Please help with big decision

[Dinah Doll]

Hi guys. Thanks for sharing your Gypsy story dustydiamond1 and Kwik your are so right that it is a Merry Christmas for me for sure.

Dinah is drinking water (bottled) now, from a small glass ramakin, and roamed the room more and got on top of the bed over night. I removed the last large pillow under the bed at the end of the bed. She took a while to come out and eat her breakfast after that. So all that is left is the two large boxes blocking the long side of the bed.

I think Dinah will not take long to want to venture out of her room. I won't push it. Having security cameras to "watch" her is an incredible help here. I highly recommend them for anybody going through this.

So one last question. I am not sure how much litter to add, going forward, and if I should get more dirt to replaced the soiled dirt as it is really difficult to get dirt from my property. Anyway, thank you all again!

Here is a pic of her from a distance from one of the first times I saw her in October. She looks "fit" from this angle but trust me, from head on or from tail view she was pretty scrawny!

 

[Kwik]

She's BEATUFUL
I'd recommend using mostly dirt & yes replacing it ( probably 2 to 3 inches depth) for at least another week- if you van prevent any " accidents " outside of thr box thst would be the way to go about it and once your onto all litter you'll have a dependable litter trained " house cat" lol

Usually takes me a good 30 days or longer to be on litter only..... it is a pain & I understand thr difficulty on acquiring dirt ' - but a bag of potting soil ,thst oughtta help- after,Touch of Outdoors I begin mixing in a very fine clay clumping litter( I use Cats Pride- the blue jug) thr texture feels like dirt under their pads

 

[Kwik]

Sorry for all thr typos
* BUY a bag of potting soil

 

[Dinah Doll]

Sorry for all thr typos
* BUY a bag of potting soil

Great! Potting soil works for me! Yes, she is beautiful.

My cam caught her out looking at the bedroom door. Do you think I should start leaving it ajar if she wants to roam? I think that might be prudent?
Thanks again!

 

[Kwik]

Great! Potting soil works for me! Yes, she is beautiful.

My cam caught her out looking at the bedroom door. Do you think I should start leaving it ajar if she wants to roam? I think that might be prudent?
Thanks again!

If it were me I'd wait a bit to get that litter training firmly established.....I don't know if Dinah was ever in a house,she may have been......I'm assuming she's feral and has not been inside before..... that's a big issue for me personally,so it's up to you- I work at a slower pace and don't let them roam so early this way they don't find other hiding spots and they will go back to " their space" if frightened.... I prefer to have better control and a well established smaller territory at first always gets the results I'm looking for

 

[Dinah Doll]

If it were me I'd wait a bit to get that litter training firmly established.....I don't know if Dinah was ever in a house,she may have been......I'm assuming she's feral and has not been inside before..... that's a big issue for me personally,so it's up to you- I work at a slower pace and don't let them roam so early this way they don't find other hiding spots and they will go back to " their space" if frightened.... I prefer to have better control and a well established smaller territory at first always gets the results I'm looking for

Ok. You sold me on that! I agree. Baby steps. Have a Merry Christmas!

 

[IndyJones]

Kwik knows their stuff, they had a feral called timmy i think in another thread. Might be worth a read if there's anything simmaler.

Yes be careful with doors for now. Doordash is for food, not kitties!

 

[Kwik]

Ok. You sold me on that! I agree. Baby steps. Have a Merry Christmas!

 

[Aileen666]

Hello folks. This Cat Site is wonderful. I have been reading for a while, especially on this forum as I have a big decision to make. I have been feeding a semi-feral 1 year oldish female calico (I call her Dinah, see Avatar pic) for almost 2 months now. She is afraid of Everything and Everybody but, she is warming up to me. Now, she is coming inside my (cat-less) house to eat after many weeks of eating on my front porch.

She will not come inside if she hears ANY noise at all except for me opening her can of food, the microwave oven, (warming her favorite...MILK) and my soothing voice. If she comes in and sees movement on the big screen TV, she will turn and scoot outside. So I have to turn everything off. When she does eat, then she leaves (I keep the entrance door ajar) and goes directly to a neighbors open garage that is falling down. That seems to be her home.

She will not let me very close to her, as she just scoots away. This seems to be her life. Eat here, sleep in garage. Come here to eat again. I would love to bring her into my home. We have Bears, Fishers, Coyote's, Eagles, and now a few other feral cats in this very rural area. My house also sits on a state highway and, another hard winter is getting started too.

I have an appointment with the local SPCA on January 16th between 8:00 and 8:30 am, to have her fixed and to get the normal shots. I must try and trap her outside, in a havahart trap. This will be very difficult as Dinah shows up at different hours of the day. I cannot try to trap her at night.

