Taking in a semi-feral and moving 1k miles with him

[ramonabee]

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!

 

[shadowsrescue]

Thank you so much for taking care of Pumpkin and giving him a better quality of life.

First off, don't let him back outside. You may never catch him again. He is doing so well so keep the process going. It takes time and patience for them to adjust to inside living. Consider looking into some Feliway and Composure to help him remain calm. I would keep all windows closed. Visit often and offer yummy treats. Get him some catnip or a few toys. When you visit sit on the ground and avoid direct eye contact. Talk to him, play soft music. Amazon music has relaxing cat music. He may yowl and howl for awhile. But you are his owner and he needs you to be strong. If you give in it will be very hard if not impossible to catch him again. Go slow and keep him confined to his own room so he doesn't have a chance to escape. Most cats will learn to adjust to inside living. When you move and if you feel he needs some outside time, consider getting him a catio.

I moved about 45 miles away 5 years ago. I had 3 feral cats that I had been taking care of for years. I decided they had to come along and it was time to move inside. I was able to get them into the house and upstairs to safe room before I moved. I used a mobile vet to come and give vaccines as well as test for FELV and FIV. I had 3 other cats so I needed them free of illnesses. They lived in a bedroom at my old house for 2 months before we moved. The mobile vet was able to prescribe gabapentin to make the almost hour car ride easier. I would definitely look to get some for the long car ride.

Here is a very very long thread that talks about the capture of a feral and what she went through to get him. Feral in my garage

We are here to help. Many of us have moved with feral cats and brought them inside. My 3 adjusted well. I have 7 cats and 6 of them are former feral cats. We had a rough couple weeks of yowling, howling, hissing, but we made it through. As long as he is eating and using the litter box, he is in the safest place possible.

 

[terricacatwood]

I realize it’s been a few weeks since this was posted but I am curious to know how are things going with Pumpkin being inside? Hopefully he is getting more settled by now. Shadowrescue mentioned the gabapentin for the car trip, and I do know that can also be used to help a stressed out cat that’s transitioning to being inside a home. As for the car trip, you might also ask your vet about trazodone as well. My vet recently recommended a combination of both that and gabapentin for my feral cats’ stressful vet visits. The car trip is likely to not be fun no matter what, but ultimately it is something you and Pumpkin will get through (I recommend ear plugs for your journey). I think the most important thing overall is helping pumpkin transition to being comfortable indoors right now. It sounds like you have a somewhat limited timeframe to do the process slowly, but it definitely seems doable within a few months. I’ve had two extremely feral cats that I’ve brought inside after injuries, and both of them were able to fully transition, and never seemed to want to go outside again. It did take a couple weeks for one of them to get comfortable, and a couple months for the other one. I don’t know if you have been keeping pumpkin confined to just one room, but that is what I did with my ferals, and then I gradually and slowly allowed them to have more access to the rest of my home. I found it was helpful to let them have time alone in their designated space and to observe predictable feeding, treat and play times. One of my ferals, Augustus, had never even been touched by a human that I know of when I brought him in. He is now the biggest baby and meows at me incessantly to pet him. He is the one that took a few weeks to transition. My feral Ernie, who has since passed on, was very old when I brought him in and I had only been able to briefly pet him when I fed him outside on my porch for a few weeks before I trapped him to bring him inside. Within a few weeks he was also letting me fully pet him and soon became one of the most affectionate cats I ever knew. It took a few months for him to feel fully comfortable in my home, but he never did show any further desire to go outside.

I do have one feral cat, susu, who I almost successfully brought in after he was injured, but he unfortunately got back outside through a window that was slightly ajar, which I had forgotten didn’t have a screen in it. When I had brought him in he definitely freaked out the most, trying to get to the highest point he could find in each room. He was just starting to calm down when he got out of my home unfortunately. I do plan on bringing him back inside though. I’m currently trying to encourage him to come in on his own terms (by leaving a window open in my basement sitting room when I’m in there, which is adjacent to his feeding station). If he’s not coming in on his own within the next two months, I plan to trap him and begin the process of re-introducing him to inside life.

Ive found with all of my feral cats that patience is key. It can really seem like they are never going to settle in and you end up worrying that you’re torturing the cat. Then one day everything just turns around. It has always proven to be worth it!

 

[ramonabee]

I realize it’s been a few weeks since this was posted but I am curious to know how are things going with Pumpkin being inside? Hopefully he is getting more settled by now. Shadowrescue mentioned the gabapentin for the car trip, and I do know that can also be used to help a stressed out cat that’s transitioning to being inside a home. As for the car trip, you might also ask your vet about trazodone as well. My vet recently recommended a combination of both that and gabapentin for my feral cats’ stressful vet visits. The car trip is likely to not be fun no matter what, but ultimately it is something you and Pumpkin will get through (I recommend ear plugs for your journey). I think the most important thing overall is helping pumpkin transition to being comfortable indoors right now. It sounds like you have a somewhat limited timeframe to do the process slowly, but it definitely seems doable within a few months. I’ve had two extremely feral cats that I’ve brought inside after injuries, and both of them were able to fully transition, and never seemed to want to go outside again. It did take a couple weeks for one of them to get comfortable, and a couple months for the other one. I don’t know if you have been keeping pumpkin confined to just one room, but that is what I did with my ferals, and then I gradually and slowly allowed them to have more access to the rest of my home. I found it was helpful to let them have time alone in their designated space and to observe predictable feeding, treat and play times. One of my ferals, Augustus, had never even been touched by a human that I know of when I brought him in. He is now the biggest baby and meows at me incessantly to pet him. He is the one that took a few weeks to transition. My feral Ernie, who has since passed on, was very old when I brought him in and I had only been able to briefly pet him when I fed him outside on my porch for a few weeks before I trapped him to bring him inside. Within a few weeks he was also letting me fully pet him and soon became one of the most affectionate cats I ever knew. It took a few months for him to feel fully comfortable in my home, but he never did show any further desire to go outside.

I do have one feral cat, susu, who I almost successfully brought in after he was injured, but he unfortunately got back outside through a window that was slightly ajar, which I had forgotten didn’t have a screen in it. When I had brought him in he definitely freaked out the most, trying to get to the highest point he could find in each room. He was just starting to calm down when he got out of my home unfortunately. I do plan on bringing him back inside though. I’m currently trying to encourage him to come in on his own terms (by leaving a window open in my basement sitting room when I’m in there, which is adjacent to his feeding station). If he’s not coming in on his own within the next two months, I plan to trap him and begin the process of re-introducing him to inside life.

Ive found with all of my feral cats that patience is key. It can really seem like they are never going to settle in and you end up worrying that you’re torturing the cat. Then one day everything just turns around. It has always proven to be worth it!

Thank you for checking in! Your success stories are very sweet and I'm so happy your former ferals have been able to experience being inside pets. I hope you get Susu soon too.

Very fortunately, Pumpkin has adjusted quite well to the indoors. It's especially rewarding when I come downstairs and he runs up to me for some pets and butt scritches. I will think about looking into a mobile vet to prescribe the meds for any potential anxiety on a very long car ride, but am also wondering how easy it will be to administer to him if I do end up getting anything? I am now most concerned about this long trip with 2 cats (especially with unpredictable Pumpkin), as well as this one friendlier cat outside and whether I can handle bringing him up as well. There are also 2 more feral cats who regularly visit my back patio that I'm worried about when I eventually end up leaving. I know they get fed regularly by some neighbors, but I guess I have to wait and see how whoever moves in next will feel about them? Or should I feed them much less so they get used to not relying on my house? Sorry this went from Pumpkin woes to the other outside cat woes