Strange happenings

JMJimmy

JMJimmy said:

The first picture was of Mama LOL  Junior is unmistakably unfixed male - they're half the size of his head at this point.

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Oh! The dark patch in that first picture looked like a scrotum. Do you think Mama is really a Papa? Or was I mistaken? Because, to be fair, the picture was very blurry haha.

JMJimmy

Oh and by the way, when I said "Especially in that last picture you just posted." In post number 175, I was talking about the picture of junior lying belly up, not the first of the 2 pictures of the cats that you were trying to determine the sees of.

Mamanyt1953 said:

 
OH OH OH!!!   By the way guys, did you all catch that this blessed man is sitting in his living room WITH THE DOOR OPENED FOR THE CATS, and it -11C out?  For those of us in the USA. that's about 12 degrees Fahrenheit.  Man is freezing his bits off for these cats!  There must be some kind of medal of honor for this.

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That's t-shirt weather for Canadians Doing it in the -37C weather back in February, that was a bit bracing.  I think it was a big part of our success - the kitties don't like the cold and our massive radiator (the sauna) was the perfect place to warm up.  It was worth it.  -7C right now with the door open for about 3 hours waiting for Scotty to come back - he came by for a meal but spooked at the door opening again.

Raina21 said:

@JMJimmy
Oh! The dark patch in that first picture looked like a scrotum. Do you think Mama is really a Papa? Or was I mistaken? Because, to be fair, the picture was very blurry haha.

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Alpha Kitty thinks that Mama is female, I think a neutered male.  The name is sticking either way since it was partly inspired by Luis Guzmán's character on Code Black

Cold pays off again... Scotty is inside up in the bedroom.  Tonight is going to be interesting as Junior chose to stay close to home... he knows something is up.  He smelled or heard something and started stalking shortly after I closed the door.  He lost the trail at the bottom of the stairs so Scotty is safe for now.  I can't lock Scotty in the bedroom without food/water/litter but I also don't want a cat fight in the middle of the night.  Probably should have thought it through better but he went to the bedroom like it was his new home - he didn't even come running back when I closed the door.

Edit:  For now we've got food and water up there and the door closed.  Jr. is itching for a fight, he's redirecting his sexual frustration onto Sissy and hovering around the bedroom door & as I'm typing got in a dust up with Mama who schooled him thoroughly.  Nothing crazy, just one of Jr's swipes was responded with four resounding thumps from Mama and it was over. 

The big news is that Alpha Kitty has worked her magic again. Scotty still runs if I sit up 20 feet away.  Somehow Alpha Kitty barges right into the bedroom, finds his hiding spot, and within 10 minutes is petting him at will.  She's incredible.  He even let her feel his damaged ear which she thinks is just a battle wound.

Well that was a bit of a disaster and a huge step forward at the same time. The good news is that Scotty came out of hiding almost immediately after we went to bed, had a good time exploring.  The bad news is that he urinated (not sprayed) under the bed - the smell was so intense we had to open the door and let him roam the house free - we couldn't escort him out as he'd return to under the bed once we got up.  Needless to say it resulted in a small fight with Junior.  We tried letting him out but he didn't want to go.  The only thing we could do is go back to bed and hope.  1:30am a bigger cat fight starts - I jump up and head downstairs to find Mama putting Scotty in his place as a secondary fight to the one between Scotty and Junior that left Junior soaked in his own pee and shaking.  It seems he was backed into his favourite kitty box during the fight and couldn't escape so peed himself in there. 

Good news is, he's fine, no damage done.  Bad news is, until they're both fixed I don't see how we can hope to do any sort of introduction.

Morgan was back this morning, she didn't show much interest in coming inside though which is a first for us lol  None of the cats seem aggressive towards her though so that's something!

Hope you get everything sorted out to have them spayed and neutered soon.

 

I think it's going to be endless spats and peeing contests until you do.

I agree.

The first is re-scheduled for the 31st!  Yay!

Spring snowstorm today brought Scotty back around - after a couple of false starts he made his way inside and straight upstairs.  Alpha Kitty did her thing and pet him again and now she has him rolling around on the floor enjoying some well deserved catnip. 

I'm worried about Jr. though - we had to separate him because he was attacking Sissy and Mama non-stop.  Now he hasn't returned from walkabout   Based on how much he's growing I think he is just a yearling and he's in the 'testing boundaries' phase. 

Junior was the one for sure intact male. I hope you fix him first. Maybe it will stop his aggressive tendencies.

DreamerRose said:

 
Junior was the one for sure intact male. I hope you fix him first. Maybe it will stop his aggressive tendencies.

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Most definitely.  Scotty also appears to be an intact male so he'll need to get fixed pronto as well.

Jr. made his way back - I should have known, he hates getting wet.  Now I just have worry about them butting heads at 3am    I wish we had a suitable space for cat taming.  One of the downsides to open concept.

