New Member with FIV+ Semi-Feral Kitty after 2.5 of patience

FeralMamaNC

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Hello! I'm new to the group and live in North Carolina, USA. Here is my FIV+ kitty's story. We first met "Mama" when I noticed a stray cat slipping under our backyard shed 2.5 years ago. We soon realized this cat was completely feral and she had had kittens under our shed. It took us almost 3 weeks of setting numerous traps and trying so many different foods and techniques in an attempt to trap her. Throughout this time, we fed her to help keep her healthy for nursing those newborn babies we knew were under our shed. Finally after almost 3 weeks, we trapped her and we quickly began digging out the underside of our shed for the kittens. Mama had SIX adorable kittens, 3 solid black (like her) and 3 solid gray. After a lot of sweat, we finally safely transferred mama and kitties to a very large dog crate in a bedroom in a quiet area of our house.

For the next almost 2 months, I fed and watered mama twice a day, changed the litter box twice a day and blankets. I also began introducing myself to her kittens, who did not know any fear of humans like their mama did and though all six kittens tested positive for FIV initially, all 6 finally tested negative after 6 months and were all adopted into amazingly loving INDOOR homes. Mama was finally spayed, tested and vaccinated once the kittens were weaned and that is when I found out she was FIV+. We retested a month later with the same result. This entire time, Mama remained horribly feral, to the point I had to always move very cautiously while doing anything with the crate. She would constantly growl, hiss and strike at me at every opportunity. When I picked her up from her vet spay and testing appt., the vet told me she was one of the most feral cats she had ever worked with and this came from a veterinarian who did spaying and neutering of feral cats on a regular basis!

Two weeks later, I decided to let Mama outside but hoped and prayed she would hang around in the hopes of having regular feedings. I was torn about this decision due to her FIV status, but I knew she was terrified and living in a crate was not life. Once I let her out, she was gone for four days. On the fifth day, I saw her out of the corner of my eye and then she was gone in a flash. Fast forward 2.5 years later and Mama is finally coming inside our house each night. She loves and trusts me and will cuddle, head butt and give me kitty kisses. Though sadly, she still will not trust my husband and will hide whenever he walks by. She enjoys our 55lb pit bull, boxer female dog Hazel and she so much wishes to be best friends with our 19 yr old geriatric kitty Sophie, though Sophie will sleep near mama and tolerate her, she isn't a huge fan of the younger, more spunky Mama.

It has been very cold and rainy here for the last three days, this is Mama's third consecutive day inside. She isn't happy about it, but at least she has a screened porch to safely go out on. I think this is the time to finally say, "No more free roaming outside" and I am now attempting to not allow her complete outdoor access, as we live in the city and there are so many dangers and I also worry about her health and the health of other cats in the neighborhood. I am hoping to build a cat proof fence attachment later this summer for her to enjoy going outside but be restricted to our backyard only.

Mama has had no vet care since her initial spay/testing and vaccinations 2.5 years ago. So, now I am planning to slowly introduce a cat carrier to her and see how it goes. She is very food motivated and trusts me, so I am hoping that will help in my teaching her the carrier doesn't mean her any harm. Once that happens, I plan to take her to my vet for an exam, bloodwork and a rabies vaccine. She also is very healthy right now, with good stools, urine output and glossy fur. I give her high quality natural dry and canned daily, with salmon oil twice a day mixed in.

A bit of my background...I have worked in dog and cat rescue for over 20 years, worked at a vet hospital for over 10 and owned a health store for pets for 10 years as well. I also had 8 indoor cats of my own, all who lived to be 17+ years. My oldest passed at 22. I still have my last geriatric from my crew of 8, that being Sophie, who is 18 and has end stage renal disease.

SO.....after all that, my questions:
1. Has anyone had a FIV+ feral cat become strictly indoor and if so, how was their transition?
2. What supplements would you recommend to keep her immune system healthy?
3. Do you give your kitty any homeopathic remedies before/after any vaccinations?
4. Any other advice?

I apologize for this being so horribly long, but I wanted to give everyone Mama's story. Thank you for reading!

Tammy and Mama
 

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shadowsrescue

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SO.....after all that, my questions:
1. Has anyone had a FIV+ feral cat become strictly indoor and if so, how was their transition?
2. What supplements would you recommend to keep her immune system healthy?
3. Do you give your kitty any homeopathic remedies before/after any vaccinations?
4. Any other advice?

Welcome to TCS. Thank you so much for rescuing Mama and wanting the best for her! I will try to answer a few of your questions.

1. I have 2 FIV+ cats that now live inside full time. Both were former feral cats that I had cared for on my deck for many years. When I moved I brought them along and decided it was time to move them inside. The transition was a few months. At first it was isolation from my other cats and then introductions started. Both are doing very very well and love being inside.

2. I give VetriScience DMG liquid every day for immune support. Previously I gave Orthomolecular Specialties Mega C which was a superior product. The owner of the company passed away and the product was unavailable for a few years. The company has just been sold so the product is coming back soon. Dr. Belfield, DVM designed this product with extensive research in cats and dogs. If you want to check out the products you can look here Home - OMS Love My Pet Yet, I have found the DMG to work very very well. I give it daily and increase to 2x a day if I suspect any upper respiratory issues.

