- Joined
- Sep 25, 2017
- Messages
- 21
- Purraise
- 13
Hi, it's been a while but I'm updating the status of my new friend (the story). I have own (been friend) of several cats and all of them turned into amazing caring normal cats lovely to have at home while also keeping their nature in many ways, yes all rescued, this one... was different, difficult!.
Chapter #1. The semi feral cat.
This fellow appeared at home stealing food from garbage bags. Then I started leaving some food for the cats (some, not "lots", why? read below). This one was very thin, swallowed food in a hurry, nervous, etc. There is a small forest around so at time it was obvious to me this cat grew without human interaction on first days. I qualify this as a semi feral cat because it was naturally aggressive (read feral cat) but was exposed to humans at least as neighbors, not as a group they an socialize with. The cat was fearful.
Chapter #2. Slow first contact.
I slowly managed to approach the cat while eating, it was a slow process as anytime the cat heared me then quickly ran away. Slowly approached night after night until leaving traces of food made it easy for the cat to approach (instead of me, he did the job). Over time entered home. Sure any noise caused the cat to ran away.
Chapter #3. Bruises.
We humans can't help but touch things or beings right? very slowly the cat allowed to be touched, sometimes would run away and others attack but as you might already know it's complex, there is no evil in them. Be careful you can't allow this just because, why? diseases.
Chapter #4. Nap time.
I repeated the same procedure, food and space. Then the cat would enter home, eat, drink some water and then sit or lay down on the floor. Later would do the same on the couch. Any noise would trigger the same response of running away.
Chapter #5. More nap time and staying the day.
I was very happy, the cat would come and MEOW. He used come at 11:30pm, then every day at 10, then 8pm, then every day at 18:30, I managed to see the cat running each day same hour coming to my house. Then the cat would stay inside my car (windows open), for months this car became his home, usually leaving at some time of the day.
Chapter #6. Staying the whole day.
This felt as an achievement. Now allowed to be petted some bits, attacked in some encounters if touched. Any visit would make him leave.
MISTAKE. I knew about this but failed to act accordingly. Sure there is discussion about this but... you can read about those discussions on other threads... it's good to capture the cat and get him fixed (castrated), the sooner the better. If too young better, then keep it, if adult, well do it, keep it for recovery and try to keep it for real. If too aggressive then most people usually fix them and let them go. The thing is many times we don't do this because we fear the cat would leave and won't come back, well quality life is a better option, they have a very short span outside so the sooner the better (and keep it).
Chapter #7. Poisoned.
A very evil and large cat appeared out of nowhere. Some other cats already were familiar and came around for some food, this one... attacked other cats and did so to this fellow. Got him to the vet, later someone apparently decided to leave poision, mine got a bit. Lucky us the cat survived, got him neutered and kept it home, this time fixed things up to avoid any chance of scape (closed doors, etc).
Problems with the cat. Let's make some things clear. Every cat is different, but this one was WAY different than any other cat. He was fearful (natural), and sometimes aggressive but then again I consider this natural given the circumstances. But... it was impossible to get him to play. He was young, still no adult, yet didn't play. Was VERY noise-aggressive towards other cats (unlike the other ones around) but rarely (like never) got in a fight.
He was like a watchdog. There was a time when refused to enter too often but stayed in the garage without leaving. Well, anytime a cat appeared he would let me know, but when I came out he went on a full scale noise attack towards the other cats, it seemed like "we were" a team protecting the area, it was both funny, tender and also unconfortable. Well, as impossible as it might sound, this cat joined me for walks around home and even to the forest, great buddy (we don't do this anymore for obvious reasons, I keep him only at home, no... it's not a good idea to bring him out for a walk, don't feed what you won't be able to do forever).
The main problem was not letting me sleep. I applied all I know about cats but failed. Got him fixed and still... it was a pain, would meow every 2 seconds for hours, HOURS!!! I kept him home and there was a time when I went nuts and let him go. He would come back and while not my intention directly, I would supply less food for obvious reasons.
