We Had A Visitor For Breakfast This Morning

[voyager]

This morning M'Lady comes in and tells me she just saw a small, skinny, scrawny gray cat in the enclosed portion of the lanai eating out of our cats' bowls. It sure sounds like a feral or dumped cat. Both are very common around here.

The gutless wonders of the world would rather dump them to starve or worse, rather than taking them to the pound where they might at least have a chance of being adopted.
Anyway, off my soapbox.

I cannot justify taking in another cat. We are not an animal shelter. Two is our limit. If it shows up again we will continue to feed it to make it comfortable with being here. Then I'll get a cat trap from the pound, trap it and deliver it to them.

I do feel a bit guilty about my attitude, but it's better than any other alternative open to us.

 

[Sarthur2]

Please do not take the cat to the pound. It will promptly be euthanized.

Please take it to a no-kill animal shelter or rescue that will check for a chip, spay or neuter, vaccinate, treat any issues, and find a home for the poor kitty. You can look for local no-kill shelters online.

Thanks for feeding it in the meantime!

P.S. You can borrow a trap from most no-kill shelters.

 

[voyager]

I will make contact with the two no-kills that I know of in our area.
But, from everything I've seen and heard about them there isn't much chance they'll take this little beggar from its description.
They are almost always full with no room for more.
Finding an open slot is difficult.

One always has a few CL ads with more interesting and desirable looking cats for sale at premium prices.
I did not know who it was for a very long time.
I thought it was some kind of kitten and puppy mill.
Now I understand what's going on.
They're trying to cover their operating costs by selling the more desirable animals for as much as they can get for them.
I can't fault them for that.
Chances are we'll never see the little beggar again.
It will probably never come up.

I have never had a pet (dog or cat) that was bought in my life.
We always seemed to have an in with the pound operators.
If they had an interesting animal come in they would call my folks to see if we had an interest in it.
That's how we got Rags, our maine coon cat back in the early/mid '50s and a host of sable collies, all named Sally with noses so long they could drink milk from the bottom of a milk bottle.
I have been known to make regular repeat visits to the pound just to see what they had around that might catch my attention. That's how I got my black manx tom, a very memorable cat.

 

[Sarthur2]

Many sad strays look much healthier and more beautiful once they are cleaned up and eating a good diet. Nutrition does wonders for a coat!

 

[voyager]

It has been back at least a couple of more times.
Last night about 8pm a loud cat screech came from the lanai.
I about had a heart attack and both of our cats were freaked.
I went and looked at our surveillance camera videos and saw the infrared image of it coming onto the lanai.

Today I walked the yard.
The cats usually follow me when I do it.
They followed me out to the mail box on the street and back.
We came back along the back side of the house.
Dex went ahead of me and as he neared the corner of the house at the lanai, he froze and was very, very twitchy.
I knew what it was.
So, I popped around the corner and saw the visitor on the lanai.
It freaked and crashed through the wall screen to get away.

I went back to the surveillance videos and saw that it came in from the back of our lot.
The back 1/3rd of out lot is undeveloped, just jungle as all the adjacent lots are.
It leaves an unbroken strip of undeveloped land at least 1/4 mile long and 200 t0 300' wide. It is probably living in there.

It is bigger than M'Lady described it.
I'd say an adult.

If it is a dumped or feral cat, the screeching is probably part of the cat defending its food from others, acting typical of any animal that has gone hungry and feels it needs to defend its food.
I am now worried that it might harm our two pampered idiot dummies.
I have had to call a vet once already to treat a scratched eye from an encounter with an intruder in our yard a few months back.
Not going to allow it to happen again.

I called the no-kill shelter today, but could only leave a message.
Tomorrow, I will be going to the area where its located for another reason.
While I'm down there, I'll stop by and speak with them.
Their phone message says they're open every day for adoptions.
If I can get satisfaction I'll work with them.
If not, I'll check with the pound.
If I still can't get satisfaction, I will trap or hunt it it and kill it.
It has to go, one way or another, no ifs ands or butts.

 

[vyger]

Sometimes life is interesting -- the people you can meet----.
My mom was born and raised in Hilo. That is not far from where you are. I don't remember if they had cats but likely they did. I lived in Kailua on Ohau for several years as a kid. My dad was Air Force.
If you add an O and an A to my user name guess what it says.. V--y--ger.
With only a thousand people living where you are the cats likely outnumber you. As you said, you invited them in, they just might take over. Some dark night they will all be there lined up across the floor in front of your bed, all saying something about "remember Charlie". SO best not to shoot any of them. I don't know what the hunting laws are there now but cats may not be on the approved list. They do, after all, help keep the rats down, something the mongoose failed to do, and thereby help protect the indigenous birds which were getting killed out by the rats eating the eggs. When living there I also had several close calls from falling coconuts which had been gnawed free by the rats. You could see their bite marks all over them. An enemy of my enemy is my friend. Best to find some nonviolent way to solve the problem. Trapping and relocating might be a better option.
Cats fighting is always a problem because they do that. Some of mine get into fights for no apparent reason. And 2 hours later will be sharing a dinner bowel. Makes no sense to us but cats don't think like people. Otherwise they would have taken over everything many many years ago.
Hey maybe I should come and visit some day, my cousin lives there now. That might be an excuse to show up. Although when I was in the Boy Scouts there and we did manage to start a small forest fire (It was a cave man camp out) I have learned to be much more civilized now , probably from living with a lot of cats.

