Okay so. For the better part of a year, we've had this little black cat (dunno how old she is - we've got a pretty small cat and she's like, nine so it's kinda hard to tell) living around our apartment. At first, we assumed she was a stray, but the maintenance folks told us that she was the "neighborhood cat", and that she just sort of ran around hunting mice and stuff. Okay, cool. However, during that time we weren't aware, we started feeding her to try and get her to trust us. It's been three months since we started, and though we don't plan on trying to trap her or anything now, she's gotten pretty fond of me and likes it when I pet her. My dad's also able to pet her a little bit, but she tends to shy away from him after a minute - not sure how she is with my mom.
However, my parents and I have gotten pretty fond of her, and since it's gonna be cold on Christmas, my mom's talking about letting her in for a little bit then - she also wants to take her with us when we move, as aside from one of the ladies in the apartment behind us, we're the only ones really taking care of her. Aside from feeding her, we also made a little shelter for her to chill out in to try and deal with the cold. She mostly sits in it when it's raining, though.
My mom mentioned that the neighbor had let her in for a little bit at some point, but I don't know how well she took to being indoors (as I'm typing, my parents are out shopping, so I'll have to ask later). There's also the fact that we currently have a cat and a dog already, and our cat tends to act like she's the queen of the house, so I'm not sure how to really introduce them to each other and get them used to being around one another without it turning into a battle royale.
We've only taken in a stray once before, and that was when I was ten, so I can't remember how we went about getting them and the cats we had at the time used to each other (we ended up having to take her to a shelter due to problems with her not being fixed - we ended up with two litters of kittens at that point in time, and one of the kittens from the 2nd one is the cat we have currently). Does anyone have any advice on how to make this work? I know we'll need to confine her to a room for a period of time if we mean to start bringing her in regularly, but the only room we can do that in is my room since we live in an apartment.
Also, if you guys could help me suss out whether she's feral or just abandoned it'd be a Big Help 'cause I honestly have no clue.
FACTS ABOUT THE CAT (please ignore the slugs in the pic - it was raining often so they were a problem and we couldn't put her food anywhere else):
- Her name's Elvira
- She comes up to our door when she wants food or attention (has been inside our neighbor's apartment before, but not ours - no clue how she reacted or acted)
- Will let me pet her, occasionally lets my dad pet her for a short period of time
- Sometimes lays down in my lap while I'm petting her
- Does vocalize (meows, purrs, etc)
- Hunts mice
- Doesn't seem to get along with the other outdoor/stray/feral cats here (I've heard them fighting when they come around to try and eat the food we set out for her, and I once saw her hiss and growl at one of the tabbys when it came around her food while I was outside)
- Doesn't really like to be picked up or held
- Still sort of skittish, but less so around my family than she was initially
- Has been fixed already, according to the maintenance people
However, my parents and I have gotten pretty fond of her, and since it's gonna be cold on Christmas, my mom's talking about letting her in for a little bit then - she also wants to take her with us when we move, as aside from one of the ladies in the apartment behind us, we're the only ones really taking care of her. Aside from feeding her, we also made a little shelter for her to chill out in to try and deal with the cold. She mostly sits in it when it's raining, though.
My mom mentioned that the neighbor had let her in for a little bit at some point, but I don't know how well she took to being indoors (as I'm typing, my parents are out shopping, so I'll have to ask later). There's also the fact that we currently have a cat and a dog already, and our cat tends to act like she's the queen of the house, so I'm not sure how to really introduce them to each other and get them used to being around one another without it turning into a battle royale.
We've only taken in a stray once before, and that was when I was ten, so I can't remember how we went about getting them and the cats we had at the time used to each other (we ended up having to take her to a shelter due to problems with her not being fixed - we ended up with two litters of kittens at that point in time, and one of the kittens from the 2nd one is the cat we have currently). Does anyone have any advice on how to make this work? I know we'll need to confine her to a room for a period of time if we mean to start bringing her in regularly, but the only room we can do that in is my room since we live in an apartment.
Also, if you guys could help me suss out whether she's feral or just abandoned it'd be a Big Help 'cause I honestly have no clue.
FACTS ABOUT THE CAT (please ignore the slugs in the pic - it was raining often so they were a problem and we couldn't put her food anywhere else):
- Her name's Elvira
- She comes up to our door when she wants food or attention (has been inside our neighbor's apartment before, but not ours - no clue how she reacted or acted)
- Will let me pet her, occasionally lets my dad pet her for a short period of time
- Sometimes lays down in my lap while I'm petting her
- Does vocalize (meows, purrs, etc)
- Hunts mice
- Doesn't seem to get along with the other outdoor/stray/feral cats here (I've heard them fighting when they come around to try and eat the food we set out for her, and I once saw her hiss and growl at one of the tabbys when it came around her food while I was outside)
- Doesn't really like to be picked up or held
- Still sort of skittish, but less so around my family than she was initially
- Has been fixed already, according to the maintenance people
