller ones just don't work for those clever and particularly stubborn kitties.

juleska said:

 
FYI: This was the kind of carrier I got, in case you want to try it. It really makes it easier with pets that are hard to load into the carrier. The smaller ones just don't work for those clever and particularly stubborn kitties.

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I have the exact same carrier.  It is much easier to load the cat in from the top. 

Thank goodness you found the problem to all of the vomiting.  I hope he will be on his way to good health soon.

If the cats are getting along well, then I would just keep the kitten.  They may enjoy each others company and have each other when the dogs come along.  Just my .02!