How To Help A Rescued Stray Transition To Inside Life?

[walli]

Getting her in the spare room is great!
I've had my Feral in the house for 1 month and 8 days, It is going slow, but I think she likes it in the house
I can't touch her yet and she won't play with me yet, she does play by herself at night.
Please keep us updated I think we might be in similar situations, If you follow Nines advise about sleeping with her
I'd be interested how it works out. You did a super great thing!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Hi,

This is going to be a little lengthy but I want to give the full story and am really hoping I can get some good advice here.

Three weeks ago I finally got the nerve to snatch up a stray we had been feeding outside of our apartment building for the past almost 4 yrs now. She got to where she would let me pet her a little while she was eating, but would keep a short distance any other time. She would follow me and my boyfriend around the complex while walking our little dog, sometimes before she would go eat the food we put out. Almost seemed like she liked, or wanted, the companionship or something. I also believe we now have two of her offspring. One kitten "appeared" on our 3rd story deck out back one day at about 8 weeks old with an obviously broken foot. He is now 3 yrs old. We rescued another 4 week old kitten a few months ago right outside of our building in the middle of the entrance walkway. It was dark and she's black. If she hadn't been crying, I would've stepped on her!

I know she has had a least 3 litters since we've lived here. The straw for me finally catching her was seeing her outside being "harassed" by two males while she was obviously in heat again. One was on top of her right out in the middle of the parking lot in broad daylight. I tried the have-a-heart trap on her before but she was having no part of that. So I just scruffed her up while she was eating and put in her a crate that opened from the top as well as the side. It was actually easier than I thought it would be.

She has been in our spare bathroom ever since I brought her in (three weeks now). I was keeping her isolated from our other two cats until she was checked out. She has now been examined, vaccinated and spayed as of this past Tues. She did amazingly well at the vet's. Very easy for them to handle her. But now she is not happy with ME at all. Since Tues, she barely lets me stroke her back lightly without hissing at me. I was able to pretty much pet and scratch her almost anywhere on her body, except her belly, of course.

I'm sure she's probably still in some pain from the spay surgery (and she was newly pregnant, again). Getting the pain medicine in her has been challenging since I can't really put it directly into her mouth, so I've been putting it on tuna and her wet food hoping she would eat it, which she has been for past couple of days, but not really getting the dosage she's supposed to be. I wanted to move her into the spare bedroom where she will have more room to move around and at least have a window to look out of. But now I'm wondering if I can even get her by the scruff again to move her. She's not really letting me touch her near her neck and head right now.

I feel really bad now. I feel like I've betrayed her trust by putting her through all of this scary stuff. I logically know it's for her own good. But my feelings are kind of hurt that she's pissed off at me right now. I really want to get her out of the bathroom now. It can't be good for her to not even have a window to look out of. I'm worried she'll get depressed, if she's not already.

Any suggestions for making her transition easier on her, an "easy" way to get her into the spare bedroom literally across the hall from the bathroom she's in now, or anything else, would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks and sorry again for the length of the post.

Kelly

Hi and welcome to TCS, K KellyG0513 and family! Looks like other posters have been very supportive and informative, and that you've gotten your gorgeous Frizzi into a nice environment. Since there are familial bonds there, you've got a "plus" in that. And the other posters are so right -- time, patience and love will win the day, along with interactive play. It took quite awhile for our newest family member, Elvis, to adjust to his new multi-cat family after having lived most of his life with a dog, and then for awhile with only one other cat. He was very bonded to his family and I'm sure he felt very unhappy for some time. But eventually, lots of love, lots of room, lots of feline friends, and good food, won him over. He's now on my lap, being a great, warm laptop. I predict Frizzi will become a laptop, too!

 

[ileen]

Good luck, keep posting updates & pics. I hope she'll be able to remember the other cats are hers.

 

[dustydiamond1]

How are things going?

 

[ArchyCat]

Update, please!