TNVR appointment tomorrow

[Ylang Ylang]

Hi, I finally trap-trained the young tux "Noodle" that has been eating here during the day but is very skittish and still runs from humans or machine/garage sounds. Everything is set up; now, s/he just needs to walk into the trap sprayed with Feliway and mostly covered with the sturdy Tomahawk cover. Tonight, the trap will sit in a kiddy pool filled 1+ inches high with litter and surrounded by diatomaceous earth. My vehicle's trunk (crossover, high ceiling) is laid out with cut-open large trash bags attached with gorilla tape. I have puppy pads for the journey (and dividers to get the cat on one end, then the other.) Once in the trap, I will scan for a chip, and depending on what I find and when that is, some of the plans may need to change. This tux stands out even in high grass, so it would be safer to live indoors, which can only happen if this is a left-behind stray, not a feral. I hope that either fixing is already done or that it can happen and that no health condition prohibits anesthesia.

 

[Ylang Ylang]

Noodle did complain a bit, you know, he made the growling sounds they make when they are really unhappy. NO TAG! I'd say it's a he, but I couldn't look under the hood and opted to leave him covered up. He did not try to fight us! Now, he is calm in the garage with yummy wet food. I will swap with water tonight and make a bed on the other side. I wouldn't mind keeping him (100% indoors), but that may not be the best for all. Will see.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Sounds like you have thought out a plan! Just curious though, why don't you want to make this cat an indoor pet if you deem it to be a feral?

 

[Ylang Ylang]

I would like for him to want to move in, but we have two indoor guys, one with health care needs, and this cat is a young adult. Fixing him may not be possible (anesthesia may be contraindicated). He could carry FIV. He might spray like crazy even after fixing. True ferals usually don't 'want' to live a domestic life. A left-behind stray can be a different story, but we don't know since there is no tag. Now, any aggression can change after getting him fixed, and I see some promise, but I would also have to quarantine him for a while. It is challenging to socialize an adult. He is a beauty, though, and has shown curiosity and caution. In my state, 'pets' are the property of the owner of the record, and I can only take 'possession' after 90 days and after trying to locate any owner. This doesn't apply without a tag, and it would not be easy for anyone to claim him. I have fed this guy since before Labor Day; there is no one. I believe he has been in this block of lots and homes and slept at the new home construction at least some of the time.

 

[tabbytom]

Hi, I finally trap-trained the young tux "Noodle" that has been eating here during the day but is very skittish and still runs from humans or machine/garage sounds. Everything is set up; now, s/he just needs to walk into the trap sprayed with Feliway and mostly covered with the sturdy Tomahawk cover. Tonight, the trap will sit in a kiddy pool filled 1+ inches high with litter and surrounded by diatomaceous earth. My vehicle's trunk (crossover, high ceiling) is laid out with cut-open large trash bags attached with gorilla tape. I have puppy pads for the journey (and dividers to get the cat on one end, then the other.) Once in the trap, I will scan for a chip, and depending on what I find and when that is, some of the plans may need to change. This tux stands out even in high grass, so it would be safer to live indoors, which can only happen if this is a left-behind stray, not a feral. I hope that either fixing is already done or that it can happen and that no health condition prohibits anesthesia.

Thank you for taking care Noodle and I hope that you can move Noddle indoors so that he can live a safer happy life.

Do show us photos of Noodle and we hope for the best.

 

[Ylang Ylang]

He's at the vet now and gets the royal treatment for a royal price. It was so pricey that it was about the same to do their yearlong plan instead. We are still on the fence in/out but are leaning leaving him outdoors unless he comes for help. He is scared of humans, and we are not set up for a lengthy quarantine/socialization trial. He will likely still come to eat, maybe even eventually accept shelter. I highly doubt trapping will be an option again. Leaving him and another nighttime feral out here is good to deter others from moving it. They protect their food source from other intruders.

cv bv

 

[kittychick]

Do you have an outdoor shelter for him & his buddy?

 

[Ylang Ylang]

Super stressed, angry, disappointed.

The vet was supposed to neuter, vaccinate, apply Revolution Plus, ear-tip him, and administer the chip I had brought.
They somehow "felt" I wanted to adopt him indoors and skipped on all the feral stuff, evidenced by my inability to scan for a chip; there is no ear tip; who knows what was done and not done.

This morning, around 5 or 6, Noodle took his collar off. He squeezed through a small gap in his shelter that was not secured enough for a determined cat but appeared fine last night. It took a long time, but I eventually found him in a corner of the garage and tried to get him out. Nope.

I scanned for the microchip they had supposedly placed, and the scanner eventually even touched him with the scanner on the neck - nothing. Ramses' chip popped up 6 inches away in seconds, so it is not the scanner or my technique.

I put a little food in front of him with a hidden painkiller, which he ate before taking off (photo) while I was on the phone with the vet office.

They have it in their documentation that they did as I had asked. I sure paid for it. Now I have him registered under that number, but who knows where the chip is - not in the cat!

This is another example of people making shortcuts in their assumptions, even when I am very specific. They just felt that I adopted him to live indoors; apparently, even though I said he was feral, we had an exam, and I had brought him in a trap! Just because a feral is quiet and doesn't fight doesn't mean he wants to live indoors or trusts any human. They have it in their documentation that they did everything I had asked them to do!! I mean, look at the photo; there is no ear tip!

Admin girl asked me to return with him. Seriously.

This was all a first for me, so add my being overwhelmed with a new task, the responsibility for this wee soul, getting sticker shock because I went to a vet and not operation catnip, and dealing with humans who assure me all is well when it is not.

The vet tech told me he has hookworms, and I have the meds. I couldn't administer this or any of the other meds. And I kept telling them, and they laughed it off! They were supposed to administer Revolution Plus, but who knows what they did? In German: Papier ist geduldig.

So, my trust and regard in that clinic are diminished. That is where my indoor guys have plans, and now Noodle, too, because it was cost-effective not to pay the same amount all at once. I also fear that Noodle will no longer trust me even a little.

I can tell you this - Charlie will only go through this if there is a significant reason to trap him.

I should have scanned for the chip at the clinic and verified everything, but people get impatient with me whenever I do that sort of thing. Sometimes, I hate being different—or that others are so different from me.

I would have kept him had he let me, but since that was not ever an option, I wish they had treated him like the feral he is.

 

[DeesCats]

I am so very sorry that you and Noodle went through all this and that the vet clinic didn't do everything they were supposed to do AND you paid for those procedures.

I sincerely hope Noodle will eventually come back to you so he can continue to be fed and cared for though sometimes it takes a couple weeks before that happens, at least it did with the outdoor cats I took in for TNR.

 

[Ylang Ylang]

Do you have an outdoor shelter for him & his buddy?

Noodle and Charlie are not buddies. They are competing for the food and had a standoff, after which Noodle ran off. They have not been in the yard at the same time since.
Charlie has been coming here for almost two years, and after much consideration, I decided not to trap and alter him. He even healed from a shoulder dislocation, during which time he mostly slept elsewhere in one of his hiding spots. He was able to jump again within three weeks.
I chose to get Noodle fixed because he is so very visible in the grass but not garage(!), so if he had wanted to live a different life, he could have had it and still can. He doesn't.
Charlie has ignored all shelter options, and so has Noodle so far. It may be different for Noodle this winter, and I have several safe shelter options that are not large but warm, clean, and comfy. However, no cat has ever used them, despite all the options I offered. It has to get very cold here for any critter to accept them. Gopher dens and under some sheds appear to be plentiful and more acceptable than the extended proximity to humans.