Hi! I'm new to blogging and in desperate need for advice... happy to find other fellow cat loving friends.
So a little back story to my situation..There was a solid black young, very malnourished, neighborhood stray cat that caught my husband and my attention around February 2018 -- so we started leaving food out for her in the afternoon.. she would come promptly to our front door step to eat around 5pm. Approx 1 months later she was coming at 6am as well. She was very skittish, would eat and run off. After a couple months, she recognized our voice and would come running to us when we called her name as we approached our townhome. We named her Shadow.
Eventually she started camping out under the bushes right in front of our living room window. She'd look longingly into the house. She started letting us pet her and she'd rub on our legs and would purr. We quickly became endeared and attached to her and we couldn't bear the idea of a coyote getting to her or get run over by a car so my husband and I decided we wanted to adopt her and give her a forever home. Our two male (rescue) cats even seemed comfortable seeing her outside the window as they perched on their kitty towers bird watching. We had a couple of busy months in April and May due to travel so we hired someone to come drop off food at our doorstep for her. We decided we'd quickly move on the plans to take her in, soon as our last travel date ended. We prepared our boys by giving them the leukemia shots. I was told it takes 1 month for full protection. Few days after the vaccine Shadow shows up with a kitten (6 weeks old) who was still nursing on her, we were in disbelief she was a young mama and it suddenly became clear why she was so hungry and would scarf her food and run -- to be with her baby. We tried getting close to the kitten but it looked visibly terrified and would run away each time we approached it so we decided to not rush into trying to trap and rescue her since she still needed her mama to be nursed and we were hoping she'd get more comfortable with her. we also honestly didn't know what was the right thing to do. If wrap mama to get her fixed - then she couldn't nurse her kitten, if we trapped kitten, we didn't think we could bring mama in since our boy cats still needed 3.5 weeks before their vaccinations gave them adequate immunity/protection. I called the vet and they discouraged me from bringing in any stray cats into our home until 30 days post vaccination. Well sadly after about 4 days of Shadow bringing her kitten to us, she started to show visible signs of being in heat and we seeing her kitten. But we saw lurking male cats instead. We didn't want to trap her and bring her in the house because of the concern of separating her from her kitten should she have her safe somewhere else. sadly we never saw her kitten again and to this day my husband and I regret not having done more to catch her sooner. We at least knew we'd have to still help Shadow. At exactly 30 days after our boys got vaccinated and were fully protected, I trapped Shadow and took her to the vet for the feline aids/leukemia test and pregnancy test since we noticed she was in heat. she was negative for aids/leukemia and positive for pregnancy. we were surprised, excited and nervous but more convinced than ever to bring her in. we had installed a "purrfect' fence extension to our current 6.3 foot tall fence in our patio -- to make sure she couldn't jump over. We figured a few days in the patio then bring her into the house. To make it a gradual process on her and on our boys. after the vet appointment we took her carrier straight into the patio and opened her carrier. unfortunately she was so stressed she started pacing around and sizing the fences and in five minutes jumped and escaped over the 7.5 foot fence we had paid to install and to keep her in patio. We were shocked at her agility and how clever she was. I was devastated thinking that was the end, our trust had been broken. fortunately she showed up again to eat about 12 hours later. And from that moment on she didn't camp out in front of our house but would still come to eat at meal times. we still wanted to adopt her and help her especially because she's pregnant. so we decided to simply open the door and let her walk at her comfort level, using a kitty wand I lured her in and kept front door open as she'd freak out when I closed it. one of our boys did not like having her in our house and hissed and made odd sounds at her and the other looked ok but was clearly stressed as he was hiding under the bed and not being himself. long story short... it's been 3 weeks from that point and I have gradually expanded the time Shadow stays in the house (typically in the evening when my husband is home to help me monitor that cats), we find that with constant reassurance and praise and play and keeping our boys entertained helps them not get in her face and stress her out. over the last week I started to slowly close the door a bit more and more each time she came over and she seemed stressed at first but with much play time she got distracted and explored the house. when she was ready to leave, she'd meow/vocalize and paw at the front door. I would let her out. I started prepared a litter box with soil and started keeping her 3-5 hours overnight and up to 8 hours as of last night. our boys still haven't accepted her and that weighs on me. she's comfortable hanging out and exploring the lower level if my husband takes the boys out into the patio or into a bedroom upstairs and closes the door. at first my boys hated that. It's been about 2 nights that Shadow stays from around 9:30-6am. I wake up every couple of hours to sooth her meows with food and play. Ive been a walking zombie but happy to see we're making progress. of my boys still stressed out and hides or acts bizzare when she's there and the other hisses in a very intimidating way. Fortunately soon as she comes in, my husband takes the boys upstairs and keeps them in the room with him for the night while I keep shadow company through out the night. I've been gradually luring her upstairs into the spare bedroom as that's where we think might be best place for her to give