She seems to be good natured, curious in the house, and does play with toys sometimes (usually outside at a distance if I engage her.) She also seems to be in very good health, has a ferocious appetite (she was really thin when I first saw her) and loves catnip. Amazing how heart-warming it is to observe a Cat that has never played with a toy before or reacts to catnip for the first time.

My question is this. Do I try to wait and try to trap her the morning the appointment, or do I try to keep her inside as soon as I can, and hopefully get her to a vet later down the road?? I understand all of the procedures of trapping. I honestly cannot see the point of letting her back outside after the SPCA visit.

About me and Cats: I have had Cats in the past. My last Cat Pepper, left this world last February and I have not wanted any more Cats until this girl showed up.
I have a litter box filled and ready, a very large Cat-house condo, multiple Cat beds, and a small bedroom with windows dedicated for this possible transition. I will also keep this room's door ajar so she would be able to roam as she wants.

One last thing. FATE. I have never had a conversation with strangers about stray/feral cats. Yesterday, at a Doctors office, in a waiting room (and I changed waiting rooms because of a rude person) this couple just started talking to each other about a stray Cat they had taken in at their kennel !!! Needless to say, we had a very nice informative conversation on my current situation as well as the kennel they keep! FATE? That is what they said about my situation.

Thank you in advance for your votes on my decision and any other advice or questions you may have for Dinah and me!

Greg

It sounds like you have made your decision to keep her ! I would keep the appointment and if for some reason it looks like you aren’t going to get her there then call the office and tell them you can’t catch her and to cancel etc. then do the srcknd thing you suggested . Once you get the cat Inside leave her in a locked bedroom with her litterbox and food etc and schedule the appointment. Sometimes offices will squeeze you in if you tell them she is extremely difficult to get in carrier is there any way she can be squeezed in now. Good luck ! I hsve a tortie. When I first got her from the shelter she was scared of everything and hid under the bed for 3 days before coming out and she would hide when washer or dryer or vacuum was on. She wouldn’t eat if any little noise was going on so it had to be dead quiet while she ate. I eventually put those diffusers all around the house that a supose ti calm cats nerves and she is on anti anxiety meds bc her mouth would just go non stop. Those anxiety meds have worked wonders where she started coming out more and shut her mouth up etc.

 

[Dinah Doll]

UPDATE: I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day! I left the house to spend time with friends relatives for about 5 hours. The night before was pretty rough for Dinah. She vomited twice. I mean a lot of material. She also urinated a lot as the litter box showed and the room was quite pungent as the room got pretty warm overnight.

So I opened a couple of screened windows (remember, it is very cold here), cleaned her litter box out really well and placed more potting soil and some litter mix. But she seemed hungry in the morning (kept roaming the feeding station) so I gave her 1/4 can (Purina Friskies Pate). This is what I have been feeding her along with Meow Mix dry food. But she got sick again later on just a little bit. I left the dry food out but she did not eat anymore after she ate the Pate. Then vomited again but this time it was more liquidy. She did drink a lot of water during the night and Christmas morning. So I removed all of the food and left her just water to drink for the rest of the day and night.

So some Good news! She did get out and use a cat bed on top of the people bed! Of and on during the day she used it and seemed to be getting comfortable in it and getting out from under bed. Dinah has not vomited since! The room is just a bit cool now and there is no longer that heavy urine smell. So I think I did good to remedy the problem. I have to remember that she is used to being cold the last couple of months. So a warm room must have contributed to her getting sick? Which leads me to my next tough question....

What do you folks suggest I go get today to feed her? Boiled chicken, special food? Something else?

I have a partial bag of Royal Canine dry hydrolized protein (shows expired last month). Would this be an option? If I did not have this forum for suggestions, I would try the boiled chicken first. So what sez you? I really appreciate your input with this next step in helping me caring for Dinah!

Greg

 

[Kwik]

UPDATE: I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day! I left the house to spend time with friends relatives for about 5 hours. The night before was pretty rough for Dinah. She vomited twice. I mean a lot of material. She also urinated a lot as the litter box showed and the room was quite pungent as the room got pretty warm overnight.

So I opened a couple of screened windows (remember, it is very cold here), cleaned her litter box out really well and placed more potting soil and some litter mix. But she seemed hungry in the morning (kept roaming the feeding station) so I gave her 1/4 can (Purina Friskies Pate). This is what I have been feeding her along with Meow Mix dry food. But she got sick again later on just a little bit. I left the dry food out but she did not eat anymore after she ate the Pate. Then vomited again but this time it was more liquidy. She did drink a lot of water during the night and Christmas morning. So I removed all of the food and left her just water to drink for the rest of the day and night.