Long story short (while doing the same) the cat lives with me peacefully. All it took was patience and got him fixed. Now while he still pretty much ignores the laser... (amazing, still surprises me) we now play full scale, he is playful but take note: perhaps due to the fact he grew in the forest, he plays full scale in the garden. Over time he managed to play some more inside the house but it's out where he loves it, lucky me I have a garden.
In my case the signs of improvement were not so much about eating or entering the house, it was more about the speed of eating, this allowed me to see the cat was relaxed. I can rub his belly with no problem now, sleeps with me in my bed, lovely cat.
His demands are very simple:
- Two sand boxes
- fresh food and water
- caring
- personal attention in the morning for some playing
- personal attention in the night for some playing too
Failing on any of those, specially the last two means trouble and anxiety. He is a good boy. Yes along the way scratched me and also bit me, careful with that, they are not evil but they can get you sick, some of us are already used this (doesn't mean we consider this part of the job). It means its a possible danger but the responsibility is on you.
Feeding the cats? careful. Be responsible, you can't afford feeding street cats allowing them to multiply just because you feel "good" or it's "noble" feeding sarving animals, what you might be doing is allowing the multiplication of issues and then getting people to kill them depending on where you live. You can only do so much... feed, rescue, get them fixed. Help to avoid multiplication, when possible adopt a cat, rescue one. Don't try to rescue them all, that's a long story but sure we can't do that, we would love to but remember: fix them, it's easier to deal with 1, 2, 4 than making the problem bigger and then deal with 20 cats (unless you want to keep them).
Keep them... cats become more social and easy to adopt if you keep them (and treat them well). Letting them go? avoid this, but there are cases where people just rescue, fix them and let them go, we will not cover or discuss that here, sure there are situations where that's the best thing to do but let's cut it here. I bring this to attention because many times we fear socializing with a cat means making him weak and then would not be able to protect himself out there. Well that's wrong, they keep their natural instincts. My only opinion would be about cats you raised from very very early stages, they would consider humans their friends, well you get the point where the danger is if you let them go.
And never... NEVER declaw them.
Good luck.
Chapter #1. The semi feral cat.
This fellow appeared at home stealing food from garbage bags. Then I started leaving some food for the cats (some, not "lots", why? read below). This one was very thin, swallowed food in a hurry, nervous, etc. There is a small forest around so at time it was obvious to me this cat grew without human interaction on first days. I qualify this as a semi feral cat because it was naturally aggressive (read feral cat) but was exposed to humans at least as neighbors, not as a group they an socialize with. The cat was fearful.
Chapter #2. Slow first contact.
I slowly managed to approach the cat while eating, it was a slow process as anytime the cat heared me then quickly ran away. Slowly approached night after night until leaving traces of food made it easy for the cat to approach (instead of me, he did the job). Over time entered home. Sure any noise caused the cat to ran away.
Chapter #3. Bruises.
We humans can't help but touch things or beings right? very slowly the cat allowed to be touched, sometimes would run away and others attack but as you might already know it's complex, there is no evil in them. Be careful you can't allow this just because, why? diseases.
Chapter #4. Nap time.
I repeated the same procedure, food and space. Then the cat would enter home, eat, drink some water and then sit or lay down on the floor. Later would do the same on the couch. Any noise would trigger the same response of running away.
Chapter #5. More nap time and staying the day.
I was very happy, the cat would come and MEOW. He used come at 11:30pm, then every day at 10, then 8pm, then every day at 18:30, I managed to see the cat running each day same hour coming to my house. Then the cat would stay inside my car (windows open), for months this car became his home, usually leaving at some time of the day.
Chapter #6. Staying the whole day.
This felt as an achievement. Now allowed to be petted some bits, attacked in some encounters if touched. Any visit would make him leave.
