Newest Little Feral Is Not Sounding Happy At All.

[julie310]

I left a post earlier today about my newest friendliest little feral howling and being destructive. She just really doesn't want to be in the room. She is tearing up stuff. It is my designated cat room. Alot of toys and trees a radio with soft music...
I spent a whole lot of time with her this afternoon and eve. Even let her out to play for a bit. She loved it. I put her back in her room with plenty of toys and food and water. She just will not let up. When do I know if I have made a mistake? None of the others were like this. she is keeping up the whole house again. I feel she is absolutely miserable. I know its only been a week but she seems to be getting worse not better. Guidance please I already got alot of good advice today but we are back where we started.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Wow!! She looks a whole lot like my previous rescue, Hazel. I remember having the same issue with her. To be honest, it literally took months for her to adjust to living with humans and even after that, she still to this day is very skittish and fearful. It can be hard to tell with ferals. In my experience with rescuing cats and kittens, it's best to give them time. Lots of time. No single cat is the same. You could probably try catnip or some calming fragrances (there is a spray but I don't remember the name).

 

[Sarthur2]

Since she does not want to be closed up in the room alone, you need to let her out or she will continue to drive you crazy.

She will need to learn to get along with the other cats.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

Oops, I think I read that wrong.

Is there a reason why you keep her locked up in the room?

 

[julie310]

Yes because she is newly indoors. She needs time to adjust to indoor life before run of the house. After last night there is no way she is getting run of the house. She destroyed the room I had her in. What a mess. I am not sure what i an ghing to do next but this will not work. I Am doing the best I can but its not enough for her. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[sprinkle]

Have you heard of cat music?

www.musicforcats.com

 

[julie310]

I have turned my entire upstairs which consists of 2 identical sized bedrooms (both now cat rooms) and a living room. Both of the other ferals I bought into my home were put in isolation cat rooms for a week or two with a little howling the first few nights then it stopped. I let them out room at a time to get used to surroundings. They are both doing great. No destruction at all from either. They are allowed full run at night and while I work. Callie the newest girl has been tearing stuff up from the get go. I have soft music playing in both rooms. I was told she might be lonely so I spent even more time with her last night and even let her out to cruise around the living room with the others. She did fine except she was stalking and fight her little sibling sister that I took in 2 months ago who is very well adjusted and happy now. Callie will not get the run of the place at night or while I am at work. I don't trust her at this point. If I am not doing the right thing that works best for ME and my other crew then I will be forced to re release her if I cannot find a home with someone who is better at this or has more money and time then myself. I can only do what I can. I realize all of them have different personalities but if she can't be tamed by having alone time then she needs a better solution then myself. It's ashame to because she is a friendly lovable curious little thing. If anyone else reading this lives even remotely close to me that can take her that is willing and able to deal with her I will bring her to the right person. I love her but she has till the weekend to chill a little or I am going to be at a crossroads. I am working a lot of hours and need some sleep I am willing to travel to the right home. Thank you for all of the input I really do appreciate it but I can only do certain stuff in my tiny house that I cannot afford to redecorate

 

[Sarthur2]

Perhaps you should try giving her meds. It does not sound like she is going to calm down anytime soon.

Adjustments like this can take months, as has been discussed.

If you release her is she likely to stick around your property?

 

[shadowsrescue]

Do you have Feliway plugged in? Have you tried Composure liquid max? It is a non sedating calming supplement you can mix into wet food. It really helped my former feral cats when I brought them inside.

Some cats can take months to adjust to living inside. You might try getting a large dog crate or putting two together with zip ties until she calms down. There should be enough room for a litter box and food. You can also keep the crate covered at first.

Give her time. She needs time to adjust. I would remove anything from the room that is not a cat product if you are not going to crate her.

Crating could be just a few days or longer. Once she calms down, you can stop using the crates.

It is way too soon to decide to put her back outside. I had a former feral that threw himself repeatedly against one of the windows. He was frantic. Soft music helps too. I found it helpful to find a radio station that played soft rock as well as some talk. The music is calming and the talk gets them used to more human voices.

 

[Dunnesy]

I left a post earlier today about my newest friendliest little feral howling and being destructive. She just really doesn't want to be in the room. She is tearing up stuff. It is my designated cat room. Alot of toys and trees a radio with soft music...
I spent a whole lot of time with her this afternoon and eve. Even let her out to play for a bit. She loved it. I put her back in her room with plenty of toys and food and water. She just will not let up. When do I know if I have made a mistake? None of the others were like this. she is keeping up the whole house again. I feel she is absolutely miserable. I know its only been a week but she seems to be getting worse not better. Guidance please I already got alot of good advice today but we are back where we started.

Hi. My experience of feral foster is that some do not understand cat toys at all. Try some balled up sellotape and tinfoil. I make the balls small enough to fit in their mouths and I have ropes dangling also. Tunnels are a must and old plastic sandals and old towels . I have lots of fancy toys but this junk works better with some. Try to bear with it, I know it seems impossible with some, just more time if can bear it.

 

[julie310]

Thanks for the reply. I realized in the beginning not all would be smooth. I had her in a oversized dog kennel in the room for about 24 hours but she just destroyed the box in there and seemed stressed so I let her out. She kept bum rushing the door anyway when I would open it to change litter and feed her. I just assumed she was happier with full run of the cat room. Probably my fist mistake. It felt cruel keeping her locked up in the dog kennel which is plenty big enough for litter box and hide-cardboard box food and water. I guess I should of just kept her in there for a few days to week. Can I still attempt this? And yes I have Feliway plug ins in her room. I will run penning her again for a few days or just nighttime? I want to stick with it but I am lacking sleep now which is making me feel like giving up.. sorry for that. Look what I got to show gin committed I want to be

 

[julie310]

Sorry for the typos... at work trying to do my job on little sleep should I just stray over again with penning her. At night or all day and night?

