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- Feb 19, 2022
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My boyfriend has been feeding a semi-feral (this is a best guess; she's ear-tipped, sits very close and even accepts petting during feeding, occasionally meows but is otherwise totally uninterested/scared of contact that doesn't involve food) for ~5 months. He made the decision to bring her inside 2 nights ago (combination of the weather/getting worried about her fairly obvious dependence on him for food with him moving in a few months) and based on her behavior.....we're not sure if this is the right call.
She's being housed in a fairly large walk-in closet and she's climbed to the highest shelf and has basically not moved since for two days. To some degree I'm sure this is normal since she's pretty obviously never been inside/she's definitely scared & needs time to adjust, but we're most concerned that she hasn't been to the bathroom in 48 hours now. She ate for the first time this AM (1 day after getting her in - we put the food up on the shelf with her just to try and get something in her system) and she ate without hesitation. Other than that though, she hasn't really moved. We've been leaving her alone but adjusted the shelves a bit so she has a clear "step" system down to where the litter box is. We've put dirt etc. from outside to get her adjusted to the box but...nothing. I saw her fairly vigorously cleaning herself tonight, so she seems like she feels OK physically, but other than that she just curled up and went back to sleep.
We assume she just feels more comfortable up there and away from us, but we're getting worried that we're doing more harm than good here. We also obviously are ready to bring her into a vet tomorrow if nothing changes/her physical condition changes, but is it better to wait her out? To bring her to the vet? To put her back outside?
Any advice/wisdom/etc. would be much appreciated!!
She's being housed in a fairly large walk-in closet and she's climbed to the highest shelf and has basically not moved since for two days. To some degree I'm sure this is normal since she's pretty obviously never been inside/she's definitely scared & needs time to adjust, but we're most concerned that she hasn't been to the bathroom in 48 hours now. She ate for the first time this AM (1 day after getting her in - we put the food up on the shelf with her just to try and get something in her system) and she ate without hesitation. Other than that though, she hasn't really moved. We've been leaving her alone but adjusted the shelves a bit so she has a clear "step" system down to where the litter box is. We've put dirt etc. from outside to get her adjusted to the box but...nothing. I saw her fairly vigorously cleaning herself tonight, so she seems like she feels OK physically, but other than that she just curled up and went back to sleep.
We assume she just feels more comfortable up there and away from us, but we're getting worried that we're doing more harm than good here. We also obviously are ready to bring her into a vet tomorrow if nothing changes/her physical condition changes, but is it better to wait her out? To bring her to the vet? To put her back outside?
Any advice/wisdom/etc. would be much appreciated!!