My Failure..

[islander]

I took a feral in from a rescue. She had been taken there with her kittens when someone saw a farmer burying them alive.
They had rehomed the kitten when they were old enough and needing a home for the mother cat.

|She was friendly and allowed petting etc.. then the hormones wore off? And instead of taking food from my hand she lashed out at me and then hid... I got clawed etc.. I persevered. Patience... nothing helped.. Managed as I was due to move house to get her spayed. The day I was moving there was no way she was going to be caught etc. Believe me I tried. Fianlly left her in the rental with a note for my kind landlrod asking him to get help from the local excellent rescue .. never heard again. Lost both my ferals on that move..

 

[verna davies]

It's not a failure, you tried. Sometimes things like that happen but as long as we try to help we cant do any more.

 

[Maria Bayote]

Not your fault. You did all you could.

 

[islander]

Thank you both. My one comfort is that I did get the two if them spayed/ neutered so at least they were safer, especially the wee girl .I strove to capture her but I had a 6 hour drive ahead of me and bad weather.

This is the one photo I have of her. A true feral in those wide , wary eyes.

 

[fionasmom]

You did the best you could. I have had a couple of major feral failures as well in the course of rescue, especially when it came to the retrapping.

 

[kittychick]

Just when I think I can't hear anything else more upsetting that a human will do to an animal - - I cried reading what these babies were initially saved from. I will never understand any human having the ability within them to be that cruel to helpless kitties.

BUT - - remember that YOU did a HUGE thing for this girl by getting her spayed!!!!! That's SUCH a big positive to take away from this. I know it's hard to look at it that way right now (I know how you feel -- - I'm a chronic "beat myself up about things I can't always control" person - especially when animals are involved!). But try to remember by even that one act - - -getting her spayed - - is one that will very likely extend her life, and keep many, many kittens from being born into a very rough, short life outside.

She probably reacted as she did because she sensed the commotion of moving. It's not uncommon for completely socialized cats to panic and disappear when a move is happening.

Try to tell yourself that you did good by her even by just the act of spaying her. Plus now she knows there ARE good humans out there, and perhaps someone in her area will soon start to look after her, since you already planted the seed in her brain that humans aren't all bad, she'll hopefully be more willing to trust the next person who comes along and is willing to feed and shelter her.

You didn't fail her. You did the best you could. And I have a feeling in your new home, you just may find another feral kitty needing your compassion.

 

[islander]

Blessings and thanks for this. She was fine at first; I really think it was the "mumsy" hormones that made her amenable as she was still full of milk, At the rescue when she was with her kittens she was friendly and purry as she was the first week I had her. But her eyes on that photo! And yes, that I got her neutered was a huge thing. The vet told me there was thickening of her womb lining ' she had never ever been out etc so a phantom pregnancy. Someone writing re ferals says they have by second generation only 2 instinctst; feed and breed.
Oh and after i lost my dog and a cat, I took in THREE strays!