- Joined
- Sep 4, 2016
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Hello All,
I'm a newbie here, and have a couple of questions. We adopted a feral kitten, that was about 6 months old, back in November that was lonely, terrified of everything, and everyone, and was starving. It took me well over a week outside for her to allow me to touch her at all, and probably close to another month before I was finally able to pick her up. The temperature outside the day I finally brought her in was to drop to 20 that night, with a wind chill below zero, so I knew I had to get her inside (whether she liked it or not) or she probably wouldn't survive the night. When I approached her she ran to the neighbor's yard, climbed a small tree, and went up on top of their storage building. I stood on a concrete block, and used a piece of ham to lure her to the edge. While she was eating I took off my jacket and wrapped her up in it, carried her into the house kicking and screaming, and she's been with us ever since.
I took her to the vet the next day, with much fighting and several scratches, we managed to get her all of her shots, get her wormed, treated for ear mites, checked for feline leukemia, and feline aids, etc. and scheduled her to be spayed the following week. The vet that day attempted to check her belly, but she was not having it, so that part was skipped. I brought her in the following week to be spayed, and a different vet did her check in, and again attempted to check her belly, but she again would not allow it. About 2 hours later, I receive a phone call that she had again tore up several of the staff while they were attempting to put her under anesthesia, but they final got her under, got her shaved, and determined she had a scar on her belly where she had already been spayed, as well as, a tattoo where she had been part of our cities capture and release program. (Our city no longer tips their ears they tattoo their bellies instead. (That in itself made me furious because that baby was way too little to have been just turned out to fend for herself, and by how skinny she was it was very apparent that she certainly wasn't doing a very good job of it). Anyway, we named her Isabell, and call her Izzy.
Since then she has been warming up to us very, very, well, and has come such a long way. She still has a tendency to be scared of most things, but relies on me for comfort, and runs to the basement if things get too scary for her. She will allow us to rub her lol until she gets done, or get over stimulated, and usually ends the rubbing sessions with a small nip before she jumps down, and takes off running. She loves one of our dogs and will hide behind the door when he goes out to potty, and when he comes back in, she'll jump out at him while up on her 2 hind legs, and start batting at his tail about a dozen times. (LOL it is hilarious to watch her do this. She looks like a Ninja Warrior Kitty.). The dog is elderly and is kind of a grouch and tends to get annoyed, and growls at her if she bothers him too much, so most of her attacks on him are done using the Hit and Run Method lol.
About a month ago we had another starving cat stray in. After many attempts to locate his owner was unsuccessful, we decide to adopt him too, thinking he'd make a wonderful companion for Isabell. We named him Sammy. We took him to the vet had him checked out and found out he had already been neutered. We started them out with her upstairs, him downstairs, and vice versa. The other one will sit at the basement door, and they'll talk to each other and reach their little paws under the door etc. Then we went to putting him in a crate, and allowed her to roam (she'd hiss and growl at times, and sometimes slap the cage, but she would also deliberately get up on top of his cage and walk across it).
Sammy is one of the sweeties gentlest cats I've ever had. He never growls, hisses, or slaps at her. He will take his paw, and lightly touch her with it, but that seems to scare her, and causes her to flip out and to slap him. After the 1st few days, we brought in a 2nd crate, and put him in one, and her in the other, and every couple of days we'd move the crates a little closer together. We can turn her out now, and she voluntarily sleeps right beside his cage every night, lol that is as long as he keeps his paws to himself, and doesn't try to touch her. If we put her in the cage, and let him out she has a screaming, hissing, fit. I assume because she feels like she's trapped? She's been sleeping beside his cage for about a week now, and doing a really good job, so today we decide to let Sammy out with Isabell just to see how it would go.
As soon as Izzy saw he was loose she jumped up on the cabinet, and started growling and hissing. Sammy just looked at her, and rolled over on his back like whatever. My husband and I were standing there ready just in case a fight was to break out, and one almost did, but we intervened before they made contact. It was Sammy who had been just laying in the floor who got up, and all of the sudden charged at top speed towards her which is the way he plays with us too. He'll charge at us like he's going to pounce, and when he gets there he'll just fall over on his side to get loving, but this is more than Izzy can tolerate right now. She gives him all the warning signs that she's scared, and he needs to keep his distance, but he's not listening. (LOL my husband says it's because he's a male, but I'm not sure that's the case). She was terrified. I called his name 1 time, and he immediately stopped, turned around, and came back over to me, and laid down at my feet. I left them out a little while longer, and then returned Sammy to the crate. Shortly thereafter, Izzy went over, laid right down beside his crate, and they both went to sleep.
I'm not exactly sure what to do at this point. I do think more time is probably needed, but I'm not sure how to get them more comfortable with each other than they are now, unless I reverse the roles in the crates so Izzy will figure out that he's not out to get her?
Questions:
1) Should I put Izzy in the crate and allow Sammy out and just let her hiss and fuss until she gets use to him being out?
2) Should I continue on the way I have been, and each day just allow them out together for longer periods of time?
3) Do any of you have any more suggestions of what might help Izzy not be so scared, or how I can stop Sammy from going into his running pounce mode, and scaring her even more?
