DC Feral/Stray Cat

[dahlia]

How are things going with Jonas?

 

[chargingrhino]

It's still slow-moving. I can't say there's a lot of progress. Her brothers visit regularly, but she stays on her perch, only to come down at night, when I can hear her meowing and shredding newspaper around her cat litter. Otherwise she just quietly watches everything. Not sure what more to do to get her engaged.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Have you tried leaving the door open and see if she will wander out?  I would do this supervised so that you can watch your other cats. 

Have you found any special food that she just loves such as plain cooked chicken, canned tuna or salmon or even Gerber stage 2 chicken or turkey baby food?  She might not be food motivated, but sometimes the key is finding that extra special food. 

Also can you reach her on her perch?  Have you tried using a pet petter to try and gently stroke her while she is on the perch?  I made a homemade one out of an old sturdy wand toy.  I wrapped a sock around the end, attached with duct tape and then wrapped a soft piece of flannel around the sock.  I have used to as both a toy and a pet petter and all of my feral cats. 

You can also try offering her something yummy on a long spoon.  I once saw Jackson Galaxy use one.  It looked like a long plastic spoon ( think iced tea spoon or plastic ice cream spoon) that he had secured (duct taped) to a dowel rod.  You could easily put this together and then offer her bites of something from a distance.  You may have to try lots of different foods to find one she likes.

 

[chargingrhino]

It's been a bit since I posted here, so I thought I'd give an update.  Jonas is still playing hard to get with us, but I think she's slowly figuring out that we're all good people (and cats).  I've taken to leaving her door open when we're around, and of course, Cavendish (our youngest) is the most into spending time with her.  She's still sits on her window sill and watches the goings-on, while Cavendish plays with her toys and whatnot.  I've mostly left her door open at night, but I'm starting to think I should leave it open then too.  Here's a few pictures of some Cavendish-Jonas "close encounters" from this weekend (you can see that there were some cat treats involved in one of them).

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• chargingrhino
• May 1, 2016

13119078_10206469384757891_9130757240899595769_n.j

• chargingrhino
• May 1, 2016

 

[shadowsrescue]

Thanks for the update.  So happy to see pictures of Jonas.  Cavendish is being a great big brother.  Hopefully she will come out of her shell as time goes by.  Yet always know that she is in a safe loving environment which is far better than being outside fending for herself. 

Her steps may be small, but she has such a great home!

 

[chargingrhino]

Aw, thanks for telling me that - I think you're right about good 'ole Cav, and I agree that she's much better off inside, but it's nice to get that reminder!  :-)

 

[chargingrhino]

Well, not so good this morning, with Cav chasing and biting Jonas all around her room. She seems OK, but it was certainly a turn for the worst. Hope this isn't a set-back, though immediately afterwards she did let me pet her in order to try and comfort her a little.

 

[chargingrhino]

So Cavendish going after Jonas doesn't seem to have had an impact on the little girl's disposition. She's still hanging out on her window sill, meowing at night when we're not in there, and letting us pet her too. We haven't let Cavendish in her room since the incident, but he is still quite curious and hanging out in front of the screen door looking in. I don't think he totally had negative intent, because his tail was up in a friendly way and such - it's just that he spooked her and everything got a little out of control. I still think he's ultimately going to be a key to getting her out of her shell. Perhaps she also sees us as her protector a little, I dunno.

 

[shadowsrescue]

These things happen.  It's best just to keep a close eye on them.  If it happens a second time, you will have to try something new as the behavior could then continue.  Just supervise all interactions between the two for now.  Hopefully it was just a fluke. 

So happy Jonas is allowing some pets.  That his huge!!!

 

[chargingrhino]

I started out trying to let her sniff my hand a bit. She really doesn't so much, but I went ahead and gave her a really soft pet. She seems a bit surprised, but not distressed - her eyes didn't get wide and she didn't stiffen up any more than she was already. Indeed, her tail continued to hang over the side of the window sill instead of curl up in a defensive way. So each time I visited with her, I would go a little further with petting her. We're now at a point where I'm able to give her full-body pets from the top of the head to the tail. Sometime she gives me a little bit of a "***?" look, but again, she's not moving away from it so I think she knows I'm OK. Was wondering a bit about Rob (my partner) who was out of town on business for several weeks, but when he came back, she was immediately cool with him petting her too, so that's nice.

 

[chargingrhino]

Attaching another picture of our little girl. She's still reluctant to move from her window sill but her reaction to us is a lot more trusting - I think I see some of that confidence in this photo and love that you can see her white paws.

image.jpeg

• chargingrhino
• May 13, 2016

 

[shadowsrescue]

Her eyes are so much softer and she doesn't look afraid either!  You have done so well with her.  She may always be somewhat afraid and like to hide, but she is safe and off the streets.  She also is in a great home with those that love and care for her.

