Caring For Abandoned and Feral Cats

The last month has been so crazy that I haven't gotten a chance to post about Stacy's snake bite.

One night she came slowly through the leaves to the porch, limping on one of her hind legs. There was nothing visibly wrong with her leg and she bedded down for the night. I thought maybe she had slept on the leg funny and it was asleep; or that she had jumped and landed badly on it.

By morning, her foot was very swollen and she could barely walk because she didn't want to put any weight on it. She was in a great deal of pain, visibly ill with nausea and heaving. Once during the day, as she was moving around on the cushioned chair, she got so sick or was in so much pain that she kind of collapsed. I think she passed out for a few seconds.

This illness continued for days.

On the 4th night she did not sleep on the porch but instead retreated into the maze of boxes in the carport. I was afraid she was going off to die. This was on the 4th night after being bitten.

The next morning, she was up on her towel and chair. The big swollen spot on top of her foot had burst open and was draining.

It took her a day or so more to begin feeling all better. The foot was skinny for a few days. I think she had some muscle wasting.

One thing that I use with my cats when they are ill is an amber chip necklace. I lay it near them and when I return I always find that they have laid themselves on top of it. It seems to pull them through some really rough times. Amber has healing properties, one of which is to draw illness out of the body. http://www.amber-teething-necklaces.com/healing_properties_of_baltic_amber.html

Stacy

 

I just ran across this when I was searching for another image...I may seriously have to buy this game!

 

^^^ That's sexist...

 

Here is the company's contact page. You can write them and say so!

http://www.accoutrements.com/shop/pages/contact-us.html

 

Our favorite feral baby apparently got played with too rough yesterday by the neighbor dogs and they broke his little neck and he is no longer with us. Our hearts are very very saddened by this because he was the sweetest and best cat we'd ever come across. He mostly lived on our porch, kept Daniel good company every time he had to be outside fixing the cars or a plumbing issue, and he always used to scare the shit out of me by jumping the fence while I was feeding my dog. We are going to miss him very very dearly, but the poor dogs really meant no harm. They didn't tear him up or eat him, they just played too rough it seems. Made me hug my inside babies extra tight definitely.

 

Damn, that's sad. :grouphug:

 

It is pretty sad. I'm pretty broken up over it. He's not the first cat we've lost, probably not even number 40, but losing him hurts almost as much as losing my first cat did. He was just really really special. I kind of fell apart when we found him in the road. Thank god he wasn't hit by a car, though, it was quick and likely painless. I'm just so glad he came into my life, just wish his kitten he left behind wasn't such an anti-social ass. lol

 

I'm so sorry to hear that, Ramona. The 2 outside cats here get along well with Jack (the insane Border Collie) and I always fear that they may think another dog may be just as "nice" as he is. They are subject to rub his legs and then smack at his face if he sniffs them too long.

I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, our neighbor's dogs wouldn't even be "nice" enough to quickly end their time here. Maybe now that the kitten has been left behind, he may be more sociable. Hopefully he won't "play" with those neighbor dogs.

 

Ramona, how have you lost so many cats?

 

When I first moved out here, the in-laws had just moved out and sister-in-law had a cat who had about 3 litters before they had her fixed. Then all her babies had babies. There was one time when I counted 30 cats around the food bowls. Neighbors trapped most of them, what they did with them I dare not ask. A few remained and reproduced, and passed away from various causes (some completely inexplicable), but they just keep reproducing and we keep feeding them. It's a cycle, we've lost a lot, we always are prepared to lose the outside ones, but not this time. He was around longer than any of the others and we just got so attached to him. We give them all names, we just get attached to some of them moreso than others. It's always sad to lose one, but he was truly our cat. He got a proper burial under the mesquite tree with the other babies we've had to bury.

 

Blessings to you and your ferals. :grouphug:

 

I found an adorable stray kitten a few years back. It was fairly cute and cuddly and ridden with fleas. After a couple of flea baths and feeding it, it turned into a hissing, clawing feline from hell. Wouldn't let anyone near it and it attacked my dog a couple times. Thats my feral cat story. We still have the dog.

 

I think there is a science to domesticating these feral kittens.

The steps are described in full detail at the website:

The steps involved in the taming process are:

Containment in a cage or large pet carrier

Periodic and brief handling with a protective towel

Containment in a small room

Exposure to other humans

Placement in suitable adopt
http://www.feralcat.com/taming.html

 

We found it a good home. It was giving the evil eye to my parakeet.

 

That's a happy ending for the feral baby! :2thumbsup:

 

I had friend who had a cat and a macaw loose in the same house. Poor kitty cat was harassed and intimidated.

 

I've met a macaw or two that have intimidated me.

 

I've wonder that after thousands of years of cats and humans living next to each other, why they don't recognize a sucker when they see one just on instinct. There's a tortoiseshell cat living behind the building where I work that comes to our dumpster on most nights. I've been trying to bribe it into coming closer to me with food but I can't get withing thirty feet of it before it runs away. The cat has to know I'm the one feeding it with real food instead of rancid scraps of fried chicken and Subway sandwiches.

There was a really ugly cat back there a few years ago that was always hanging around. Part of its fur was missing like it survived a dog attack but when I broke down and drove to 7-11 to get it some actual cat food, because it was so pathetic looking, it let me pet it for a minute before it ate and ran away.

I found out the next day that the people in the building across from me captured it and took it to get fixed up at the vets. Now the cat is living in a nice warm house.

 

Dang, if that ain't the ugliest cat! lol
The first two cats i had started out as Carolina island ferals and Dad had me place a bowl of bait shrimp on the far side of our deck and sit quietly untill they were done eating and gone. Next I moved the bowl closer untill I was sitting with the bowl in my lap and soon I could handle them.