Food allergies to many things

FriendofFerals

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How long did it take to get the ferral inside?
move neen taking care of these guys for over 10 years. I relocated them to my back yard about 4 years ago.
I think I’ve given up hope. One of them lets me get three feet from her but when I put my hand out she walks away.
This was a process. I started feeding Squeaky under my car in the driveway in 2013. He would run if you looked at him. I saw the ear notch so I knew he was TNR. From 2013-2019 gradually I coaxed him to eat on my patio behind the house but I really wasn't aiming to bring him in at all. I just wanted to leave the screen door cracked so he could safely eat, drink, and sleep if he wanted.

In December 2019 I heard a blood curling scream outside my bedroom window at night and knew there was a cat fight. I hoped it wasn't him. Went out of town for two weeks, came back and he showed up with his leg swollen to twice the normal size and he just stayed on the patio and licked it all day, even with the screen door cracked open. At this point, he would not run if I opened the sliding door to feed him, but I could not come out there with him or touch him at all.

I had an idea and happened to have a cat carrier that kind of looks like a mailbox with a zipper door on each end. I stuck it in a gap in the sliding door with both sides open and threw out a cat toy ribbon through the carrier in hopes he might chase it. By some miracle and despite his abscessed leg, he did, and when he got in the middle of the carrier, he couldn't see me over top and I just closed up both sides at once and that's how I caught him.

I advised the vet I was bringing in a wild one and get ready because he was angry as hell. The tech probably thought this crazy cat lady didn't know the difference between a stray and a feral and didn't listen when I said it was not a good idea to open that carrier without a net or something. He got out and climbed the wall up the TV monitor screen and it was clear he was going to need a net, some protective gear, and a sedative to help. I just dropped him off and said call me when you're all done. They netted him, sedated him, stitched his leg, gave him antibiotics and shots and I picked his angry self up later that day. They told me judging by his teeth and general condition they estimated he was 12-15 yrs old!!!

I figured once I let him out I'd never see him again but he came back the next day. It was cool out so I started leaving the sliding door open and the screen door closed to the house and let him get acquainted with my other two cats across the screen for several months. He started choosing to sleep out there and I got him a cat tree and a litter box which he figured out very quickly (though still pooped in flower pots too). Over the course of the next year, I started letting him in the house as often as he wanted. I left the door open so he could run back on the patio though. Then I would close the screen door and he'd let me know when he "wanted out". He was fine with the arrangement as long as he could get out when he wanted--but he seemed to want to get in just as often. I made no effort to touch him at all or anything. Just let him do what he wanted.

In late 2020, he was half and half domestic/feral by then. One day, I closed the patio door to the outside and never left it open again. He didn't seem to care. During thunderstorms, he pawed at the sliding glass and wanted in. During lawn care day in the neighborhood, he wanted in. During the 4th of July, he wanted in. Gradually, "in" became the norm, and "patio time" became his nightly "me time" when he could go sleep in the night air, and listen to the night birds and sounds he was familiar with, but now when I open the door, he comes in.

2022- after conquering a re-emergence of dormant parasites (whipworms!) and clearing up a bad ear infection requiring drops (that took months to administer), I finally had him to a point where he would allow me to handle him--but no one else. He needed a dentist because his teeth were obviously bad, bleeding, smelly from 10 ft away, etc. His SDMA values were just below the limit for being able to do the surgery at all and they said he was one of the worst cases of stomatitis they'd seen at that dental hospital. He had all his teeth removed except 3 canines. It was a very long recovery due to his age though.

Now, we estimate he is between 17-20 yrs old. He has hyperthyroidism (in treatment), hypertension (on meds), allergies and pruritus (oral steroids and amitriptyline), allergies to topical flea meds (needs oral ones), asthma (albuterol inhaler) and what else....oh yeah, food sensitivities, IBD and an enlarged heart..and he gets between 2-4 pills a day, depending on the day with the steriods.

In just a few years, this cat who would run when I looked at him now allows me to put him in a carrier and take him 5 hours to my parents' house where he figures out the litter box and food and gets along fine with their two spoiled ragdoll youngsters. He had had eardrops, eyedrops (scratched his cornea itching himself), he's had a cardiac ultrasound, had his teeth brushed in the months before the extraction, he lets me clip his claws and wash his paws in the sink when he steps in his crap because he's an old man and his sight isn't that great anymore...

