Hi everyone, I'm a newbie here and recently a newbie to the stray/feral cat world. I've been browsing the internet for several days trying to find some answers (& some encouraging advice) because I am at a total loss and I'm starting to feel regret about this cat situation I'm in. Here's the story, sorry it's a VERY long story:
Around fall time my resident cat decided that she didn't like the brand of dry cat food I've been giving her. I did not want to waste a full bag of perfectly good cat food. So I started to leave the food outside for the couple of feral/stray cats that I've spotted occasionally on my block. This is when I started becoming really aware of the feral/stray cat community that existed in my neighborhood and soon I had my daily group of cats (about 4-5) that showed up everyday. I started to connect with one in particular who I noticed seemed to be the cat that was bullied by the other cats. On several occasions While he would eat, he was chased away from the food bowls if another cat showed up. I felt bad for this little guy. I told my husband that I wanted to take him in. This cat used to run at the sight of me and I finally gained enough trust to have him rub my ankles and allow me to pet him. After thinking about it and second guessing myself for several weeks to take him in, I finally decided that I should just do it when a severe blizzard was forecast to hit the East Coast. This was last week. The blizzard was to hit us on a Saturday, so while I fed him on the Friday morning before the blizzard, I was able to get him into a carrier and bring him inside my house. I had prepared the laundry room for him in advance. Unfortunately this is when I made my first mistake. The vet I planned to take him to was not to open for another 2 hours. I also decided that I'll just give him a few days to adjust as to not stress him and with him thrashing and crying out from the carrier I let him out. Right away he freaked out and hid behind the washing machine and he stayed there all day. I researched and expected this so I knew I had to let him be.
From my laundry room there is an opening to a crawl space that leads to under the house but has no access to the outside. It is very low, very wide, and hard to go into. Even when we had pest control workers over they couldn't crawl in all the way. My second mistake: I thought I had blocked it off enough that even my cat (whose an expert at getting herself into anything) could not break through the barrier. Well, this stray kitty was able to get into the crawl space during the night. He stayed in the crawlspace for the next two days and only came out very briefly during the night because I noticed some of the cat food I left him was eaten. I left a baby monitor in the laundry room so I can keep a watchful eye on when he would come out. Over the next couple of days he did come out a few times to eat and to look around but the minute I opened the door to enter the room he runs straight into the crawlspace. We are having a hard time trying to get to the crawlspace before he does so we can block it off. Now a couple of days ago my husband noticed that the house is starting to smell like cat pee and I'm freaking out because that has never
happened in this house before. Even more, I have no idea how anyone will be able to get into the crawlspace to clean up his potty mess. I have a clean litter pan for him in the laundry room but I noticed he's not pooping in it, only peeing a little in it. He's obviously using the crawlspace as a giant litter box since the floor is dirt. To make matters worse, I noticed he started limping. He injured one of his front legs to the point that when he sits he raises the injured leg.
Enough is enough. Last Wednesday I decided to rent a Hav-a-heart trap and was able to schedule a neuter and vaccine appointment for the next day. But that night he didn't even come out of the crawlspace when he saw the trap in the room. Since then I've been placing the food bowls in the trap and slowly pushing it further back each day. Now it is Saturday and he has his rescheduled vet appointment on Monday so I'm hoping to trap him by tomorrow afternoon. He's also been meowing all night and my resident cat already knows that something is going on and senses him. I'm also trying not to stress her out too. I got some Felliway in hopes to calm both cats down and hopefully prevent him from spraying the crawlspace even more. I want my resident cat to meet the stray already but I will not will not let her near him until I know he's healthy. But honestly, I'm starting to lose hope with this cat and feel like I'm never going to trap him and get him checked. I feel like the trap is not going to work and when / if I do finally get him into the rest of the house he's going to be spraying everywhere and crying all night, disrupting this household.
At first I started feeling so bad for putting this cat through this, he finally trusted me but I felt like I totally betrayed him by taking him away from his world outside. He won't even go near me now and hissed at me a couple of times. Now I'm starting to feel regret on taking him in, like this was a big mistake. I just feel discouraged and aggravated because all I want is to take him to the vet and integrate him into our household already. I want to move on with my life!! This has been stressing me so much that it shows on my face and I've been in such a pissy mood with my husband and toddler.
Oh and just to add to even more stress, I noticed that one of the ferals I'm feeding may be pregnant. AND just this morning another one of the ferals who has been missing for a few days appeared on my deck this morning and has what looks like a leaking abscess under his eye. His eye appears swollen and bloody and the abscess is dripping with liquid which I believe is puss. I saw on his cheek that he must have been bitten or scratched by some other cat or wild animal because there's a wound. This particular cat has lived outdoors all his life (I believe) and appears to be the OG cat in the neighborhood. He comes close to me when I put the food bowl out but I cannot touch him at all. But now I'm even more stressed because I don't know what to do about his wound!! Should I leave it alone? Will it heal on it's own? I don't know whether I should first fix this situation with stray kitty in my house since I only have a few days till his supposed vet visit. OR should I change my plans and try to trap OG cat first? He's going to be a hard one to trap because he never really came at a certain time. It has been very random. I also can't afford to be taking care of all these cats with their problems, I only meant to take care of stray kitty but now I'm feeling so bad for these other ferals who need medical help. UGH!!! I can't believe this situation. I only had good intentions feeding these feral cats but everything is going wrong!!! All these problems are coming my way. I wish I didn't care but I do.
