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- Mar 21, 2023
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Apologies if this gets long, this has been such a difficult time and agonizing over what to do.
I have been feeding a feral cat on my property that we named Pumpkin for several years now and have been through many ups and downs (mostly ups! He is darling). We got him TNR'd early on. We've had a few scares—gone missing, cat fights, wounds, hurricanes—all that we've managed throughout the years and Pumpkin has come to bond with and trust me. I can pet him, apply meds generally, but not really pick him up. He has a few buddies in the neighborhood that we also feed and watch out for. Every morning I come down and see him snoozing in the bush outside the kitchen window and he jumps down as soon as he sees me. Every night I come out and he is waiting for me to feed and pet him, too. This has been our routine more or less for so long now.
Fast forward to today and I will have to move from this home in Florida all the way up to Philadelphia. I've read all the threads about relocating a feral and wish I could move to a place nearby with safe, fenced-in outdoor space for Pumpkin (and the few other strays), but that is unfortunately not something that can happen anytime soon. This neighborhood in general seems fine with feeding the cats sporadically (I believe at least daily), but I worry most about them TNR'ing any newcomers, plus watching for injuries or anything medical. The next door neighbor hates the cats. The neighbor on the other side loves them and we had a conversation about me leaving and if they can take over duties. While they said all should be fine while I'm gone, they seemed to not want to devote the time or resources besides basic feeding, which, understandable. It's a lot of work!
I do not know how long the house will take to sell, nor if the new buyers (or renters/whoever ends up living here) will be so cat-friendly. I know it's something to mention in the selling process, but certainly not concrete, even if they do claim to like cats. I've been debating this for awhile now, and unless I feel the people who live here will actually take care of Pumpkin, I cannot risk leaving him. Ultimately I have decided to take Pumpkin up with me. He recently got a horrible bite wound and we were able to get him into the house, then into a trap, and to the vet where he was cleaned up and taken care of. It's been almost a week and he's been recovering inside the house, which has been a bit surreal to witness! I am taking this time to try to acclimate him to living indoors and after a bumpy period, he was doing okay. My biggest concern was him using the litter box, but he seems to have caught on fairly quickly. However today he has been running every which-a-way and doing that low-throated desperate howl like he wants out. He even hissed and growled at me at one point. So I am feeling discouraged again. I am thinking and hoping this is just going to be part of the process?
Beyond trying to make him happy inside and resisting letting him back out to his beloved bush and buddies, I am also wondering how hard it will be to travel by car with this feral-born cat for a probably ~18 hour trip, then settling him into a whole new home in a whole new state. I have already bought a crate and read up on keeping him confined for a bit once reaching there. I will not be letting him outside in Philadelphia of course. I have one other cat who will be in her own carrier I am worried about already, but Pumpkin throws a whole other wrench in the works.
TL;DR: Getting my semi-feral cat to acclimate being inside, but then having to move with him by car from Florida to Philadelphia in a few months.
I don't have many people in my life who are cat people so really have nowhere to turn to in daily life (and it is daily, nonstop for me) for this. I guess I'm hoping for some reassurances or success stories, maybe some tips? Thank you for reading!
I have been feeding a feral cat on my property that we named Pumpkin for several years now and have been through many ups and downs (mostly ups! He is darling). We got him TNR'd early on. We've had a few scares—gone missing, cat fights, wounds, hurricanes—all that we've managed throughout the years and Pumpkin has come to bond with and trust me. I can pet him, apply meds generally, but not really pick him up. He has a few buddies in the neighborhood that we also feed and watch out for. Every morning I come down and see him snoozing in the bush outside the kitchen window and he jumps down as soon as he sees me. Every night I come out and he is waiting for me to feed and pet him, too. This has been our routine more or less for so long now.
Fast forward to today and I will have to move from this home in Florida all the way up to Philadelphia. I've read all the threads about relocating a feral and wish I could move to a place nearby with safe, fenced-in outdoor space for Pumpkin (and the few other strays), but that is unfortunately not something that can happen anytime soon. This neighborhood in general seems fine with feeding the cats sporadically (I believe at least daily), but I worry most about them TNR'ing any newcomers, plus watching for injuries or anything medical. The next door neighbor hates the cats. The neighbor on the other side loves them and we had a conversation about me leaving and if they can take over duties. While they said all should be fine while I'm gone, they seemed to not want to devote the time or resources besides basic feeding, which, understandable. It's a lot of work!
I do not know how long the house will take to sell, nor if the new buyers (or renters/whoever ends up living here) will be so cat-friendly. I know it's something to mention in the selling process, but certainly not concrete, even if they do claim to like cats. I've been debating this for awhile now, and unless I feel the people who live here will actually take care of Pumpkin, I cannot risk leaving him. Ultimately I have decided to take Pumpkin up with me. He recently got a horrible bite wound and we were able to get him into the house, then into a trap, and to the vet where he was cleaned up and taken care of. It's been almost a week and he's been recovering inside the house, which has been a bit surreal to witness! I am taking this time to try to acclimate him to living indoors and after a bumpy period, he was doing okay. My biggest concern was him using the litter box, but he seems to have caught on fairly quickly. However today he has been running every which-a-way and doing that low-throated desperate howl like he wants out. He even hissed and growled at me at one point. So I am feeling discouraged again. I am thinking and hoping this is just going to be part of the process?
Beyond trying to make him happy inside and resisting letting him back out to his beloved bush and buddies, I am also wondering how hard it will be to travel by car with this feral-born cat for a probably ~18 hour trip, then settling him into a whole new home in a whole new state. I have already bought a crate and read up on keeping him confined for a bit once reaching there. I will not be letting him outside in Philadelphia of course. I have one other cat who will be in her own carrier I am worried about already, but Pumpkin throws a whole other wrench in the works.
TL;DR: Getting my semi-feral cat to acclimate being inside, but then having to move with him by car from Florida to Philadelphia in a few months.
I don't have many people in my life who are cat people so really have nowhere to turn to in daily life (and it is daily, nonstop for me) for this. I guess I'm hoping for some reassurances or success stories, maybe some tips? Thank you for reading!
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