3. I do vaccines, but not the FIV or FELV. One of my FIV+ boys does not receive very much vet care as he cannot be handled. He was given the 3 year FVRCP vaccine and most likely will not receive any other vaccines unless absolutely necessary. I do use homeopathic remedies on my cats when needed, but not specifically for FIV.

4. So many people freak out with having FIV+ cats. They first off think that it can easily be transmitted to their other cats. FIV is transmitted by deep bite or punctures. Most cats once spayed/neutered so not fight with such aggression to bite or puncture the skin so deeply. My FIV+ cats have all been quite healthy. One is 7 and the other is 8. Don't be afraid! I had people tell me to euthanize for FIV. That is just not true unless the cat is quite ill at the time of diagnosis.

One of my FIV boys is a black kitty too!
 

Babypaws

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That’s amazing after 2.5 years you were able to get her inside. I have a feral cat (all gray) I brought in on our porch last October to keep her warm and safe for the winter months. I’ve been trying to get her to trust me enough so I can bring her to the vet for shots and then let her inside the house to socialize with my 12 indoor cats.
I had her trapped and spayed after her second litter (5) kittens. Unfortunately because of the number of cats I already had I couldn’t keep the kittens so they were placed in a foster home. The mother cat was returned to me in August. I had kept her first litter of 3. Two were all black and one is tiger. They were brought inside after their shots and are part of our family now.
I wish I had advice for you but there are some pretty knowledgeable people here that I’m sure can give you some great advice.
I'm glad you will be keeping her inside. Question for you, what type of fence is cat proof?
She is very adorable. you made me laugh when you said 3 of her kittens were all black and 3 were all gray. Sounds like my furry family. I had brought in the mother cat (all black) almost 3 years ago, along with her 5 week old three kittens who were all gray. But she had gotten pregnant again before I brought her inside. She had 6 all black kittens on our porch. I found homes for 3 of them and decided to keep the rest. My house is confusing Sometimes....3 all gray cats, 7 all black, 1 tiger and my oldest is tabby color (16 year). Can get confusing sometimes on who’s who....
I've never had a FIV cat, thankfully when I had the kittens tested they were all negative.
I hope things turn out ok for you and mama
 
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FeralMamaNC

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Welcome to TCS. Thank you so much for rescuing Mama and wanting the best for her! I will try to answer a few of your questions.

1. I have 2 FIV+ cats that now live inside full time. Both were former feral cats that I had cared for on my deck for many years. When I moved I brought them along and decided it was time to move them inside. The transition was a few months. At first it was isolation from my other cats and then introductions started. Both are doing very very well and love being inside.

2. I give VetriScience DMG liquid every day for immune support. Previously I gave Orthomolecular Specialties Mega C which was a superior product. The owner of the company passed away and the product was unavailable for a few years. The company has just been sold so the product is coming back soon. Dr. Belfield, DVM designed this product with extensive research in cats and dogs. If you want to check out the products you can look here Home - OMS Love My Pet Yet, I have found the DMG to work very very well. I give it daily and increase to 2x a day if I suspect any upper respiratory issues.

3. I do vaccines, but not the FIV or FELV. One of my FIV+ boys does not receive very much vet care as he cannot be handled. He was given the 3 year FVRCP vaccine and most likely will not receive any other vaccines unless absolutely necessary. I do use homeopathic remedies on my cats when needed, but not specifically for FIV.

4. So many people freak out with having FIV+ cats. They first off think that it can easily be transmitted to their other cats. FIV is transmitted by deep bite or punctures. Most cats once spayed/neutered so not fight with such aggression to bite or puncture the skin so deeply. My FIV+ cats have all been quite healthy. One is 7 and the other is 8. Don't be afraid! I had people tell me to euthanize for FIV. That is just not true unless the cat is quite ill at the time of diagnosis.

One of my FIV boys is a black kitty too!

Hello and thanks for the quick response! I definitely know of DMG and will look into it for my Mama. She enjoys being indoors, but I know she would love to still go outside and wander. Right now, she has been on our screened porch for 3 hours. Thankfully, she has fresh water and two heated beds out on the porch to choose from when she's outside pouting.

I am not worried about her and my geri Sophie at all, as they do well together, though Mama is definitely the more tolerant of the two! LOL.

Years ago, I rescued a FELV+ kitty girl and didn't know a lot about it at that time. I had my vet at the time tell me to euthanize her, but she was healthy at that point and I could not imagine doing that. I immediately began calling around and found another vet office who was willing to attempt to find a home for her. Thankfully, they found an amazing home for Percy and I immediately left my old vet practice and began seeing them. Eventually, I began working for this practice and found out one of their employees was the person who adopted my FELV+ Percy. She lived another 2 years afterward before her health took a nosedive.

Best
 

Jcatbird

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Listen to Shadowrescue! I have both FIV and Felv cats. They must live separately from each other but the FIV cat lives with his colony mates and all are inside only now! All were feral. My Felv is now 14 and the FIV is about four of five. My FIV cat also survived having heart worms. Cats are tough and we need to give them every chance to live a happy life. Keeping that kitty inside is going to give her a far better quality of life and a chance at a much longer life span! She is beautiful! Bravo to you for helping her! :clap2: Time and love will help her to adjust to being inside. Catios are an option if you really feel she needs to be out at times but all of the ferals I have worked with decided that inside is where they prefer to be now. Including my wildest and the most feralI have ever come into contact with. Love , security and comfort changes everything.
 
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