So that's the story. If anyone has some advice please share, I'm so lost and frustrated right now any help will be appreciated. Thank you!
Around fall time my resident cat decided that she didn't like the brand of dry cat food I've been giving her. I did not want to waste a full bag of perfectly good cat food. So I started to leave the food outside for the couple of feral/stray cats that I've spotted occasionally on my block. This is when I started becoming really aware of the feral/stray cat community that existed in my neighborhood and soon I had my daily group of cats (about 4-5) that showed up everyday. I started to connect with one in particular who I noticed seemed to be the cat that was bullied by the other cats. On several occasions While he would eat, he was chased away from the food bowls if another cat showed up. I felt bad for this little guy. I told my husband that I wanted to take him in. This cat used to run at the sight of me and I finally gained enough trust to have him rub my ankles and allow me to pet him. After thinking about it and second guessing myself for several weeks to take him in, I finally decided that I should just do it when a severe blizzard was forecast to hit the East Coast. This was last week. The blizzard was to hit us on a Saturday, so while I fed him on the Friday morning before the blizzard, I was able to get him into a carrier and bring him inside my house. I had prepared the laundry room for him in advance. Unfortunately this is when I made my first mistake. The vet I planned to take him to was not to open for another 2 hours. I also decided that I'll just give him a few days to adjust as to not stress him and with him thrashing and crying out from the carrier I let him out. Right away he freaked out and hid behind the washing machine and he stayed there all day. I researched and expected this so I knew I had to let him be.
From my laundry room there is an opening to a crawl space that leads to under the house but has no access to the outside. It is very low, very wide, and hard to go into. Even when we had pest control workers over they couldn't crawl in all the way. My second mistake: I thought I had blocked it off enough that even my cat (whose an expert at getting herself into anything) could not break through the barrier. Well, this stray kitty was able to get into the crawl space during the night. He stayed in the crawlspace for the next two days and only came out very briefly during the night because I noticed some of the cat food I left him was eaten. I left a baby monitor in the laundry room so I can keep a watchful eye on when he would come out. Over the next couple of days he did come out a few times to eat and to look around but the minute I opened the door to enter the room he runs straight into the crawlspace. We are having a hard time trying to get to the crawlspace before he does so we can block it off. Now a couple of days ago my husband noticed that the house is starting to smell like cat pee and I'm freaking out because that has never
happened in this house before. Even more, I have no idea how anyone will be able to get into the crawlspace to clean up his potty mess. I have a clean litter pan for him in the laundry room but I noticed he's not pooping in it, only peeing a little in it. He's obviously using the crawlspace as a giant litter box since the floor is dirt. To make matters worse, I noticed he started limping. He injured one of his front legs to the point that when he sits he raises the injured leg.
Enough is enough. Last Wednesday I decided to rent a Hav-a-heart trap and was able to schedule a neuter and vaccine appointment for the next day. But that night he didn't even come out of the crawlspace when he saw the trap in the room. Since then I've been placing the food bowls in the trap and slowly pushing it further back each day. Now it is Saturday and he has his rescheduled vet appointment on Monday so I'm hoping to trap him by tomorrow afternoon. He's also been meowing all night and my resident cat already knows that something is going on and senses him. I'm also trying not to stress her out too. I got some Felliway in hopes to calm both cats down and hopefully prevent him from spraying the crawlspace even more. I want my resident cat to meet the stray already but I will not will not let her near him until I know he's healthy. But honestly, I'm starting to lose hope with this cat and feel like I'm never going to trap him and get him checked. I feel like the trap is not going to work and when / if I do finally get him into the rest of the house he's going to be spraying everywhere and crying all night, disrupting this household.
At first I started feeling so bad for putting this cat through this, he finally trusted me but I felt like I totally betrayed him by taking him away from his world outside. He won't even go near me now and hissed at me a couple of times. Now I'm starting to feel regret on taking him in, like this was a big mistake. I just feel discouraged and aggravated because all I want is to take him to the vet and integrate him into our household already. I want to move on with my life!! This has been stressing me so much that it shows on my face and I've been in such a pissy mood with my husband and toddler.
Oh and just to add to even more stress, I noticed that one of the ferals I'm feeding may be pregnant. AND just this morning another one of the ferals who has been missing for a few days appeared on my deck this morning and has what looks like a leaking abscess under his eye. His eye appears swollen and bloody and the abscess is dripping with liquid which I believe is puss. I saw on his cheek that he must have been bitten or scratched by some other cat or wild animal because there's a wound. This particular cat has lived outdoors all his life (I believe) and appears to be the OG cat in the neighborhood. He comes close to me when I put the food bowl out but I cannot touch him at all. But now I'm even more stressed because I don't know what to do about his wound!! Should I leave it alone? Will it heal on it's own? I don't know whether I should first fix this situation with stray kitty in my house since I only have a few days till his supposed vet visit. OR should I change my plans and try to trap OG cat first? He's going to be a hard one to trap because he never really came at a certain time. It has been very random. I also can't afford to be taking care of all these cats with their problems, I only meant to take care of stray kitty but now I'm feeling so bad for these other ferals who need medical help. UGH!!! I can't believe this situation. I only had good intentions feeding these feral cats but everything is going wrong!!! All these problems are coming my way. I wish I didn't care but I do.
So that's the story. If anyone has some advice please share, I'm so lost and frustrated right now any help will be appreciated. Thank you!