Need Help Socializing Feral Cat With Indoor Cats

[dbcatperson]

Well, I guess this might be bigger trouble. First when we got to the vet, they took him in the back and he got away and was too wild to check so they sedated him. He has some infection on his leg and paw. They ran blood tests and called now that he has feline aids or is that FIV? They want to know if they should continue the other tests but they don’t think it’s safe for him to live in the house with our other cats. He said he could still live a long life. He said they know a lady that would take him to live in her barn. We don’t’ know what to do?? I wanted to keep him but I don’t want to put more risk onto the other cats either. I want him to be safe and healthy. We are pretty limited financially on what we can do for him, though.

I’m just wondering what you all thought? Would this be a big risk to our other cats? and having this would be a lot of trouble for Bob and for us? This is breaking my heart.

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

I have an FIV kitty that I just rescued in December living in my house. I also have 2 other cats that he interacts with. FIV is not that bad. He may be more subject to viruses, but if he is kept strictly inside, he will be just fine. Just be sure he gets regular vet care.

FIV does not require any additional care as long as he remains healthy. Some cats with FIV never show any signs of symptoms. Some do get kitty colds and have dental issues, but if you are feeding him wet food and taking good care of him, he should be ok.

As far as your other cats, as long as intros are done slowly, all should go well. FIV is only transmitted through a very very deep bite wound. Most neutered cats do not fight or ever bite that hard. The bite would have to be quite deep. Superficial bites or scratches would not transmit the disease. It is not transmitted through grooming, sharing food/water bowls or being in close contact.

I would not send him to live as a barn cat. He would be subjected to outside weather and not having proper care. It would make his life much much harder.

I am very surprised your vet recommended he not live with you and your other cats. Do some research on this. Most vets today realize that FIV is not a death sentence and not harmful to other cats unless the cat is super super aggressive and not neutered.

I understand your worry and concern. I was also upset when I found out this past January about my kitty being FIV. Yet he is a wonderful cat and quite healthy. Being inside and out of the elements has done wonders for him.

 

[dbcatperson]

Thank you. Maybe we should let them continue with the other tests to see if there are signs of additional problems? It’s so hard to tell how aggressive he’s going to be once he’s in the house. It worries me they said he was so wild when they tried to do the tests and had to sedate him but then the stress of going to the vet is a big part of that too. I thought he would get use to us eventually. We were able to reach in the cage to put his plate of food by the carrier and he didn’t go after us but i wouldn't say he looked that happy either. I guess I’m more worried now and if he would get out of the room and go after our other two cats. The only way to transmit this is by biting one of them very deeply? We can’t get that from him? I feel so dumb about this. I have cats but yet I never really read much about this. We have to let the vet know soon what to do. what a worry.

Thanks again.

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

No you cannot get this from him at all. You will have to use caution when entering the room to be sure he doesn't get out. It's a good idea to have a baby gate as extra reassurance.
What other tests will the vet run?

 

[dbcatperson]

My husband is calling the vet back now to ask again about the other tests--i think they were going to check his kidney and liver function and thyroid? We're thinking they should go ahead and run the tests so we get a better idea of his overall health? would that be good to do since he has this?

we have the baby gate but we still need to get that set up and do some more things to that room. Gee, i feel like we should have a screen door on there now as another layer of protection? i was wondering if we should see if they could board him overnight? with this extra stress i want to be sure we have everything covered. I was reading something about the stress of bringing a cat indoors that was only use to outdoors could affect their health--do you think that's true or he will get use to this and being taken care of? The room is a little dark since it has only one window. i hope this will be okay for him?

 

[shadowsrescue]

I would think it would be more stressful for him to stay at the vet. Just have the old cage set up so he can have something familiar. He will just want to hide out and rest for the night. Do you have a feliway difuser? It would really help with the stress.
I think I posted about making a barrier that you could put up. It might be better than a screen door. I really like the walk through pet gates. I got an extra tall one for around $40 from Amazon. It was plenty for me to start with. I would then keep a pillow outside the room and open the door slowly to see where he was. If needed I would use the pillow to gently push him away from the door.

I don't know about the set up of your house, but for extra security, you could place a baby gate or barrier at the end of the hall. THis way if he gets out, he is cornered.

Just breathe..... he will pick up on your stress. I know it is hard. You are doing the best you can for him. There will be blips along the way, but remember you are doing your best!

