Feral Cat Decision

[KrazyForKats]

Tomorrow is the big day. I finally take Taffy Tabby to the vet. The Gabapentin to sedate him is in a capsule that I break apart and put in his food. I’ve been giving him empty pill pocket treats every morning this week, and he gobbles them up, so I hope he’ll do the same thing tomorrow with the Gabapentin in it. Then I hope he’ll be sedated enough for me to get him in the cat carrier. Wish me luck!

 

[KrazyForKats]

The Gabapentin worked! Taffy Tabby struggled a little when he realized we were putting him in the cat carrier, but he slept the half hour trip to the vet. The vet just called and said he’s healthy with no feline diseases. Yay! He’s going to remove a couple of bad teeth. Then he’ll be ready to come home.

I’m going to give him a couple of days to recover from vet trauma. Also, I have a house guest this weekend. Then I’ll start introducing him to my kitty, Pixie Belden, and we’ll see if he can tolerate being a permanent house cat.

 

[maggiedemi]

That's wonderful! Let us know how it goes with the introductions. Are you going to put up a gate?

 

[KrazyForKats]

I have one, but I’m not sure if I’ll use it. I thought I would let Pixie come down to the basement with me and just see how it goes. Pixie lived in the basement when we first brought her home, so it’s familiar territory. Taffy Tabby has a couple of safe places he can retreat to if wants to. Neither one of them are aggressive. What do you think?

 

[maggiedemi]

Personally, I would try the gate first to see how they react to each other. If you do it without the gate, I would make sure that they don't scratch each other in the eye.

 

[KrazyForKats]

Taffy Tabby socialization is moving very slowly. After he seemed recovered from the tooth extractions, I let Pixie, my socialized former feral cat, come down to the basement where Taffy Tabby is for a few days. Pixie sniffed all around and when she spotted Taffy Tabby she went over to him. He hissed and she backed off, but wasn’t traumatized.

A few days ago I started giving him access to our upstairs entryway where he could see us and Pixie through a leaded glass door. From the kitty cam I could see he came up about midnight and yowled for us to open the door. We didn’t, but last night we left the door open. Again, around midnight I heard him yowling, I think from the living room where we have another glass door to a screened in porch. When he heard me get up, he started to go back downstairs to the basement. I talked to him from the top of the 2nd floor stairs, and he stopped as if he was listening to me. When I turned on the light he went down to the basement. Pixie was laying quite calmly at the bottom of the stairs on the 1st floor. I think she’s interested in, but cautious about Taffy Tabby.
I hate to admit it, but I’m still undecided about whether to keep Taffy Tabby inside.

 

[maggiedemi]

I think it's a good sign that they didn't punch each other.

 

[msaimee]

You've had him inside your house for 3 months now, and you can pet him, right? And he is beginning to get access to other parts of your house, and your other cats have gone into the basement? it sounds like things are moving along nicely. if he was really miserable being inside he would be yowling quite a bit, scaling the walls and windows, and desperately trying to find a way out of the house. Is he doing any of these things? I think once he is used to your resident cats and has free run of the house, he will adjust nicely, but it does take time.

 

[KrazyForKats]

Yes, I can pet him. He does yowl at certain times of the day - usually in the morning and, now that the door is open, around midnight. I suspect those were his roaming times when he lived outside. He mostly sleeps during the day and a lot of the night. Before I took him to the vet he was playing with the cat dancer with me.

Tonight I think I’m going to move his food to the upstairs entryway and gradually move it to the kitchen where I feed my other cat, Pixie. That’s what I did with her when I transitioned her to the rest of the house.

 

[KrazyForKats]

Unless there are drastic changes, I’ve decided to keep my feral kitty, Taffy Tabby, inside. And to make it official, I’ve given him an official inside kitty name. He is now Charlie Byrder. Charlie has spent the past 2 days upstairs and only goes down to the basement to use his litter box. He and Pixie, my formerly feral kitty, are cautiously interested in each other. Charlie prowls and howls at night. If I come downstairs he stops and lets me talk to him. He made it up to our 2nd floor landing in his explorations last night. During the day, he hides in a radiator cut out cubby in our den. I call it his recharging station. Here’s a picture of him in his recharging station where he submits to pets and allows me to give him treats.

 

[msaimee]

It sounds like he's making great progress!

 

[maggiedemi]

Awww, Charlie is precious! It sounds like things are going great.

 

[surya]

He's really cute. I'm glad he gets to stay.

 

[KrazyForKats]

Charlie is so weird. He stays under a bookcase in my den all day, but around 5:00 every evening he comes out and starts yowling/talking and roams around the house. He often sits in the window in my living room, and yesterday he made himself at home on the sofa! He runs if my husband or I approach him, even if we have treats, but then comes back and peeks at us. His yowling is more talking than distress and he doesn’t stand at the doors or windows and yowl like he’s begging to get out. I think part of it is just announcing where he is to Pixie, our other cat. She still hisses if he comes to close. It’s like he’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - fraidy, hiding cat during the day and explorer cat at night. Has anybody else seen the day/night different behavior?

 

[KrazyForKats]

We had an upset today. Charlie sat under his bookcase in the den all day as usual, and I visited him a few times and gave him treats, but around 5:00 when he usually comes out, Pixie, my formerly feral cat went into the den and sat close by. I’m sure she was trying to intimidate him. After our dinner, when he still didn’t come out, I shut Pixie in our bedroom and put Charlie’s food out for him. He came out from underneath the bookcase, and sat in the window of the den, but didn’t eat any food. I finally let Pixie out. She went downstairs and gobbled up Charlie’s food. There was still dry food available, but when Charlie came out, my husband told me that Pixie chased Charlie down to the basement. When I went down there, he was sitting in the window shaking. This would be funny since Charlie at 15 lbs. is almost twice the size of Pixie at 8 lbs., but Charlie is not an aggressive cat and is clearly afraid of Pixie. I petted Charlie and gave him some treats. I brought his food down to the basement, and turned out the lights, and shut the door so Pixie doesn’t have access. I’m not sure how to proceed from here. I think Pixie’s survival skills as a formerly feral cat have really kicked in. She is very food oriented, and I just wish I could make her understand that Charlie isn’t a threat to food resources.