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- Jul 27, 2020
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Hi,
Apologies in advance for this long-winded post.
Some background, I live in a small 1 bedroom duplex apt in NYC with my boyfriend and 2 cats. About 6-7 months ago a cat appeared at the fire escape of our 3rd floor apt. I live in a heavily populated part of NYC so this cat showing up on my fire escape was quite a surprise to me as as I had never really seen any stray cats in our neighborhood. Our apt looks out onto a collection of neighboring courtyards and it appears that the cat had seen my cat in the window and climbed up the fire escape to investigate. I started feeding the cat daily through the window of the fire escape. He eventually climbed his way up the ladder to the 4th floor patio that is outside of our bedroom. For the past 4 months he has spent 90% of his days on our patio, essentially moving there full time and only going down the ladder 1-2 times and the trips away were usually less than 15 mins. Over the last few months he had really built up his trust with us and he started coming inside at meal times or just to play with our 2 cats, but would only come inside as long as we left the patio's sliding glass door open. But literally anytime we opened the door and backed a way a few feet, he would come rushing in. He would meow, roll around and show us his belly, slow blink at us, and play with us using string toys. We thought for sure he wasn't a feral based on this friendly behavior. The only thing that gave us pause was that he did hiss at us if we tried to touch him and he had what appeared to be a tipped ear.
A couple weeks ago we made the decisions that we were going to move out of NYC within the next 2 months. But we did not know what to do about this outdoor cat that appeared to now be totally dependent on us for all of its need, and we also weren't sure the incoming tenant would appreciate having a cat living on the patio outside of their bedroom. So we made a plan to trap him, bring him to the vet, and integrate him to become an indoor cat so that we could adopt him. Trapping him was pretty easy, because he comes in literally everyday and all we had to do was shut the door behind him and move him to the space we setup in our spare bathroom. But everything after that has been pretty much a disaster....
The vet had given us mild sedatives to put in his food so he would be calm for the vet visit, but he would not eat after we captured him so he was a basketcase by the time he got to the vet. The vet had to put him under so that they could examine him. They confirmed he is a neauterd male with a tipped ear (likely part of a TNR program), as well as that he has serious infections in both ears and is FIV+. We returned him back to the space we setup in the bathroom for him. But there was a heat wave yeserday and we became concerned about him becoming overheated as there is no AC in that bathroom and it's directly exposed to the sun on two sides and the roof (would certainly be 105+ with the door closed). We tried to prop the door in a way so that he could get some A/C but not escape, but he was able to get around that pretty easily and got out. So since yesterday morning he has been free around the apt which has meant spending most of the day under the bed or the sofa, and the evening roaming around the apt crying (and he peed on the couch last night).
He has also not eaten since we brought him home from the vet two days ago. Our other cats do not pay him much attention during the day when he is just hiding but we did notice some mild aggression from their end last night which is out of character for them (blocking throughways, one of them hissed and growled at him a bunch, but no major fights). And while he is obviously scared of us, he has not shown any signs of aggression and his behavior appears to be completely submissive to the other cats. Based on the research we have seen online, we think it's probably best that we try to corral him back to the spare bathroom as that is really the only room with doors that we can sequester him until he starts consistently using the litter box and eating his food. But we still have the same concerns before about the room becoming overheated based on the forecast for the upcoming days.
I would appreciate any feedbacks or tips you can provide on how you think we should move forward with adjusting him to the household. Also, I have attached 2 youtube links of videos that I took from last week that demonstrate how friendly and comfortable he was inside before we trapped him. Am I wrong for thinking he could be tamed based on his behavior and desire to come inside? I want to know if this is a lost cause, or if this response to being trapped in normal for a cat this he has been outside for a long time. I am committed to finding a situation that works out best for him.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Apologies in advance for this long-winded post.
Some background, I live in a small 1 bedroom duplex apt in NYC with my boyfriend and 2 cats. About 6-7 months ago a cat appeared at the fire escape of our 3rd floor apt. I live in a heavily populated part of NYC so this cat showing up on my fire escape was quite a surprise to me as as I had never really seen any stray cats in our neighborhood. Our apt looks out onto a collection of neighboring courtyards and it appears that the cat had seen my cat in the window and climbed up the fire escape to investigate. I started feeding the cat daily through the window of the fire escape. He eventually climbed his way up the ladder to the 4th floor patio that is outside of our bedroom. For the past 4 months he has spent 90% of his days on our patio, essentially moving there full time and only going down the ladder 1-2 times and the trips away were usually less than 15 mins. Over the last few months he had really built up his trust with us and he started coming inside at meal times or just to play with our 2 cats, but would only come inside as long as we left the patio's sliding glass door open. But literally anytime we opened the door and backed a way a few feet, he would come rushing in. He would meow, roll around and show us his belly, slow blink at us, and play with us using string toys. We thought for sure he wasn't a feral based on this friendly behavior. The only thing that gave us pause was that he did hiss at us if we tried to touch him and he had what appeared to be a tipped ear.
A couple weeks ago we made the decisions that we were going to move out of NYC within the next 2 months. But we did not know what to do about this outdoor cat that appeared to now be totally dependent on us for all of its need, and we also weren't sure the incoming tenant would appreciate having a cat living on the patio outside of their bedroom. So we made a plan to trap him, bring him to the vet, and integrate him to become an indoor cat so that we could adopt him. Trapping him was pretty easy, because he comes in literally everyday and all we had to do was shut the door behind him and move him to the space we setup in our spare bathroom. But everything after that has been pretty much a disaster....
The vet had given us mild sedatives to put in his food so he would be calm for the vet visit, but he would not eat after we captured him so he was a basketcase by the time he got to the vet. The vet had to put him under so that they could examine him. They confirmed he is a neauterd male with a tipped ear (likely part of a TNR program), as well as that he has serious infections in both ears and is FIV+. We returned him back to the space we setup in the bathroom for him. But there was a heat wave yeserday and we became concerned about him becoming overheated as there is no AC in that bathroom and it's directly exposed to the sun on two sides and the roof (would certainly be 105+ with the door closed). We tried to prop the door in a way so that he could get some A/C but not escape, but he was able to get around that pretty easily and got out. So since yesterday morning he has been free around the apt which has meant spending most of the day under the bed or the sofa, and the evening roaming around the apt crying (and he peed on the couch last night).
He has also not eaten since we brought him home from the vet two days ago. Our other cats do not pay him much attention during the day when he is just hiding but we did notice some mild aggression from their end last night which is out of character for them (blocking throughways, one of them hissed and growled at him a bunch, but no major fights). And while he is obviously scared of us, he has not shown any signs of aggression and his behavior appears to be completely submissive to the other cats. Based on the research we have seen online, we think it's probably best that we try to corral him back to the spare bathroom as that is really the only room with doors that we can sequester him until he starts consistently using the litter box and eating his food. But we still have the same concerns before about the room becoming overheated based on the forecast for the upcoming days.
I would appreciate any feedbacks or tips you can provide on how you think we should move forward with adjusting him to the household. Also, I have attached 2 youtube links of videos that I took from last week that demonstrate how friendly and comfortable he was inside before we trapped him. Am I wrong for thinking he could be tamed based on his behavior and desire to come inside? I want to know if this is a lost cause, or if this response to being trapped in normal for a cat this he has been outside for a long time. I am committed to finding a situation that works out best for him.
Thank you in advance for your help!