Before I ask about her 'behaviours' it would be best to go back to the start, So here is Lily's story.
A few years ago. (3 now?) I was staying with some friends temporarily, they lived kind of out in the country setting so it wasn't unknown for people to dump cats out there and they knew of a feral momma who had had several litters
When I arrived there the kids told me some stories about some kittens they moved to the garage to one of the places that momma usually keeps her kittens (at least that is one version of the story I heard, not 100% sure if the kittens were there or moved to there)
From what I could gather either the moma had some kittens there and moved them or they just put them there in hopes she would find them?
Anyway two kittens were in that box. By the time I got there one was already dead. I waited for a day (away from garage) and never saw any signs of the mothers return, you could hear this kitten screaming all day. seeing how young the baby was there was a decision to be made...and I chose to take her in and see what I could do for this tiny little kitten.
She was just bones and fur. We got some formula in her which she ate like it was her first meal ever. Her eyes were not even open yet. She fit in the palm of my hand.
Now people told me this kitten would probably not survive. And all kinds of things to that degree, but I was determined to do all I could for this tiny little one. So up I was every few hours to feed her and make sure she did all the functions and keeping her the right temperature and all the other things needed to be done.
From what I can gather she may have not even been a week old yet or just at it when I got her.
Everything went pretty well. She grew. She played. She learned to use the litter box and one thing for certain she was MY baby. At least if you could ask her she would say that. She use to try to nurse on my ears and would cuddle me all the time, she never wanted to be far from me and we bonded very well.
When she was a few month old (maybe 2). My stay was up and I took her out with me on the road, where she learned to be a trucking kitty. She loved to lay on the dash and had a special place she slept and everything. She did very well...eventually not So much but for the longest time she was just fine with it.
Somewhere around 4-6 months we moved into a place for a bit just me and her in my grannies upstairs loft. I got her spayed, which she handled quite well. Like it did not even seem to phase her at all. After she was all healed up. I would sometimes take her downstairs to "visit" my granny had dogs and she did not seem to mind them at all. We just had to watch out for her cat who decided she did not like my Lily.
Well anyway mostly I continued to keeep her upstairs unless the other cat was put away so she could mingle some. One day seemingly out of the blue her neck started swelling. By the morning it was huge and we took her to the nearest vet asap. It was an abcess, well over 600 dollars and a few days later we brought her home and she was never the same again.
She was terrified of everything. She no longer cuddled or liked to be held or liked other animals. She hid all the time and this was in the loft where it was just me and her and what's more she became frightened of Chris (my fiancee who only came by a few times a month to see us because he was otr trucking).
Now what I am thinking happened here is the vet who was male, was rough with her and they did not handle her properly and probably stuck her in a kennel somewhere with tons of other barking and hissing animals, at least by the way she continued to behave that is what I would have taken a guess at...I was hoping she would go back to her normal happy self but she never did.
We took her back out on the road and it was not the same either she tried to hide all the time there as well and we could no longer put her in a carrier to even so much as transfer her or She would try to claw your throat out
Even now after a few years of working with her she is nowhere near how she was. She hides whenever anyone comes over. She still does come up to me and once in a blue moon will lay in my lap. Randomly she will come out when people are around and scent rub all over their shoes.
But usually she only comes around me and if I pet her too much she will leave.
I did not think this was possible but it is almost like my cat has ptsd..
Don't get me wrong she still loves her momma she just takes things in way smaller doses and gets scared off more easily.
I know that some of her problems are that she was raised alone and not by a cat.she does have a little feral in her that shows from time to time she use to start out playing and ge too rough almost like she will bite really hard or scratch, now she has never done this with any other animals she has always been very submissive, the few times she has been around other pets.
Now I know all this sounds pretty bad but she really is a sweety pie she just has a few "wild tendencies" and hasn't done most of that in a good long while.
We are thinking about keeping some of these kittens in hopes of helping her socialize. So far in the few supervised interactions she has had besides a little hissing she has mostly done well. She does not act agressivley and she does like to sniff at them.
