Snowi (my 2-year old Feral Cat)

[ntorres1031]

Hello, my name is Norma.  About six months ago, I rescued a 2-year old black and white feral cat.  After the town where i live TNR'd him, they just put him back where he was.  Every morning and nite, I would look out my window and see him.  My heart just cried watching this little critter in the cold and in the hot weather.  I did feed him for a few months.  Then I decided I was going to take him in.  The people from the shelter in my town kept telling me not to - that he is happy where he is.  I asked them, how do you know that he is happy - can you  read his mind.  Give me a break.  Anyway, I trapped him and put him in a small bedroom by himself.  I have three house cats.  I did not let them near him because I didn't know if he was sick.  Anyway, long story short - I had the vet come to my home - she sedated Snowi - checked him out - he had worms and some type of sickness due to drinking dirty water int he streets.  He is now a healthy semi-feral cat - I say semi because he has adjusted so quickly and so well -  I must say that the first two days that he was in my home he did destroy my blinds - chewed them.  LOL.  After that, he was very calm.  I kept him for those months in an ex pen.  While in the ex pen - I let my other cats go in the room - I left the door open.  I put my mattresses in the room and slept there.  I wanted him to get to know me - and I must be truthful, I was just as afraid of him as he was of me.  Finally, almost two weeks ago I let him out.  He is running around my apartment - chasing, being chased, fighting, playing with the other cats.  He finally slept on my bed - by my feet - for a couple of nights - he still hisses - but he is trusting me more and more as the days go by.  He eats like a dog - drinks bottled water - and sleeps like a king.  Feral cats can be tamed - feral cats are adoptable.  Feral cats can love and be loved.  He climbs on my furniture and just looks around - I feel it in my heart and by the way he's acting that he knows he is loved.  He knows that I love him.  He's particularly attached to my male house cat (the other two are females).  Snowi goes on the floor and rolls around - that right there shows that he is happy - that he is comfortable - that he feels safe.  It takes patience, but if you have love, you definitely have the patience.  I hope that one day I will be able to pet him.  I don't care how long it takes, I will wait patiently.  As long as I know that when I go to work he is warm, has food and has company.  I put towels on the window sills so that when they climb up to look through the window, they are comfortable.  I leave dry food out all day for them and lots of water.  I change their litter twice a day.  These little critters have done something to my heart that makes me shine.  Thank you all for reading my wonderful story. 

 

[StefanZ]

Tx for your lovely story!   You have right, it is a story about a wonder.

Not some big, heavenly wonder.  Just an everyday wonder, caused by lots of love, patience, dediction... and some sound thinking.

One question, though. You write your new be drinks bottled water.  Why?

It is because the Giardia he picked up from contaminated street water?

I presume you dont have giardia in your kitchen water?

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

 

[merstockgto]

Thank you for taking Snowi in. We also trapped a feral cat that roamed our neighborhood in Fl. We named her Sox. We started feeling bad for her and decided to trap her and take her to our vet when we realized she was pregnant and ready to drop them at any time. Our vet aborted the pregnancy, checked her out, spayed and micro chipped.She only had hook worms for which she was treated. She was terrified of any human and really freaked out when we trapped her in a trap we borrowed from a local rescue in Orlando. We sold our home 5 months later and she traveled to NV. with our other 4 pusses and they were so good traveling. Anyway she has progressed so well and is no longer afraid of us and has the run of the house and gets along well with our other 4. Our vet in Fl. said she was at least 2 years when we trapped her and had at least 2 litters prior to us getting a hold of her. She does not growl or hiss at us. She is very passive and has a sweet personality. She is always out in the open and does not hide from us. She will not let us pet her but we are able to get close to give her treats and talk to her. It is said the ideal age to get a feral is 8 to 12 weeks but I believe after our experience with Sox it all depends on the cat and the patience we have with her. We do not push ourselves on her and we give her her space. All animals deserve a chance and we are glad we brought Sox with us.

 

[ntorres1031]

Yours is also a wonderful story.  My Snowi hisses - but he also - when he feels like it - doesn't run away when I get close to him.  I was watching him around 2:00 a.m. this morning - he was playing with my male cat (Raini) - it's amazing how he is so attached to Raini.  I don't know what it is - but from the beginning, these two just bonded.  Maybe because he (Raini) is also black and white - who knows.  I know he feels comfortable and safe - he throws himself on the blankets I have for him on the floor next to my bed and just stretches out - and sleeps like that.  You really don't notice how long these cats are until they stretch their bodies.  Thank you for your lovely story.  Hopefully, one day Snowi will not hiss.  If not, I can live with that.

 

[merstockgto]

Funny that Snowi is fond of Raini.  Sox has taken a liking to our Ben, a large black puss. Everytime Ben comes in where she is, Sox gets up and starts putting her behind in his face and tail high in the air and rubbing her body against the furniture.  It is funny because Ben does not know what to make of it. Ben ignores her and I wish he wouldn't because they could be play buddies. Interesting how when you and I took in these 2 homeless cats how their personality starts to come out. You are right about how long they are. Sox is slender and she is long when she lays on the floor side ways or stretches. We have another black cat named Bebe (female) and she is bossy with Ben. Ben is mellow and weighs about 19 lbs and Bebe is 7 lbs and poor Ben is afraid of her. We noticed how sound Ben sleeps and nothing wakes him up and realized he is deaf.  We clap our hands next to his head and he doesn't even flinch. We adopted him and the other 3 in May 2006 at the same time and did not know he was deaf. He is such a teddy bear and sleeps next to my head each night and follows me around the house to see where I am.  Seems he took a liking to me from the first time I met him. Our 2 other cats are Minnie (solid grey) and Nutmeg (cream orange tabby).

Sox is also black and white and is a Tuxedo puss. She looks young in her face and is small in stature.

When we lived in California in 1986 we took in 3 cats that roamed around our apartment and paid to board them at the Santa Barbara Humane Society as the landlord found out we were feeding them. The landlord told us to move or get rid of the cats. We finally found an apt. six months later that allowed us to have cats so we moved and got our guys with us and kept them indoors after that. Buns (white) passed away in Jan. 2000, Mommy died May 2005 and Boots passed in 2006. Mommy was Boots' mommy and Mommy was about 21 and Boots was 20 years. Broke our hearts to lose them and had their remains cremated and are with us.

Have a nice weekend.

Ken