Hello! My parents recently brought in a loving little feral cat named Scout and the doc says she has hookworms. I need some advice on keeping her separated from our other indoor-only cats, and reducing her possible separation anxiety.
Here's the backstory: We know she is almost 2 years old as she was born on our property in a feral colony we feed. Scout has wanted to come inside for quite sometime, and eventually my parents would let her come in for an hour or so and wander around the house. We have 3 adult, indoor only cats already and they all get along great. When she would come in for visits, Scout would eat out of the bowls of the others and use their littler boxes. Based on her good behavior (and because she's adorable and snuggly) we have decided to keep her inside for good.
We brought Scout to the vet Saturday and they said she was healthy, but did have hookworms, allegedly common for ferals in Georgia. They gave her some pink liquid in a syringe into her mouth, as well as some Advantage (no ear mites, but flea dirt was present with no fleas). The vet suggested we keep Scout isolated for 3 weeks (YIKES!), but said if we could do at least 1 week, we should be okay. I'll add that Scout has (and always had) an appetite of a teenage boy, eating whatever she can, which doesn't seem like the loss of appetite symptom of hookworms.
We have 2 large bedrooms upstairs connected by a bathroom where I have put her litter box, food, water, and toys. I have seen her use this litter box without any problems. I lay and sleep with Scout up in the suite at night for about 12 hours and during the day when we are home, we have been letting her into the rest of the house with everyone, keeping an eye on her and bringing her up to her litter box frequently. We also make sure she isn't using the other's litter boxes. It's only been a two days, but last night she started urinating in the bed upstairs where she and I sleep. She's done it twice now, once after being alone for a few hours and another time after I had returned after 5-6 hours and was laying in the bed with her. From what I've read, this urinating could be from anxiety or from being left alone. As a feral cat, she was used to being around about 15 other cats on our property, so I get that living alone, inside, watching HGTV all day is quite a change!
My questions are:
1) Do all 4 cats really need to be separated for a week? Does it need to be longer?
2) Are we wrong for even having her downstairs during the day with supervision? If so, I am at a loss from what to do. I can't stay home all day with her for the week, but I can't keep letting her wet my bed!
3) Advice to stop her from wetting the bed?
3) Do all of the cats need to be treated since they've been sharing food dishes and shared litter boxes last week? No one seems to have any symptoms.
Thank you so much in advance! We are new to this and you all have been amazing helpers in the past!
Here's the backstory: We know she is almost 2 years old as she was born on our property in a feral colony we feed. Scout has wanted to come inside for quite sometime, and eventually my parents would let her come in for an hour or so and wander around the house. We have 3 adult, indoor only cats already and they all get along great. When she would come in for visits, Scout would eat out of the bowls of the others and use their littler boxes. Based on her good behavior (and because she's adorable and snuggly) we have decided to keep her inside for good.
We brought Scout to the vet Saturday and they said she was healthy, but did have hookworms, allegedly common for ferals in Georgia. They gave her some pink liquid in a syringe into her mouth, as well as some Advantage (no ear mites, but flea dirt was present with no fleas). The vet suggested we keep Scout isolated for 3 weeks (YIKES!), but said if we could do at least 1 week, we should be okay. I'll add that Scout has (and always had) an appetite of a teenage boy, eating whatever she can, which doesn't seem like the loss of appetite symptom of hookworms.
We have 2 large bedrooms upstairs connected by a bathroom where I have put her litter box, food, water, and toys. I have seen her use this litter box without any problems. I lay and sleep with Scout up in the suite at night for about 12 hours and during the day when we are home, we have been letting her into the rest of the house with everyone, keeping an eye on her and bringing her up to her litter box frequently. We also make sure she isn't using the other's litter boxes. It's only been a two days, but last night she started urinating in the bed upstairs where she and I sleep. She's done it twice now, once after being alone for a few hours and another time after I had returned after 5-6 hours and was laying in the bed with her. From what I've read, this urinating could be from anxiety or from being left alone. As a feral cat, she was used to being around about 15 other cats on our property, so I get that living alone, inside, watching HGTV all day is quite a change!
My questions are:
1) Do all 4 cats really need to be separated for a week? Does it need to be longer?
2) Are we wrong for even having her downstairs during the day with supervision? If so, I am at a loss from what to do. I can't stay home all day with her for the week, but I can't keep letting her wet my bed!
3) Advice to stop her from wetting the bed?
3) Do all of the cats need to be treated since they've been sharing food dishes and shared litter boxes last week? No one seems to have any symptoms.
Thank you so much in advance! We are new to this and you all have been amazing helpers in the past!
