I posted last weekend, fretting about having decided to adopt a homeless cat from our office parking lot. Well, that kitty is home with us now. Her name is Blackberry.
She was trapped on Wednesday night, spent that night in the trap in my coworker's bathroom, then was transferred to a carrier, transported to my bathroom. She peed on a towel in the carrier (despite there being a litterbox in there), so I took a chance and tried to remove the towel. As I pulled the towel forward, Blackberry "rode" the towel toward the door of the carrier, then crawled out of the carrier and into my lap, where she curled up and seemed to enjoy it when I petted her. Expecting a nearly feral cat, I was shocked at this affectionate behavior. I also was astonished that she continued to sit there calmly while I worked over her head taking out the wet towel, rattling newspapers, putting a fresh towel.
She spent Thursday night in the carrier, with no food, because that was the order from the vet who would be spaying her Friday morning. She was spayed and vaccinated (radies and 4-in-1) yesterday, slept all night last night with the carrier door open in the closed bathroom--although she did at some point figure out what the litter box in the shower was for--and this morning crept out of the carrier into my lap and slept for as long as I would sit there and hold her. She ate a little bit of wet cat food today. She has slept all day, both in her carrier (with the door of it open) and on my lap. She purrs a little; has meowed quietly a couple times. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but according to the spay recovery materials, she should be alert and eating by now. She just seems groggy and apathetic, and perhaps cold, the way she curls up and snuggles into my legs. I would guess that her abdomen is sore from the spaying.
She also met our other cat, Betsy, today, and was unperturbed. Disinterested, really. She just sniffed her a little and put her head back down to sleep. Betsy, also, was fairly low key about it. Initially Betsy's tail puffed up to about 40 times its normal size, but once she figured out that Blackberry wasn't any threat, she just sniffed her thoroughly, then laid down on the floor and hung out with us, purring and batting around a catnip mouse.
Is this apathy common post-spay semi-feral behavior? I really expected her to be terrified, hiding out, just traumatized beyong belief. Could her lethargy be a side effect of the vaccines? Or is she just pooped from her traumatic week: trapping, new environments, new people, surgery . . .? If it were me, I'd be wiped out, but Blackberry's a kitty, and she's not acting at all like we expected her to. I do believe she is tamer than we thought, but I'm also worried that she's physically unwell.
Please share your experiences and insight!
She was trapped on Wednesday night, spent that night in the trap in my coworker's bathroom, then was transferred to a carrier, transported to my bathroom. She peed on a towel in the carrier (despite there being a litterbox in there), so I took a chance and tried to remove the towel. As I pulled the towel forward, Blackberry "rode" the towel toward the door of the carrier, then crawled out of the carrier and into my lap, where she curled up and seemed to enjoy it when I petted her. Expecting a nearly feral cat, I was shocked at this affectionate behavior. I also was astonished that she continued to sit there calmly while I worked over her head taking out the wet towel, rattling newspapers, putting a fresh towel.
She spent Thursday night in the carrier, with no food, because that was the order from the vet who would be spaying her Friday morning. She was spayed and vaccinated (radies and 4-in-1) yesterday, slept all night last night with the carrier door open in the closed bathroom--although she did at some point figure out what the litter box in the shower was for--and this morning crept out of the carrier into my lap and slept for as long as I would sit there and hold her. She ate a little bit of wet cat food today. She has slept all day, both in her carrier (with the door of it open) and on my lap. She purrs a little; has meowed quietly a couple times. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but according to the spay recovery materials, she should be alert and eating by now. She just seems groggy and apathetic, and perhaps cold, the way she curls up and snuggles into my legs. I would guess that her abdomen is sore from the spaying.
She also met our other cat, Betsy, today, and was unperturbed. Disinterested, really. She just sniffed her a little and put her head back down to sleep. Betsy, also, was fairly low key about it. Initially Betsy's tail puffed up to about 40 times its normal size, but once she figured out that Blackberry wasn't any threat, she just sniffed her thoroughly, then laid down on the floor and hung out with us, purring and batting around a catnip mouse.
Is this apathy common post-spay semi-feral behavior? I really expected her to be terrified, hiding out, just traumatized beyong belief. Could her lethargy be a side effect of the vaccines? Or is she just pooped from her traumatic week: trapping, new environments, new people, surgery . . .? If it were me, I'd be wiped out, but Blackberry's a kitty, and she's not acting at all like we expected her to. I do believe she is tamer than we thought, but I'm also worried that she's physically unwell.
Please share your experiences and insight!