What do you all think about all this? Both her behaviours and the kittens idea.
A few years ago. (3 now?) I was staying with some friends temporarily, they lived kind of out in the country setting so it wasn't unknown for people to dump cats out there and they knew of a feral momma who had had several litters
When I arrived there the kids told me some stories about some kittens they moved to the garage to one of the places that momma usually keeps her kittens (at least that is one version of the story I heard, not 100% sure if the kittens were there or moved to there)
From what I could gather either the moma had some kittens there and moved them or they just put them there in hopes she would find them?
Anyway two kittens were in that box. By the time I got there one was already dead. I waited for a day (away from garage) and never saw any signs of the mothers return, you could hear this kitten screaming all day. seeing how young the baby was there was a decision to be made...and I chose to take her in and see what I could do for this tiny little kitten.
She was just bones and fur. We got some formula in her which she ate like it was her first meal ever. Her eyes were not even open yet. She fit in the palm of my hand.
Now people told me this kitten would probably not survive. And all kinds of things to that degree, but I was determined to do all I could for this tiny little one. So up I was every few hours to feed her and make sure she did all the functions and keeping her the right temperature and all the other things needed to be done.
From what I can gather she may have not even been a week old yet or just at it when I got her.
Everything went pretty well. She grew. She played. She learned to use the litter box and one thing for certain she was MY baby. At least if you could ask her she would say that. She use to try to nurse on my ears and would cuddle me all the time, she never wanted to be far from me and we bonded very well.
When she was a few month old (maybe 2). My stay was up and I took her out with me on the road, where she learned to be a trucking kitty. She loved to lay on the dash and had a special place she slept and everything. She did very well...eventually not So much but for the longest time she was just fine with it.
Somewhere around 4-6 months we moved into a place for a bit just me and her in my grannies upstairs loft. I got her spayed, which she handled quite well. Like it did not even seem to phase her at all. After she was all healed up. I would sometimes take her downstairs to "visit" my granny had dogs and she did not seem to mind them at all. We just had to watch out for her cat who decided she did not like my Lily.
Well anyway mostly I continued to keeep her upstairs unless the other cat was put away so she could mingle some. One day seemingly out of the blue her neck started swelling. By the morning it was huge and we took her to the nearest vet asap. It was an abcess, well over 600 dollars and a few days later we brought her home and she was never the same again.
She was terrified of everything. She no longer cuddled or liked to be held or liked other animals. She hid all the time and this was in the loft where it was just me and her and what's more she became frightened of Chris (my fiancee who only came by a few times a month to see us because he was otr trucking).
Now what I am thinking happened here is the vet who was male, was rough with her and they did not handle her properly and probably stuck her in a kennel somewhere with tons of other barking and hissing animals, at least by the way she continued to behave that is what I would have taken a guess at...I was hoping she would go back to her normal happy self but she never did.
We took her back out on the road and it was not the same either she tried to hide all the time there as well and we could no longer put her in a carrier to even so much as transfer her or She would try to claw your throat out
Even now after a few years of working with her she is nowhere near how she was. She hides whenever anyone comes over. She still does come up to me and once in a blue moon will lay in my lap. Randomly she will come out when people are around and scent rub all over their shoes.
But usually she only comes around me and if I pet her too much she will leave.
I did not think this was possible but it is almost like my cat has ptsd..
Don't get me wrong she still loves her momma she just takes things in way smaller doses and gets scared off more easily.
I know that some of her problems are that she was raised alone and not by a cat.she does have a little feral in her that shows from time to time she use to start out playing and ge too rough almost like she will bite really hard or scratch, now she has never done this with any other animals she has always been very submissive, the few times she has been around other pets.
Now I know all this sounds pretty bad but she really is a sweety pie she just has a few "wild tendencies" and hasn't done most of that in a good long while.
We are thinking about keeping some of these kittens in hopes of helping her socialize. So far in the few supervised interactions she has had besides a little hissing she has mostly done well. She does not act agressivley and she does like to sniff at them.
What do you all think about all this? Both her behaviours and the kittens idea.
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