- Joined
- May 29, 2022
- Messages
- 21
- Purraise
- 33
Hello everyone,
I recently trapped two cats that I have been feeding in my parking lot for about a year now - one is 3 years old, healthy and very domesticated, and one that is 10 years old, feral (or possibly least semi-feral), FIV positive, has no teeth, is blind in one eye and has bladder stones. I was going to re-release the feral cat (Lavender) after he got fixed, vetted, and vaccinated, but due to his health circumstances and slim chance at survival in the outdoors I decided to keep him and attempt to socialize him. He was doing so much better than I had expected when I first brought him inside. He was active at night, came up to me/ate as soon as I opened cans of food, let me pet him most of the time (though he never seemed to necessarily enjoy it, only tolerate it), and sometimes jumped on my bed and laid down with me and the other cat, Keeta. I would've been much more apprehensive about bringing him inside if he was not bonded to Keeta, or he was part of a colony. Unfortunately (at least during the time period that I began feeding him) I only ever saw him alone and never saw him with any other cats other than Keeta. Due to his old age, I assume his colony had possibly died off and he was one of the last ones left. He was also getting beat up by other feral cats in the area (I'm assuming due to the vulnerability of his health issues) and would come to me with wounds and bites quite frequently.
Anyway, I got him neutered yesterday and he has been acting incredibly distant ever since. He usually eats right in front of me as soon as I put the food down, but he won't even sniff or acknowledge the food if I am nearby. However, if I leave him alone and come back the food is gone. I can't tell if this is because he is holding a grudge against me because I keep having to put him in a carrier and bring him to the vet (he's been to the vet three times in the last week and a half to two weeks because I'm trying to cover all his health issues), or that he has an infection from surgery and doesn't feel good. Directly after surgery, I let him out of his carrier and he huddled under the bed for a while, then began to walk around and immediately ate some dry food, at which point I gave him his normal dinner meal which he kept down perfectly. He has been eating and drinking, and comes out to use the litterbox but this is the most innactive and "hidey" that I've ever seen him be and I've had him for almost two weeks now. This is the first night he hasn't really interacted with his surroundings at all. He's just kind of sleeping in the same spot in the furthest corner under my bed. I can't really handle him even on a good day, so looking at his surgery site is definitely difficult and would be incredibly stressful for him. I'm not sure what to do. He is also on 100 mg gabapentin twice a day for pain and anxiety management. Should I be concerned? That last thing I want to do is bring him to the vet again, as I'm sure he's already lost the trust I worked so hard to build with him during the year I was feeding him.
I recently trapped two cats that I have been feeding in my parking lot for about a year now - one is 3 years old, healthy and very domesticated, and one that is 10 years old, feral (or possibly least semi-feral), FIV positive, has no teeth, is blind in one eye and has bladder stones. I was going to re-release the feral cat (Lavender) after he got fixed, vetted, and vaccinated, but due to his health circumstances and slim chance at survival in the outdoors I decided to keep him and attempt to socialize him. He was doing so much better than I had expected when I first brought him inside. He was active at night, came up to me/ate as soon as I opened cans of food, let me pet him most of the time (though he never seemed to necessarily enjoy it, only tolerate it), and sometimes jumped on my bed and laid down with me and the other cat, Keeta. I would've been much more apprehensive about bringing him inside if he was not bonded to Keeta, or he was part of a colony. Unfortunately (at least during the time period that I began feeding him) I only ever saw him alone and never saw him with any other cats other than Keeta. Due to his old age, I assume his colony had possibly died off and he was one of the last ones left. He was also getting beat up by other feral cats in the area (I'm assuming due to the vulnerability of his health issues) and would come to me with wounds and bites quite frequently.
Anyway, I got him neutered yesterday and he has been acting incredibly distant ever since. He usually eats right in front of me as soon as I put the food down, but he won't even sniff or acknowledge the food if I am nearby. However, if I leave him alone and come back the food is gone. I can't tell if this is because he is holding a grudge against me because I keep having to put him in a carrier and bring him to the vet (he's been to the vet three times in the last week and a half to two weeks because I'm trying to cover all his health issues), or that he has an infection from surgery and doesn't feel good. Directly after surgery, I let him out of his carrier and he huddled under the bed for a while, then began to walk around and immediately ate some dry food, at which point I gave him his normal dinner meal which he kept down perfectly. He has been eating and drinking, and comes out to use the litterbox but this is the most innactive and "hidey" that I've ever seen him be and I've had him for almost two weeks now. This is the first night he hasn't really interacted with his surroundings at all. He's just kind of sleeping in the same spot in the furthest corner under my bed. I can't really handle him even on a good day, so looking at his surgery site is definitely difficult and would be incredibly stressful for him. I'm not sure what to do. He is also on 100 mg gabapentin twice a day for pain and anxiety management. Should I be concerned? That last thing I want to do is bring him to the vet again, as I'm sure he's already lost the trust I worked so hard to build with him during the year I was feeding him.
