Finally trapped Zena

Meowmee

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She is in the drop cage with lp, food / water. She was very scared at first. I caught her in a haveahart. This took 2 years nearly and she vanished a few times. This is the first time since she first showed up with a carrier I have been able to try again with everything going on. I am worried now that she’s been out there for so long that she is not going to be tame anymore. She hissed at me the other night when I was trying to trap her. When she first showed up she was crying and asking for help but she got scared when I went out with the carrier two or three times and then never showed up again for about three or four months. I’m sure she was a freshly dumped cat. So she must’ve had a home and been tame.

I wonder what to do to see if she is tamable etc. She is not touchable. But she does squeeze her eyes at me outside sometimes recently. And when she first showed up. I just realize it’s probably gonna be hard to get an appointment to get her fixed. I am not sure if she’s even a girl really to be honest but she’s small. I will have to get her scanned for a chip as well in case she was lost all this time. I don’t want to get her ear tipped because I’m going to try and keep her inside and see if she can live inside and maybe I can find someone else to take her if we can’t keep her with my guys. My guys are already nervous. Especially Quinn being the meezer he is.

I sprayed some pheromone spray and put some catnip in as well that seemed to calm her down a little bit. She’s just sitting quietly now, she will look at me but she seemed really scared at first if I come close at all, she was breathing like she was frightened earlier so I’m just leaving her alone now and I’m going to go to sleep.
 
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di and bob

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Oh, I am so happy for you (and her)! As one who knows the anxieties of trapping, I know how draining this is on the body and soul. You are on your start to getting that little girl tamed and giving her a happy, healthy life. Remember to keep the cage covered or give her a place to hide, it helps tehm remain a lot calmer. Congratulations!
 
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Meowmee

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Oh, I am so happy for you (and her)! As one who knows the anxieties of trapping, I know how draining this is on the body and soul. You are on your start to getting that little girl tamed and giving her a happy, healthy life. Remember to keep the cage covered or give her a place to hide, it helps tehm remain a lot calmer. Congratulations!
Than you 😀 yes it really does take a lot out of you, emotionally and physically. I am so worried about what will happen if she can not stay here or be an indoor cat etc. yes the cage is covered with towels etc.
 

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Oh, great job! I'm sure she'll remember what it used to be like to have a home soon. She's probably just scared of being in an unknown environment. Freya, in my banner below, was outdoors for over a year before I brought her up here. She had to be caged for the first week or two but she soon relaxed
 
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Meowmee

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Oh, great job! I'm sure she'll remember what it used to be like to have a home soon. She's probably just scared of being in an unknown environment. Freya, in my banner below, was outdoors for over a year before I brought her up here. She had to be caged for the first week or two but she soon relaxed
Thanks 😀 I hope she will be like Freya too, she is a cutie😻 I don’t know how they make it through all the stuff they do. I just hope my guys will accept her if she is tamable. They are so happy together and I don’t want to change that.
 
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Meowmee

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Ok so somehow I carelessly did not hook up the carrier on one side when I put a wee pad in it. I eventually found her under a cabinet. She made a huge mess again, everything all over and she did not use the litter box. Diarrhea and pee all over. Pee was mostly on wee pads fortunately. It took me at least an hour to clean. Smell stuck to my clothes and Quinn was so upset etc sniffing all over. Ugh.

Anyway, how can I get her back in the drop trap? Without getting injured. She is huddled under a cabinet and I blocked her in for now. I thought maybe the havahart again or the carrier part of the drop trap and someone can urge her out from behind while I stand at the front ready to close the door.

She ate the food today. I only put a tiny bit for her so she may still be hungry and hopefully enough to go back in a trap. The only other thing may be to let her back out and try to retrap which may never happen. I am worried she is not going to tame, she is not making eye contact now or vocalizing etc. I can’t let her stay loose there pooping and peeing allover. I have never had a kitty not use the box. Even the true ferals all have. Except for Giorgio who was dying and had bladder/ mobility issues.
 

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Try blocking all around the cabinet and just leaving one tiny escape hole that leads to the havahart trap. Put bait in the trap and see if she will go in for that before you try to shoo her in. It might take a bit longer, but she sounds scared and forcing her into the trap might make things worse.

