I am brand new to the world of TNR or TN-and-attempt-to-socialize. So, I have a ton of questions...but one pressing one at the moment.
I had a litter of 4 feral kittens (well, probably more like tweens as they are likely closer to 6-7 months old) that had taken up residence around my backyard -- we provided heated cat shelters and food, so no surprise that they stayed! I finally trapped them and figured out how to get access to lower cost spaying and neutering. I did not use traditional traps because the kittens were comfortable enough with me (I can pet them, they would seek out my attention, etc) that I felt I could get them without traps. That may or may not have been the best idea...suffice it to say I did catch all four, but it was no where near as easy as I had hoped!
We were going back and forth on whether the goal was to TNR, or to see if they can be socialized and adopted out. I'm leaning towards socializing, because they really are remarkably comfortable with me at least. They were up in a closed room in my house for the past 5 days while waiting for their surgery dates, and while they were absolutely frantic the first night, they settled down and went back to letting me pet them, give them ear and chin and cheek rubs, etc. They are beautiful cats -- the shelter actually labeled them as Lynx Siamese which I don't think is accurate as I know the feral cat who is their mama, but they are gorgeous cream colored kitties with grey/brown tabby stripes just on the bottom halves of their legs & on all of their tails. Darker grey or brown ears, and white paws after the striped patterns on their legs. Striking kitties.
We have 5 cats of our own currently, so keeping these babies is not an option for us. But I'm more than happy to try to foster/socialize and give them a shot. Although part of me feels badly making that decision for them...but that's a topic for a whole separate thread!
Once we have 'conquered' this litter, my plan is to trap the other feral cats who we see come through. Those would definitely be tr
Anyhow...I'm still leaning towards seeing if they progress in socializing. So today when they were spayed and neutered they also got their rabies vaccine, FeLV & FIV test, FeLV vaccine, FVRCP, microchip, flea treatment and ear mite treatment. The shelter sent me home with a liquid dewormer, and 3 pills of onsior for each kittie, with directions to give one tonight and then one every 24 hours for up to two more days if they seem in pain.
I have no clue how I am going to give a feral cat -- even a feral cat who is socialized enough to let me handle them in small ways -- medication. Getting these guys back into carriers for the surgery today was not easy. I have a fair amount of experience in pilling cats as I've had a number of cats with a number of health issues over the years. But I can't imagine that these cats are going to tolerate me scruffing them, opening their mouth, popping a pill in, etc. I tried to give them an empty pill pocket treat in the hopes that they'd like it and I could give the onsior that way. No dice. They aren't eating anything currently, and have been incredibly picky since they've been inside (I'm assuming some of that is due to the trauma they're dealing with from being plucked from outside to come in!). So I don't have a lot of faith that I could get them to eat anything that I could potentially hide this pill in, but when I went online to see if it could even potentially be crushed, I found quite a few horror stories.
So, I'm interested in whether or not others have had to give meds to feral cats after surgery. If so, how did you do it?
Or, is onsior really controversial enough that people skip it? I can't really tell if they are experiencing pain -- I would assume they are; they are being quiet and mostly staying in one spot/sleeping. two of them were more active when we first got home, but they now have wound down and are semi-hiding in a covered cat bed.
We also have a liquid dewormer we are supposed to give, and I'm having the same feelings of 'what exactly am I going to do to get this down their throats...'
I'd love to hear some advice, or stories about how others handled the post-operative period with rescue cats.
I had a litter of 4 feral kittens (well, probably more like tweens as they are likely closer to 6-7 months old) that had taken up residence around my backyard -- we provided heated cat shelters and food, so no surprise that they stayed! I finally trapped them and figured out how to get access to lower cost spaying and neutering. I did not use traditional traps because the kittens were comfortable enough with me (I can pet them, they would seek out my attention, etc) that I felt I could get them without traps. That may or may not have been the best idea...suffice it to say I did catch all four, but it was no where near as easy as I had hoped!
We were going back and forth on whether the goal was to TNR, or to see if they can be socialized and adopted out. I'm leaning towards socializing, because they really are remarkably comfortable with me at least. They were up in a closed room in my house for the past 5 days while waiting for their surgery dates, and while they were absolutely frantic the first night, they settled down and went back to letting me pet them, give them ear and chin and cheek rubs, etc. They are beautiful cats -- the shelter actually labeled them as Lynx Siamese which I don't think is accurate as I know the feral cat who is their mama, but they are gorgeous cream colored kitties with grey/brown tabby stripes just on the bottom halves of their legs & on all of their tails. Darker grey or brown ears, and white paws after the striped patterns on their legs. Striking kitties.
We have 5 cats of our own currently, so keeping these babies is not an option for us. But I'm more than happy to try to foster/socialize and give them a shot. Although part of me feels badly making that decision for them...but that's a topic for a whole separate thread!
Once we have 'conquered' this litter, my plan is to trap the other feral cats who we see come through. Those would definitely be tr
Anyhow...I'm still leaning towards seeing if they progress in socializing. So today when they were spayed and neutered they also got their rabies vaccine, FeLV & FIV test, FeLV vaccine, FVRCP, microchip, flea treatment and ear mite treatment. The shelter sent me home with a liquid dewormer, and 3 pills of onsior for each kittie, with directions to give one tonight and then one every 24 hours for up to two more days if they seem in pain.
I have no clue how I am going to give a feral cat -- even a feral cat who is socialized enough to let me handle them in small ways -- medication. Getting these guys back into carriers for the surgery today was not easy. I have a fair amount of experience in pilling cats as I've had a number of cats with a number of health issues over the years. But I can't imagine that these cats are going to tolerate me scruffing them, opening their mouth, popping a pill in, etc. I tried to give them an empty pill pocket treat in the hopes that they'd like it and I could give the onsior that way. No dice. They aren't eating anything currently, and have been incredibly picky since they've been inside (I'm assuming some of that is due to the trauma they're dealing with from being plucked from outside to come in!). So I don't have a lot of faith that I could get them to eat anything that I could potentially hide this pill in, but when I went online to see if it could even potentially be crushed, I found quite a few horror stories.
So, I'm interested in whether or not others have had to give meds to feral cats after surgery. If so, how did you do it?
Or, is onsior really controversial enough that people skip it? I can't really tell if they are experiencing pain -- I would assume they are; they are being quiet and mostly staying in one spot/sleeping. two of them were more active when we first got home, but they now have wound down and are semi-hiding in a covered cat bed.
We also have a liquid dewormer we are supposed to give, and I'm having the same feelings of 'what exactly am I going to do to get this down their throats...'
I'd love to hear some advice, or stories about how others handled the post-operative period with rescue cats.