 

[dbcatperson]

Oh I think they are checking him for fleas and ticks too. Would that be okay for him to be back in the kennel in the garage, though? or could he get more problems if we leave him out there another night or two? I didn’t know if once he’s checked if boarding him at the vet would be safer? I don’t want him to be more stressed out, though. Our garage isn’t the greatest. I guess we need to know if he has fleas? If he has fleas, can he even be in the house right now? boy, I feel like such a dope and I'm so worried about our other two cats now. This is just so new to me so I'm panicking.

Our house is a small ranch house. Maybe another baby gate might work—we’ll have to do some more thinking to see how to set things up better. I hope this can work out.

Oh I forgot to say I have two diffusers on order but they didn’t come yet. I do have a spray bottle of calming spray from sentry? Should I try to just spray some of that for now?

Thanks again!

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

If he has fleas, the liquid medication they will give you works super fast. It lasts for 30 days. If he does have fleas, you could leave him in the garage another day or two until you are ready.

As for the calming spray, just spray it an hour or so before he comes in the room. It lasts a few hours. You also could spray his cage before you bring him home as it might make him feel better.

 

[dbcatperson]

Thank you so much for all the help. I think you're really right and he should go back in the kennel and not stay at the vet. at least he's a bit use to that and maybe he can calm down a bit more before we move him in the house. We'll try to get him in the house tomorrow or Wednesday for sure. just want to make sure everything is really in good shape. The vet said they have to send the blood work out for the rest of the tests. so not sure when we'll get those results. hope there isn't anything else wrong. he has enough to deal with--the worms and infected leg/foot and the fiv. poor guy.

I'll do that with the spray for now. Maybe the difusers will be here tomorrow or Wednesday.

Thank you again!
Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

How he he doing today?

 

[dbcatperson]

My husband did bring him home yesterday from the vet and he’s out in the kennel in the garage. I guess he had diarrhea in the carrier while he was at the vet and there’s some on him but they were unable to clean him up. We put the carrier in the kennel and went out a little later and he was over in the bigger carrier so maybe he remembered his house then. He did eat some canned food overnight and dry food and drank water. He might need to stay out there until tomorrow night or Thursday. The room should be safe and secure by then and I should have the diffusers tomorrow too. I forgot about getting a cat tree—we should do that too.

I’m a little worried about it being too warm in the garage. The temperature here today and tomorrow will be in the 80’s and the dew point will be in the low to mid 60’s. We have the door open and the windows. I guess we’ll keep checking to see if it gets too warm.

One thing I’m wondering about is feline leukemia? It mentions on his paperwork about having him retested—it says even though the results were negative, it could be sitting dormant in his body. It doesn’t say when to retest, though. Should we be worried about this? We’ll have to ask the vet about this when they call with the remaining test results.

Thanks for asking about him and for all your help! I'll be going back out in a little while to check on him again.

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

For the FIV/FELV test did you do the in house vet SNAP test or did you opt for the more accurate blood test? There can be false positives with the in house SNAP test. If you have him retested the vet should tell you when that should happen. Just be sure it is with the blood test.

You can probably wait a bit on the cat tree. Give him some time to settle in first.

Did they give you anything for the diarrhea?

 

[dbcatperson]

I went out to check on Bob and he’s in the smaller carrier. Usually he just stares at me with his head up while I’m cleaning up his cage and then when I went back out he was actually laying his head down. I never saw him do that before—maybe that’s a good sign and he’s feeling a little more comfortable with us?


I hope it’s okay if I list everything that they did to Bob at the vet to see what you think and if it sounds like they covered everything--i do see Snap Test. We have our other two cats but yet I’m still learning about these things:


Wellness exam

PPC-FELK/FIV/HWT Snap test

Revolution Cats 5-15#

IDX-Healthcheck Plus w/T4 (46)

Phlebotomy/blood processing

Convenia Injectable 80mg/ml

Feline FVRCP Temporary Immunization

DKT and Sedation Monitoring

Dexmedetomidine

Ketamine inj. 100 mg/ml

Butorphanol 10 mg/ml

Wound clip and clean

Do you think we should ask them about another test for the feline leukemia? I wonder if that’s part of the blood work? We would hate to have to bring him back already but i want my other two cats to be safe.

They know about the diarrhea problem he was having but does anything on here sound like it's something to help his diarrhea? or could it mainly be from the worms? There was no poop in his cage or litter box today so far. He ate okay too so we’ll see how things go today. We’ll have to ask the vet more about the feline leukemia and also when the other test results will be back--we'll have to ask about his diarrhea if he continues to have it. I was wondering about getting pet insurance for our cats but now with Bob having these problems, we probably couldn’t get the coverage now.
Thanks!

 

[shadowsrescue]

It doesn't appear they did the blood test for FIV or FELV. At some point you may want to do this just to be sure that he really has FIV. SNAP tests can reveal false positives. Some vets when they get a positive will recommend a blood test for confirmation.