If she has diarrhea she might not be able to get to her litter box in time. Cats also loose control of their bladder/bowels when they are really scared, so it might not have been her fault she made a mess.

Do you have a good enzyme cleaner? Soak your clothes in that before putting them through the wash, that should get rid of the smell.

:goodluck:
 
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Meowmee

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Try blocking all around the cabinet and just leaving one tiny escape hole that leads to the havahart trap. Put bait in the trap and see if she will go in for that before you try to shoo her in. It might take a bit longer, but she sounds scared and forcing her into the trap might make things worse.

If she has diarrhea she might not be able to get to her litter box in time. Cats also loose control of their bladder/bowels when they are really scared, so it might not have been her fault she made a mess.

Do you have a good enzyme cleaner? Soak your clothes in that before putting them through the wash, that should get rid of the smell.

:goodluck:
Thanks😀 we just tried getting her into the carrier with me behind trying to coax her with a broom but it didn’t work. She wouldn’t budge. I got the have a heart trap from the shed and I’m going to try setting that up before I go to sleep- the cabinet is blocked off on all sides but I don’t know what’s going to happen if she really tries to get out if no one’s there and the front is open, she could just push the cage away since that is how she got out of the drop trap. There is no way to clip it to the cabinet.

I’m not sure what to think about the litter box because the first day she didn’t go to the bathroom at all but she scrambled everything up and everything was a big mess anyway. She also didn’t eat the food- it didn’t seem like she did anyway. I guess I just have to wait and see what happens. I don’t know how I’m gonna get her to the DVM if I can’t get her back in the trap. She is very scared though so maybe that is why she didn’t use the box combined with the runs. Thing is no one was there when she pooped etc. so she shouldn't have been that scared.

I have scoe which is the only thing that’s ever worked- normally I don’t put that on my clothes so I put some Oxi clean and detergent and then it gets rid of the smell. They don’t seem to smell anymore after coming out of the dryer but I would guess I will know depending on how Quinn reacts to them LOL. Then I can try spraying them with scoe and wash again if he seems upset. I have a great odor eliminator I discovered couple of years ago called Mc9 , I think, which is great for just spraying into the air for all sorts of odors.

I got a poop sample at least, but we have tons of appointments tomorrow and this week, I have to be there at 9am so maybe I can drop it off after that if I make it to that one.
 
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Meowmee

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Update: I managed to trap her in the havehart again. Before that when I came in she had moved out into the room and was meowing a lot and looked at me, but she was still obviously very scared. Lots of growling/ yeowling too. After I retrapped her she meowed when I came in but quickly turned to aggressive growling, hissing, spitting, lunging at me if I came anywhere near the cage. It took an hour to get her to back into the drop trap once I had attached the havahart. She was sitting at the opposite end and was very aggressive each time I tried. But eventaully after using a divider she went back in. I played purrli for her and sprayed more pheromones.

I am kind of shocked by the aggression and I was scared of her 😳 I wonder if she has become feral, if that is possible, since she showed up as an obviously tame cat meowing for help etc.

I could not get an appointment with the two low cost dvm who do s/n for 4-6 weeks. They said I should have made the appointment first and then trapped her for it. That would never happen with her. I have done that in the past for free s/n clinics with vouchers that were only on specific days. I think it is ridiculous to do that at a normal low cost clinic even if it is a tnr cat. So obviously they cater only to people who have huge numbers of colony kitties. One even told me that if she was done as a regular cat it could not be done with sedation and it would take the same time for an appointment.. what?…

I made an appointment for Wednesday at my dvm but it is going to cost a fortune prolly. I am just wondering if she will ever be tame with all of this aggression, I hate the idea that she has to go back out there. But at least she or he will be fixed and vaxed/ tested now. When I came in today she had messed everything up again. Litter was messed up but not used. I don’t think she peed, no poop smell etc. but she ate her food I think. I had tons of calls to make and have to go back to get her into the carrier portion so I can inspect things more.

If Zena is really a male, maybe the neuter will calm him? I forgot to tell them she needs felv/ fiv test and I have a stool sample. It looks like she may have parasites, I don’t know how she is going to be medictaed if she son’t eat it in food. None of my cats except Jez would. And she was variable about it depending on the med but liked the wormer oddly.
 
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Morpheus1967

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Thanks for doing all that you have done.