By the way, next time you see your stray ask him if his name is Charlie. Just call out to him, "Hey, your name Charlie?". Ask him what he wants there. He might let you know.

 

[mani]

The shelter is probably on minimal staff at the moment, being the holidays in the US.
Please do work with them, and see about getting a trap.
Remember, too, that you are on a site full of people who are concerned about the welfare of all cats. If I still can't get satisfaction, I will trap or hunt it it and kill it isn't going to go down very well.

 

[voyager]

mani, you are right.
This is not the venue for me to have expressed myself in the manner I did.
I should have kept it to myself.
After all, this is a cat lover's forum.
Many will be offended by what I have said, and how I said it.
That was not my intention.
I do give my apology for that.

I do tend to be a bit pragmatic.
That I do not apologize for.

I am thankful for the advice you folks have given to help in my care of our cats.

 

[Sarthur2]

voyager

If this cat is hungry enough it will eventually go in a trap to eat. Your best bet is to put it near the back of your property line and begin feeding the cat in the trap WITHOUT setting it for a few days to create trust.

Use a sturdy piece of cardboard to line the bottom, as it is uncomfortable and even painful on a cat's paws to be on the metal wiring for very long.

Once you set and catch the cat, put a blanket or towel over the top leaving only one end uncovered. This will help to calm the cat.

Even if it hisses and acts nasty in the trap does not automatically mean it is a mean feral. It will just be frightened out of its mind.

Wear work gloves when handling the trap with the cat, and take it to the no-kill shelter. Shelters often do amazing work with cats.

The cat does not deserve to be killed just because it is hungry. It may have been dumped or abandoned through no fault of its own.

I hope this can be handled humanely and will work out in the best interests of everyone!

Keep us posted!

 

[maggiedemi]

If you can trap him and get him neutered, he probably won't fight as much. Please don't shoot him.

 

[voyager]

I will be going in to see the no-kill shelter this morning, then if needed, the pound.
I know that I can and will get satisfaction from at least one of them.
If not, then I could use a mongoose trap, one big enough for a cat would also do the job.
I know that I can trap it.

It is now obvious that this is an abandoned cat.
It is too old to be seen for the 1st time, if feral.
After working out its disposition after trapping it, I will go into town to get the materials needed to repair the damage our cats have done to the lanai screen, making several "doors" around the lanai.
I will close off all entrances except for the cat's door, by extending the clear corrugated panels around the bottom of the end walls.

The intruder didn't know the cat door was there when I startled it yesterday.
But, it will quickly figure it out after it is the only means of access to the feeding area.
I will then trap it as it comes through that door.
My only real concern is if it is a female with a litter some where, not sure how I'll deal with that, if so.

It has obviously moved into our yard and is coming onto the lanai very often now.
Our cats are now hiding in the house at night, and are very spooked by its scent all over the lanai and yard in the morning.
It takes them about 1/4 to 1/2 hour to calm down and become more relaxed and normal acting.

M'Lady and a friend have gone to the mainland for a few days.
I've gotta go feed the friend's cats now, then make my rounds for this morning's chores.

 

[daisyd]

The shelter is probably on minimal staff at the moment, being the holidays in the US.
Please do work with them, and see about getting a trap.
Remember, too, that you are on a site full of people who are concerned about the welfare of all cats. If I still can't get satisfaction, I will trap or hunt it it and kill it isn't going to go down very well.

mani, you are right.
This is not the venue for me to have expressed myself in the manner I did.
I should have kept it to myself.
After all, this is a cat lover's forum.
Many will be offended by what I have said, and how I said it.
That was not my intention.
I do give my apology for that.

I do tend to be a bit pragmatic.
That I do not apologize for.

I am thankful for the advice you folks have given to help in my care of our cats.

There’s being pragmatic and then there is being as crawl as the gutless people you referred to early in your post who abandon the pets to starve ,, both killing an animal and starving it is on par with one another . I do hope the poor cat finds somewhere else to eat and hopefully will be rescued

 

[voyager]

daisyd
You are entitled to your opinion.
I refuse to discuss that aspect of the situation anymore.
And, I will ignore anymore comments of such caliber as yours.
In fact, the only reason I'm continuing to update the situation is because there there has been a request for me to do so.

