Hi all. I came across this forum reading about turning ferals into indoor cats, but I'm getting worried about my new kitty so I thought I'd ask for input.
So I work at a public aquarium, working with the animals, and grew up around cats my whole life. I had a wonderful kitty that basically taught me cat language, so I feel I have a pretty good understanding of feline behavior.
At work, there have always been cats around here and there. Someone at a neighboring business feeds them, so they always find their way over to us. I fell in love with one particluar cat, who I named Astrid, and started feeding her and talking to her whenever I saw her, planning to get her used to me enough that I could get close and snatch her up and drop her in a kennel.
But cats can carry diseases that otters can contract, which means as Astrid got comfortable enough that she was noticed by management, they decided she needed to go.
A week ago today they caught her in a cat trap and gave her to the local TNR group (though her ear was clipped, so she was obviously already spayed). Everyone at work knew I wanted her, so they made sure the right person got ahold of me and told the TNR group I wanted to adopt. They took her to their vet and had her tested for FIV/FeLV (negative) and gave her a rabies shot, and then I picked her up from there.
Everything went great for most of the week. She was eating and drinking consistently, and even using the litterbox right off the bat! (We have a couple reasons we suspect she may have been a pet at some point, and not a true feral.) Friday I went back to the vet that had seen her to ask about oral flea medication that I could hide in her food, and they gave me Comfortis.
Since she had been doing well, I've started spending a little time in there with her singing and talking to her every time I go in (twice a day to clean litter, replace food and water, and make sure she doesn't have wet food out for too long).
The last two days she's pretty much stopped eating. Two days ago she didn't touch her wet food but ate two bites of dry and the treats I left out for her. Yesterday she just ate some of the treats. She has still been using the litterbox consistently and everything looks pretty normal in there.
Last night I slept in the room with her and while I think I noticed her in the bed at one point while I was there, she didn't eat or drink or use the litterbox all night.
Definitely concerned. Not sure if I'm pushing too much or if the Comfortis made her sick (trusted the vet and didn't research the drug, now all the horror stories have me really stressed). Right now I'm planning to give her two days of minimal interaction and see if maybe I was moving too fast for her.
Other things that have come up - since she was suddenly trapped and had to be picked up, I didn't have time to cat proof the room, which means she's been living under the bed. I do plan to try to gradually block things off, but it won't be easy the way its set up. But for now I haven't even seen her since I set her loose (other than the tip of her tail poking out briefly this morning).
She also hates the blinds? I cleared a windowsill and pulled the blinds up enough for a kitty to comfortably look out. The other day we heard her from the opposite end of the house tearing up the blinds, so I pulled them pretty much all the way up and out of reach. This morning she jumped to reach them and grab them (must have been off of furniture, they are very high off of the ground). I put them all the way up and tucked everything in, I can't possibly get it further out of reach without removing them from the wall entirely, so I hope that's enough?
Since the windows are wide open though, my mom was able to sneak around to the window and saw her sleeping in the middle of the bed the other day, which is why I thought she was comfortable enough with her surroundings for me to try to move forward a little with getting her used to me.
I've never really been around feral cats before. Difficult cats, but not ferals. She was so comfortable with me at work, let me get pretty close and we slow blinked back and forth a lot. Now she's home and seems so stressed and I just want to make her happy. I have been giving her calming treats (and one of my resident cats that's been on edge since she realized there's something in that room, and they've definitely had a positive effect on her), but I don't know if they're helping Astrid at all.
I don't know, I'm just worried. Any opinions or advice? Am I stressing too much or do I have cause for concern? I can't really get her in to the vet as things are and I haven't seen her to confirm that she's okay, so I'm kind of stuck just stressing and hoping she eats. I might stop and talk to my vet (who hasn't seen her yet) today anyways, though I'm sure they'll tell me they can't really do anything unless I bring her in...
So I work at a public aquarium, working with the animals, and grew up around cats my whole life. I had a wonderful kitty that basically taught me cat language, so I feel I have a pretty good understanding of feline behavior.
At work, there have always been cats around here and there. Someone at a neighboring business feeds them, so they always find their way over to us. I fell in love with one particluar cat, who I named Astrid, and started feeding her and talking to her whenever I saw her, planning to get her used to me enough that I could get close and snatch her up and drop her in a kennel.
But cats can carry diseases that otters can contract, which means as Astrid got comfortable enough that she was noticed by management, they decided she needed to go.
A week ago today they caught her in a cat trap and gave her to the local TNR group (though her ear was clipped, so she was obviously already spayed). Everyone at work knew I wanted her, so they made sure the right person got ahold of me and told the TNR group I wanted to adopt. They took her to their vet and had her tested for FIV/FeLV (negative) and gave her a rabies shot, and then I picked her up from there.
Everything went great for most of the week. She was eating and drinking consistently, and even using the litterbox right off the bat! (We have a couple reasons we suspect she may have been a pet at some point, and not a true feral.) Friday I went back to the vet that had seen her to ask about oral flea medication that I could hide in her food, and they gave me Comfortis.
Since she had been doing well, I've started spending a little time in there with her singing and talking to her every time I go in (twice a day to clean litter, replace food and water, and make sure she doesn't have wet food out for too long).
The last two days she's pretty much stopped eating. Two days ago she didn't touch her wet food but ate two bites of dry and the treats I left out for her. Yesterday she just ate some of the treats. She has still been using the litterbox consistently and everything looks pretty normal in there.
Last night I slept in the room with her and while I think I noticed her in the bed at one point while I was there, she didn't eat or drink or use the litterbox all night.
Definitely concerned. Not sure if I'm pushing too much or if the Comfortis made her sick (trusted the vet and didn't research the drug, now all the horror stories have me really stressed). Right now I'm planning to give her two days of minimal interaction and see if maybe I was moving too fast for her.
Other things that have come up - since she was suddenly trapped and had to be picked up, I didn't have time to cat proof the room, which means she's been living under the bed. I do plan to try to gradually block things off, but it won't be easy the way its set up. But for now I haven't even seen her since I set her loose (other than the tip of her tail poking out briefly this morning).
She also hates the blinds? I cleared a windowsill and pulled the blinds up enough for a kitty to comfortably look out. The other day we heard her from the opposite end of the house tearing up the blinds, so I pulled them pretty much all the way up and out of reach. This morning she jumped to reach them and grab them (must have been off of furniture, they are very high off of the ground). I put them all the way up and tucked everything in, I can't possibly get it further out of reach without removing them from the wall entirely, so I hope that's enough?
Since the windows are wide open though, my mom was able to sneak around to the window and saw her sleeping in the middle of the bed the other day, which is why I thought she was comfortable enough with her surroundings for me to try to move forward a little with getting her used to me.
I've never really been around feral cats before. Difficult cats, but not ferals. She was so comfortable with me at work, let me get pretty close and we slow blinked back and forth a lot. Now she's home and seems so stressed and I just want to make her happy. I have been giving her calming treats (and one of my resident cats that's been on edge since she realized there's something in that room, and they've definitely had a positive effect on her), but I don't know if they're helping Astrid at all.
I don't know, I'm just worried. Any opinions or advice? Am I stressing too much or do I have cause for concern? I can't really get her in to the vet as things are and I haven't seen her to confirm that she's okay, so I'm kind of stuck just stressing and hoping she eats. I might stop and talk to my vet (who hasn't seen her yet) today anyways, though I'm sure they'll tell me they can't really do anything unless I bring her in...