I think you are expecting too much too fast. She was in the wild for two years, and you have had her back inside for two days. Just be patient and keep doing what you are doing. If she is that aggressive, progress will most likely be measured in terms of week to week, not day to day.
 
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Meowmee

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Thanks for doing all that you have done.

I think you are expecting too much too fast. She was in the wild for two years, and you have had her back inside for two days. Just be patient and keep doing what you are doing. If she is that aggressive, progress will most likely be measured in terms of week to week, not day to day.
I hope you are right. She is becoming more aggressive and it is disheartening. Still no use of the lb and she trashes everything after each time I clean up even if she doesn’t poop or pee. I am not giving up but it is really discouraging and I am scared of her. It is heart wrenching to see such a gorgeous cat be so afraid and aggressive. I put 2 boxes in now because she is only sleeping in the other one. The new one has clay litter and I will try shredded newspaper next. With the two pans there it will be harder for her to trash things.

She moved the box to where she sleeps, moved a heavy dog ceramic water bowl, spilling all the water etc. wee pads are demolished and shredded, cage is moved around and I have bricks on the part to stabilize it. If I get too close to the cage she hisses, spits, lunges at me etc. growling. It seems she sees me as a true threat even though all I have ever done is try to help her and have fed her for 2 years now, minus the trapping.

I am thinking she is really a boy now too. She had some mucus and bloody stool so I think she has giardia. I will see what they say tomorrow. I was able to get a sample the day before, it is in the fridge still. I hope they can neuter right away. I can’t keep cleaning this up 2 x a day and she can’t be loose. If she is going back out 2-3 weeks is the window before they can’t adjust.
 
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Meowmee

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Update on Zena who is a boy, I have to change his name and will post about that. He has been neutered and vaxed and stool test was positive for giardia as I suspected as well as round worm. He is on panacur, metro and gabapentin for stress. He is neg for fiv/ felv. So far he is still very stressed, but he is eating the panacur and gabapentin in wet food. The first night he ate the metro and panacur in food, but I had to mix it into some 9 lives because he rejected it in the mooshy chicken and last night he rejected metro alone in cat tuna. So I am wondering if I should stop metro for now since dvm says panacur will work for giardia as well.

I have put two lb in the drop cage now and he finally used the one he sleeps in for poop yesterday and the other one he used for pee for two days when I put a wee pad and torn up newsprint. I tried putting a little litter in with the wee pad itself yesterday but he hasn’t peed yet. So when I cleaned up earlier I put some newsprint in with it as well to see if I can transition him to peeing in the litter.

Each time he’s left and I come back to check on him or clean up he’s totally rearranged all of the pans all over the water bowl bowl is knocked over and the whole cage is shifted around even though I have bricks weighing down the part you weigh it down with so I think I need to add more bricks.

I’m not sure if he’s trying to escape or he’s just trying to do some activity and organize his own space. He is now sleeping in the carrier part of the drop trap when I come in but he is also sometimes in lb with worlds best cat litter. I put wee pads and towels in the carrier. He also messes up all of the weed pads that are underneath the litter boxes etc. I am not sure why he is doing that but it’s creating a lot of work and I’m going through wee pads like there is no tomorrow.

With the gabapentin he still hissing at me but not lunging and so aggressive and stressed out. At some point after he is cleared for a giardia and finishes the treatment I would like to let him out and see how he does in the room, however the room is a large room with a lot of stuff in it and I can’t do that until I am sure he is going to use either one or two litter pans- maybe he has a cat who likes to P in one pan and poop in another?

I cannot judge yet whether he is going to be able to be an indoor cat, at the time that he escaped from the trap the first day he did seem to be calmer when he was out of the trap as long as I didn’t try to approach him.

What do you think? Will he be able to transition to indoor life? He is not able to be pilled or anything so I would have to rely on him continuing to eat the gabapentin in food if he’s going to be an indoor guy or whoever adopts him will have to do that. So maybe at some point he can calm himself down and not be medicated. Any Ideas on how to re-train a cat to use the litter pan etc.? I will post that on another forum.

Any ideas about names? I am so used to calling him Zena I just don’t know if I can adjust anything else. I thought about Zeus, or Zen, or Zino or Zuni, but they all sound strange to me and they seem harder to say. We once had a girl who I was told was a boy whose name was Arthur and I never changed her name.
 
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