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- Jan 2, 2014
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Okay, if you don't want the back story please jump to the bottom for my questions.
I grew up in a house with an open door policy for cats. Strays or ferals came, we had a few shelters outside. We did TNR before it was a thing. (It certainly was a lot more of a hassle, getting licenses and shots for ferals every year. -_-) Most became pets. We'd have between 4-6 cats at any time. Occassionally we'd have one that had previously been abused, got FIV, or was otherwise unable to be with others in a large basement. I grew up knowing how to speak to cats better then humans for a while (maybe that's still true. lol). I moved in with my husband and his grandmother 10 years ago, and there was a strict no pet policy due to her asthma (which we worked around with bearded dragons within 3 years, cause we were going crazy without any pets. Nothing is worse then that for us, it was unbearable. And beardies have a lot of cat-like behaviors).
Right before hurricane Sandy (Yes, we're in Jersey, and it made us hate this place even more), a little gray fluffball came by and ate what scraps we tossed him. He, his mother, and his one sister managed to survive that horror (one poor baby got hit with a tree branch, we were all heartbroken about it). Our neighborhood worked together and got several ferals TNRed over the next few months. Ashe, the gray fluff-ball is very friendly with us, and has started living with our next door neighbors. Three of us neighbors feed a total of 5 ferals at different times. However, I noticed Ashe's sister, who was definitely a runt, kept getting bullied a lot. Bad enough I worried she'd lose an eye.
She wasn't staying in the shelter with the others, so we set up a box for her outside. We're building her a more permanent shelter, but we live on a very fixed income (all of us are disabled, and have limited mobility). She's come to trust us quite a bit in the year and a half she'd been eating here. We've become her protectors of a sort. She's even come inside for a little at a time during bad weather to eat before going back out.
The issue:
So, now, Blizzard Hercules has hit, and we ran out in the start of it to get a litter box and litter. My husband's grandmother gave her blessing on us bringing her in for this doom. (Mostly cause the downstairs where were had 3 feet of water is still empty, though clean and repaired, and she can't move back down there yet.) So, she's not going crazy, she still lets me get within 2 feet of her (sometimes a foot), she won't eat though. I even cooked up a plain chicken breast and chopped it up. She normally goes nuts for that (that's the only time I ever pet her, and it didn't freak her out too much, but I haven't pushed the issue). She did drink a bunch of water though.
So what should I do to get her to eat? It's long passed time she'd be hungry.
She hasn't shown any interest in going outside. She gives me the slow blink when I'm downstairs with her, and only moves a little away behind the desk if I get too close (changing water or setting up a box for her). Her behavior is confusing. I'm not sure if she's afraid to eat because I used to encourage her to go outside after eating, or if she's really stressed and I'm reading her wrong. She came in eagerly (well, sniffing and curious body language, tail and ears up, head up), and just simply sniffed at the door a little after it was closed before going to "her spot" and not really leaving it. She's shown no interest in the sound of the door when I opened it to look outside (there's two, I only opened the one).
Should I just stay away for the rest of the time, or go down and talk to her some?
This is only for a few days, till things get better around here. Granted, this will happen again should further winter doom approach. I don't want to scare her. She's been ostracized from the others, because she's so small. We've been her haven for a year now, and I've worked very hard, and very patiently to win her trust. I really don't wanna risk breaking that, but it's 14 degrees faranheit outside. And the sheltered box is already buried in snow. It's just too dangerous for her out there right now.
I'm 10 years out of practice sheltering a feral through bad weather, so any advice is greatly welcome. Am I forgetting anything super important? Thanks in advance for looking this over.
I grew up in a house with an open door policy for cats. Strays or ferals came, we had a few shelters outside. We did TNR before it was a thing. (It certainly was a lot more of a hassle, getting licenses and shots for ferals every year. -_-) Most became pets. We'd have between 4-6 cats at any time. Occassionally we'd have one that had previously been abused, got FIV, or was otherwise unable to be with others in a large basement. I grew up knowing how to speak to cats better then humans for a while (maybe that's still true. lol). I moved in with my husband and his grandmother 10 years ago, and there was a strict no pet policy due to her asthma (which we worked around with bearded dragons within 3 years, cause we were going crazy without any pets. Nothing is worse then that for us, it was unbearable. And beardies have a lot of cat-like behaviors).
Right before hurricane Sandy (Yes, we're in Jersey, and it made us hate this place even more), a little gray fluffball came by and ate what scraps we tossed him. He, his mother, and his one sister managed to survive that horror (one poor baby got hit with a tree branch, we were all heartbroken about it). Our neighborhood worked together and got several ferals TNRed over the next few months. Ashe, the gray fluff-ball is very friendly with us, and has started living with our next door neighbors. Three of us neighbors feed a total of 5 ferals at different times. However, I noticed Ashe's sister, who was definitely a runt, kept getting bullied a lot. Bad enough I worried she'd lose an eye.
She wasn't staying in the shelter with the others, so we set up a box for her outside. We're building her a more permanent shelter, but we live on a very fixed income (all of us are disabled, and have limited mobility). She's come to trust us quite a bit in the year and a half she'd been eating here. We've become her protectors of a sort. She's even come inside for a little at a time during bad weather to eat before going back out.
The issue:
So, now, Blizzard Hercules has hit, and we ran out in the start of it to get a litter box and litter. My husband's grandmother gave her blessing on us bringing her in for this doom. (Mostly cause the downstairs where were had 3 feet of water is still empty, though clean and repaired, and she can't move back down there yet.) So, she's not going crazy, she still lets me get within 2 feet of her (sometimes a foot), she won't eat though. I even cooked up a plain chicken breast and chopped it up. She normally goes nuts for that (that's the only time I ever pet her, and it didn't freak her out too much, but I haven't pushed the issue). She did drink a bunch of water though.
So what should I do to get her to eat? It's long passed time she'd be hungry.
She hasn't shown any interest in going outside. She gives me the slow blink when I'm downstairs with her, and only moves a little away behind the desk if I get too close (changing water or setting up a box for her). Her behavior is confusing. I'm not sure if she's afraid to eat because I used to encourage her to go outside after eating, or if she's really stressed and I'm reading her wrong. She came in eagerly (well, sniffing and curious body language, tail and ears up, head up), and just simply sniffed at the door a little after it was closed before going to "her spot" and not really leaving it. She's shown no interest in the sound of the door when I opened it to look outside (there's two, I only opened the one).
Should I just stay away for the rest of the time, or go down and talk to her some?
This is only for a few days, till things get better around here. Granted, this will happen again should further winter doom approach. I don't want to scare her. She's been ostracized from the others, because she's so small. We've been her haven for a year now, and I've worked very hard, and very patiently to win her trust. I really don't wanna risk breaking that, but it's 14 degrees faranheit outside. And the sheltered box is already buried in snow. It's just too dangerous for her out there right now.
I'm 10 years out of practice sheltering a feral through bad weather, so any advice is greatly welcome. Am I forgetting anything super important? Thanks in advance for looking this over.