Need opinions/suggestions from cat lovers. - Page 2

ThinkOutsidetheBox · ‎01-23-2011

Hi Violann. I cannot offer you advice on all of your questions on this case, but I can hopefully alleviate one worry for you. Once you get him neutered, yes, the ideal thing is to have a cat recover in a safe, clean environment. However, with a feral or indoor/outdoor kitty, this is often not possible. Don't fret too much over this. The neutering of males these days is so quick and easy. Usually, no stitches are even used. When I had my adopted indoor/outdoor male neutered, the vet recommended that he be kept indoors to heal, but the vet also stated that may not be possible. I set up a caged area for the kitty, who was about 8 months old at the time, planning to do the "right" thing and keep him indoors for a full two-week recovery. Unfortunately, not only did he not take to the cage, but due to the effects of the anesthesia wearing off, he actually began throwing himself against the sides of the cage. It was a huge dog cage by the way....about three feet deep, 4 feet long and 3 feeth high. Still, he was not having that. About six hours after his surgery, he was let back outdoors for his own safety, and he never had a single problem healing.

The vet will most likely give your cat an antibiotic after surgery, so the risk of infection will be minimized. The point of me posting all this is just to try and reassure you that once you actually trap the kitty and get him neutered, don't stress yourself thinking you HAVE to keep him inside. That may turn out to be more detrimental to the cat's health than just letting him out, as was the situation with us. The only concern may be keeping positive control of the kitty until all effects from any anesthesia have worn off. That took a good twelve hours for our boy.

Puzzle Piece · ‎06-29-2010

Yes, we have had success with our feral cat. She was small, probably from lack of care or proper nutrition. We let her know there was always food and water available. We never looked at her straight in the eye. My husband eventually was allowed to pet her when she came near but he was wearing an old sock so she couldn' see his hand or fingers. She took to him and the sock. Eventually he removed the sock and she was okay. We gained her trust and she came into the house a little at a time. We left our slider door open for her to come in and out so she never felt threatened. After a while, she trusted us with the door to be closed. We had several places for her to eat and sleep, so she eventually got used to us and our schedule. She came up to sleep on our bed one night between us and we knew we had been successful. SHE domesticated herself. We have never betrayed her trust and she's been ours for 14 years. An official member of the family.

Never Forget the Native American Indian Holocaust

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

Oh LoveRoses ..... congrats on your success ..... what a sweet story!

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

I believe giving this guy a chance to go with you would be an absolutely wonderful thing. It might take some time, but I believe it is DO-able.

Long story very short.

Many years ago there was a fully grown, rough, tough white cat with mis-matched eyes who lived in our neighborhood. He repeatedly send my cats to the vets, beating the dickens out of them.

I made up my mind to tame him enough to trap him and have him euthanized because I was really afraid he was going to kill one of my cats, at that time I had 7.

It took a year of my feeding him for me to be able to touch him. All that year I saw him outside crouching on the frozen stone hard ground, or trying to get out of rain storms ~ it was SO SAD! During that time I determined to give him a chance if he would let me.

Keep in mind he was ALL READY fighting madly with my cats. I was finally able to hold him in my arms and take him to the vet and have him neutered, vaccinated, and all his scrapes and scratches treated. Then I brought him home and stupidly (I was young then) put down the communal plate for everyone to eat from. AMAZINGLY, he did not dart for the plate, he did not dive in and start a major kerfufllel, instead he backed way up, and crouched down with his head between his front feet. Several of my cats stomped over and smacked him HARD on his face and head and he did NOT respond, or even move. When they finished he moved over and cleaned up the plate of what they had left.

I am being very honest, this is a true story. From that night, seeing how hard he was trying, and how grateful he was to be inside, I made him a promise that I would NOT give up on him.

He lived with me for 8 years, and NOT once in that time did he EVER initiate a fight, or respond to slaps from the other cats, although he was a street-fighter and very big and they were not.

He was one of the most cosmic, affectionate, sweet, attentive, loving, empathic cats I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Even now I cry over losing him. He truly was a special love, I was so grateful to have been able to give him a chance, and he thanked me daily.

I wish you all the best with this guy.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

beastielove · ‎03-09-2010

violann wrote:
We have two pampered inside cats, and also a treasured, VERY shy feral.

Our feral has lived outside our house for two years. JUST TODAY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, he started to say "meow". He has never allowed us to touch him, but I am allowed to come about a foot away when I feed him.

He was trapped once, and SO TERRIFIED that I was afraid he'd literally kill himself by running at the door of the humane trap, so the decision was made to let him go.

We THINK, by observation, that he is probably an intact male.

DH and I have found a home we are interested in, and are quite enthused about it, but I could never leave the little cat. If I could find a vet service to tranquilize him and examine him for disease, I'd take a chance on trying to tame him, since we'd be glad to have him join our pampered indoor pets.

QUESTION- has anyone ever had any success with a cat who has been feral this long (well over 2 years)?

Is there any chance that neutering would have a MAJOR effect on his behavior?

I'd rather have him humanely euthenized than abandon him. Can anyone offer any other alternatives that have worked for them??

Thank you for your thoughts.

Violann...

God Bless you and your DH for doing all that you can for this precious boy. I'm praying with all of my heart that you're efforts proove successful and that you'll be able to bring this dear kitty with you when you move. :-)

I currently have five kitties...all of whom I rescued over the years...but their situations were different.

Each one of them had been dumped/abandoned and Divine Intervention meant for my path to cross theirs so that I could save their live.

Therefore I don't have any advice to give to as I've never dealt with your particular situation. However I read all of the previous posts on this thread from all the kind people who responded to you and I saw that you were given a plethora of excellent advice.

Please keep us updated with any and all progess.

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All of my children have paws =^..^=