pregnant stray living in my garage!

[ldg]

Our Ming Loy always looks so angry too - but she's such a happy sweetie!

I love seeing pics of him too.

:

As to the food? I have no idea how much food of the stuff we feed them is recommended. We let them free feed on the dry stuff, and since they're not huge wet food fans we just split one can between three of them, and they usually don't eat it all.

Different foods have totally different amounts of protein and stuff, so the amounts recommended to eat would probably be different for each different type of dry food and wet food - but I really don't know.

You probably don't want to leave food out all the time for him to free feed though because of other cats and wildlife (we fed a lot of raccoons and possums when we fed the ferals!). I'd just put food out as often as possible - best if at regular (as possible) times so he learns/knows when to be around to eat - and since he doesn't seem to be a "gorger" (something kitties do sometimes when they don't know food is coming regularly), I'd just let him eat however much he wants. If he starts to get fat - cut back on the amount you let him eat.

I'm so glad he's back in his Chairman's seat!

Laurie

 

[robdog]

OK well hello again i havn't been on here on ages but something has come up. Casper is great, he's geting tamer and tamer by the day. He doesn't bite or scratch me half as often as he used to now and he lets me pick him up and hold him. On Friday I went out to feed him and he was covered in what looked like soot from a chimney and he had his right eye closed. He looked like he had been hit by a car or something. We called the vet and went for an appointment the same day. The vet scanned his eye and said that he had a scratch on his cornia which is just basically the surface of your eyeball and that i would have to put drops in his eye every morning and night for a week which i have been doing. His eye is beggining to look better.
I discovered today that he was crawling with fleas, and i mean crawling! I have been picking them out individually and throwing them away, I think i must have picked about 40 off him. The strange thing is they only seem to be round his head and ears and not many on the rest of his body. Is there anyway of getting rid of the fleas completely and keeping them away? I know flea collars aren't good to use and i have been reading about frontline and dawn but i live in the U.K and i don't know if those things are available here.
I really need help because its horrible to watch casper suffer, it's driving him mental!
The last time we got fleas in our house off the dog it took about a month for us to get rid of them completely and by that stage we were bittin half to death. I havn't been bitten yet so maybe theyre not atracted to humans or something...hopefully.
How fast do they breed? If i get all the fleas off apart from a couple will i go out the next day to find him infested again?
It was strange the way that yesterday he didn't seem to have any but today he had stacks! And is it normal for a cat to have about 40 fleas on him???

 

[rotobay]

Originally Posted by ROBDOG

OK well hello again i havn't been on here on ages but something has come up. Casper is great, he's geting tamer and tamer by the day. He doesn't bite or scratch me half as often as he used to now and he lets me pick him up and hold him. On Friday I went out to feed him and he was covered in what looked like soot from a chimney and he had his right eye closed. He looked like he had been hit by a car or something. We called the vet and went for an appointment the same day. The vet scanned his eye and said that he had a scratch on his cornia which is just basically the surface of your eyeball and that i would have to put drops in his eye every morning and night for a week which i have been doing. His eye is beggining to look better.
I discovered today that he was crawling with fleas, and i mean crawling! I have been picking them out individually and throwing them away, I think i must have picked about 40 off him. The strange thing is they only seem to be round his head and ears and not many on the rest of his body. Is there anyway of getting rid of the fleas completely and keeping them away? I know flea collars aren't good to use and i have been reading about frontline and dawn but i live in the U.K and i don't know if those things are available here.
I really need help because its horrible to watch casper suffer, it's driving him mental!
The last time we got fleas in our house off the dog it took about a month for us to get rid of them completely and by that stage we were bittin half to death. I havn't been bitten yet so maybe theyre not atracted to humans or something...hopefully.
How fast do they breed? If i get all the fleas off apart from a couple will i go out the next day to find him infested again?
It was strange the way that yesterday he didn't seem to have any but today he had stacks! And is it normal for a cat to have about 40 fleas on him???

Ohhh I hate fleas, they are the WORST

The flea life cycle goes from egg to larva to pupae to adult flea (the ones you're seeing) and if she has -say-50 adult fleas on her, then she's got thousands of eggs and larvae on her which will develop into MORE adult fleas which lay thousands of more eggs and so on and so on. Call your vet and see if they have Advantage and can give him a flea treatment.

Advantage comes in a tiny tube and you put it on the back of his neck every month. Works like a charm. Also you need to destroy the fleas, eggs, larvae in his living areas-wash that blanket he sleeps on and spray the area with a good flea spray (not sure what brands you have there). You might even want to spray the yard where he hangs out.

It takes a bit of work, but you'll get rid of them. I got a kick out of reading your thread since you went from having a 'pregnant female' to a neutered male. I once took in what I thought was a stray female....turned out he was a neutered male who had a loving home a few houses away

 

[robdog]

I went to the vet vet today and got frontline 'cos that's what the vet reccomended. It was £15 for 3 pipettes full which is about $30. I don't know if this is expensive and the vet said that it would last for 15 weeks and then I'd probably need to buy more, I'm going to wait to see if he gets more on him because i don't want to waste a whole pipette for just a couple of fleas.
Anyway i just thought i'd tell you all.

