Hello all, I've just registered at this site today so I could get some advice about a feral cat I'm taking care of. But before I get to the questions, a bit of background...
Three or so months ago I was driving down the main street of the town I live in on my way to get something to eat. All of a sudden the car in front of me swerved into the turn lane to avoid a kitten that was in the middle of the road! It had allready been hit by someone else though and was having trouble getting off the road. I hadn't seen it until the other car moved so I had to stomp on my brakes to avoid running it over. It was a close thing, I think the kitten was actually just under the front of my car when I stopped!
The kitten limped out from under my car and managed to cross two more lanes of traffic and hide in the bushes at the local Taco Bell. With the help of a lady in the parking lot, who was pretty confused as to why I was attacking the bushes with a blanket until I explained what was going on
, I managed to catch it and get it into the trunk of my car. I took it to the local animal shelter but they would've put the poor thing to sleep and had it's corpse tested for rabies since it had managed to scratch me up in spite of the blanket, so I ended up taking the kitten to the vet.
At the vets I learned IT was a SHE, and that she was a tortiseshell kitten. Judging from the way she went berserk when the vet took her out of the carrier he thought she was most likely feral as well. Turns out she had a fractured pelvis. The vet said there wasn't a heck of a lot he could do to help her but that she would probably heal up pretty well on her own if given enough time. Not that I had the money to pay for much care as it was. The bill came out to $114!
We had her checked for feline lukemia though, just to make sure she was safe to bring home to our other two cats.
Once at home we put her in a dog kennel down in our basement to keep her quarentined for ten days, just in case she did have rabies. There was enough room for a litter box, some food and water, and a bit of bedding. Though mostly she slept in the litter box for the next few weeks. We tried leaving information at some of the local bussinesses in case someone was looking for her and kept looking in the local paper for the next few weeks in case someone was looking for her, but no such luck. We ended up naming her Bell in honour of where I found her, kinda lame I know, but better than Taco, which is what my Mom wanted to call her.
After the quarentine period was over I took the kennel up to my bedroom and after a few days up there, let her have free run of it. This was probably a mistake, since I barly saw her again for another two months! She mostly lived under my bed and would only come out when I wasn't in the room or asleep. I knew she was eating at least since the food in the bowl would disappear. Thankfully, she took to the litter box as well. I made a little fishing pole type toy out of some feathers and played with her under the bed sometimes, but any time I tried to give her a treat or anything she'd hiss and claw at me.
Just in the last couple of weeks she's become much more friendly. It started with her coming out when I was trying to get to sleep but still awake. I'd just lay there and watch/listen to her eat and explore the room. Eventullay I started playing with her using the toy I'd made, still with the lights out though. We've now progressed to the point where she'll come out as soon as I lay down on my bed, even when the lights are still on. She wanders around doing her thing: eating, pooping, knocking things over. Sometimes I play with her and I'm happy to report that she seems to have recovered quite well. She runs and jumps around after the toy and gets up on all sorts of furniture in my room. Though her hind end does seem to be a bit wobbly from side to side sometimes; this could just be normal kitten akwardness though. I can't pet her or get too close yet, and she usually runs under the bed when I get up off of it.
Just from reading a few of the other threads here I see I've already made a few mistakes. I tried petting her too early when she was still in the kennel, and later when she started coming out. I learned this the heard way actually, and have the scars to prove it. I didn't know about not looking her in the eye either.
We're not sure how old she is, I din't think to ask the vet when we took her in. If I had to guess I'd say she was 4 or 5 months when I found her and 7 or 8 now. I was afraid she wouldn't ever get used to people for a while there, and from what I read she's old enough to have picked up a healthy fear of us from living wild as long as she did. The last few weeks have laid those fears to rest however, she might not ever be a lap cat I know, but I think she'll do pretty well.
So anyhow, questions... Though now that I get to it I guess it's really just one big one, though any other advice you think may be helpful would be welcome. Here we go: While she's awfully cute and I've grown rather fond of her over the last few months, I can't really keep her. I don't have the money to pay for the vet bills she's going to need and I'm sure I want the responsiblity of another cat to begin with. Though if there were no other way, I'd certainly keep her. Happily though, my aunt is looking for a new cat and has said she would take her. Actually, she would have taken her right away except for the fact that she has two dogs and was afraid the kitten might accidently get hurt what with the fractured hip and all. Not that the dogs would try to hurt her or anything, they're small dogs and used to play with her old cat before he passed away, but in their enthusiasim they might over do it. Now that Bell is doing better though, I've been thinking about taking her over. I'm not certain how best to go about this however. She still needs to be fixed, and checked for parasites and the like. My aunt will pay for it all she says, but I'm wondering if we should take her to my aunt's house first and then once she's settled in there take her to the vet's, or just get all the trauma of moving her done all in one go by taking her to the vets to have her fixed, then taking her to my aunt's once that's done...