birth. the vet suggested confining her 7/25 or latest 7/26. I manage to lure her into the room using a kitty wand but she doesn't stay long, and seems timid to go in the room probably because there's no escape route, she's pretty smart. last night was the second night I sleep in spare room and I leave her food and water in there so she hopefully comes in throughout the night to eat/drink and use litter box, which she has done. She still gets very anxious as soon as the sun comes out and meows at fron door and paws the doorknob and seems fixated at wanting to go out. as soon as I give in and open the door she hangs out on the door step 5 minutes then runs off. I tried following her but she hides behind bushes then continues walking and ultimately ended up under a buiding and she watched me from a distance.. not sure if she has a reason for running away and being gone during the day but fortunately she still comes at night (or has been over the last 4-5 days). My head is spinning thinking of clearing out the spare room and getting it prepared to have her live there until she weans her kittens. I need advice as to what to expect during the week or 2 after I confine her, and how to handle her constant cries to be let our and how to handle if she seems to go nuts in the room and most importantly how will I know if the stress is so high that it may affect her unborn kittens or their health or her ability to give birth successfully. Also, I need advice as to what are the essential I should have in the room for her comfort, health and enjoyment/peace? I care about her emotional and mental wellbeing. And how in the world will I manage to keep her in the bedroom when I know with certainty that as soon as I crack the door open to feed her or spend time with her, she'll stick her head through the door and try to escape? I feel like I need a double door. I've seen how determined she becomes in trying to escape the house. And last but not least, my husband and I have flea bites on our legs and the vet said there were no known flea treatments that are proven to not harm the unborn kittens so I have not treated her (but I do treat my boys monthly with topical Paradyne flea tx. I'd like to know there is a safe product that is easily applied and that won't hurt her kittens or freak her out because of the scent. My boys absolutely hate it when I apply the treatment and it's a 2 hour battle every month with them, even with the help of my husband, because they resist/hide and slip from our arms/hands and run off. And also anything else I can do to help my boys with the transition of bringing Shadow onboard into our family full time and preparing them to be OK with having her kittens in our house (in the spare room). sorry this was so long, thought the back story might help. its my very first time writing on a blog and seeking advice. I've looked online and have not found much info on how to rescue a pregnant stray cat into a home that has other cat residents who don't like to share their space. I have little time before she delivers 2-3 weeks and know I need to act fast but how fast exactly I don't know. please advise! Thank sooo much!
So a little back story to my situation..There was a solid black young, very malnourished, neighborhood stray cat that caught my husband and my attention around February 2018 -- so we started leaving food out for her in the afternoon.. she would come promptly to our front door step to eat around 5pm. Approx 1 months later she was coming at 6am as well. She was very skittish, would eat and run off. After a couple months, she recognized our voice and would come running to us when we called her name as we approached our townhome. We named her Shadow.
Eventually she started camping out under the bushes right in front of our living room window. She'd look longingly into the house. She started letting us pet her and she'd rub on our legs and would purr. We quickly became endeared and attached to her and we couldn't bear the idea of a coyote getting to her or get run over by a car so my husband and I decided we wanted to adopt her and give her a forever home. Our two male (rescue) cats even seemed comfortable seeing her outside the window as they perched on their kitty towers bird watching. We had a couple of busy months in April and May due to travel so we hired someone to come drop off food at our doorstep for her. We decided we'd quickly move on the plans to take her in, soon as our last travel date ended. We prepared our boys by giving them the leukemia shots. I was told it takes 1 month for full protection. Few days after the vaccine Shadow shows up with a kitten (6 weeks old) who was still nursing on her, we were in disbelief she was a young mama and it suddenly became clear why she was so hungry and would scarf her food and run -- to be with her baby. We tried getting close to the kitten but it looked visibly terrified and would run away each time we approached it so we decided to not rush into trying to trap and rescue her since she still needed her mama to be nursed and we were hoping she'd get more comfortable with her. we also honestly didn't know what was the right thing to do. If wrap mama to get her fixed - then she couldn't nurse her kitten, if we trapped kitten, we didn't think we could bring mama in since our boy cats still needed 3.5 weeks before their vaccinations gave them adequate immunity/protection. I called the vet and they discouraged me from bringing in any stray cats into our home until 30 days post vaccination. Well sadly after about 4 days of Shadow bringing her kitten to us, she started to show visible signs of being in heat and we seeing her kitten. But we saw lurking male cats instead. We didn't want to trap her and bring her in the house because of the concern of separating her from her kitten should she have her safe somewhere else. sadly we never saw her kitten again and to this day my husband and I regret not having done more to catch her sooner. We at least knew we'd have to still help Shadow. At exactly 30 days after our boys got vaccinated and were fully protected, I trapped Shadow and took her to the vet for the feline aids/leukemia test and pregnancy test since we noticed she