 

[addiebee]

ROBDOG - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep using the Frontline.. even if it's just "a couple" of fleas. They multiply really ,really fast and they can get on you and you can take them into your home. One egg-laden female and you're a goner!!!

 

[ldg]

Originally Posted by AddieBee

ROBDOG - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep using the Frontline.. even if it's just "a couple" of fleas. They multiply really ,really fast and they can get on you and you can take them into your home. One egg-laden female and you're a goner!!!

This is very good advice. They are so annoying to the poor kitty, and sometimes they DO carry diseases, some of which can be really difficult to cure. Prevention is the best medicine, and it's such an easy one. It may be a little expensive - but it is worth it in the long run.

Laurie

 

[robdog]

Casper update
Hello everyone, back again. Well This is just to let anyone who wants to know about Casper.
He has become more of an indoor cat. He sleeps in my room untill about 5 am and then he wakes me up-i dont mind. He is getting more and more tame bt he still occasionally bites when he is grouchy! My dad has become more accustomed to seeing him around the house even though he insisted even if i tried to gradually get him into the house he would still not let me lol. It's Easter holidays over here in Northern Ireland so I've been able to spend more time with Casper.
Today i was sitting with him outiside in the patio area because it was sunny and the next door neighbours cat was up on the roof and wouldn't come down. He eventually came down and when he did Casper bolted after him and my neighbour screamed lol she wasn't too happy. I managed to control him and the cat was able to get safely into his house.
My neighbour said " That little white cat cat is obviously a survivor!" and he is! he's an extremely good hunter! In fact he often comes back with mice and birds! Yesterday we were both in the garage and a little blue tit flew in and wasn't sure how to get out and casper caught him! I would have got casper to let him go as i hate any animal in pain but i figured he was very badly hurt and i may as well let Casper put him out of his misery...R.I.P.
Any way everything is going well and i have a proper pet cat for the first time in about 10 years!

Any comments welcome, Robert.

 

[addiebee]

Hi, ROBDOG! Glad to hear that you and Caspar are doing quite well. Post some pics of him when you get a chance!

 

[twstychik]

Aww... it warms my heart when a stray finds a loving home and how sweet that he's spending some of his time indoors with you. Sounds like your little survivor is learning what it's like to be loved.

 

[marianjela]

I've just read this whole thread from start to finish. What a change of events... from wanting to capture Preggers and chasing White Cat away, to finding out Preggers wasnt pregnant at all and keeping Casper!!!

I loved it! I'm glad he's sleeping with you now. What a bond you are forming with him.

Thanks for sharing your story with us. It warms my heart hearing such a loving story from an intelligent, responsible, respectful, young man!

There's hope for the human race yet :bluewink:

 

[robdog]

Hello everyone, I decided to do another little update. Casper is now pretty much and indoor cat, even though my dad said it would never happen lol. He sleeps in my room every night untill 5 am and then meaws untill i let him out. It doesn't bother me though. He sleeps on my at the foot of my bed now, which he never used. I try to make him sleep on his pillow but he doesn't take no for an answer. I'm pretty sure he must get kicked by my feet sometimes during the night when I'm asleep but he mustn't mind that much or he wouldn't be sleeping there.
The one thing thats wrong- he's not eating as much as he used to and he's gotten a bit thinner. He only eats about half a can of canned food a day now. I've tried changing the food and giving him tuna and stuff but he doesn't eat very much of it. I hope it's not worms! I'll take him to the vet if it goes on for much longer just for a check up.
The other thing is, the people across the street from us have just got two new cats. Theyre both about 3/4 size, don't know what age. But the go into our garage and Casper lets them! Sometimes i go out the garage and one of the cats bolts out and Casper is just sitting on his chair looking at me. Is this normal Cat behaviour?? I think Casper knows they're there because surely he would be able to smell their scent!?
What do you guys think?

 

[mrblanche]

Sounds like Casper may need a vet visit, if he continues to lose weight.

We had a cat who would only sleep by our feet, never by our heads. Just what he liked.

 

[robdog]

bump!!!!!!!!!

 

[ldg]

Hey Rob! I haven't been around much - but how absolutely TERRIFIC that Casper sleeps with you! Cats have that way about them. They pick you - and even people like your Dad just can't do much about it.

I hate to say it - but I would get him to a vet.

If it was worms, he'd be eating the same or more and losing weight - but the not eating as much and losing weight is just not a good sign and not a good combination. I really wouldn't put it off. If funds are a problem, talk to your parents about borrowing the money and finding a way to work it off or something doing work you don't normally do around the house or yard or something.

And as to the neighbor's cats visiting? He may not mind! Maybe they're becoming friends? I would talk to your neighbor to make sure their cats are spayed/neutered so the neighborhood won't have more unwanted kittens since they let them out.

But cats can be social, and Casper seems to not mind sharing his territory with them. He'd hiss and swat or chase them out of there if he had a problem with it. And you're right - he knows they're there.

But please do get him to a vet. It sounds like there is a problem that won't resolve by itself.

Laurie

 

[cc12]

How is little Caspar? I am wondering.
I hope he is ok he sounds like a very cool cat.
I am glad he has a warm bed at night and someone who loves him.