- Joined
- Nov 17, 2005
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I'm in kind of a sticky situation.
I have a 6 week old feral kitten. Normally, we'd fix/vacc/release on a farm. But by the time she's old enough to get a rabies shot - it will be the last week in Nov.
Far too late in the year to be releasing a kitten into the cold.
She will never get adopted here. Honestly. She's black. She'll never be that friendly. And she has a window of opportunity to get adopted - being about 8-9 weeks. Shoot, we have a dozen super sweet black kittens who are now 5-7 months old, who have grown up in their cages. Heck, we have (4) 8 week old friendly black & black/white tuxedos right now. She's just not going to get adopted here.
I could fix her & release her in the enclosure. She can be spayed at 8 weeks/2 lbs, & let go then, to be taken in for rabies when old enough. But the three cats in the enclosure are 9 y/o - 16 y/o - 18 y/o. I think they'd take a baby under their wing, but that's a lot of energy......and another cat for me.
She bit me again today, hard. I realize it hasn't been long, but I can't help but feel I'm fighting a loosing battle. I just can't keep her indoors here forever. If she returns to the shelter she'll be euthanized (actually I decided to euthanize her - then changed my mind & decided to use her a companion kitty for a 4 week old orphan I have).
I'm not exactly sure how to proceed from here. I've been reading up on socializing ferals - and I just don't know that I have it in me to do so, that I can successfully socialize her - and even if I do - then what? I can't keep her forever - the bigger she gets the faster Ophelia will realize there's another "female" kitty in HER house - and she doesn't tolerate other girls very well at all.
I'm kinda really sentimental right now - but I haven't a clue what to do with her. We're having such a hard time adopting out any cats right now - there's just no way she'd find a home here. And none of our rescue contacts can help out.
As of right now - she's loose in a bedroom. I set food down & she'll come fairly close to eat. I talk to her, compliment her (corny I know), try to entice her to play a bit. I can stroke her a few times with one finger - but 2 fingers leads to attack. She's in there with another VERY friendly kitten, so I'm hoping she'll learn from the other kitten.
I have a 6 week old feral kitten. Normally, we'd fix/vacc/release on a farm. But by the time she's old enough to get a rabies shot - it will be the last week in Nov.
She will never get adopted here. Honestly. She's black. She'll never be that friendly. And she has a window of opportunity to get adopted - being about 8-9 weeks. Shoot, we have a dozen super sweet black kittens who are now 5-7 months old, who have grown up in their cages. Heck, we have (4) 8 week old friendly black & black/white tuxedos right now. She's just not going to get adopted here.
I could fix her & release her in the enclosure. She can be spayed at 8 weeks/2 lbs, & let go then, to be taken in for rabies when old enough. But the three cats in the enclosure are 9 y/o - 16 y/o - 18 y/o. I think they'd take a baby under their wing, but that's a lot of energy......and another cat for me.
She bit me again today, hard. I realize it hasn't been long, but I can't help but feel I'm fighting a loosing battle. I just can't keep her indoors here forever. If she returns to the shelter she'll be euthanized (actually I decided to euthanize her - then changed my mind & decided to use her a companion kitty for a 4 week old orphan I have).
I'm not exactly sure how to proceed from here. I've been reading up on socializing ferals - and I just don't know that I have it in me to do so, that I can successfully socialize her - and even if I do - then what? I can't keep her forever - the bigger she gets the faster Ophelia will realize there's another "female" kitty in HER house - and she doesn't tolerate other girls very well at all.
I'm kinda really sentimental right now - but I haven't a clue what to do with her. We're having such a hard time adopting out any cats right now - there's just no way she'd find a home here. And none of our rescue contacts can help out.
As of right now - she's loose in a bedroom. I set food down & she'll come fairly close to eat. I talk to her, compliment her (corny I know), try to entice her to play a bit. I can stroke her a few times with one finger - but 2 fingers leads to attack. She's in there with another VERY friendly kitten, so I'm hoping she'll learn from the other kitten.