- Joined
- Apr 25, 2021
- Messages
- 9
- Purraise
- 5
I live in Spain and moved here last August. There are quite a few feral cats around here. One cat, A Siamese tom cat took a shine to me and was very friendly from the outset, wanting to be stroked and wrapping himself around my legs. This led me to believe maybe he was a stray or semi-feral cat as opposed to a complete feral. He was painfully thin even though I know Siamese cats are slim. There is no TNR programme in this area of Spain, I enquired with a few vets.
Anyway, after giving him some spot on flea and wormer from the vets, which he allowed me to do no trouble, I decided to trap this boy, luring him into a cat carrier with some sardine. He wasn’t happy but calmed once I quickly got a blanket over the carrier. I took him home and kept him in the wood shed (which had a reinforced window), until I could get him to the vets a few days later. I also wanted to make sure he was healthy before bringing him into the house as we have another domestic cat we brought with us from the UK.
He was quite happy in the shed and allowed me to continue petting him and feeding him. He didn’t know how to play though.
Getting him back in the cat carrier to get him to the vets was traumatic to say the least. I tried with a blanket to scoop him up but he was so strong he slipped out. I was really surprised by his strength. My husband tried and this cat was scaling the wall vertically to get away. On the third attempt, he was smothered with a thick sheet and gently scooped into the carrier.
He was checked over by the vet under anaesthesia, who informed me he wasn’t microchipped. He was neutered, vaccinated, the works. The vet told me he was a healthy cat and his tests for leukemia and feline immunodeficiency were negative. We brought him home to a catified room of his own. It only took him about two weeks to trust me again (just about!) I read to him, talked to him, bought a Feliway plug in, gave him some calming cat herbs, played him harp music and basically nurtured him to trust me again. He now allows me to stroke him again and is actually playing with toys!!
My questions… (sorry if I went on too long but I wanted to put you totally in the picture)… is he feral, semi-feral or stray and more importantly – HOW do I get him back in the cat carrier to take him back to the vets for his second and final vaccine and without losing his trust all over again.
Today, I put the cat carrier back in his room with a towel over it and his blanket from his bed in the cat carrier. I am hoping he will start to use this as his bed over the next few days (I removed the card board box he was using). He also has a cat tepee which he uses sometimes but preferred sleeping in the box. Usually, he slinks into his bed when startled or after he’s had enough stroking. I’m thinking if his bed is now the carrier I could trap him that way. It feels very unfair though and I am worried I will lose his trust for good this time (although he wont be a s sore as he was after being neutered).
Any advise would be appreciated.
Update:
This lad is called Quince (or Membrillo (mem – bree – oh) in Spanish because his coat is kind of pale yellow in parts and reminds me of the Membrillo tree that was dying when we arrived in our new Spanish house, but after some severe pruning and TLC appears to have bounced back with fruit growing on it.
Anyway, having put the cat carrier in his room as a bed, he was in there first thing this morning but he’s an intelligent cat and knows somethings up as he’s not coming up to me again. He doesn’t need to go to the vets for a few days yet so we’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, after giving him some spot on flea and wormer from the vets, which he allowed me to do no trouble, I decided to trap this boy, luring him into a cat carrier with some sardine. He wasn’t happy but calmed once I quickly got a blanket over the carrier. I took him home and kept him in the wood shed (which had a reinforced window), until I could get him to the vets a few days later. I also wanted to make sure he was healthy before bringing him into the house as we have another domestic cat we brought with us from the UK.
He was quite happy in the shed and allowed me to continue petting him and feeding him. He didn’t know how to play though.
Getting him back in the cat carrier to get him to the vets was traumatic to say the least. I tried with a blanket to scoop him up but he was so strong he slipped out. I was really surprised by his strength. My husband tried and this cat was scaling the wall vertically to get away. On the third attempt, he was smothered with a thick sheet and gently scooped into the carrier.
He was checked over by the vet under anaesthesia, who informed me he wasn’t microchipped. He was neutered, vaccinated, the works. The vet told me he was a healthy cat and his tests for leukemia and feline immunodeficiency were negative. We brought him home to a catified room of his own. It only took him about two weeks to trust me again (just about!) I read to him, talked to him, bought a Feliway plug in, gave him some calming cat herbs, played him harp music and basically nurtured him to trust me again. He now allows me to stroke him again and is actually playing with toys!!
My questions… (sorry if I went on too long but I wanted to put you totally in the picture)… is he feral, semi-feral or stray and more importantly – HOW do I get him back in the cat carrier to take him back to the vets for his second and final vaccine and without losing his trust all over again.
Today, I put the cat carrier back in his room with a towel over it and his blanket from his bed in the cat carrier. I am hoping he will start to use this as his bed over the next few days (I removed the card board box he was using). He also has a cat tepee which he uses sometimes but preferred sleeping in the box. Usually, he slinks into his bed when startled or after he’s had enough stroking. I’m thinking if his bed is now the carrier I could trap him that way. It feels very unfair though and I am worried I will lose his trust for good this time (although he wont be a s sore as he was after being neutered).
Any advise would be appreciated.
Update:
This lad is called Quince (or Membrillo (mem – bree – oh) in Spanish because his coat is kind of pale yellow in parts and reminds me of the Membrillo tree that was dying when we arrived in our new Spanish house, but after some severe pruning and TLC appears to have bounced back with fruit growing on it.
Anyway, having put the cat carrier in his room as a bed, he was in there first thing this morning but he’s an intelligent cat and knows somethings up as he’s not coming up to me again. He doesn’t need to go to the vets for a few days yet so we’ll see how it goes.
Thank you for giving that gorgeous boy a home. 