Keep us posted on her progress.

 

[chargingrhino]

Hi -

It's been a while since I've checked in and updated y'all about Jonas, so here goes -

It feels like its still really slow-moving, but we are at a place now where we can keep a screen door at her door all the time and we can hear each other.  She meows every now and then, when looking out the window sometimes and at night when she's using her kitty litter and eating.  She lets me pet her, and even allows me to brush her, so that's nice.  She's in a defensive position a lot, but more often she's standing and looking around.  Cavendish is the only resident cat who has any interest in her - after he chased her around the room, I still keep the visits to a supervised level.  They had a good hissing session the other day, but I kind of feel like maybe this is normal procedure - am I right about that or no? 

I do wonder:  at what point do we take down the screen for good?  When the encounters are no longer hissing?  What about the other cats?

Any observations, questions, advice, appreciated!

Chris

 

[shadowsrescue]

 
Hi -

It's been a while since I've checked in and updated y'all about Jonas, so here goes -

It feels like its still really slow-moving, but we are at a place now where we can keep a screen door at her door all the time and we can hear each other.  She meows every now and then, when looking out the window sometimes and at night when she's using her kitty litter and eating.  She lets me pet her, and even allows me to brush her, so that's nice.  She's in a defensive position a lot, but more often she's standing and looking around.  Cavendish is the only resident cat who has any interest in her - after he chased her around the room, I still keep the visits to a supervised level.  They had a good hissing session the other day, but I kind of feel like maybe this is normal procedure - am I right about that or no? 

I do wonder:  at what point do we take down the screen for good?  When the encounters are no longer hissing?  What about the other cats?

Any observations, questions, advice, appreciated!

Chris

Thanks so much for the update.  Jonas has made some nice progress.  She may always be guarded and quite shy.  As for taking the screen door down, have you introduced her at all to the other cats?  Have they been in the room with her?  I wouldn't take it down until they all know each other.  The hissing is pretty normal, you just don't want it to progress to growling, posturing, then chasing then attacks.  So try to redirect one or both of them when the hissing starts.  I usually do this with a toy or special treat. 

 

[chargingrhino]

Thanks for this. Yeah, I don't care if she ends up always guarded and quite shy - we just want her to a safe, healthy, and happy little girl. She has been introduced to the other two guys - Styby walks in, hisses, and then leaves; and Amal shows total and utter lack of interest (as he did when introduced to each of his brothers, so nothing new there - he's our grouchy old man!). Jonas just sits on her window sill and looks down at them - actually a little like the little princess I imagine her to be.

The two main confrontations with Cavendish happened because (1) he kind of jumped at her, spooking her, and causing her to run around the room, (2) he leaped down from a higher level onto the sill, causing her to hiss. That was the hissing session - she hissed, he hissed back, she hissed even louder. She kind of won that argument, truth be told, because that's when he jumped down from the sill. He's been on the sill with her before with no growling, though - so there's that. I get the impression that he's more curious than anything else, because the only one getting a puffy tail is her. I do know that she doesn't have an upper set of teeth, so I kind of wonder if she's extra guarded because she's aware that she doesn't have that particular weapon in her arsenal. Maybe that's overthinking it?

Anyhow, OK, we'll still chug along!

Chris

 

[dahlia]

Thanks for the update.  It is great that she lets you pet her now!  One of my cats was at the shelter and was extremely hostile when first brought in.  I convinced them to hold on to him and not give him to someone as a barn cat until I was in a position to adopt him in a couple of months.  He eventually went from a puffed-up hissing fiend to a cat they could pick up.  I have had him for almost three years now and, although he has never expressed the remotest interest in being in my lap, he loves being picked up and carried around (first thing in the morning, not so much after that).  Anyway, hang in there.  It is amazing what can happen with time.

