Impossible Cat

[susieqz]

i'm not finding the site for revolution for $5.
today, i'm finding it for around $37 for a 3 pack.
i'm not as nice as you. if drifter bit or scratched me, i'd feel hurt n betrayed.
i could never forgive this.
she would be fed as payment for pest control, but i would not allow her near me.
i have spent hundreds of hours forging a certain relationship , so
this will never happen.
she has known nothing but gentleness from me n i believe she understands
that nothing else is acceptable.
she will never bite or scratch me, under any circumstances.

 

[maggiedemi]

Cats need a heartworm test before using Revolution. My former ferals don't try to bite much, and if they do, it just seems like they are playing, it doesn't hurt. But they still try to scratch us a lot. I probably should have been strict like you from the beginning and not allowed scratching. Hopefully I can train them not to.

 

[susieqz]

i should clarify my position. i can tell the difference between a cat lashing out because of great pain.which i could accept, n the kind of bites n scratches i often see described here.
those seem to be where a cat makes a voluntary decision to show aggression.
i will not accept that n i don't believe i have to.
i am tempted to say that drifter has been handled with greater care than any cat in the history of the world.
yeah, that's an exageration, but not much of one.
cats can think n make decisions, scientists be damned.
i expect drifter to make the right decisions, in this matter.

 

[susieqz]

maggie, drifter is getting a bit more than 1/2 cup of friskies, twice/day.plus whatever she can catch .this seems like a lot to me, but since i increased her feed to this amount she leaves the garden far less often. it is fair to say that she now lives in the garden, which was my goal.
am i feeding too much?

 

[orange&white]

Misfit eats more calories than either of my two indoor cats - who are overweight. She doesn't have an ounce of fat on her. She's eating a little over 200 calories a day (she only weighs 7.5 lbs).

Food definitely makes them decide to "move in" permanently.

 

[maggiedemi]

Mine get half a cup of dry food each per day, but they also get 3oz each of canned food. So that sounds about equal to what you are doing, somewhere around a cup of food per day total. Does she catch mice every single day?

 

[di and bob]

My cats do, there are three that are outside and each one catches at least one a day, and rabbits, and voles. I don't believe there will ever be a shortage, I never see them myself, but somehow they bring them home! I see them patrolling the tall grass a lot, so there must be some in there.

 

[susieqz]

my big problem is i don't know how much drifter eats, except for locusts, which she plays with all the time.
what i do know is i no longer trap mice, but i don't know if she eats them or if her scent keeps them away.
i know she eats lots of evil bunnies.
i only shot 2, instead of my normal 9.
months before i knew she was here, they disappeared.
she was keeping herself alive by hunting before we met, but she was the thinnest vat i've ever seen.
she now looks like a normal kitty, but i don't want an obesity problem to start.
like orange said, outdor cats need more food than inside cats.
she is very active.she doesn't sleep as much as indoor cats either.
i don't know how much she weighs.
i don't know how much she eats.
in act, i know nothing, but she looks ok.

 

[msaimee]

Do you want the link for Drontal? Did you find the link for the Fish Mox antibiotics helpful? I am a single homeowner with limited resources and have found the best and least expensive pet meds and supplies sites over the past several years since I've been caring for more cats than I should.

Maybe I am just lucky, but I have never known a cat who behaved aggressively for no reason or out of spite. Some cats rough house too much because when they were kittens, a human rough played with them and got them into bad habits. But this is not the case with feral and former feral cats. They only swipe and hiss when they feel directly threatened or are in pain.

In the Fall, as the weather turns cooler, outdoor cats begin to eat more to bulk up. During this time their fur thickens and grows. I could always tell how harsh the winter would be based on how thick my one outdoor feral cat's coat would get. The one Fall when his coat and body sized bulked-up to an amazing degree was one of the worst Winters we ever had with months of sub-zero weather. Mother Nature knows what she is doing. During the fall and winter, it's almost impossible to overfeed an outdoor cat. They use an enormous amount of calories to keep themselves warm. Also, hunting becomes much more difficult in the very cold weather especially with snow, so there is less prey for them. That is when they are very dependent upon human caregivers for survival. I would not worry at this point about over feeding her. Whatever weight they gain during the colder months will drop off once the warm weather comes again.

 

[maggiedemi]

Does the Drontal require a prescription?

 

[msaimee]

It is an over the counter pet med in Australia and you can order it without a prescription. This is ideal for folks who need to give a safe and effective de-wormer to a feral or stray who hasn't yet been taken to a vet but needs treatment. USA vets require an exam within the past year before they will prescribe it. Since the OP isn't planning to take Drifter to a vet in the near future, this is a safe option for immediate treatment. I can PM the site to anyone who is interested.

 

[susieqz]

yes, please post the link.
that fishmox worked like a charm. she was all better after 4 days, tho i treated her for 9.
cheap sites are always appreiciated. this cat is very expensive.
it doesn't help that i keep buying the wrong stuff n throwing it out.
barn cats don't generally go to see the vet.
but, she is angling for a house cat position.
i should get at least a distemper n also a rabies shot to protect myself.
since i have no cozy barn, i'll let her in for the winter, if she asks.
i don't actually need a house cat but i'll do what's best for her.
i'm hoping she prefers nights outside.
unlike most here, i want no cat on my bed.
my current problems arise from me being more used to dogs.
dogs listen.
cats don't.
dogs are nicer for indoors duty because of that.