When I made my next to my last post, I originally was saying goodby, I'm out of here.
That is still an option that I have no problem with.
I do not need this site to find out what I want to know.
It is merely a convenience, a shortcut.
I do check further into all advice given to me here, and verify its appropriateness before applying it.

Anyway, gotta go to town now.

 

[maggiedemi]

No need for you to leave. Would you be opposed to getting him neutered and keeping him as an outdoor feral? Once he gets neutered, he might stop fighting.

 

[voyager]

@ maggiedemi
I am not the only one involved in making that kind of decision.
Responsibility for another cat is out of the question for a variety of reasons I will not go into here.
I have done my share of animal rescues, dogs, cats, a horse, as well as a variety of wildlife.
Few have turned out well.
I am reluctant to try doing it again.

My only concern is the welfare of our 2 existing cats.
I am not a cat person.
I am into cats only because I have a couple.

I do get into animals in general.
I like having them around.
Which kind is of little importance until the slot has been filled.
Then, which ever it is, is the one.
The slot has been fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilled. [Dex just walked across the keyboard]

Plan's changed, I have not gone to the shelters and will not be doing so until a few things get done firstiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii[-. [He did it again]
I will secure the lanai first.
Until that is done there will be no attempt to trap the intruder, unless it becomes expedient.
Then, a large order of antheriums arrived today.
I need to get them into the ground before they start deteriorating.

There has not been a sign of the intruder today.
The problem may have resolved itself.
Time will tell.

 

[maggiedemi]

That sounds interesting, maybe you'll share some of your past animal rescue stories with us sometime. I myself have rescued two feral cats and it has been quite the adventure. I've learned a lot, including to cover the furniture BEFORE taking the cats in.

 

[voyager]

My animal rescue stories, where to start?

The earliest I can remember was a male sable collie. We had a fixation on this breed of dog, and had many over the years. It had been kept chained up and had obviously endured many beatings. We were able to take possession of the animal by escalating the requests for it to threats of bringing law enforcement into it. We took it home and kept it in the house for a few weeks giving it much gentle attention. It lived in our living room hiding behind the sofa. Every time it was allowed out of the house free, it would crawl under the house and hide there. It couldn't be coaxed out. I would have to crawl under there myself and drag it out taking it back into the house to again to continue trying to gaining its confidence.

This went on for months with no improvement in the dog's behavior. Then, it got loose during the winter. We lived in a small town in the Cascade Mountains. Winters were very snowy. I tracked that dog for over 5 miles through hip deep snow before catching up to it. Amazingly when it saw me, it let me walk right up to it. I took my belt off and placed it around his neck and led him down the mountain to the opposite end of town from which we lived in, all the while holding my pants up with my other hand to keep them from falling down.

The hiding under the house episodes went on for several more months. We had put almost a year into trying to bring that animal around with no success. Finally, it disappeared during one of it's excursion outdoors. It wasn't until many years later that I found out that my father had taken it out and killed it. In retrospect, I have to agree with that decision. The dog was psychotic and could not be brought around by any means available.

----

I found and brought home many strays, from lost household pets to lost show animals, ending up having to return them to their owners after keeping them for short lengths of time.
One stray I kept for many years was a dog that I finally figured out was an English Setter.
He was my faithful companion. He went everywhere I went. There was one mystery about the dog that took several years to figure out. He would disappear every fall for a few weeks, then reappear with things going back to normal until the next fall when he would disappear again. I finally found out what was happening with him. One fall I saw a couple of pheasant hunters out in a field with my dog out with theirs. After talking with them I found out that he had attached to them for the hunt. They said that he was a damn good hunting dog, better than theirs.
It turned out that every year during pheasant season he would go out and find hunters to hunt with until the season was over, then come back home until the next year.
I lost that dog when we were moving to another town and had to leave him with a friend for a few days. Apparently, he was inconsolable with my leaving him. He ran off before we came back for him. We could never locate him again.

----

I grew up with horses. If I am any type of animal person, I am a horse people. My best friend was a horse and considered an equal not a pet. I consider eating horse meat to be on par with cannibalism. I had my own for many years and was a member of a riding group that toured the state's rodeos and horse shows competing and giving exhibitions as a drill group. I rode the animal almost daily. I divested myself of my horse when I left home.
Later, after I was married with children, we were living in the only area within the city limits of a large city that was still classified as small farms, the only place in the city where it was legal to keep a large farm type animal, like a horse.
Most people do not realize how much attention and work keeping a horse requires. An adolescent girl had coerced her parents into buying her a horse. She did not give it the basic care it required, like daily feeding and watering. The horse, a young filly, was starving. It was emaciated. its growth had been stunted.
It had learned to break out through the barbed wire fence to get to grass to feed on. It came into our yard to feed. I quickly built a corral in out back yard and put her into it buying hay to feed her with. I then called her parents and told them that they were going to give me that horse to care for or I was calling the SPCA and turning them in. They complied.
We moved a couple of times taking that horse with us. She never got to be more than a small pony size and never filled out as she should have. I never did break her to ride. She never was more than a field pet.
The bad habit she had acquired of breaking through fences was never lost. She was finally killed by a vehicle after escaping again.

