Taming/Socializing Stray Cat

honerbright

Howdy,
As some of you know from the off-topic thread I've been regularly feeding a stray kitty for about 6 weeks now. She's been coming twice a day, every day without fail and we've slowly been building up trust.
I've been able to walk up to her (but not touch her) for the past little while and she'll walk over to get her food and spends her nights sitting and staring into our house, only to bolt when we open the back door for her.
I'm not sure how old she is, she seems so small, smaller than my own cat anyway and she's a small cat herself!
Anyway, George has a weepy and sore eye and we finally got hold of a cat trap today and we trapped her first go. The plan is to get her to the vet ASAP to get her eye sorted and see about neutering her (they were shut by the time we caught her so couldn't make an appointment yet).
We have her set up in the spare room right now, curtains drawn, with a bowl of her usual food, some cat milk and a handful of cooked chicken along with a litter tray filled with dirt from the yard.
She's absolutely petrified, naturally, and hasn't eaten a bite and has spent the last few hours wedged between the wall and the bed just staring into space.
Ideally we would like to keep her and have her as an indoor/outdoor cat and I completely understand that that may never happen and she might end up returning to live in the outside world (after neutering) and just coming back for her daily meals. But I would like to give her the chance of having a family life before that happens.
Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to proceed... do I leave her be, do I just spend time sitting in the room quietly? Google says so many different things, but I would really prefer to hear from Boardsies who have had similar experiences

Pumpkinseeds

For tonight I'd just let her be and let her get her bearings. Everything is going to be really strange for her. Give her time and she'll have a good sniff around the room and investigate. I know they can sound pitiful when they first get shut in the room, Toby made me feel awful after the vet with the meowing and scratching. You'll have a better idea how George is after the vet trip. Our vet recommended checking Toby for fiv and I think feline leukemia, which we agreed to in order to make sure Felix and Jazzy would be safe.

Once George is neutered/spayed things should settle more too. Just do things slowly. Be careful she doesn't get passed you when you open the bedroom door, Toby did on us. With Jazzy being feral and terrified I used to just sit on the floor on a cushion and read. I only glanced at him now and again and just let him get used to me being in his space and he learnt that I wasn't going to hurt him.

Ever2010

Our youngest came to us with her sister for fostering in Dec last year (yes we're failed fosterers!). She was terrified of us. I used to sit in the room with her and read - pay her no attention - she was definitely interested in what I was up to after a while, although any movement would send her straight back under the bed.

After a bit she'd come out and sniff me and run back. It did take a while but now she loves her cuddles and in the last 2 months we can pick her up. It definitely took a good few weeks before she was comfortable with us - but she loved our other 4 cats from the off-set - I think that really helped.

Best of luck with her - she's a little beauty - very like our youngest male in colouring.

honerbright

I feel so terrible for her tonight. Shes so quiet and so scared. She peed with fear all over the window sill earlier.
As soon as she's all health checked/wormed/flea treated/vaccinated I might let my cat Cinnamon have a meeting with her. They've been staring at each other out the window since George turned up, and maybe if George seen my touching and petting Cinnamon it might help her realise I won't hurt her.

Thanks for all the advice so far!

SillyMangoX

I don't have anything to add, only that when I was taming ferals I fed them from my hand to get them used to coming to humans, but they were only 4-6 weeks old, they tamed down fairly well and are now happy semi feral farm cats! She is absolutely beautiful though, reminds me of my Cream!

honerbright

George has the vets at ten to 11, I'm off to work now so my OH is taking her. Hope she'll be ok there, shes so stressed and hadn't moved from her corner last night or eaten anything so he'll see if they can syringe her some water or something because this heat is mental.

Manach

Best of luck to you. I cannot add much, as my own experience was with a kitten much younger than that. An observation would be that they will never be utterly tame and at times can feel skitish around humans but with food and soft words can be brought around into domesticity.

BeerWolf

My sister managed to tame a wild stray cat [countryside] (who had a nasty case of the tail having gone necrotic and looked like it was on the verge of falling off but was being held up still by the bone), through persistence of luring him with food. At first he was pretty shy of being anywhere close to her, but once he got close and started to eat he had no problem being pet.

Once she could handle him, she brought him to the vet to have the tail amputated and cleaned up. He stayed with her awhile, was very playful and docile - until someone else started feeding him, and now he's pretty much their cat...

-.-;


Does come over once in awhile though, pft.

And this is why I prefer dogs, they got their loyalty!

Nody

Feliway diffuser; plenty of time sitting in there doing nothing and once he's starting to dare out start getting out laser pointer or other toys that puts you away from him and start playing. It will take time, he'll realize suddenly what he's doing and run away but persistent and non pushy approach (i.e. let him approach you rather then the other way around) is your best bet.

Pumpkinseeds

How did George get on at the Vet today?

honerbright

So my OH took George to the vet today and she had a bit of a freak out and went mad in there so they had to turn off the lights and find her with a flashlight.
Vet said she thinks the eye is the cat flu so George got a jab for that with antibiotics and stuff in it so hopefully that'll clean her eye up. She lets my OH clean her eye area too. Well, she sits there immobile and not crying/hissing while he does it.
She's moved around the room a far bit today, every time he went to check her she was in a different spot. I don't think she's eaten yet, but she was licking her lips when I went and gave her a fresh pouch of food earlier, which I hope means she'll be brave enough to try soon.
The vets he had her at said that chances are that she is FIV positive, but didn't test her or anything, so we've to take the trap back to a different vets any way so we'll make an appointment there for her because they're a cat-only vet and were recommended to me by a local rescue so I hope they will have more experience with ferals/strays and will actually give her a proper health check up so we know what the story with her is a bit better.

honerbright

George finally ate last night, delighted. I checked her this morning and the bowl was licked clean and she was up laying on the pillow rather than the floor in the corner

Pumpkinseeds

I'm delighted for her. Try not to worry too much about the fiv etc. We were sure Toby would be positive since he had so many bite and scratch marks from fighting, but he isn't so that's a relief. Did the vet say if she's been spayed? I know of the other vets you borrowed the trap from and I'd say they'll give her a thorough check over. At least she's snug indoors and can have a good sleep, probably the best sleep she's had for a long time.