So last night I decided to pull an all-nighter.  Last time Scotty was here during the night things didn't go all that well and I didn't want that to become an association for him.  I acted as a buffer between him and Junior which kept the peace and allowed Alpha Kitty to get some much needed sleep.  He only came down twice to try to get out and while there were a couple hisses from Jr. everything was peaceful.  We didn't let him out at that point as the storm was getting worse.

Shortly after Alpha Kitty left for work Scotty left us a nice big present... on top of a comforter.    Reeked to high heaven but it's our fault.  We weren't expecting he'd want to stay! I've now made him a makeshift litter box out of a cardboard box.  It only needs to last until we can get to Walmart and pickup a bin.  $40-250 for all these "for cat" plastic litter boxes when a $7 38L Rubbermaid bin is ideal.

He picked the perfect time to want to stick around too - the storm last night turned into an ice storm.  Everything is coated in 2-4mm (1/16th-1/8th inch) of ice.  Poor Sissy learned the hard way - she doesn't like using the litter box but is polite enough to let us know when she needs to go for a potty run.  She did that this morning and when she jumped on the fence which was topped with ice.  Needless to say she went tumbling over the other side and 10 minutes later she was tumbling back over into the yard   Anyway, last I saw Scotty he was chilling under the bed looking very relaxed.  He's been eating and drinking his fill as well which is great to see.

GOOD GRIEF!  Litter boxes in Canada are outrageous!  I know I paid about $6 for mine at WalMart here in the states.  But hey...whatever works, including those aluminum foil disposable lasagna pans from the grocer's.  Oh, and I will be paying a visit to your other thread next month again.

I just got to pet Scotty!
 

Alpha Kitty worked her magic again, lured him out for treats and catnip.  During/after we pet him for a solid 5-10 minutes and he purred and purred.  We even got his belly briefly!!!  It was so heartwarming.  I really hope he stays permanently because I'm not sure how much longer he can survive out there.  He's in rough shape.  His ear damage looks recent, you can see the clotted blood.  Basically half of it is gone (not tipped, ripped off).  There's no infection thankfully.   He's got scars on the back of his neck, you can feel others under the fur as you pet him.  He's got bald spots and matted fur (no mange), and his fur feels coarse.  He's almost all skin and bone... his legs are nice and beefy, probably from all the walking (we'd see him out hunting day and night) but in-between it feels like a skeleton.

He's under Alpha's spell so I don't think he's going anywhere.  He hasn't even tried to leave in over 12 hours.

Ohh, he needs you badly. He needs your food and love. He's definitely the next on the list for neutering.

DreamerRose said:

 
Ohh, he needs you badly. He needs your food and love.

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He's got both

DreamerRose said:

 
He's definitely the next on the list for neutering.

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Yeah?  I was considering doing him last, assuming he continues to stay... I'd like to fatten him up before putting him through the stress of a surgery.

Oh poor Scotty! Now I'm convinced that he used to be someone's pet. It's so nice that he finally trusts you enough to pet him.

Gin Kun, the cat in my avatar, was in a similar shape when I first found him. Huge gash in his ear, infected puncture wounds in his back legs, skinny, full of worms and a mouthful of broken teeth. So sweet and trusting once he realised we wanted to help him though. He's been back and forth to the vets several times over the past few years. First to treat his battle injuries, them for neutering and twice for dental work. He's like a different cat now.

Usually I'd say getting the females fixed is a priority, what with it being kitten season, but it sounds like Scotty needs medical attention. Our vet always gives the feral cats a shot of long lasting antibiotics when he neuters them, this will help prevent Scotty's ear from becoming infected. They can teat him for parasites at the same time. Being neutered isn't  such a stressful surgery as spaying is for the female cats. Your vet will be able to treat his ear while he's under, so it means only one dose of anesthetic.

I hate to say it but a vet visit might be needed for him... the cuts he'll recover from (they're almost healed) but there's something going on that's giving him the most rancid-eye-watering-gag-inducing poop/gas.  He used the litter box this time at least!  Hopefully it's just the change in diet and it'll subside but if it's parasites or something causing it he'll definitely need medical attention.

If he's been out foraging and hunting to feed himself he's almost certainly picked up worms. Really easy to test for and treat, just a few drops of liquid on the back of his neck.

Mamanyt1953 said:

GOOD GRIEF!  Litter boxes in Canada are outrageous!  I know I paid about $6 for mine at WalMart here in the states.  But hey...whatever works, including those aluminum foil disposable lasagna pans from the grocer's.  Oh, and I will be paying a visit to your other thread next month again.

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Wouldn't they make too much noise for the cats trying to use them? ,

Well this is interesting.  Since Scotty has been here for over 24 hours I posted some found cat listings online and immediately got a response.  Apparently Scotty is also being taken care of by a woman in the neighbourhood who does TNR work.  She very recently had Scotty neutered and microchipped.  The left ear has been tipped (though very poorly)

What is the etiquette for such a situation?  We're not preventing Scotty from leaving so it's really his choice I suppose, I just don't want to do the wrong thing.

I don't think she would mind if he became an inside cat.  Just let her know what is going on so she isn't worrying about him.