Beautiful stray/ advice?

badenzoo

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Well, on my husband's mail route this morning, a beautiful, all-white intact young Tom followed him all morning, purring and wanting attention. When he got back to his truck, the tom jumped in!

By the end of the day, we had established that he is from a feral colony in our small town. People from the apartment complex feed he and his sister, and have completely socialized him. We found him tonight, and brought him home.

We have 6 toms already, all neutered and get along well except for 2 who have a bit of a dispute over my son Wasihun and his room. Some occasional spraying, it has gotten much better.

Any opinions out there as to if there is any way to introduce him to my other cats (after medical testing, etc.) in such a way that there would be any chance of them co-existing peacefully?

This cat is a real lover boy. He is all white, and calm, gentle and one of the sweetest cats I've ever met. He rode in the car on my lap! And he belongs to NO ONE!

We just didn't have the heart to leave him outside on such a cold, wet night. His sister is there too, but wouldn't let us take her. She is by no means wild, and we're looking into TNR at the very least for her, and are trying to get her into foster care.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by badenzoo

Well, on my husband's mail route this morning, a beautiful, all-white intact young Tom followed him all morning, purring and wanting attention. When he got back to his truck, the tom jumped in!

By the end of the day, we had established that he is from a feral colony in our small town. People from the apartment complex feed he and his sister, and have completely socialized him. We found him tonight, and brought him home.

We have 6 toms already, all neutered and get along well except for 2 who have a bit of a dispute over my son Wasihun and his room. Some occasional spraying, it has gotten much better.

Any opinions out there as to if there is any way to introduce him to my other cats (after medical testing, etc.) in such a way that there would be any chance of them co-existing peacefully?

This cat is a real lover boy. He is all white, and calm, gentle and one of the sweetest cats I've ever met. He rode in the car on my lap! And he belongs to NO ONE!

We just didn't have the heart to leave him outside on such a cold, wet night. His sister is there too, but wouldn't let us take her. She is by no means wild, and we're looking into TNR at the very least for her, and are trying to get her into foster care.

Any advice would be appreciated.
TNR groups in Ohio:

http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html#oh

Low cost spay/neuter:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html#oh
 

beckiboo

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Definitely get the apartment people hooked up with the spay and neuter clinics. It doesn't help much to just feed, unless the kitties are neutered, too!

I would suggest neutering the new boy as soon as possible, to decrease the hormones in the house! LOL! And just follow the introduction instructions! Shut him in a separate room, allow time for all the other cats to accept him, etc. How kind of you to take him in!
 

catsknowme

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Hurray for you, Robyn!! I agree with Becky that neutering will lessen the scents & ease the transition. Please keep us posted about the sister, too! What a wonderful community that you live in, to have really looked after these homeless kitties!
Susan
 

houseofcats

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Good for you! I've heard if you rub the cat with clothing or something with the familiar household smells, this can help. We have 24 cats at home and all have had to have introduction. It can work but may take some time. Some will adjust quickly, others take longer. I'm sure with patience and time this all can work out.
 
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badenzoo

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Thanks for the replies, everyone. Hissy, especially the link you sent.
He is not deaf; we did a few experiments! He seems to have normal hearing. He's just a big, sweet lug of a cat!
He slept peacefully on our bed, (I flea-combed him first; no sign of them) and he is one happy cat!
I gave him a bowl of water, and he acted like he had never had his own bowl of water before, (he probably has been drinking out of puddles) and he drank more than I've ever seen a cat drink!
I also gave him canned cat food, and he devoured it.
He's using his litter pan, and lounging around my bedroom like a king. I have him on a blanket which we'll use to get the other cats used to his smell. Our other 8 cats are not happy about staying out of our bedroom! Any other time, they wouldn't care!
He is fine with our dogs, but we need to get him vetted and neutered.
We found out this afternoon that there is a TNR group nearby that will spay his sister at no cost, which we'll inquire about this evening.
I hate to think of her living out there, though.
Thanks again, everyone.
Now; what to call him?
 

snowis mum

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HI there and best of luck its usually a all white cat with blue eyes that are deaf , what u going to name him? and will you take the sister as well , keep in touch happy new year xxx.
 