I am going to be out of the loop for a bit. My kitty had emergency surgery yesterday. He is home now and it is not going well. I am a bit overwhelmed. I will do my best to check in.

 

[dbcatperson]

Thank you for your help. Please take care of yourself and i'm hoping and praying everything will be okay with your kitty.

 

[shadowsrescue]

How are things going with Bob? Did you manage to move him into the house?
My kitty is having a difficult time. He had a urinary blockage that turned into surgery. He is a semi feral I just rescued in December. The experience was traumatic for him. He is calmer now, but requires almost around the clock care. Fortunately he has some good meds that make him sleepy for a period.

 

[dbcatperson]

I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in a while. We’re dealing with some other problems (not with the cats) and it delayed some things for Bob. I hope you’re doing well and your kitty is doing better now?


Regarding Bob, we still have him in the kennel in the garage. The vet called on Wednesday to say his other tests were good but to keep an eye on the diarrhea problem and the infection on his foot and leg. He said he gave him a long acting antibiotic for the foot infection—hard to see his leg and foot real good to see if anything is getting better because he stays in one of the carriers when we are out there. He said if he kept having trouble with diarrhea that we could get some medicine from them to try and mix in his food.


The best day for Bob was the day after being at the vet and he seemed so calm and relaxed and was even laying down when we were out by him instead of looking at us nervously. But Wednesday he seemed back to looking more nervous. No poop in his box Tuesday but Wednesday it was normal—Thursday and Friday was a mix of normal and some mush and now this morning there was some watery diarrhea outside his litter box. No worms in it, though. but I think we better get the medicine from the vet today that he said we could try mixing in his food. I don’t know why he’s having this problem and maybe we should only feed him dry food and no canned food?


We thought we could try to move him in the house tomorrow but if he might need more vet care, should we wait and keep him in the kennel so we can move him easier?

Thanks for the help.

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

Canned food is always best. You don't want him getting dehydrated.

What did the vet give you?
If you have not taken in a stool sample yet, I would do that before giving him something. You really want to know what is causing the diarrhea and not just mask it.

Two of my cats had terrible diarrhea last year. It was from eating some canned food that was bad. They got a very bad infection and needed antibiotics. If I had just given a diarrhea medication, it might have masked the problem for awhile and then it would have just returned. A stool sample is really a must.

I hope you can move Bob tomorrow.

 

[PghBellacat]

Hello,

I’m really hoping for some advice and help for what steps we should take—this is new to us and I’m sorry this is a little long. We have two indoor cats we adopted from a shelter last year. A few weeks ago, one of our indoor cats ran out the door when my husband went outside and we were unable to find her. We set traps hoping that we would catch her. A couple days later, we trapped a different cat and I saw it had an injured leg so we brought it to the humane society for help and to see if anyone was missing a cat or if they could try to get him adopted. After a couple weeks, the humane society said nobody claimed him and they feel he’s a wild cat and they neutered him and gave him a rabies shot and asked if we wanted to pick him up to release him back in the area where we caught him. They asked us to keep him in the carrier for a few days to get him use to the area again. This was really bothering us to let him go—we were worried about his safety but also for the wildlife we have around our area. We decided we wanted to try and socialize him and see if we can bring him inside. My husband bought two dog kennels and attached them together to make a little more room for him and we have the carrier inside the kennel—he mostly stays in the carrier but does come out to eat and use the litter box when we aren’t around. We have this kennel out in the garage, though.

We’re kind of lost on how to handle this and what to do. He’s really been in a cage about 3 weeks now—2 weeks at the humane society and one week here. I go out in the garage 4 times a day—twice to feed canned food (he also has dry food and water) and twice for cleanup and just to check on him. We probably should try and sit out there with him so he can hear and see us more? He seems to stay in the carrier when we are around, though.

At what point can a vet check him over to see if it’s safe for him to come in the house and how do I safely get him and our other two cats use to each other? How long can he stay in a cage? It really bothers us to have him out in the garage by himself and he just seems so lonely but yet I’m a little worried he’s too wild yet--I’m afraid to reach my hand in there. I’m hoping to see him come out to eat while we are actually out there.

I also purchased some herbal feral drops from Jackson Galaxy’s website that sounded good—not sure if anyone has tried that on here?

Any suggestions you can give us would really be appreciated. We’re feeling pretty lost and don’t want to do something wrong and screw things up. Oh, by the way, we did get our cat back a couple days later after trapping the feral cat.

Thanks for your help.

Diane

 

[shadowsrescue]

Any updates on Bob?