----

I spent 16 years as a single parent. After my kids left home, I moved to Alaska. After a couple of years, my son asked if he could also come up. I sent him plane fare, hooked him up with a job and put him up for a while. He finally moved into a place with several other younger guys. They took a kitten in. She was the cutest thing, part Siamese with the Siamese coloring except for white boot on her black legs, and a white mustache on her black nose, just adorable looking. Then problem was that she had been teased incessantly by those adolescent mentality guys. She was a survivor. She had learned that the best defense was a good offense. She didn't like to be held, petted or touched and was a little buzz saw if you tried to restrain her if she wanted to get away.
She always used her claws with no warning or restraint.
After a year in Alaska my son announced that he was not going to do another winter up there. I inherited that cat.
I already had a ferret that I was keeping. She fit in very well with it. They kept me in stitches as they would play with each other running around the house chasing each other in one direction then then other. They were a perfect fit. Over time she would finally come and lay in my lap, but still did not like to be petted more than a few strokes before making a half hearted attempt to bit me. Because of her dislike for being held and her way of forcing one to let her go, I had to keep, her locked up in the house. She finally escaped one day and my worst fear happened. A small toddler saw her and did the old "Pretty Kitty" thing and picked her up. I ran him to a doctor to have his scratches and bites taken care of. The mother called the police. I had to explain the situation to them. They allowed me to keep her in quarantine for the required time. With time, she actually became quite docile with me, but still did not trust strangers.

Finally, I had a long term bush job to go do. It would take almost a year to finish with employer furnished housing. I could not take the cat or ferret with me. Neither was adoptable. I do not leave my dirty work for someone else to do. I took both of them out and killed them just before leaving for the job.
I never kept another pet until the two cats we now have, about 30 years, 1985 to 2017.

About 2000 I began to obsessively keep orchids in my home while in Alaska. I kept as many as 75 of them in my living room. It wasn't until we acquired our present cats that I realized the orchids were nothing more that a sublimation for keeping animals. I soon lost interest in the orchids. Now, I just take them out into the yard, mount them on a tree and then sit back and see how they do. I no longer invest in taking care of them. They either make it or they don't. Surprisingly, I now have a yard with orchids all over it. I walk through it almost every morning, coffee in hand, to see what's in bloom.

This has taken too long to get down. There are a few others that come to mind, but I have more important things to do, like feeding cats.

You asked for it. There it is.

 

[orange&white]

I've been following this thread because I'm curious to see what becomes of the skinny grey cat visitor.

When I think of rescue stories, I hope to hear heartwarming stories where the pet was taken in, lived a good life well-cared for, and eventually died peacefully at home. Perhaps I watched too much Lassie and Leave It To Beaver growing up.

Anyway, do you have any heartwarming rescue stories where the animal died of natural causes under your care, or has some sort of really happy ending? One? It's the holidays. Something cheery would be great.

 

[voyager]

I watched Lassie [where our obsession with sable collies began] and Beaver too.
They were feel good entertainment for kids.
They had nothing to do with the realities of life.
Every pet we had that I can remember, and we had many over the years, died from being run over by a car, catching a disease, having to be destroyed, or something similar.
None died with their boots off.

I have no feel good holiday stories to tell.
Except that I loved and enjoyed every one of my animals while they were with me.
If that isn't enough for you, then you shouldn't keep pets, or family, or friends.
No one gets out of this alive.
Some get more time than others.
Only a few lead as good an existence as the usual North American or European does.
Most Western people expend more energy worrying about an animal's welfare than having concern for Somali children dying of starvation.
But, that is also a reality of life.

I've thought about deleting this reply.
But, you've asked for fairy tales that I cannot supply.
I can only give you reality.

On second thought, there was Rags our Main Coon Cat.
He lived to be at least 18 yrs.
But, he didn't die with his boots off either, he was euthanized by a vet because of his age and health.
Even when it seems good it isn't.

EDIT:
As far as the skinny grey cat goes.
I didn't see any sign of him yesterday, but I'm noticing that our cat food consumption seems to have increased, and the dummy cats are still very spooked. I will get the lower screening replaced with corrugated panels and trap it if it comes in through the cat door.

 

[orange&white]

On second thought, there was Rags our Main Coon Cat.
He lived to be at least 18 yrs.
But, he didn't die with his boots off either, he was euthanized by a vet because of his age and health.

I knew you had to have at least one good happy ending in there somewhere.