Feral Family Living Out Front--help!

[catsknowme]

Excellent work on getting one tiny out of the wilds and into safety! Be sure to explain to the mama kitty that her baby is okay and you can also give updates - I know that I sound "off my rocker" but try it and see what happens. My experiences have been that even if the cats cant understand the words, they get the emotion that we are trying to convey. Again, my congratulations - every success in feral rescue is its own victory

 

[kaymay]

Hi everyone!! I haven't updated in a while, and I wanted to thank everyone for their advice and help!!

So anyway, I bought a trap and I was hoping to get the Mama cat inside, when another Mama cat appeared with her litter (!) The kittens from Mama # 1 appear to have gone their separate ways, unfortunately . Other than the one I rescued, there was only one other who kept coming by for food. Last week I saw she had a huge wound on the back of her neck that (I suspect, but don't know for sure) came courtesy of the big tomcat who also comes by for food. When I saw her injury, it took priority--after a week I succeeded on getting her into the carrier and bringing her to a vet, where they did blood work for FIV and feline leukemia, gave her a dose of anti-worm meds, and cleaned the wound area and applied Cosentyx. The doctor told me she'd healed nicely (yay!) and didn't need regular antibiotics. They didn't give her shots, because they wanted to give her some time to recover from the wound.

Currently, she's staying in the upstairs bedroom, and she's a total love bug--a little shy, and easily startled (likes to stay under the bed!) but I was able to pick her up and cuddle her on my lap for close to twenty minutes this afternoon. I'm honestly surprised, because she was definitely feral, but maybe because I regularly fed her she developed some trust...

I'm just a little worried because she was a nonstop eater when she lived outside, but now that she's in the house she's eating a lot less. I left wet and dry food in the morning, and she had a little of the wet, but when I gave her fresh tonight she barely touched it. I'm hoping it's just that she's getting used to her new surroundings, but any and all recommendations would be hugely welcome!! (Also recommendations on bringing my hubs around to keep her--we have two adult cats, and he doesn't want a third, even though he admits she's adorable ).

Thank you all so much!!!

 

[Sarthur2]

My guess is that she may be pregnant and experiencing morning sickness. This puts cats off their food for a spell.

How old is she?

Can you post a picture?

The longer you keep her the more attached to her your husband will become. That leads to acceptance. Don't push the issue. Just let things float for now.

 

[kaymay]

Thank you so much Sarthur2! Yikes, I didn't even think of pregnancy--I'll try to post a pic by this afternoon (hubs took a few of her in my arms, but it doesn't show much but her cute little face and paws ). She actually ate all her food last night and some this morning, so maybe the appetite is making a return .

I'm bringing in a stool sample to the vet this afternoon, so they'll check her for worms, parasites, etc.

I definitely agree with you that the longer we hang onto her, the more attached hubs will be--he already likes her, so hopefully this trend will last!

Once again, thank you so much, and I'll try to get a pic of her up later today!!!

 

[Sarthur2]

How old do you think she is?

 

[kaymay]

Hi Sarthur! If I had to guess, I'd say two and a half to three months (although I'm not 100% sure on this--when the vet checked her out, she said she was on the large side, which makes me think I might be underestimating her age a bit).

 

[Sarthur2]

I'm wondering if she's old enough to be pregnant yet, but kittens can conceive as young as four months old, unfortunately. And it sounds like a male cat got to her.

Getting her spayed right away would lay this issue to rest. She's certainly old enough for spaying.

Good she ate better today. Perhaps she was just frightened.