So some Good news! She did get out and use a cat bed on top of the people bed! Of and on during the day she used it and seemed to be getting comfortable in it and getting out from under bed. Dinah has not vomited since! The room is just a bit cool now and there is no longer that heavy urine smell. So I think I did good to remedy the problem. I have to remember that she is used to being cold the last couple of months. So a warm room must have contributed to her getting sick? Which leads me to my next tough question....

What do you folks suggest I go get today to feed her? Boiled chicken, special food? Something else?

I have a partial bag of Royal Canine dry hydrolized protein (shows expired last month). Would this be an option? If I did not have this forum for suggestions, I would try the boiled chicken first. So what sez you? I really appreciate your input with this next step in helping me caring for Dinah!

Greg

Hi Greg- I wouldn't change her food just yet from what you've been giving her all along.Lets see if it was a one off ,little upset tummy could be lots of reasons so I'd give it another go and not be so fast to start switching things up- do you use different flavors ( like fish sometimes or chicken,beef etc?)

 

[Dinah Doll]

Hi Greg- I wouldn't change her food just yet from what you've been giving her all along.Lets see if it was a one off ,little upset tummy could be lots of reasons so I'd give it another go and not be so fast to start switching things up- do you use different flavors ( like fish sometimes or chicken,beef etc?)

Thanks for responding Yes, it is a medley pate package. Turkey, mixed grill and ocean-whitefish. Maybe that milk from the other day was part of the problem too. I think the ocean-whitefish is her least favorite so maybe I will not give her that one.

Ok. I will give her a little more pate later. Maybe a little dry food for now. Thanks so much!!!

 

[Kwik]

Thanks for responding Yes, it is a medley pate package. Turkey, mixed grill and ocean-whitefish. Maybe that milk from the other day was part of the problem too. I think the ocean-whitefish is her least favorite so maybe I will not give her that one.

Ok. I will give her a little more pate later. Maybe a little dry food for now. Thanks so much!!!

Oh yeah- I forgot about the milk.... very likely

If it does happen again make note of what flavor the wet food - you never what to make big fast changes- observe and then try to eliminate one thing at a time .....

Milk was probably the culprit- we shall see....

 

[Dinah Doll]

Thanks again. I will be off to get the Cats Pride litter you suggested and more potting soil.

Here is a pic of her in her "bed" from the security cam. Sorry about the poor quality. I am a photographer and I hope to get some great photos of her moving forward!

 

[Kwik]

Thanks again. I will be off to get the Cats Pride litter you suggested and more potting soil.

Here is a pic of her in her "bed" from the security cam. Sorry about the poor quality. I am a photographer and I hope to get some great photos of her moving forward!

View attachment 466541

Oh how darling- Greg ,she looks like a little princess!

Not so much litter for starters ,Little at a time- easy does it and it'll work perfectly

The dark blue jug( unscented) I believe it says Cats Pride Max on it..... it's the only blue jug they have,very fine and no dust

 

[Avery]

I have been following your story with Dinah and am so happy to see the progress you (and she!) have made! I just wanted to mention that sometimes throwing up is because of a furball, either on its own or mixed in with food. I give my cats both wet food and a furball dry food which may help a bit, but I still find an occasional furball on the floor in the morning! Yuck!

 

[tabbytom]

I have a partial bag of Royal Canine dry hydrolized protein (shows expired last month). Would this be an option?

Please do not feed your cat with dog food. Dog food is formulated differently from cat food and cats don't benefit from it and may be detrimental to their health.

 

[Dinah Doll]

Please do not feed your cat with dog food. Dog food is formulated differently from cat food and cats don't benefit from it and may be detrimental to their health.

Sorry,...that was a typo. It is Royal Canin. I mean ..really?

 

[Dinah Doll]

So, she did great today! No vomiting after a total of 1 can spread out over 3x today. Changed out the litter box and gave her another toy.

And the best thing was just a while ago as she was lounging in her bed, I opened the door, peeked in to say hello, and she did not run under the bed. Simply awesome!

Thank you again to everybody. I will keep posting updates!

Greg

 

[tabbytom]

So, she did great today! No vomiting after a total of 1 can spread out over 3x today. Changed out the litter box and gave her another toy.

And the best thing was just a while ago as she was lounging in her bed, I opened the door, peeked in to say hello, and she did not run under the bed. Simply awesome!

Thank you again to everybody. I will keep posting updates!

Greg

That's great!