 

[chargingrhino]

A bit of a mess last night in the household when we got home from a weekend away. Evidently, Cavendish, our youngest, had knocked over the screen door that we had mounted when the cat sitter was present. Freaked out everybody in the house, and in the interim, there was cat pandemonium. I think after the cat sitter left, there may have been a cat fight too amongst our boys. Bottom line is that when we got home late, Jonas (the feral) was in the living room hiding in the corner behind a chair and Styby, our middle child, was under the couch cowering. I think Cavendish and he went at it. Regardless, Styby was like another cat, and I don't like it at all! He's hissing and growling at both of his brothers and is NOT his happy-go-lucky little guy! :-(

Jonas, happily, seems to be fine. Once she got corralled back into her room, she jumped on her window sill and as I spoke softly with her, she didn't crouch down in a defensive way but stayed standing while letting me pet her. I am very worried about Styby, though - all the cats ate their full meals this morning (they didn't last night), and Cavendish and Amal ate right next to each other so that anger has dissipated. Cavendish and Styby did manage to be in the same room with minimal vocalization early this morning (I was actually sleeping in the same room as Styby, which wasn't the bedroom, to keep him company), but still a lot of tension in the air! I read someplace that rubbing a little fish oil on the cat's fur sometimes calms them down, so I tried that and it did at least distract both of them. My diffuser ran out of liquid last week, so I've just bought some new stuff to bring home. Right now, they are in separate rooms with a closed door between them until I can get back home to supervise.

:-(

Chris

 

[shadowsrescue]

This might be a case of redirected cat aggression.  One of the cats got upset with another cat, but they could not get to that cat and the nearest cat seemed like the next best thing.  It might have been the first time all of the cats were together in one place without supervision.  Next time you leave, I would take down the screen door and just keep the door to Jonas' room close. 

This may take some time to sort out.  Sometimes you have to do a mini reintroduction between the two cats that are miffed.  Keeping them separated and then keeping them separated by a gate and feeding them on either side.  Watch how they each react. 

It's also interesting the Feliway ran out.  I used to notice that with my two as well.  I would order in bulk from Amazon so I never ran out!

I hope this is all short lived.  Things like this will happen.

We had a similar experience when the cat sitter let our feral boy slip out the bedroom door.  She had no idea where he went.  She corralled our other cat and closed him in my sons room.  When we got one we couldn't find either cat.  Somehow the feral had gone into my sons room and hid under the bed.  Jake then got under the bed too.  So both cats were trapped together for about 8 hours.  It really set us back for a bit.  Yet these things happen and it's best to just regroup and keep calm. 

Let us know how things are going.  Hopefully once the dust settles everyone will be ok again.

 

[chargingrhino]

OK, things seem to be a bit better now in our household. We did keep the boys separated - well, Cavendish and Styby, anyhow; there doesn't seem to be an issue with old man Amal. Spent some good quality time with Styby too, giving him some nice brushes out on the back deck and generally paying a lot of attention to him. There were glimpses of the happy-go-lucky little guy last night, and this morning, he started to really show his joie de vivre. Cavendish, likewise, started purring this morning for the first time I know of since this all happened. I did do a mini re-introduction a few times, and this morning, they managed a bit of a détente, so we'll keep trying on that front.

Meanwhile, little girl Jonas seems just fine - the whole incident doesn't seem to have had an impact in her progress with us.

Our lives being complicated as they are, I have to go to our other place beginning tomorrow through the weekend. Typically, we drive them out (2 hour drive) - usually they sit in the back seat, no problem (Jonas, the feral, isn't at a place yet where we can do that). Tomorrow, I'm not sure what to do, but if they aren't improved from this morning, I may very well take Styby and Amal out only, and leave Cavendish at home (with Jonas behind a closed door), all with plenty of food and water. I hate to do that, because they ALL love our other place so much, but that seems the best option just to be sure.

 

[chargingrhino]

OK, I haven't posted for a bit, so I should provide an update before I ask for advice here.

Jonas is doing well, though just as shy and hiding a lot. Part of this is our fault, though unavoidable. You see, we live in the city but we have a place in the Shenandoah Valley as well. We've put the condo in the city on the market and are looking to buy a new place - a nice row house, with more room.

Of course, de-cluttering the condo and putting it on the market meant taking all the cats out to the valley, which we did. Jonas has the basement out there, which is really nice actually - it's split level, so lots of windows and stuff. While we're in town with the other cats (because we figure taking her back-and-forth in this interim period will be way too much for her!), we have a friend coming and taking care of her. Mostly, she's in a bedroom closet, top shelf. She lets Rob pet her; me not so much (I got to that place in the city, but I think I totally pissed her off putting her in the container and taking her out to the country, lol).

So, we'll probably close on a new place in the city towards the end of October/early November. Beginning on Friday next week, we'll be staying out in the country because we're closing on the condo. So the question is: how do we handle the move back and such?

Do we just leave the basement area open and allow the cats to just all go after each other? How do we re-start socialization - doesn't it make sense to get this going before we introduce everybody to the new place in the city? I'd rather not have this continual process of having a separate room for Jonas and get these guys to finally deal with each other ....

-Chris