MISTAKE. I knew about this but failed to act accordingly. Sure there is discussion about this but... you can read about those discussions on other threads... it's good to capture the cat and get him fixed (castrated), the sooner the better. If too young better, then keep it, if adult, well do it, keep it for recovery and try to keep it for real. If too aggressive then most people usually fix them and let them go. The thing is many times we don't do this because we fear the cat would leave and won't come back, well quality life is a better option, they have a very short span outside so the sooner the better (and keep it).
Chapter #7. Poisoned.
A very evil and large cat appeared out of nowhere. Some other cats already were familiar and came around for some food, this one... attacked other cats and did so to this fellow. Got him to the vet, later someone apparently decided to leave poision, mine got a bit. Lucky us the cat survived, got him neutered and kept it home, this time fixed things up to avoid any chance of scape (closed doors, etc).
Problems with the cat. Let's make some things clear. Every cat is different, but this one was WAY different than any other cat. He was fearful (natural), and sometimes aggressive but then again I consider this natural given the circumstances. But... it was impossible to get him to play. He was young, still no adult, yet didn't play. Was VERY noise-aggressive towards other cats (unlike the other ones around) but rarely (like never) got in a fight.
He was like a watchdog. There was a time when refused to enter too often but stayed in the garage without leaving. Well, anytime a cat appeared he would let me know, but when I came out he went on a full scale noise attack towards the other cats, it seemed like "we were" a team protecting the area, it was both funny, tender and also unconfortable. Well, as impossible as it might sound, this cat joined me for walks around home and even to the forest, great buddy (we don't do this anymore for obvious reasons, I keep him only at home, no... it's not a good idea to bring him out for a walk, don't feed what you won't be able to do forever).
The main problem was not letting me sleep. I applied all I know about cats but failed. Got him fixed and still... it was a pain, would meow every 2 seconds for hours, HOURS!!! I kept him home and there was a time when I went nuts and let him go. He would come back and while not my intention directly, I would supply less food for obvious reasons.
Long story short (while doing the same) the cat lives with me peacefully. All it took was patience and got him fixed. Now while he still pretty much ignores the laser... (amazing, still surprises me) we now play full scale, he is playful but take note: perhaps due to the fact he grew in the forest, he plays full scale in the garden. Over time he managed to play some more inside the house but it's out where he loves it, lucky me I have a garden.
In my case the signs of improvement were not so much about eating or entering the house, it was more about the speed of eating, this allowed me to see the cat was relaxed. I can rub his belly with no problem now, sleeps with me in my bed, lovely cat.
His demands are very simple:
- Two sand boxes
- fresh food and water
- caring
- personal attention in the morning for some playing
- personal attention in the night for some playing too
Failing on any of those, specially the last two means trouble and anxiety. He is a good boy. Yes along the way scratched me and also bit me, careful with that, they are not evil but they can get you sick, some of us are already used this (doesn't mean we consider this part of the job). It means its a possible danger but the responsibility is on you.
Feeding the cats? careful. Be responsible, you can't afford feeding street cats allowing them to multiply just because you feel "good" or it's "noble" feeding sarving animals, what you might be doing is allowing the multiplication of issues and then getting people to kill them depending on where you live. You can only do so much... feed, rescue, get them fixed. Help to avoid multiplication, when possible adopt a cat, rescue one. Don't try to rescue them all, that's a long story but sure we can't do that, we would love to but remember: fix them, it's easier to deal with 1, 2, 4 than making the problem bigger and then deal with 20 cats (unless you want to keep them).
Keep them... cats become more social and easy to adopt if you keep them (and treat them well). Letting them go? avoid this, but there are cases where people just rescue, fix them and let them go, we will not cover or discuss that here, sure there are situations where that's the best thing to do but let's cut it here. I bring this to attention because many times we fear socializing with a cat means making him weak and then would not be able to protect himself out there. Well that's wrong, they keep their natural instincts. My only opinion would be about cats you raised from very very early stages, they would consider humans their friends, well you get the point where the danger is if you let them go.
And never... NEVER declaw them.
Good luck.