The antibiotic injection makes them feel much better very fast, that being said I'd make sure she has plenty of fresh cold water, away from her food, as my cats are always very thirsty when they've had the injection.

honerbright

She's had another bowl of food and some cat milk. She had an accident on the bed today, but that wasn't unexpected, considering.
She's booked in to the other vets for the morning to get a proper health check. She was so scared at the first vets I don't think they could've checked to see if she was spayed if they'd wanted. The vets tomorrow is talking about sedating her to examine her thoroughly which might be for the best after her last vet visit.

I'm relieved I bought her in when I did - our neighbors cut away all their bush which borders their yard which I know George used to use for shelter/hiding when she was outside so it would have been very scary/strange for her.

Pumpkinseeds

honerbright wrote: »

She's had another bowl of food and some cat milk. She had an accident on the bed today, but that wasn't unexpected, considering.
She's booked in to the other vets for the morning to get a proper health check. She was so scared at the first vets I don't think they could've checked to see if she was spayed if they'd wanted. The vets tomorrow is talking about sedating her to examine her thoroughly which might be for the best after her last vet visit.

I'm relieved I bought her in when I did - our neighbors cut away all their bush which borders their yard which I know George used to use for shelter/hiding when she was outside so it would have been very scary/strange for her.

Yeah you're timing was perfect then. Jazzy did the very same thing the first time we took him to the vet. He has to be sedated every time we bring him in, which thankfully is very rarerly. He just panics so much he reverts to being feral. George doesn't sound feral at all, just scared. The accident was predicatable as you say. Sedating her will be for the best, you want her to get the best check up possible I know and it'll be less stressful for her. Jeez, she'd have had no shelter from the sun without the hedge either.

honerbright

Had George at the second vets today, we dropped her off and left because they were going to sedate her to check her over and do her bloods.
Unfortunately the tests came back saying she had FeLV (Feline Leukemia), which explains her small size, her bad health and the reason she was not a pregnant stray.
After much discussion with the vets it was decided to let her go to sleep (she was under sedation at the time).

Her quality of life was severely diminished as she had been suffering from the cat flu for at least 3 months before I started feeding her (I used to spot her around the estate). The vet said this was an indicator the her immune system was beginning to break down. Due to her feral nature and the now inability to live out doors (because of FeLV being highly contagious), and her absolute terror of being inside the vet was insistent there was no other option. I wanted to try and maybe rehome her, but the vets said that it's hard enough to home a healthy cat, let alone one with a terminal illness.

I'm absolutely devastated to lose her and feel so incredibly guilty for catching her, if I hadn't she'd still be chilling in the back yard

Rest in Peace, George

fathead82

honerbright wrote: »

I'm absolutely devastated to lose her and feel so incredibly guilty for catching her, if I hadn't she'd still be chilling in the back yard

Dont feel guilty,think of the long drawn out death she would have had if you didnt help her,you did the right thing for her.

Pumpkinseeds

I am so sorry about George. But you have made her last months very happy and she knew that she was loved and wanted. Without you and your partner she would have had a slow and painful death. Years ago we got a knock at the back door when we lived in a different part of town. We had a cat at the time and a woman asked me if I was missing a cat. We weren't, she said there was a sick cat in her garden for over a day and she wanted rid of it. I had a really bad feeling about what she meant so my husband and I walked up and took a look at the cat.

It was a windy, wet, cold day and the little cat was so weak that it couldn't even lift it's head. My husband picked her up and carried her to our home. We didn't have a car and there was no full time local vet in our town in those days. We called a vet who worked part time but he refused to come out until the following day and said she probably wouldn't survive the night.

We kept her warm by the fire and got some sugar water into her. She died in the early hours of the morning. There was nothing else we could have done for her, but at least she didn't die out in a storm and alone and unloved..

You spared George that kind of life and you gave the final gift and kindness that a human can give to a suffering animal. Without question you did the right thing for her. Remember her as she was and keep in mind that you did everything that you could have done. She has moved on to her next adventure now and her pain is over.

SillyMangoX

Oh the poor thing, I'm actually in tears here looking at that picture, she really reminds me of my boy! But you did your best for her and cared when no one else would, and saved her from a long drawn out passing. My old male cat Frodo had FIV/FELV after going missing for 10 months. He came home and we had him back just under a year when he went missing for 2 weeks. He came home the day I got my leaving cert results, walked in the back door and collapsed. Got up, tried to eat but couldn't without vomiting. He was skin and bone, kidneys failing, extremely dehydrated and all his beautiful coat falling out all due to the wretched disease. Of course we didn't know until that day that he had the viruses, and having seen the end stage, George is very lucky she had someone with enough compassion to let her slip through to the rainbow bridge with ease

boomerang

FeLV is vicious; I have been heart-scalded by the body condition of some of the strays and ferals I've found that tested positive for the virus. You know the survival time with FeLV is very short, right?

IMO she was absolutely blessed, OP. x x x x

honerbright

Thanks a million everyone for your kind words.
I know in my head it was the right thing to do, it was still so difficult to see her go.. I'd gotten so attached to her.

She's buried in the garden in the corner under the bush she used to have her meals and got a lovely decorative stone to put on the grave that we can take with us when we move.

Pumpkinseeds

Thats a lovely memorial for her and you'll always have your memories of her too:)