- Joined
- Nov 15, 2022
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Like the title suggests, I’m fostering a feral cat that I thought could be easily acclimated to the indoors, but I’m finding this is not the case.
For context: earlier in the summer I noticed two cats hanging around my apartment complex. They would hang out around a specific first floor unit, and being a cat lover I wanted to save them and give them a home. The weather gets extreme here, so when we reached +110F degree weather I grew concerned for the cats, especially the fluffy maine coon. I soon discovered a couple had been feeding the cats and they gave me access to their yard to try to catch them. The maine coon literally walked into my cat carrier (lol), but the other cat would dart in the opposite direction when I got near. I originally wanted to rescue them both, but circumstance prevented me from going back for the second one. (we ended up finding a home for the maine coon tho!)
Well, now the temperatures have dropped to a steady 20-40F. I grew worried, again, because I knew the second cat was still left outside. I noticed the cat sitting in the neighbor’s windowsill at night (outside), and that it mostly hung out in their yard. I asked the neighbors if the cat was any friendlier and if they could help me catch it so I could rehome it, they said the cat was much friendlier, and that it even let them pick it up. They thankfully captured the cat for me since it liked them more (it darted again when it saw me coming).
I thought I could be patient and try to acclimate it to life indoors, and I thought it would be easier, since it seemed to warm up to my neighbors already. But this process is causing much unneeded stress to my already hectic life. For one, it’s too scared for us to get near it and pet it. I expected this would be a possibility, but it’s terrified and making no progress. It is eating and drinking thankfully, but it also has diarrhea, unsure if it’s due to illness or the stress of its new situation. And I just discovered that it’s shedding a large amount of flea feces— the biggest issue is we cannot get near it without it growling at us, so we cannot administer flea medicine.
I’m totally stumped on what to do. I feel like the obvious answer is to let it back outside, but the entire reason for us catching it is to get it out of this extreme weather (that will only get worse as it starts to snow). I know no shelter will take it since its ear is already tipped and it’s not as friendly as I assumed. Additionally, I know it won’t go back into the carrier without a fight, so we can’t take it to the vet to get checked for FeLV/FIV. Another reason for my stress is that we already have 3 cats, i’m terrified the fleas will burrow in the carpet and infect them too. I’m just not sure what to do from here, any advice and feral-to-indoor success stories would be appreciated!
For context: earlier in the summer I noticed two cats hanging around my apartment complex. They would hang out around a specific first floor unit, and being a cat lover I wanted to save them and give them a home. The weather gets extreme here, so when we reached +110F degree weather I grew concerned for the cats, especially the fluffy maine coon. I soon discovered a couple had been feeding the cats and they gave me access to their yard to try to catch them. The maine coon literally walked into my cat carrier (lol), but the other cat would dart in the opposite direction when I got near. I originally wanted to rescue them both, but circumstance prevented me from going back for the second one. (we ended up finding a home for the maine coon tho!)
Well, now the temperatures have dropped to a steady 20-40F. I grew worried, again, because I knew the second cat was still left outside. I noticed the cat sitting in the neighbor’s windowsill at night (outside), and that it mostly hung out in their yard. I asked the neighbors if the cat was any friendlier and if they could help me catch it so I could rehome it, they said the cat was much friendlier, and that it even let them pick it up. They thankfully captured the cat for me since it liked them more (it darted again when it saw me coming).
I thought I could be patient and try to acclimate it to life indoors, and I thought it would be easier, since it seemed to warm up to my neighbors already. But this process is causing much unneeded stress to my already hectic life. For one, it’s too scared for us to get near it and pet it. I expected this would be a possibility, but it’s terrified and making no progress. It is eating and drinking thankfully, but it also has diarrhea, unsure if it’s due to illness or the stress of its new situation. And I just discovered that it’s shedding a large amount of flea feces— the biggest issue is we cannot get near it without it growling at us, so we cannot administer flea medicine.
I’m totally stumped on what to do. I feel like the obvious answer is to let it back outside, but the entire reason for us catching it is to get it out of this extreme weather (that will only get worse as it starts to snow). I know no shelter will take it since its ear is already tipped and it’s not as friendly as I assumed. Additionally, I know it won’t go back into the carrier without a fight, so we can’t take it to the vet to get checked for FeLV/FIV. Another reason for my stress is that we already have 3 cats, i’m terrified the fleas will burrow in the carpet and infect them too. I’m just not sure what to do from here, any advice and feral-to-indoor success stories would be appreciated!
I’ll keep trying and being patient with this kitty!
