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A feral (DC) I was TNR'ing escaped his recovery cage and into the house back in May. Instead of retrapping him, we decided to tame him.
For about a month or so he has been more or less completely tame. Very affectionate, likes to sleep by my leg, will even let me kiss him all over his face. I recently began picking him up, which he tolerates. His personality is and always has been very submissive, both to humans and other ferals, even when he was unneutered.
Sometimes big/quick/certain movements cause him to be skittish in that feral sort of way still (if that makes sense) but he rebounds quickly.
He will essentially do and allow all of the same things with my boyfriend as he will with me now (despite seeing him much less than he does me), though we've not had a chance to see how he does with any strangers yet.
So here is the dilemma.
Now that DC is tamed and has willingly slept in his open carrier for the past week, I want to have him microchipped and tested for FIV/FeLV.
We have a new, wonderful vet. The two ferals we've taken to her she didn't even need to restrain. She just very slowly, calmly, and methodically handled them. Unfortunately, her office doesn't microchip, so I figured we'd take DC to our old vet just this once.
The thing is, a big reason we stopped taking cats to this clinic is that the staff is very rough with cats. Our resident kitty is 17 with CKD and other health issues and is incredibly laid back - the kind of cat who is unafraid of the vet and really just wants out of his carrier to explore and sniff and say hi to everyone. However, they constantly scruff him and make him scream and hiss with their restraint and "distraction" techniques.
Our incredibly laid back and senior fosters also received the same treatment and reacted similarly.
For this reason, I am really tempted to omit the fact that he was feral just a few months ago, as I am certain they'll be excessively rough simply due to knowing he is an ex-feral vs. believing he is just a scared/stressed house cat. The only time my cats have ever reacted violently it has 110% been due to their handling, so if not mentioning DC was feral can set him up for slightly better handling, then I believe he will act less defensively and it will be a more tolerable experience for all.
At the same time, I'm never a fan of being dishonest with a vet. I don't want to put them and their staff in a potentially harmful situation (no matter how unlikely I believe that would be, as DC has never so much as hissed at me before). While I believe the rougher he is handled the more likely he will be to cause harm, I admittedly have no way of knowing how DC will react in this situation.
Part of me knows the right thing to do - be honest. But I just know the word "feral", even with "former" in front of it, will absolutely seal his fate of a particularly unpleasant visit and I feel terrible doing that after earning his trust to the extent I have.
So basically, I'm hoping to be told one of two things:
- it's okay to simply say he's just another one of my stray fosters now that he's tamed
- OR be honest, and that I don't need to feel guilty because it is a temporary, one time thing that he will survive and get over and is in his best interest and just needs to be done (similar to the attitude required of TNR'ing).
Thoughts?
For about a month or so he has been more or less completely tame. Very affectionate, likes to sleep by my leg, will even let me kiss him all over his face. I recently began picking him up, which he tolerates. His personality is and always has been very submissive, both to humans and other ferals, even when he was unneutered.
Sometimes big/quick/certain movements cause him to be skittish in that feral sort of way still (if that makes sense) but he rebounds quickly.
He will essentially do and allow all of the same things with my boyfriend as he will with me now (despite seeing him much less than he does me), though we've not had a chance to see how he does with any strangers yet.
So here is the dilemma.
Now that DC is tamed and has willingly slept in his open carrier for the past week, I want to have him microchipped and tested for FIV/FeLV.
We have a new, wonderful vet. The two ferals we've taken to her she didn't even need to restrain. She just very slowly, calmly, and methodically handled them. Unfortunately, her office doesn't microchip, so I figured we'd take DC to our old vet just this once.
The thing is, a big reason we stopped taking cats to this clinic is that the staff is very rough with cats. Our resident kitty is 17 with CKD and other health issues and is incredibly laid back - the kind of cat who is unafraid of the vet and really just wants out of his carrier to explore and sniff and say hi to everyone. However, they constantly scruff him and make him scream and hiss with their restraint and "distraction" techniques.
Our incredibly laid back and senior fosters also received the same treatment and reacted similarly.
For this reason, I am really tempted to omit the fact that he was feral just a few months ago, as I am certain they'll be excessively rough simply due to knowing he is an ex-feral vs. believing he is just a scared/stressed house cat. The only time my cats have ever reacted violently it has 110% been due to their handling, so if not mentioning DC was feral can set him up for slightly better handling, then I believe he will act less defensively and it will be a more tolerable experience for all.
At the same time, I'm never a fan of being dishonest with a vet. I don't want to put them and their staff in a potentially harmful situation (no matter how unlikely I believe that would be, as DC has never so much as hissed at me before). While I believe the rougher he is handled the more likely he will be to cause harm, I admittedly have no way of knowing how DC will react in this situation.
Part of me knows the right thing to do - be honest. But I just know the word "feral", even with "former" in front of it, will absolutely seal his fate of a particularly unpleasant visit and I feel terrible doing that after earning his trust to the extent I have.
So basically, I'm hoping to be told one of two things:
- it's okay to simply say he's just another one of my stray fosters now that he's tamed
- OR be honest, and that I don't need to feel guilty because it is a temporary, one time thing that he will survive and get over and is in his best interest and just needs to be done (similar to the attitude required of TNR'ing).
Thoughts?