Success!!!! I’ve trapped the stray. Except s/he’s terrified.

[reba]

Yeah I'm gonna scruff her and drop her in backwards. Or try. I gotta commit though LOL.

 

[cmshap]

Yeah I'm gonna scruff her and drop her in backwards. Or try. I gotta commit though LOL.

Try to do it in a space where she can't run and hide somewhere difficult to get her out. If possible. I know you have her confined to a specific room right now.

If there are nooks and crannies, block them off with objects, blankets, pillows, etc. so if she escapes, she can't go somewhere where you will get mauled trying to pull her out of, and she will only lose more trust from the experience.

 

[reba]

Yippeee!!! I got her not the carrier via the scruff, grab behind front feet (goal was to get around feet so I cold hold them) and pick her up and drop her into a hard shell carrier that was standing up on end. Gotta say it’s worth having one large hard-shell carrier on hand. Hinge door is easy to close.

I wouldn’t call it exactly smooth, she twisted some and I kind of had to stuff her in there, but she didn’t try and jump out when her feet hit the bottom.

She was so surprised, she couldn’t quite get her bearings before I got the door closed. I didn’t feed her her snack last night so she would be more hungry and focused on eating. She was pretty quiet when I got her in there, not too many pathetic ye0wls and only a few when I lifted the towel. Quiet in the car.

I’ll also mention that I bought some of these to tie down the carrier in the back seat. I’ll have to take a picture of how it works.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MBB15KM/?tag=thecatsite

 

[shadowsrescue]

Such good news! I hope all goes well at the vet.

 

[reba]

OK results: A few fleas, Tapeworm, No FLV. Got her rabies and FVRCP shots.

She was pretty good at the vet. The downside was I should have put her back in the playpen when I got home, but I put her in my exercise room. (I have another playpen set up in the exercise room; I'll have to deflea the original.) I left for a bit and came back and she had crawled under the treadmill. So after a bit of drama we got her in the playpen and zipped the door closed. She calmed down immediately and (bonus) my other cats can come visit and see her through the mesh. The vet said to keep her quarantined for several days to make sure the tape worm is gone.

Now the fleas. He said we can use the Revolution or you can get it cheaper from Chewy. Stupid me I didn't ask how much it was. $299 for 8 doses! IDK how much the price difference is at Chewy (not sure I want to know).

So far the greeters are walking up to the playpen and peering in then hissing. She just sits there in a loaf looking back.

So that's the latest. Thanks for reading!

 

[fionasmom]

https://www.chewy.com/s?query=revolution&nav-submit-button=
Chewy is pretty good with facilitating prescriptions and will contact the vet for you via their submission form. Vets are often much higher and it is worth looking around

This is all great news! You must be so happy and relieved that this is accomplished! You got her in the carrier without it being a huge production; I agree with you on the hard sided carriers in that respect. Let us know what happens from here.

 

[reba]

OH I am sooooooo happy!!!! I'm optimistic about her prospects for becoming a lap cat in the future. I've gotten a few glimpses of what she'd be like with her guard dropped. I'm going to do a separate post about insurance, but I just added her and the premium is $12.42 a month with $1,000 deductible with drug coverage.

Put it pains me to realize that it was $600 to have a stray cat evaluated. I don't live in a particularly high cost area either. Now I may not like paying it, but I can afford that. As we talked before, it really worries me that people are being priced out of veterinary care. It really is a public policy issue given the potential impact on people's finances, as well as their own health and well-being.

 

[fionasmom]

I agree and I have five cats insured. Three of them, while not being in chronically bad health, have had expensive episodes which made the insurance well worth it. The cost of vet care is very concerning and, as you say, $600 can go in no time.

It is always interesting and heart warming when you can see that a cat has potential for becoming a pet.

 

[reba]

I'm surprised the vet mentioned it as it would seem this cuts into their income from selling it.

I just did my post on pet insurance. I know the e-clincs now have that charitable fund where you an leave your money to it and then you direct them to use it at a particular e-clinic. They don't publicize it though and you have to have a car to even get to the e-clinic.

 

[reba]

Went downstairs this morning - no cat in playpen, no holes in the playpen walls, all the doors are zippered shut. No cat anywhere on the first floor. Go to head back upstairs, there she is at the top of the stairs. Then I remember I failed to put a blanket over the floor in the playpen, which is held on with velcro strips every 12” or so. So she just pawed around until she got the floor loose then escaped from the bottom. Ran up the stair when I opened the door to the second floor. Didn’t even hear her, stealthy little devil.

