- Joined
- Oct 13, 2017
- Messages
- 2
- Purraise
- 1
Hi everyone, i'm new here, and pretty new to taking care of a feral. The only experience i have is when my mom used to take care of ferals down in California and weather was definitely not an issue...much different story here in Central Oregon;p
It started early this spring when we found a momma cat and her week old kittens under our house. We fed them and took care of them until they were old enough to be fixed/shots. Once the kittens got old enough we found them all homes. Everything worked out well and we had hoped that we could get momma cat sweet enough to find her a home eventually. I'm honestly not even sure if she is true feral. She really likes me and trusts me, lets me pet her and feed her, but not anyone else. She will scratch them, run away, hiss. If we didn't already have so many of our own animals we would try to bring her inside but unfortunately, all of our pets are seniors and have a lot of issues. The few times we brought her in, there were fights breaking out between them all, my 17 year old dog was scratched in the eye and had to go through two months of treatment to fix it, almost lost his eye and we just can't have that. It makes me sad because I can see that she really is a sweet loving cat, she just needs a lot more work to get her ready to be someone's pet. So that's why decided to keep working with her and get her to that point. But unfortunately, we now have an issue with weather.
During the spring and summer it was easy, perfect weather. Now that it's getting cold, we had started to prepare places for her to stay warm and safe. The bad news is, she won't use any of them! This past week is what worried me the most because it dropped down to 28, rain and hail, and she still refused to use any of the spots designated for her :/
We have a garage/shop area that doesn't get used for anything but storage. We set up a nice bed in there, put her food and water in there, keep the door open just enough for her to get in. She will go and eat her food no problem but that's it. The only reason I can think of is that this is the same room we had kept her and kitties after their surgeries for about a week. Kitties were fine, but momma cat HATED it. She did not want to be locked up at all. So I think she's still traumatized from that.
My husband also made her a really cozy insulated cat house, it's perfect. But she won't use that either, even putting yummy food and catnip in there, she will barely squeeze in enough to get that and run out. I think she doesn't want to be in any box type area at all. Probably after having to trap her in a kennel to get her to the vet.
The other option is under our house in the crawlspace where she had her kittens. This is probably the best spot because it's insulated, warm, protected from all the elements and she spent most of her time down there already. The only reason i can think of why she won't go under there is because lately we have had a lot of skunks come through and they like to go under the house. Momma cat is very skittish of all other cats and creatures so maybe they scared her off from going under there? :/
Right now where she is staying is behind some plywood on the side of our shop, it just really isn't protected at all. I feel so horrible, seeing her back there and feeling so helpless. I have thought of just locking her in the shop at night, but after how much she hated it before, I don't know if that is a good option. I don't want her to lose trust like she did when we did it before. I know that taking her to the shelter wouldn't work because they are a high kill shelter and she is not adoptable at this point...
I know that doesn't leave many options, but maybe there is something I have't thought of yet? It drops down to the teens here in the winter and we have snow for most of it and I know I have to think of a long term option that will work so she doesn't freeze...any advice would be appreciated thank you! Sorry so long
It started early this spring when we found a momma cat and her week old kittens under our house. We fed them and took care of them until they were old enough to be fixed/shots. Once the kittens got old enough we found them all homes. Everything worked out well and we had hoped that we could get momma cat sweet enough to find her a home eventually. I'm honestly not even sure if she is true feral. She really likes me and trusts me, lets me pet her and feed her, but not anyone else. She will scratch them, run away, hiss. If we didn't already have so many of our own animals we would try to bring her inside but unfortunately, all of our pets are seniors and have a lot of issues. The few times we brought her in, there were fights breaking out between them all, my 17 year old dog was scratched in the eye and had to go through two months of treatment to fix it, almost lost his eye and we just can't have that. It makes me sad because I can see that she really is a sweet loving cat, she just needs a lot more work to get her ready to be someone's pet. So that's why decided to keep working with her and get her to that point. But unfortunately, we now have an issue with weather.
During the spring and summer it was easy, perfect weather. Now that it's getting cold, we had started to prepare places for her to stay warm and safe. The bad news is, she won't use any of them! This past week is what worried me the most because it dropped down to 28, rain and hail, and she still refused to use any of the spots designated for her :/
We have a garage/shop area that doesn't get used for anything but storage. We set up a nice bed in there, put her food and water in there, keep the door open just enough for her to get in. She will go and eat her food no problem but that's it. The only reason I can think of is that this is the same room we had kept her and kitties after their surgeries for about a week. Kitties were fine, but momma cat HATED it. She did not want to be locked up at all. So I think she's still traumatized from that.
My husband also made her a really cozy insulated cat house, it's perfect. But she won't use that either, even putting yummy food and catnip in there, she will barely squeeze in enough to get that and run out. I think she doesn't want to be in any box type area at all. Probably after having to trap her in a kennel to get her to the vet.
The other option is under our house in the crawlspace where she had her kittens. This is probably the best spot because it's insulated, warm, protected from all the elements and she spent most of her time down there already. The only reason i can think of why she won't go under there is because lately we have had a lot of skunks come through and they like to go under the house. Momma cat is very skittish of all other cats and creatures so maybe they scared her off from going under there? :/
Right now where she is staying is behind some plywood on the side of our shop, it just really isn't protected at all. I feel so horrible, seeing her back there and feeling so helpless. I have thought of just locking her in the shop at night, but after how much she hated it before, I don't know if that is a good option. I don't want her to lose trust like she did when we did it before. I know that taking her to the shelter wouldn't work because they are a high kill shelter and she is not adoptable at this point...
I know that doesn't leave many options, but maybe there is something I have't thought of yet? It drops down to the teens here in the winter and we have snow for most of it and I know I have to think of a long term option that will work so she doesn't freeze...any advice would be appreciated thank you! Sorry so long
