Hi all,
Okay this is the situation so far: my husband and I live in a fairly rural area (more cornfields than anything else). Our nearest neighbors are about half a mile away. About late August we spotted a really, really thin, almost emaciated cat in our "yard". As soon as he caught sight/ heard us he was gone hiding in the cornfields or in the culverts and essentially disappearing.
I am a very soft touch, and I knew that fall would be coming soon, and if this winter was anything like last winter the cat wouldn't stand much of a chance (considering its state at the time). So we began feeding the cat (whom my husband named Jess (after postman pat's cat because he is black and white like ours).
So we started out with the food near the car (close to the culvert) and gradually moved it closer and closer to the house and the sidewalk that leads to the front porch. Since the weather was starting to get cold even in September we decided we'd made him a cat house.
We thought that if nothing else, it'd be someplace warm, and hopefully someplace that would be difficult for local predators to get into and eat him. We placed it on the lee side of the house, about 3-4 feet from the house itself -- this was because the winds in our area are fierce and there is very little shelter or breaks from them (we moved here two years ago and although we've planted some trees---it'll be a long time before they do much) Anyway, this is the cat house/ shelter we made:
(my husband over engineered it so that it has 2 inch thick foam insulation on the floor, walls and ceiling (the lid lifts off so we can get into it and change the straw). And from the entry hall it has an opening into the main area (filled with straw, and also the escape door). We tried this out (after we built it, ha ha) on our indoor cats and all of them could fit through it. The window is double glazed so that there is some small amount of light available inside so the cat can see a little).
We also made a makeshift feeding station for him: (this was taken a week or two ago).
It took a LOT of arguments and stamping my feet to make my husband understand that the food should _not_ go in the shelter since other things will come to eat it. What it took to get that message through? Him seeing a skunk there at night eating.... After I explained we could not chase it off with a stick (he's foreign, still not too clear on all our wildlife out here) we decided that I was right, and that also, we should only put the food out during the daylight hours to keep other beasties uninterested in coming around.
Jess seemed to have no problem with eating the food (we do dry food, and then canned food.) my biggest concern initially was to get some calories in him so he'd survive the winter. Since we started feeding him he is looking worlds and away better
Ok, So, here's the thing: in all it's taken 3 or 4 months to get Jess to feel comfortable around us, and to not immediately run off when he sees/ hears us. This past weekend we obviously hit some sort of lottery because he was actually willing to come into the porch (it's a closed porch) as long as we left the door partly open. He seems to have put on a good amount of weight in the process.
Since then he's actually sat in both our laps, purred, shown us his belly, let us pet his belly and generally was very affectionate (although still very "on guard" when unexpected movements or noises were made). We can now have him on the porch (it's uninsulated though and often colder than outside except for the wind) with the door closed. He will now allow us to pick him up and hold him (and he purrs).
He is out at the front door at 6:30-8am crying and as soon as he hears the front door (to the house not the porch) open he races out of his house to sit on the step and cry....
He is looking better. His fur is cleaner looking and he isn't matted anymore.
So, although he's warmed to us and displayed (IMO) a high level of trust I need to bring him to the vet (I say him because I think I see danglies when I look at his backside-although he could be a she too, I guess. Either way I feel like all the effort we've put in has essentially made us responsible for his health and general wellbeing. Being neutered, vaccinated and ect seems like the right thing to do.
Do I sound really bad for saying that I would like eventually, to get him to be an indoor cat? (provided we could get him acclimated to our other cats)? I'd like to ensure that he stays safe and we live in an area with a fair sized population of coyotes and foxes. Currently out of our 3 cats only one of them goes outside (on a harness) until we get around to building a catio.
Your thoughts?
Okay this is the situation so far: my husband and I live in a fairly rural area (more cornfields than anything else). Our nearest neighbors are about half a mile away. About late August we spotted a really, really thin, almost emaciated cat in our "yard". As soon as he caught sight/ heard us he was gone hiding in the cornfields or in the culverts and essentially disappearing.
I am a very soft touch, and I knew that fall would be coming soon, and if this winter was anything like last winter the cat wouldn't stand much of a chance (considering its state at the time). So we began feeding the cat (whom my husband named Jess (after postman pat's cat because he is black and white like ours).
So we started out with the food near the car (close to the culvert) and gradually moved it closer and closer to the house and the sidewalk that leads to the front porch. Since the weather was starting to get cold even in September we decided we'd made him a cat house.
We thought that if nothing else, it'd be someplace warm, and hopefully someplace that would be difficult for local predators to get into and eat him. We placed it on the lee side of the house, about 3-4 feet from the house itself -- this was because the winds in our area are fierce and there is very little shelter or breaks from them (we moved here two years ago and although we've planted some trees---it'll be a long time before they do much) Anyway, this is the cat house/ shelter we made:
(my husband over engineered it so that it has 2 inch thick foam insulation on the floor, walls and ceiling (the lid lifts off so we can get into it and change the straw). And from the entry hall it has an opening into the main area (filled with straw, and also the escape door). We tried this out (after we built it, ha ha) on our indoor cats and all of them could fit through it. The window is double glazed so that there is some small amount of light available inside so the cat can see a little).
We also made a makeshift feeding station for him: (this was taken a week or two ago).
It took a LOT of arguments and stamping my feet to make my husband understand that the food should _not_ go in the shelter since other things will come to eat it. What it took to get that message through? Him seeing a skunk there at night eating.... After I explained we could not chase it off with a stick (he's foreign, still not too clear on all our wildlife out here) we decided that I was right, and that also, we should only put the food out during the daylight hours to keep other beasties uninterested in coming around.
Jess seemed to have no problem with eating the food (we do dry food, and then canned food.) my biggest concern initially was to get some calories in him so he'd survive the winter. Since we started feeding him he is looking worlds and away better
Ok, So, here's the thing: in all it's taken 3 or 4 months to get Jess to feel comfortable around us, and to not immediately run off when he sees/ hears us. This past weekend we obviously hit some sort of lottery because he was actually willing to come into the porch (it's a closed porch) as long as we left the door partly open. He seems to have put on a good amount of weight in the process.
Since then he's actually sat in both our laps, purred, shown us his belly, let us pet his belly and generally was very affectionate (although still very "on guard" when unexpected movements or noises were made). We can now have him on the porch (it's uninsulated though and often colder than outside except for the wind) with the door closed. He will now allow us to pick him up and hold him (and he purrs).
He is out at the front door at 6:30-8am crying and as soon as he hears the front door (to the house not the porch) open he races out of his house to sit on the step and cry....
He is looking better. His fur is cleaner looking and he isn't matted anymore.
So, although he's warmed to us and displayed (IMO) a high level of trust I need to bring him to the vet (I say him because I think I see danglies when I look at his backside-although he could be a she too, I guess. Either way I feel like all the effort we've put in has essentially made us responsible for his health and general wellbeing. Being neutered, vaccinated and ect seems like the right thing to do.
Do I sound really bad for saying that I would like eventually, to get him to be an indoor cat? (provided we could get him acclimated to our other cats)? I'd like to ensure that he stays safe and we live in an area with a fair sized population of coyotes and foxes. Currently out of our 3 cats only one of them goes outside (on a harness) until we get around to building a catio.
Your thoughts?
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