My feral cat seems bored. Or is she?

[sweetlilac]

Hi again.... just wanting to check. KittyKat has been pretty happy with her heated mat (like, in heaven!) and having me lavish some occasional attention on her.

However, she used to run and play with her now gone siblings, and now, she pretty much lies around. She must be about 11? No sure. We moved in 8 years abo and she is pretty much the same size.

Is she just getting on? or bored? Is this just normal? I imagine she must be lonely, she just sits and looks out at whatever? Yes she goes out and about but not the same as when she had her buddies.

Anything I can do? I can't imagine her playing with a string. She doesn't even know how to catch a mouse! or bird (happy about that.)

Or should I just let it be?

 

[kittychick]

That's not unusual at all, particularly if she appears healthy. She's surpassed the lifespan of most feral kitties (VERY largely due to your loving care!). And most kitties - feral or not - sleep anywhere from 14-20 hours a day, with the number of sleeping hours getting more on on the high side the older the kitty gets. Most of our (indoor) kitties have survived until at least 18 - several have survived until 20/21. And every year there was more and more sleep. In every case, they were very happy. They just slowed down (not unlike humans - - - or at least this human!).

Yes, kitties do very often mourn/miss their siblings/colony mates/housemates. And a little of the slowdown may be due to that. It's also possible that those siblings "forced" her (encouraged might be a better word) to get up and play. They also generally slow down as winter approaches - conserving fat and resources.
But I suspect a large portion is simply her age - - so it's normal (of course if you see anything that seems like illness - that's different).

It sounds like she's letting you engage more in touch with her. I'd do that as much as she's comfortable with. It reminds her she still has you as a "tribe member" (a funny-looking one in her eyes, but a tribe member nonetheless). And try to play with her - - with things like "Cat Dancers" (available other places - but here's the Amazon link: Cat Dancer at Amazon ). It'll encourage bonding with you - - and get her moving a bit.

But otherwise - think of her as EXCEEDINGLY happy because of you - - and comfortable enough with you to get the happy, truly restful sleep a cat of her age usually needs!

 

[sweetlilac]

Thank you SO MUCH for your lengthy response to something that has been a concern to me. I feel reassured. I try to massage and groom her several times a day, "check in" with her, just like that, to be her funny looking 'Jonny come lately alt-"sibling"'. She's taken the bait and responds well. I can tell she gets distressed sometimes, when I have been gone too long, I am like her connection to the real world, I guess. I can only imagine she is lonely.

Can a 11 (or whatever?) y.o. cat learn to play? I didn't think that was possible. I will give it a try. Catnip mouse on a string? Or is the feather dancer more beguiling?

 

[fionasmom]

My older cats don't play much, but once in a while they will briefly play with a feather dancer. My take on this is that the cat is older and extremely happy to be cared for and to have a safe place to live.

 

[sweetlilac]

I will try a feather dancer! Thanks. I tried a catnip mouse on a string this morning. She seemed interested for a bit... and then ran away!

It was so exhilarating to see her curiosity come to life. A small risk to take, one feather dancer coming up! Even if it's just a teeny little bit. I would like her to have a full range of experience while she still has life, and hopefully this might give her a new interest besides food, sleep, grooming, hugging, petting, and ... rinse repeat.

 

[Sean35]

The feral I feed runs from other cats, doesn't play, and seemed to do little more than eat, groom, hide, and run away. Once I put in my Nest doorbell camera, I started noticing that when the weather was still warm, he or she loved to chase bugs late at night and was really active when doing so. It was literally the only time so far that I've actually seen his or her tail up, even if just for a brief second.

 

[sweetlilac]

Fun! I have heard of youtubes that put cameras on cats and see where they go at night outdoors. Apparently they meet up with other cats, sniff, fight, (briefly), and move on. I would love to watch one sometime. Looks like you got a good start.

I do suspect KittyKat is more active at night. Hope so! One day may be we will have cameras too, and put them on our cats (the price will come down) and we'll find out for sure what goes on!

 

[Sean35]

I put out a battery powered security camera at night so that I know when a cat shows up, but it catches some odd stuff. The other feral (Sidekick, who has been a pain to try and trap) will ignore catnip or catnip toys if he or she can sense that I'm around, but at 2 AM will roll around in it briefly before going back into high alert. The funniest though is that there is a possum that cuts through my yard every night and pays no attention to the cats or any food that might be on my front porch, but if there is a cat toy out, it'll go up there and bite the hell out of the toy if it is soft, or push the plastic balls around if they are there. I'll have to upload some clips.

 

[sweetlilac]

Cool! That would be so fun to see.

 

[daftcat75]

Play is practice for hunting. It’s in their instinct to enjoy play as it is in their instinct to hunt. Although if she’s well fed, she may lack the desire to hunt rather than the know how.

Play can deepen the bond between cat and guardian. Even my (recently passed) sixteen year old would go to the closet door where she knew I kept the wand toys and sit down in front of it. She wanted to play. I brought out a wand toy—usually Da Bird, sometimes Cat Dancer—and she would leap and chase as long as her lymphoma-weakened, arthritic body would let her. Usually just a few seconds. A few leaps. But she would request this almost daily. Sometimes a few times a day. And you bet she loved this because I was involved and not just a toy mouse tossed at her. She had a lot of health challenges in her senior years. A lot of times she lost interest in playing with toys on her own. But she did keep showing up at the closet door.


Also. Don’t underestimate a shoelace or a laser pointer.