 

[julie310]

Hi. My experience of feral foster is that some do not understand cat toys at all. Try some balled up sellotape and tinfoil. I make the balls small enough to fit in their mouths and I have ropes dangling also. Tunnels are a must and old plastic sandals and old towels . I have lots of fancy toys but this junk works better with some. Try to bear with it, I know it seems impossible with some, just more time if can bear it.

I will do this thank you!!

 

[julie310]

Do you have Feliway plugged in? Have you tried Composure liquid max? It is a non sedating calming supplement you can mix into wet food. It really helped my former feral cats when I brought them inside.

Some cats can take months to adjust to living inside. You might try getting a large dog crate or putting two together with zip ties until she calms down. There should be enough room for a litter box and food. You can also keep the crate covered at first.

Give her time. She needs time to adjust. I would remove anything from the room that is not a cat product if you are not going to crate her.

Crating could be just a few days or longer. Once she calms down, you can stop using the crates.

It is way too soon to decide to put her back outside. I had a former feral that threw himself repeatedly against one of the windows. He was frantic. Soft music helps too. I found it helpful to find a radio station that played soft rock as well as some talk. The music is calming and the talk gets them used to more human voices.

Already on the soft music. Will have to look for the supplement. Can I re crate her at this point??? Maybe at night? She was wonderful all afternoon in her cat room yesterday looking outside at the bunnies and birds that I feed. It was after sundown she got loony tunes which is to be expected. She howled and made messes in her oversized pen the first two night also. Meowing constantly this I why I assumed she would love to run around her cat room at night. Do I need to start over with her? Thank god my boyfriend is going out of town all holiday weekend..... He is not getting sleep either. And he is the insistent one on if this keeps up she's gone. He has been very patient so far. We will keep at it.

 

[maggiedemi]

That gate is really nice. Do the cats get along through it, do they try to play with each other?

 

[julie310]

Perhaps you should try giving her meds. It does not sound like she is going to calm down anytime soon.

Adjustments like this can take months, as has been discussed.

If you release her is she likely to stick around your property?

No I wont let her free around my place. Too much traffic. I would re release at my work where she is used to. The whole reason for this is a disgruntled employee at work coming after me time and time again for watching over my heard. I have to sneak around and feed them. That and some aggressive fixed males have showed up in the last 3 months and are beating my original four sibs up when they try to eat. They are getting pushed farther from the property. I was afraid they wouldn't have a good shelter if these other cats persist. They actually have it pretty good at work. Well they did. Maybe I am just overanalyzing the colony situation. They have woods, abandoned building, underground shelters that they used all last winter. They survived 30 inches of snow. But we dug them out a few times when we found them all. Its just been a lot of work and I can never ever use my vacation time or go away for that matter because of worrying constantly. I felt it would be better for them and myself if they had new homes. They are extremely sweet and used to people. I figured if I could take them in a little at a time and rehome some they would be better off in the long run. They other colony members can seem to take care of themselves with daily food. Mine relied on me from the get go year ago. But now I have to many personalities clashing in such a small home with a resident cat that hates all. It is stressful. I just want a home in the woods where I can take my crazy clan and live in peace Thank you so much for the input.

 

[julie310]

That gate is really nice. Do the cats get along through it, do they try to play with each other?

I only keep my resident cat restricted from them. She hissed and growls at them through it most of the time. I feed them all turkey breast from the deli once a day together. They are all angels then. They seem to really want to socialized with my resident kit but she has never been around another cat in her adult life and she is 7. I am giving her all the space she needs as to not overwhelm her so she can accept on her own terms. Hopefully that is the right thing to do. There was 1 for 2 months but now 2 weeks later 2 more she is taking it in slowly.

 

[shadowsrescue]

Slow and steady is the way to go. The first feral I brought inside my house took a solid year to adjust to indoor living and adjust to my resident kitty.

As for the crate, yes you can crate her only at night. My feral boy cried all night every night for 5 straight nights. Once I started with the Composure, the crying/howling was greatly reduced. I doubled the dosage to start as instructed on the bottle. I also started giving it around the clock. I would give 1/2 at night and 1/4 during the day. I then adjusted the amount as time went by.

 

[julie310]

I just got done ordering Composture on line... and alot of cat food LOL I will try that and putting her in solitary confinement at night. I just feel terrible. But I did do that with the others for a week. She is definitely different. I was told calicos can have attitude as well

 

[julie310]

Okay so laying in bed and I tried to lock her in her pen tonight and I went downstairs and heard the loudest bangs shortly after ran up to check on her and she was throwing a stress anxiety attack laying in her litter box inside the oversized dog crate just crying, crazy, and hysterically laying on her back so I decided to keep the Pen open and try to calm her down a little bit she seems to be very needy and want to be around me but I cannot have her downstairs because I am living with my resident cat on the other floor. I'm kind of at a loss of what to do now. I let her back out on own but still safe in her original cat room but extra baby proofed. She really has a very bad reaction to being put back in that pen. Its scared me and made me want too cry. I really need tog get some sleep tonight but fingers crossed. will leave a post in the morning. I talked to someone today that said calicos are hard headed. I am just terrified that she will hurt herself if I force her into Penn or in some other way.... Will let you know how tomorrow morn is. Ni night ☆xo