I know if I can get her out of her fearful mode, and get him to approach her more slowly, instead of like he's going to attack her, they will make wonderful play mates, and companions for each other. Thank you all. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
I'm a newbie here, and have a couple of questions. We adopted a feral kitten, that was about 6 months old, back in November that was lonely, terrified of everything, and everyone, and was starving. It took me well over a week outside for her to allow me to touch her at all, and probably close to another month before I was finally able to pick her up. The temperature outside the day I finally brought her in was to drop to 20 that night, with a wind chill below zero, so I knew I had to get her inside (whether she liked it or not) or she probably wouldn't survive the night. When I approached her she ran to the neighbor's yard, climbed a small tree, and went up on top of their storage building. I stood on a concrete block, and used a piece of ham to lure her to the edge. While she was eating I took off my jacket and wrapped her up in it, carried her into the house kicking and screaming, and she's been with us ever since.
I took her to the vet the next day, with much fighting and several scratches, we managed to get her all of her shots, get her wormed, treated for ear mites, checked for feline leukemia, and feline aids, etc. and scheduled her to be spayed the following week. The vet that day attempted to check her belly, but she was not having it, so that part was skipped. I brought her in the following week to be spayed, and a different vet did her check in, and again attempted to check her belly, but she again would not allow it. About 2 hours later, I receive a phone call that she had again tore up several of the staff while they were attempting to put her under anesthesia, but they final got her under, got her shaved, and determined she had a scar on her belly where she had already been spayed, as well as, a tattoo where she had been part of our cities capture and release program. (Our city no longer tips their ears they tattoo their bellies instead. (That in itself made me furious because that baby was way too little to have been just turned out to fend for herself, and by how skinny she was it was very apparent that she certainly wasn't doing a very good job of it). Anyway, we named her Isabell, and call her Izzy.
Since then she has been warming up to us very, very, well, and has come such a long way. She still has a tendency to be scared of most things, but relies on me for comfort, and runs to the basement if things get too scary for her. She will allow us to rub her lol until she gets done, or get over stimulated, and usually ends the rubbing sessions with a small nip before she jumps down, and takes off running. She loves one of our dogs and will hide behind the door when he goes out to potty, and when he comes back in, she'll jump out at him while up on her 2 hind legs, and start batting at his tail about a dozen times. (LOL it is hilarious to watch her do this. She looks like a Ninja Warrior Kitty.). The dog is elderly and is kind of a grouch and tends to get annoyed, and growls at her if she bothers him too much, so most of her attacks on him are done using the Hit and Run Method lol.
About a month ago we had another starving cat stray in. After many attempts to locate his owner was unsuccessful, we decide to adopt him too, thinking he'd make a wonderful companion for Isabell. We named him Sammy. We took him to the vet had him checked out and found out he had already been neutered. We started them out with her upstairs, him downstairs, and vice versa. The other one will sit at the basement door, and they'll talk to each other and reach their little paws under the door etc. Then we went to putting him in a crate, and allowed her to roam (she'd hiss and growl at times, and sometimes slap the cage, but she would also deliberately get up on top of his cage and walk across it).
Sammy is one of the sweeties gentlest cats I've ever had. He never growls, hisses, or slaps at her. He will take his paw, and lightly touch her with it, but that seems to scare her, and causes her to flip out and to slap him. After the 1st few days, we brought in a 2nd crate, and put him in one, and her in the other, and every couple of days we'd move the crates a little closer together. We can turn her out now, and she voluntarily sleeps right beside his cage every night, lol that is as long as he keeps his paws to himself, and doesn't try to touch her. If we put her in the cage, and let him out she has a screaming, hissing, fit. I assume because she feels like she's trapped? She's been sleeping beside his cage for about a week now, and doing a really good job, so today we decide to let Sammy out with Isabell just to see how it would go.
As soon as Izzy saw he was loose she jumped up on the cabinet, and started growling and hissing. Sammy just looked at her, and rolled over on his back like whatever. My husband and I were standing there ready just in case a fight was to break out, and one almost did, but we intervened before they made contact. It was Sammy who had been just laying in the floor who got up, and all of the sudden charged at top speed towards her which is the way he plays with us too. He'll charge at us like he's going to pounce, and when he gets there he'll just fall over on his side to get loving, but this is more than Izzy can tolerate right now. She gives him all the warning signs that she's scared, and he needs to keep his distance, but he's not listening. (LOL my husband says it's because he's a male, but I'm not sure that's the case). She was terrified. I called his name 1 time, and he immediately stopped, turned around, and came back over to me, and laid down at my feet. I left them out a little while longer, and then returned Sammy to the crate. Shortly thereafter, Izzy went over, laid right down beside his crate, and they both went to sleep.
I'm not exactly sure what to do at this point. I do think more time is probably needed, but I'm not sure how to get them more comfortable with each other than they are now, unless I reverse the roles in the crates so Izzy will figure out that he's not out to get her?
Questions:
1) Should I put Izzy in the crate and allow Sammy out and just let her hiss and fuss until she gets use to him being out?
2) Should I continue on the way I have been, and each day just allow them out together for longer periods of time?
3) Do any of you have any more suggestions of what might help Izzy not be so scared, or how I can stop Sammy from going into his running pounce mode, and scaring her even more?
I know if I can get her out of her fearful mode, and get him to approach her more slowly, instead of like he's going to attack her, they will make wonderful play mates, and companions for each other. Thank you all. Any suggestions will be appreciated.