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badenzoo

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Oh, boy, are we going to take the sister? Well, we are going to at least try to get her spayed, and into foster care. Our local humane society is small, and they have 30 cats there at the moment...

My Mom is in love with my big Tom, "Hobbes," and she is considering taking him, which frees up a space here at the badenzoo, but I'm concerned about taking on too much, which we've done in the past, and had some unhappy cats.

I will keep everyone posted about the sister. I will drive over tonight, and see if I can find her, maybe she could at least stay in our garage, if I can catch her.

Names? I don't know yet. He needs something majestic, he looks like a little lion, he's all muscle. All white, yellowish-green eyes. My son suggested, "Galdalf," but he's 19, and will probably be on his own soon, so his vote counts for very little! (He named our sweet, scrawny red stray, "Smeagol," so he's had his turn!)
 

beckiboo

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Go to the furpics forum, there is a white cat thread with lots of great names, like Coolcats Milky! Maybe you will be inspired!
 

menagerie mama

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I would leave him at the vet a few days first to be neutered and tests run, and vaccinated. Then I would bring him home...
 
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badenzoo

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I went out today in the sleet, looking for our white stray boy's sister, and lo and behold, I found her, and brought her home, with no objection from her!

I was checking to see if she was pregnant, and, lol, she's a he!
He has (had) so much tangled fur around his backside, I couldn't tell before!

He let me take him home, was calm in the car, and let me trim his nails, clean his ears and give him Frontline. He also let me comb his tangled fur, and cut out burrs, excrement (yuck) etc, out of his beautiful long, white, silky fur.
Thanks everyone for the advice, links, etc. I can't contact any low-cost vet places for neutering, due to the holiday, so we'll just see how they do over the holiday.

My husband is really smitten with the first one we brought home. He is usually the one who "puts up" with my animal mania, but this one was his idea! (Helping him, anyway- keeping him if the others don't freak out toomuch.) We are going to at least attempt to keep the first one-- if it doesn't stress out our other cats too much. Two of my resident kitties have feline herpes, so the new ones need to be kept from THEM until they can have their shots... anyone know if this precaution is taken, if the new cats would be less likely to develop full-blown herpes?
 

tnr1

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Glad you were able to catch him!! I don't know about herpes...so hopefully another member can assist you with your question.

Katie
 

opilot

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It warms my heart to know there's good people in the world! thanks
for taking the 2 boys. Prob. were someone's cats before... if they
were really feral, then they'd never let you handle them...

Or be too gun shy...

Best to you and your "brood"!
 

houseofcats

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Oh good for you two! That cat will be forever thankful! Seclusion is the best thing until your cats have a clean bill of health.
 
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badenzoo

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No way are these two feral. My husband noticed last summer there was a woman with a pregnant female around, and then, kittens everywhere that no one seemed to take care of. I think these boys must have grown up around there, surviving on hand-outs and dumpster contents.

The long-haired male has undescended testicles, which is probably why I thought he was a female in the dark. I'm guessing he's less than a year old. He is totally different body-type than his "brother," more like a persian, very long, luxurious coat and a slightly cobby body. The other male looks like a cat diety- a miniature white panther, all muscle and all male. They are both stark white, though, (the second one has a dark greyish-black tail) with yellow-green eyes. The cryptorchid (is this the term for a male with 2 undescended testicles?) male is almost female like in his looks, smaller head, a daintier cat.

They seem relieved to be together again.
 

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Hmm, our first cat, Mysty, a dark silver tabby with a white locket and some white patches, was found outdoors as a feral kitten, and we also thought him to be female. As I recall, he, too, had undescended testes, and for that reason, and the fact that he didn't spray in the house, kept us from taking him to the vet in time to be neutered. As fate would have it, we lost Mysty on April 1, 2003.

It's fortunate that these cats/kittens survived outside, with coyotes and other dangers lurking. Mysty had an all white mom cat and a white sibling kitten. I saw the Mom cat once after we began caring for Mysty, but the white kitten just disappeared, and I suspect something foul happened to the kitten. If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken hissy's advice and brought both kittens into the house, away from the momcat, if I could catch them. I was afraid to take the kittens from their mom.
 
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