I am so glad I found this thread as my situation is almost exactly the same. Soon after I started a new job almost 3 years ago, we had a small colony of cats move in behind our office. We had a lot of lumber/boards out back and we have a shed there & they were using this as shelter. We initially had a mom and her 2 male kittens. Then another female showed up and the dad would occassionally drop by. Long story short, we had all of them except the dad (we never caught him) trapped and neutered/spayed and began feeding the mom and her kittens and the other female. The vet said the mother was feline HIV positive and the kittens probably were too. We suspected the other female was another kitten of the mom from a previous litter since they were all almost identical. Fast forward two years and the other cat still here is one of the male kittens, named Jekyll. We don't know what has happened to the other cats, one by one they've disappeared. The last to go was the other female that we had named Mystery. It broke my heart when Mystery disappeared, as I have been feeding her & Jekyll and the others (until they disappeared) regularly now twice a day.Hello all. I'm so glad I found this place because I'm freaking out about the step I'm about to take.
First the backstory. There is a yellow and white female (mama kitty) who has been living outside my workplace (in a wooded corporate park) since at least last October. She may have been there since last June. I rescued a litter of .... I then trapped her and had her spayed and released her back. The vet said she did not tolerate people at all. She was very mad at me for a few days and wouldn’t come around when I was there. But she finally got over it. She’s never been afraid of me but would not let me closer than a couple of feet.
I’ve been feeding her every day since then. Her home base is the broken down truck. She usually was roaming during the day and would be there in the evening when I came to feed her. About a month ago she let me pet her. And she loved it! For the last two weeks she has been hanging around most days. She knows the sound of my car and comes out when I arrive in the morning. She also knows my voice and will come out during the day if I’m outside. She follows me around like a puppy. She wants petting more than she wants food. Last weekend she chased my car as I was leaving. Wednesday she followed me to the back door and sat looking in trying to find me. In other words, we have become bonded. She is not really afraid of other people but will not let them get too close.
...But I’d like to get her to a vet and then take her home.
My problem is that I have two indoor cats – a male who is 10 and a female who is 13. I'm really worried about upsetting them.
...Do you think she will do well because she likes me so much already? That's my hope but I have no experience with strays. I've only ever introduced kittens to other cats I've had. How do older cats usually respond to a new adult? I love my cats so much. I don't want to do anything that will hurt them. But I love mama kitty, too, and I just can't let her live in a parking lot anymore.
So of course, now that I made my decision, mama kitty was not around today. I'll have to catch her during the day to get her to the vet.
Any experience and advice will be greatly appreciated!
So the only one still here is Jekyll, who was the most feral. It has taken him over two years but he has become a little love bug and we are attached to each other. Last night was I was leaving work, he was sitting in the parking lot crying. It broke my heart. I think he is very lonely. I've bought beds for him and put them in the shed as it is now cold. I leave dry food for him over the weekend and come up on holidays to make sure he is fed. We will now sit outside my office window and call for me to come out. He's very tame compared to what he was but occasionally still skittish. He lets me pet him all the time and runs over to me when I come out. I've decided that I would like to bring him home where I can take proper care of him but I already have two cats who are almost 5 years old, one male and one female. They were neutered/spayed when they were less than a year old.
I am worried about introducing Jekyll since he may be Feline HIV positive. At the same time, I absolutely cannot leave him here because the office management as been grumbling about the cat(s) hanging around. Jekyll would have to go directly to a vet assuming I could catch him again. The other thing I worry about is the expense. I do not make a lot of money at all & I'm in college, too so money is tight. I have posted on Facebook about Jekyll hoping someone would see his story and take him in so he could live in a single-cat home. No luck.
I realize no one can make this decision for me but myself. It just bothers the heck out of me seeing him so alone. On the other hand, people have said to me at least he is being fed. That doesn't help, honestly.