was in heat. she was negative for aids/leukemia and positive for pregnancy. we were surprised, excited and nervous but more convinced than ever to bring her in. we had installed a "purrfect' fence extension to our current 6.3 foot tall fence in our patio -- to make sure she couldn't jump over. We figured a few days in the patio then bring her into the house. To make it a gradual process on her and on our boys. after the vet appointment we took her carrier straight into the patio and opened her carrier. unfortunately she was so stressed she started pacing around and sizing the fences and in five minutes jumped and escaped over the 7.5 foot fence we had paid to install and to keep her in patio. We were shocked at her agility and how clever she was. I was devastated thinking that was the end, our trust had been broken. fortunately she showed up again to eat about 12 hours later. And from that moment on she didn't camp out in front of our house but would still come to eat at meal times. we still wanted to adopt her and help her especially because she's pregnant. so we decided to simply open the door and let her walk at her comfort level, using a kitty wand I lured her in and kept front door open as she'd freak out when I closed it. one of our boys did not like having her in our house and hissed and made odd sounds at her and the other looked ok but was clearly stressed as he was hiding under the bed and not being himself. long story short... it's been 3 weeks from that point and I have gradually expanded the time Shadow stays in the house (typically in the evening when my husband is home to help me monitor that cats), we find that with constant reassurance and praise and play and keeping our boys entertained helps them not get in her face and stress her out. over the last week I started to slowly close the door a bit more and more each time she came over and she seemed stressed at first but with much play time she got distracted and explored the house. when she was ready to leave, she'd meow/vocalize and paw at the front door. I would let her out. I started prepared a litter box with soil and started keeping her 3-5 hours overnight and up to 8 hours as of last night. our boys still haven't accepted her and that weighs on me. she's comfortable hanging out and exploring the lower level if my husband takes the boys out into the patio or into a bedroom upstairs and closes the door. at first my boys hated that. It's been about 2 nights that Shadow stays from around 9:30-6am. I wake up every couple of hours to sooth her meows with food and play. Ive been a walking zombie but happy to see we're making progress. of my boys still stressed out and hides or acts bizzare when she's there and the other hisses in a very intimidating way. Fortunately soon as she comes in, my husband takes the boys upstairs and keeps them in the room with him for the night while I keep shadow company through out the night. I've been gradually luring her upstairs into the spare bedroom as that's where we think might be best place for her to give birth. the vet suggested confining her 7/25 or latest 7/26. I manage to lure her into the room using a kitty wand but she doesn't stay long, and seems timid to go in the room probably because there's no escape route, she's pretty smart. last night was the second night I sleep in spare room and I leave her food and water in there so she hopefully comes in throughout the night to eat/drink and use litter box, which she has done. She still gets very anxious as soon as the sun comes out and meows at fron door and paws the doorknob and seems fixated at wanting to go out. as soon as I give in and open the door she hangs out on the door step 5 minutes then runs off. I tried following her but she hides behind bushes then continues walking and ultimately ended up under a buiding and she watched me from a distance.. not sure if she has a reason for running away and being gone during the day but fortunately she still comes at night (or has been over the last 4-5 days). My head is spinning thinking of clearing out the spare room and getting it prepared to have her live there until she weans her kittens. I need advice as to what to expect during the week or 2 after I confine her, and how to handle her constant cries to be let our and how to handle if she seems to go nuts in the room and most importantly how will I know if the stress is so high that it may affect her unborn kittens or their health or her ability to give birth successfully. Also, I need advice as to what are the essential I should have in the room for her comfort, health and enjoyment/peace? I care about her emotional and mental wellbeing. And how in the world will I manage to keep her in the bedroom when I know with certainty that as soon as I crack the door open to feed her or spend time with her, she'll stick her head through the door and try to escape? I feel like I need a double door. I've seen how determined she becomes in trying to escape the house. And last but not least, my husband and I have flea bites on our legs and the vet said there were no known flea treatments that are proven to not harm the unborn kittens so I have not treated her (but I do treat my boys monthly with topical Paradyne flea tx. I'd like to know there is a safe product that is easily applied and that won't hurt her kittens or freak her out because of the scent. My boys absolutely hate it when I apply the treatment and it's a 2 hour battle every month with them, even with the help of my husband, because they resist/hide and slip from our arms/hands and run off. And also anything else I can do to help my boys with the transition of bringing Shadow onboard into our family full time and preparing them to be OK with having her kittens in our house (in the spare room). sorry this was so long, thought the back story might help. its my very first time writing on a blog and seeking advice. I've looked online and have not found much info on how to rescue a pregnant stray cat into a home that has other cat residents who don't like to share their space. I have little time before she delivers 2-3 weeks and know I need to act fast but how fast exactly I don't know. please advise! Thank sooo much!
