Declawed Cat vs. 1 year old semi-feral

[kaleneweth]

Hey all! I figured this belonged in the multi-cat household forum, but I wasn't able to start a thread there. Also, cat health is a issue as well. 

So, I just moved to a new house with my 1 year old orange tabby, Garfunk. I rescued him from the streets when he was about 6 months old. He was semi-feral but others had been feeding him so I put in a lot of patience and work and he has come a long way. I transitioned and socialized him with my parents seemingly aggressive cat through the scent transfer, feeding through the door, room switches and time. I did the same for my parents golden retriever with Garfunk. I found a roomate whom I did not know too well, but I knew she had two cats that she said were friendly with other cats. I knew that Garfunk would like to have friends so I decided to have her as a roomate. Now that I am here, there are some concerning things I am worried about. 

I come to find out that she lets her cats out unsupervised, when she told me she only let them out when she was watching them, but there not trained so they will run away sometimes. One of them who was declawed was out for 3 weeks. She let him out at night and did not notice that he didnt come back in. He usually does not go far. The other, Bowie, who was a rescue, malnourished cat who is slowly gaining weight and hair back, about 2 years, who is more adventurous and does have his claws, is out now because she lost track of him. Originally I had her take them to the vet, they got tested for feline aids/feline luek since they were outside and they came out negative. The vet said if they contracted anything it would not show immediately, so they have to go back and get tested in two months. My baby Garfunk already has feline herpes from living on the streets. I've been giving him Lysine to strengthen his immune system. Both of her cats got the feline luek vacc. I took Garfunk to get his as well. He still needs the booster to make him fully or least more safe from feline luek. Doing research online, has caused some concern for me with him sharing litter boxes and unfortunetely my roomate free feeds so its kind of impossible to have them not share feeding bowls. I don't want to keep him cooped up in my room as I had been for 2 weeks. So, I have been letting him out. I know feline luek is transfered through saliva, but a vet did say that it would really only be passed through intense contact like fighting. I don't know if i'm taking too much of a chance, but I am located in Colorado and I don't know how wide-spread feline luekemia is here. 

Third and final thing that I noticed with the cat behavior is that at first when Philly ( the 2 year old declawed cat) was found after 3 weeks outside, he no longer liked the attention of his brother Bowie. Bowie would try and play with him, Philly would intensely growl and I had to seperate the cats. I did the scent transfers, and feeding before I let Garfunk out of my room. When I did, the dynamic seemed to change for the better. Garfunk wanted to play with bowie, they chased eachother playfully. Bowie really isnt into playing with him, but it gives Bowie a distraction so as to leave Philly alone. Bowie is now out and has not come back for 2 days. Philly and Garfunk had been getting along fine with Bowie here. Philly would growl when garfunk approached and garfunk respected his growl, so they did seemingly well. Until yesterday when Philly approached him, eyes wide and started a crazy kind of meow. I think since bowie is gone he is trying to secure his alpha male cat position.Then he began to sprint after garfunk, while screaming. I was able to catch philly, say "no!" and leave him in the spare room for a time out. Since then I have been feeding the cats together, playing with them together, and giving them treats after play time. Philly is a weird cat, he angrily meows while you pet him, but then seems like he still wants to get pet. I assume this is due to his declawing and somewhat non routine lifestyle and being outside probably having not so fun interactions with both humans and cats. 

I feel very stressed as to whether to leave Garfunk home alone with Phily as of now. And I'm wondering if my paranoia of the feline luek and sharing bowls is justified. I know this is a long post, but this site has helped me transform Garfunk from a scared street cat to a loving indoor cat who likes other cats. After all the work I have put into him I can't bare to see anything happen to him. Please any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

PS. I am considering moving out if there seems to be no solution. But, I am trying to make it work. 

Concerned cat mommy. 

 

[margd]

You've got a difficult situation there.  It seems to me that your roommate should keep Phily sequestered while no one is home to stop his aggressive attacks on Garfunk.  It doesn't seem right that Garfunk should be locked up when he's not causing the problem.  I'm not sure how receptive your roommate would be to such a request.  It sounds like she doesn't put much thought into how she cares for her own cats, much less showing compassion to someone else's.

The fact that she lets a declawed cat outside on its own is appalling.  Doesn't she realize that Phily has no defense against a predator?  There is simply no excuse for that and makes me question everything about your roommate's judgement when it comes to her cats.  

Is she making any effort at all to find Bowie?  He could have been picked up by Animal Control and taken to a kill shelter by now.  She really needs to be making every possible effort to get him back home - putting up signs, advertising, and posting signs at vets in addition to contacting every animal shelter and rescue around.  

In terms of your questions about Garfunk catching feline leukemia because he's sharing bowls, I don't know if you're being paranoid or not.  I'd ask your vet - you should be able to just call without taking Garfunk in for a visit.  Your vet will know how widespread the disease is in Colorado and be able to tell you the odds of Garfunk catching anything from Phily and Bowie.  By the way, I think it's horrifying that you are the one who made sure Phily and Bowie got vaccinated and not your roommate.

I think in your shoes, I would also be considering moving at this point.  I'd be afraid that the roommate's bad judgement and negligence might endanger Garfunk.  On the other hand, she did agree to take Phily and Bowie to the vet so perhaps she will actually listen to you and make some badly needed changes in the way she treats her cats.  It is a tough choice!