So she parked herself on the windowsill in the upstairs bathroom, which I shut her in because she still has 24 hours of quarantine per the vet. She gives me her panic meow every time I come in the room, but lets me pet her gently on the side of her face and eventually on her back. She even purrs. What worries me is she doesn’t want to eat much at all. It’s nearly 1 PM and I got a little wet food into her and a few treats. She’s still clearly afraid of me.

I’m a little worried she won’t eat. Maybe the vaccines are upsetting her tummy or the flea meds (?). Her ears feel warm to me. I guess all I can do is watch. She is using the litter box.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Sounds like kitty is adjusting to "home life".
I have a similar experience with one cat. I call him " Scaredy-cat ". He's fine and happy and quite a character — just does not trust others.

As we talked before, it really worries me that people are being priced out of veterinary care. It really is a public policy issue given the potential impact on people's finances, as well as their own health and well-being.

~ Unfortunately this is happening all over the USA. High price — mediocre service. After spending thousands I finally gave up . Use only as necessary ! "

 

[reba]

Yeah I think the problem is that there’s a huge gap between our expectations of what the test will tell us and what it can actually tell us. Meaning until things progress to the point where there’s no doubt what’s wrong, the vet is probably not going to be able to tell you what’s wrong based on a test. So I guess my question is now when they say “we could do a test for …” my next question is “will that give you a definitive answer.”

 

[fionasmom]

The fact that she felt like exploring is a good sign, even if you did not want her to at this point. My cat vet will only give two vaccines at a time, but if I understood you correctly that is all that were given to this cat. It does not raise a huge red flag, but keep watching her. You are only two days out from the vet, so she may be feeling something from that.

What flea meds did you use?

 

[reba]

She had 1 year rabies and FVRCP. That and a dewormer for the tapeworm. The flea med was revolution ($300 for 8 doses - not blaming the vet, he asked me if I wanted to go a different route e.g. chewy or a collar), but I didn’t ask just how much it was. Whoops.

Actually I’m so pleased, I can pet her with no food involved while she is laying on the windowsill and she even purrs now. Before she wouldn’t let me touch her unless she was eating.

I wish she would eat!!!!

 

[fionasmom]

I know...big whoops. Been there. I would watch her and continue to encourage eating. That is a lot, not that you had much of a choice, for her system to process and she may be under the weather. My cat vet gives everyone a handout, even if you only do one vaccine and nothing else, that says for 72 hours they may be lethargic.

 

[shadowsrescue]

I know the dewormer can sometimes cause them to not want to eat much. Have you tried some really stinky food like canned tuna? Maybe some plain cooked chicken. Another great option is Gerber stage 2 baby food. The chicken, turkey or even ham. When my cat doesn't want to eat, he will happily eat the turkey baby food most times. I tried the ham with him and he didn't care for it, but some of my other cats love it.

 

[cmshap]

Have you tried some really stinky food like canned tuna? Maybe some plain cooked chicken.

Willy normally eats anything, and has for the majority of the 8 years he's been in my care. But he has a sensitive stomach, and there was one time years ago when he spent a whole day sporadically vomiting, and then wouldn't eat anything the next day.

My vet recommended boiling a plain chicken breast in water, and try feeding small pieces at a time to entice him to eat again. He seemed interested (he'd never seen chicken before) but still wouldn't try it. I remembered that he was always attracted to the smell of tuna, so I dipped a small bit of the boiled chicken in tuna water, and he ate it up. After a few pieces like that, he started eating the chicken plain by itself.

A couple of days later, he was feeling better and eating his normal food again.

 

[reba]

She ate some dinner (yeah!) and I got her to come off the window ledge where she’s been parked for at least 8 hours.

She also now lets me pet her without a lot of “oh my god, oh my god, don’t pet me” body language before hand. Before today I have never been able to pet her unless I was feeding her.

I brought my other female cat in to see her (who has shown no interest in her at all since she got here) and there was no drama. In fact they didn’t do anything but look at each other calmly.

She just went poop in her litter box and it looks normal.

Thanks for reading about the latest. Again, I know you folks do this all the time and it’s old-hat.

 

[reba]

Today I let the stray I rescued last year into the bathroom. She raced over to him and whole-body rubbed against him a bunch of times like she knew him. He has been downstairs with her for a month, though segregated. He was OK with most of it, but then finally hissed. I think it’s unlikely they knew each other, but maybe so. At any rate, she has at least one friend. I’ve never had two cats who will cuddle together; even my bottle babies stopped cuddling once they got older.

 

[reba]

I know...big whoops. Been there. I would watch her and continue to encourage eating. That is a lot, not that you had much of a choice, for her system to process and she may be under the weather. My cat vet gives everyone a handout, even if you only do one vaccine and nothing else, that says for 72 hours they may be lethargic.

I half wondered if you were not telling me revolution is a bad idea, but decided against it because that ship has sailed.