 

[ashade1]

What a nice story! Can you post a picture of Drifter? She sounds charming!

 

[maggiedemi]

What does Drifter look like? You probably already told us, but I forgot. What color is she? I wish I would have been stricter with Maggie & Demi about scratching people. I was really strict about them not playing with electrical cords and they learned really quick.

 

[msaimee]

Hi there, I PM'd the Drontal site to you.
In my experience, dogs don't necessarily listen to us better than cats. The difference is that when confronted with unacceptable behavior, a dog will hang his head and look comically remorseful while a cat will just look at you like you're crazy for being upset. And if the scolding occurs at any time other than while the behavior is taking place, neither animal will be able to connect your being upset with it to the behavior, and will think you're crazy. Both will love you anyway. The trick is to be able to outsmart the animal and find a way to prevent the behavior. After unsuccessful attempts to train my cats to keep out of my palm tree and to keep them from making a mess with the dirt, I had to put aluminum foil over the dirt, leaving holes for me to water the plant. To keep them from scratching the couch, I had to purchase scratching posts and a cat tree. It does require some effort to stay ahead of them

It's actually safer for cats to be indoors at night and outside during the day. There are many more predators out and about during the night, not to mention it's colder at night and the lack of sunshine. But I'm sure Drifter will decide what she wants.

There are a few very good benefits of having an indoor cat. This summer a maternity colony of bats nested in my attic, and one day 4 of them got into my living quarters (3 babies, 1 adult). I would never have known there were 3 bats underneath my living room TV stand had my cats not alerted me to their presence. I could have gone to sleep and mama bat could have bitten me. I'm also the only person on my block who hasn't ever had mice or rats even enter into my house. My cats definitely earn their keep, because they alert me to the presence of anything inside my house that shouldn't be there that I don't immediately see--including wasps and hornets. They look out for me. They also cut down on my heating bill in the winter because when a few of them lay on my bed, their body heat heats up my bed so I can turn the thermostat down. It's also wonderful having two of them waiting for me by the window and greeting me at the door each morning when I return from work. Yes, there are cons--keeping the litter boxes clean and having to vacuum more often, and the occasional vet bills--but they are definitely worth it to me.

 

[susieqz]

thanks, ms.a. i'm sure there are benefits to indoor cats, especially if you are willing to have animals on your bed.i have a bear to cuddle n a big bunny to keep my toes warm.
i need no live animals on my bed but i'm not sure how to keep a cat off.
especially a cat that hasn't had a bath .no bath, no bed. mean while, i'm having
PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS.
drifter hardly ate her supper . so for the first time i left her food out.
BIG MISTAKE!
the food was gone but drifter wasn't in the garden this morn. then i saw big droppings near the water.
it was too loose to identify n i couldn't find my field guide to animal tracks.all i can think
is it's a possum.
i got out my haveahart n baited it with an apple.the smart thing would be to bait it with cat food, but then i'd catch a cat.
hopefully, whatever it is, i can trap it n kill it .it's too big for drifter to handle.
i don't have a great chance of trapping it since the trigger on these traps are hard to set.
plus i don't know if an apple is the right bait.
i do know it's not a coyote or rat, so that's a plus.
whatever it is, it needs to be dead.

 

[maggiedemi]

Is Drifter okay?! I hope she shows up.

 

[susieqz]

oh, she's fine. she eventually came to call.
whatever the intruder is, it only moves at night.
thing is, i want drifter in thr garden at night when coyotes are active,

 

[orange&white]

If she missed dinner or only nibbled, she may have caught some large prey like a bird, small rabbit, or large rodent. Remember my grandmother's cat who hunted at night and slept inside during the day? My grandmother constantly worried that Goldie wasn't eating enough food. I always thought that Goldie probably caught and ate several prey animals before the last one that she brought for a "prize" to my grandmother at dawn. Goldie got raw meat scraps and small raw bones while my grandmother was preparing meals, a constant bowl of cat kibble, plus leftover dinner scraps. She never ate the cooked scraps and hardly touched the kibble. I think her diet was some raw meat from my grandmother and mostly live prey.

We've had a raccoon around my property recently. I read to bait the trap with marshmallows as a raccoon's #1 favorite treat. Not sure what a possum would like.

If you don't want Drifter sleeping in your bed at night, you could shut your bedroom door. She would find a place she likes to sleep in another room...although that may be on the floor right next to the bedroom door...after dozens of nights of meowing/begging to come join you. Knock-Knock. You could also train her to sleep in a closed crate next to your bed for a while, then hope she would transition to an open pet bed in that location on the floor. (Again, more meowing for awhile.)

 

[orange&white]

Possum favorites: Apples, fish, canned cat food, anise oil on bread.

Baits for Opossums | Opossum Baits | Havahart®

Also from Havahart -
The best bait to use varies with each target animal. Expert suggestions for some of the most commonly trapped animals include:

• raccoons: marshmallows
• rabbits: cabbage
• squirrels or chipmunks: peanuts
• groundhogs: cantaloupe
• skunks or opossums: canned fish
• feral cats: cat food

For more animal-specific recommendations, visit the Animal How-To page and select your critter.

TIP: If you aren't sure exactly what kind of animal you want to trap, try a bait that attracts most animals - like peanut butter.