Hi,
Several months ago, I took an orange and white tabby from a friend of mine who was trying to find a home for him. My friend, who had two cats of his own, was approached by this cat in a supermarket parking lot. He was sick and in pretty bad shape, and ran straight over to him when he made typical sounds that would get a domesticated cat to come over. My friend nursed the little guy (approx. 6 months old) back to health, although he still had a bit of a cold and ear mites. No signs of worms, parasites, etc. He seemed pretty happy in photo and video taken. He also already knew how to use the litter box. When I took in the cat, I drove to meet my friend's wife halfway - that's when, apparently, this cat began to show his true colors.
He immediately freaked out in the cat carrier my friend put him in, even giving himself a bloody nose in the process in addition to emptying his bowels in the carrier too. He also was INCREDIBLY attached to my friend's wife and did not act like a domesticated cat around me when I brought him home until I ignored him. During his stay with us, he barely even made an attempt to play even when he seemed relaxed. He wouldn't go for the laser pointer and seemed to only like this one catnip mouse toy, which he would just paw around a bit. He would allow me to pet him and pick him up, but he would try to claw my wife if she picked him up. Besides not playing, he didn't hide - we found later he started trying to mark his territory around the house. Despite having been bathed, he stunk up the house something awful, and it was not due to the litterbox - possibly his anal glands were in overdrive from stress, but my wife, who grew up with cats, had never smelled whatever this cat was producing. To top it off, he would lie down in the litter box and literally just hang out in it, which my wife also thought bizarre.
So, when I went to get him neutered and get his shots (once he hadn't been sneezing for a few days and for all intents and purposes acted like a normal, healthy cat despite his smell and weird behavior) he again flipped out in the carrier but didn't make a mess until he was "calmly" laying down. When the vet examined him, he apparently became so stressed that he was "incredibly sick" in every sense - puffy eyes, river of snot running out of his nose, and bad diarrhea (which he didn't have with us or with my friend). He was so bad the vet called me and asked me why I would bring such a sick cat in thinking he could be put under to be neutered, which was both news to me, my wife, and the friend who took care of him before me. Anyway, I took off work to see what in the world was going on, buy meds for him that the vet prescribed, and take him home to get him fixed up. Well, when I get him back, first chance he has to escape he bolts for it, and clawed at me several times in my attempts to prevent him. After a couple hours, of tracking him around the neighborhood, he gave me the slip, and I haven't seen any slightest him for months, nor have the neighbors who I asked to keep an eye out. In fact, I have found every single stray and feral in the neighborhood except him.
Now, at this point, I'm beginning to wonder if he actually was a stray/abandoned like my friend who "rescued" him thought, or if he was a feral just looking for a bite to eat and got more than he bargained for. Other cat owners I know think he was a feral who had some regular contact with humans but was never owned by anyone to begin with. I'm posting here because I would like to know what those with more experience think - Was the little guy was actually a stray or was he just a sick and hungry feral?
Several months ago, I took an orange and white tabby from a friend of mine who was trying to find a home for him. My friend, who had two cats of his own, was approached by this cat in a supermarket parking lot. He was sick and in pretty bad shape, and ran straight over to him when he made typical sounds that would get a domesticated cat to come over. My friend nursed the little guy (approx. 6 months old) back to health, although he still had a bit of a cold and ear mites. No signs of worms, parasites, etc. He seemed pretty happy in photo and video taken. He also already knew how to use the litter box. When I took in the cat, I drove to meet my friend's wife halfway - that's when, apparently, this cat began to show his true colors.
He immediately freaked out in the cat carrier my friend put him in, even giving himself a bloody nose in the process in addition to emptying his bowels in the carrier too. He also was INCREDIBLY attached to my friend's wife and did not act like a domesticated cat around me when I brought him home until I ignored him. During his stay with us, he barely even made an attempt to play even when he seemed relaxed. He wouldn't go for the laser pointer and seemed to only like this one catnip mouse toy, which he would just paw around a bit. He would allow me to pet him and pick him up, but he would try to claw my wife if she picked him up. Besides not playing, he didn't hide - we found later he started trying to mark his territory around the house. Despite having been bathed, he stunk up the house something awful, and it was not due to the litterbox - possibly his anal glands were in overdrive from stress, but my wife, who grew up with cats, had never smelled whatever this cat was producing. To top it off, he would lie down in the litter box and literally just hang out in it, which my wife also thought bizarre.
So, when I went to get him neutered and get his shots (once he hadn't been sneezing for a few days and for all intents and purposes acted like a normal, healthy cat despite his smell and weird behavior) he again flipped out in the carrier but didn't make a mess until he was "calmly" laying down. When the vet examined him, he apparently became so stressed that he was "incredibly sick" in every sense - puffy eyes, river of snot running out of his nose, and bad diarrhea (which he didn't have with us or with my friend). He was so bad the vet called me and asked me why I would bring such a sick cat in thinking he could be put under to be neutered, which was both news to me, my wife, and the friend who took care of him before me. Anyway, I took off work to see what in the world was going on, buy meds for him that the vet prescribed, and take him home to get him fixed up. Well, when I get him back, first chance he has to escape he bolts for it, and clawed at me several times in my attempts to prevent him. After a couple hours, of tracking him around the neighborhood, he gave me the slip, and I haven't seen any slightest him for months, nor have the neighbors who I asked to keep an eye out. In fact, I have found every single stray and feral in the neighborhood except him.
Now, at this point, I'm beginning to wonder if he actually was a stray/abandoned like my friend who "rescued" him thought, or if he was a feral just looking for a bite to eat and got more than he bargained for. Other cat owners I know think he was a feral who had some regular contact with humans but was never owned by anyone to begin with. I'm posting here because I would like to know what those with more experience think - Was the little guy was actually a stray or was he just a sick and hungry feral?