I'm just not quite sure what to do, you know. I guess a part of me is reluctant to give her up too, I'll be sad to see her go. Anyway, any thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thanks.
Sincerly,
Malkor, slightly reluctant owner of Bell
P.S. Wow, that's a lot more than I meant to write!
Three or so months ago I was driving down the main street of the town I live in on my way to get something to eat. All of a sudden the car in front of me swerved into the turn lane to avoid a kitten that was in the middle of the road! It had allready been hit by someone else though and was having trouble getting off the road. I hadn't seen it until the other car moved so I had to stomp on my brakes to avoid running it over. It was a close thing, I think the kitten was actually just under the front of my car when I stopped!
The kitten limped out from under my car and managed to cross two more lanes of traffic and hide in the bushes at the local Taco Bell. With the help of a lady in the parking lot, who was pretty confused as to why I was attacking the bushes with a blanket until I explained what was going on
At the vets I learned IT was a SHE, and that she was a tortiseshell kitten. Judging from the way she went berserk when the vet took her out of the carrier he thought she was most likely feral as well. Turns out she had a fractured pelvis. The vet said there wasn't a heck of a lot he could do to help her but that she would probably heal up pretty well on her own if given enough time. Not that I had the money to pay for much care as it was. The bill came out to $114!
Once at home we put her in a dog kennel down in our basement to keep her quarentined for ten days, just in case she did have rabies. There was enough room for a litter box, some food and water, and a bit of bedding. Though mostly she slept in the litter box for the next few weeks. We tried leaving information at some of the local bussinesses in case someone was looking for her and kept looking in the local paper for the next few weeks in case someone was looking for her, but no such luck. We ended up naming her Bell in honour of where I found her, kinda lame I know, but better than Taco, which is what my Mom wanted to call her.
After the quarentine period was over I took the kennel up to my bedroom and after a few days up there, let her have free run of it. This was probably a mistake, since I barly saw her again for another two months! She mostly lived under my bed and would only come out when I wasn't in the room or asleep. I knew she was eating at least since the food in the bowl would disappear. Thankfully, she took to the litter box as well. I made a little fishing pole type toy out of some feathers and played with her under the bed sometimes, but any time I tried to give her a treat or anything she'd hiss and claw at me.
Just in the last couple of weeks she's become much more friendly. It started with her coming out when I was trying to get to sleep but still awake. I'd just lay there and watch/listen to her eat and explore the room. Eventullay I started playing with her using the toy I'd made, still with the lights out though. We've now progressed to the point where she'll come out as soon as I lay down on my bed, even when the lights are still on. She wanders around doing her thing: eating, pooping, knocking things over. Sometimes I play with her and I'm happy to report that she seems to have recovered quite well. She runs and jumps around after the toy and gets up on all sorts of furniture in my room. Though her hind end does seem to be a bit wobbly from side to side sometimes; this could just be normal kitten akwardness though. I can't pet her or get too close yet, and she usually runs under the bed when I get up off of it.
Just from reading a few of the other threads here I see I've already made a few mistakes. I tried petting her too early when she was still in the kennel, and later when she started coming out. I learned this the heard way actually, and have the scars to prove it. I didn't know about not looking her in the eye either.
We're not sure how old she is, I din't think to ask the vet when we took her in. If I had to guess I'd say she was 4 or 5 months when I found her and 7 or 8 now. I was afraid she wouldn't ever get used to people for a while there, and from what I read she's old enough to have picked up a healthy fear of us from living wild as long as she did. The last few weeks have laid those fears to rest however, she might not ever be a lap cat I know, but I think she'll do pretty well.
So anyhow, questions... Though now that I get to it I guess it's really just one big one, though any other advice you think may be helpful would be welcome. Here we go: While she's awfully cute and I've grown rather fond of her over the last few months, I can't really keep her. I don't have the money to pay for the vet bills she's going to need and I'm sure I want the responsiblity of another cat to begin with. Though if there were no other way, I'd certainly keep her. Happily though, my aunt is looking for a new cat and has said she would take her. Actually, she would have taken her right away except for the fact that she has two dogs and was afraid the kitten might accidently get hurt what with the fractured hip and all. Not that the dogs would try to hurt her or anything, they're small dogs and used to play with her old cat before he passed away, but in their enthusiasim they might over do it. Now that Bell is doing better though, I've been thinking about taking her over. I'm not certain how best to go about this however. She still needs to be fixed, and checked for parasites and the like. My aunt will pay for it all she says, but I'm wondering if we should take her to my aunt's house first and then once she's settled in there take her to the vet's, or just get all the trauma of moving her done all in one go by taking her to the vets to have her fixed, then taking her to my aunt's once that's done...
I'm just not quite sure what to do, you know. I guess a part of me is reluctant to give her up too, I'll be sad to see her go. Anyway, any thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thanks.
Sincerly,
Malkor, slightly reluctant owner of Bell
P.S. Wow, that's a lot more than I meant to write!