It was work every single day to bring this cat in on his own terms and be OK with him not wanting to come in if he chose. It's Florida, hot, and dangerous out there, and he's old, so I had to try and hope he would understand my intentions. I think he knows I'm trying to help. Just now, at the 5-year mark, he's decided to start waking me up in the morning by sitting behind my head on the pillow and purring. I know not every outside-to-inside feral situation goes like that, but I'm glad I gave him a chance and went as slowly as necessary.

Pics attached show him as of last week, and you can see on his white leg the scar from where that other cat bit him all the way through his leg years ago.
 

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Alldara

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For environmental allergies, you'll have to reduce the allergens.
A vacuum with a HEPA filter, a HEPA air purifier (careful there are fake ones online), watching AirIQ website for high pollen days and keeping windows closed if possible on those times.

For cleaning, we found a good way was vacuum, dry mop and then mop. We use Lysol cleaner at proper dilution, but recently we also got a steam mop since heat can help kill allergies.

For clothing and blankets it's important to wash regularly and dry in the sun on low pollen days or in a dryer for minimum 20 min. We keep covers on our soft furnitures so the furnitures don't collect dust, they are "bed bug proof" covers so also dust mites cant live there. We do this on matress and pillows too. We got ours from Amazon.

So for me, I watch Air IQ website and if grass pollen is high we keep windows closed and if not, we can open them.
 

F+V

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Unless there have been very recent improvements in allergy testing for food in cats, it is not reliable at all.
When I asked my vet at cat clinic for food allergy test, she told me the same :sigh: Come to think of it, I asked another vet the same question a few years ago and got the same answer...
 

FriendofFerals

Cat Mommy
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For environmental allergies, you'll have to reduce the allergens.
A vacuum with a HEPA filter, a HEPA air purifier (careful there are fake ones online), watching AirIQ website for high pollen days and keeping windows closed if possible on those times.

For cleaning, we found a good way was vacuum, dry mop and then mop. We use Lysol cleaner at proper dilution, but recently we also got a steam mop since heat can help kill allergies.

For clothing and blankets it's important to wash regularly and dry in the sun on low pollen days or in a dryer for minimum 20 min. We keep covers on our soft furnitures so the furnitures don't collect dust, they are "bed bug proof" covers so also dust mites cant live there. We do this on matress and pillows too. We got ours from Amazon.

So for me, I watch Air IQ website and if grass pollen is high we keep windows closed and if not, we can open them.
I live in South Florida, like a mile from the Everglades. I have HEPA filters, air purifiers, a brand new 2023 energy efficient air conditioner with UV light. I clean as best I can considering I can only use vinegar and hot water thanks to two severely asthmatic cats Insects, dust mites, and whatever else are just par for the course here. It NEVER gets cold enough to kill any bug or parasite. Fact is, this place would be uninhabitable if it weren't for air conditioning. There is literally no way to reduce allergens since my AC pulls air from the oak trees, ragweed, Brazilian pepper trees and whatever else is in this sardine-can-spaced neighborhood. Lawn care day? All the cats need inhalers. Open any door or window from March until November and you've got allergy issues. I'd love to move back to the midwest when allergies were "seasonal: but my job won't allow itl
 

syzygycat

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I live in South Florida, like a mile from the Everglades. I have HEPA filters, air purifiers, a brand new 2023 energy efficient air conditioner with UV light. I clean as best I can considering I can only use vinegar and hot water thanks to two severely asthmatic cats Insects, dust mites, and whatever else are just par for the course here. It NEVER gets cold enough to kill any bug or parasite. Fact is, this place would be uninhabitable if it weren't for air conditioning. There is literally no way to reduce allergens since my AC pulls air from the oak trees, ragweed, Brazilian pepper trees and whatever else is in this sardine-can-spaced neighborhood. Lawn care day? All the cats need inhalers. Open any door or window from March until November and you've got allergy issues. I'd love to move back to the midwest when allergies were "seasonal: but my job won't allow itl
A 20" box and a merv 9+ air filter rubberbanded onto it is a great alternative or addition to a hepa filter, moves 10-50 times more air and filters 95% of those environmental allergans out (a very basic cheap air filter before the intake helps the blades stay clean and keeps the pricey filter from getting clogged up for over a year... keeps dust out of the air which extends the life of any hepa air purifier you do use.
 
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