Wild And Wonderful Animal Rescue's Feral Cat Tails...

[ashade1]

Our feral kittens are making great strides! The two grey girls from the older litter are still behind on socializing but we can pet them while they eat now! A few of the rescues in the area do "rescue runs" with one of our partner no kill shelters up north- they have a HIGH fast adoption rate and they pull kittens and sometimes adult cats from us when it isnt peak kitten season. There is a run going in a little over a week, I am hoping to send these guys! The adoption pull is so much better and that opens homes in our area and rooms in our rescues.

 

[ashade1]

Update on Ghost: He is doing well. I have been working a lot so Kyle has been doing most of the bonding/feeding/care with him. He said he let him pet him the other day! We still arent on that level yet lol. The clinic ear tipped him because they have a rule about ear tipping all ferals even if we are keeping him inside. There is a little dried blood on his ear, I am not sure how he agitated it.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Probably scratching at it, and given that it is Ghost, probably because he knew it would make you feel bad.

 

[ashade1]

Probably! And it works! Lol he will love me eventually! If these kittens are able to go to the other rescue than I will have more time for him and be a teensy bit less stressed.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Lol he will love me eventually!

Oh, THAT is a given! How could he not?

 

[ashade1]

One day this week I think I am going to go buy a bale of straw and go out and empty out and clean all of the shelters and put fresh straw in... There is already straw in most of them but I am afraid to ask how long ago it was put in there... How much does a bale of straw go for these days? Anything else I should be doing for this colony? Most of the shelters are dog crates that are covered with tarp then stuffed with straw, I'll take my camera when we go out this week and try to get pictures of all of the shelters. There are also a couple of chicken type houses also covered in tarp and filled with straw.

 

[Norachan]

I have no idea how much you pay for a bale of straw in the US. I buy sacks of rabbit bedding for my shelters as I can't get straw over here. I know there are low dust types for horses with allergies. Maybe some of the horsey people can let you know the best stuff to buy.

Columbine cassiopea ?

I usually give my wooden shelters a coat of wood preserver every year, helps them last a bit longer. If the shelters are on soft ground check that they haven't sunk. They should be propped up on bricks so the base of the shelter is a good 15 cm off the ground. They stay drier that way.

If the tarps have been there for a few years they might need water-proofing again. You can get sprays for that.


No idea if this is a good product or a reasonable price, you can probably find something better.

 

[cassiopea]

I can't speak for the U.S as I live in Canada. Cost can vary based on quality, which usually depends on either the type of straw and/or how well or bad the grow season turned out, and region. Straw can be ridiculously cheap and plentiful or much more pricey. You can possibly pay between $1-$5 per individual bale or $25-$100 in bulk, depending on how many.

As for straw types....since my horse farm also grows the stuff

Wheat Straw: Usually the most common and cheapest option. It is good because it isn't dusty, if you get good quality. Also less palatable. It stays it shape longer as well, so can withstand weight. Good for drainage.

Oat Straw: More absorbent and softer than wheat straw. But also more tasty, so certain animals might eat at it if not prepared ahead of time, like removing the seeds. It can also be more expensive.

Barley Straw: Can be nice looking as it can look golden, but it is known to be more prickly and itchy, not entirely comfortable for a bedding. Barley straw can also, under less sanitary conditions, harbor lice.

Rye Straw: Hard, but good bedding, although depending on where you live it can be hard to find.

Hay: Worth mentioning since some folks out there do try and use hay as bedding. Don't. It is much more expensive than hay, ferments and molds quickly in damp/wet conditions (Not good for pee and poops either in that context) and difficult to clean.


Altogether hay is a really nice option for kitty bedding. Cost effective, comfortable, fairly easy to maintain daily. For gardeners out there, you can compost the stuff afterward.

It is definitely a very good idea to go in and clean the straw. Old straw can be quite narly, unhygienic and uncomfortable, it's important to take care of it as regularly as possible.

Not to mention of course, maybe looking into the type of straw being used.

 

[Columbine]

I think cassiopea has pretty much covered it I'm in the UK, and pay around £3.50 for high quality small bale barley straw (which I use to bulk out my pony's hay ration). A mix of large bale wheat and barley straw (depending on the crops grown that year) is included in my livery fee, so I can't speak to the cost of that. I will say that the semi feral farm cat I care for absolutely adores her straw beds, so its definitely a great bedding choice.

I'd go for wheat or barley straw over oat straw simply on cost (oat straw is more expensive and less common in my experience), and I'd definitely favour straw over hay for bedding. I've never had issues with barley straw being prickly/itchy. My understanding is that this reputation days back to older methods of threshing, when the prickly awns would be left on the stalk. Modern threshing machines remove these awns, meaning that barley straw is no more likely to cause irritation than wheat straw.

I'd imagine the palatablity factor simply isn't an issue with cats. I've certainly never seen Pushkin show any interest in eating the straw! It's much more of a consideration with horses than kitties

That's probably far more detail than you wanted to know

 

[cassiopea]

I've never had issues with barley straw being prickly/itchy. My understanding is that this reputation days back to older methods of threshing, when the prickly awns would be left on the stalk. Modern threshing machines remove these awns, meaning that barley straw is no more likely to cause irritation than wheat straw.

I'd imagine the palatablity factor simply isn't an issue with cats. I've certainly never seen Pushkin show any interest in eating the straw! It's much more of a consideration with horses than kitties

That's probably far more detail than you wanted to know

Probably another example of location, as barley straw is still quite rough here locally no matter what. Very stiff and stabby. I've heard though that it can be quite nice and fluffy in other places. You old world soft barley straw, just showing off to us new world barley straw

 

[ashade1]

We went to Clydes house today (the older gentleman with a colony living in and around his house, there was a few cats that mysteriously passed away) we met Teddi from MSNAP (they will be paying for all spays and neuters) All of the adult cats that we saw seemed healthy. No diarrhea in the litter boxes in the house. I didn't see any vomit. We did find a little black kitten that seemed a little off. He didn't run from us, didn't sniff or eat at wet food. He had very pale gums. Teddi took him home to see if he would eat some. Teddi suspects flea anemia, she said she had some flea infested kittens from here before. We are going to go ahead and start getting a TNR plan going!

 

[Norachan]

You horsey people know your stuff!

Thank you cassiopea and Columbine for such great responses.

 

[ashade1]

Yes, Thank you Horse people! Sorry, I got distracted by Clyde's cats!

 

[Sarthur2]

I hope the little black kitten will be okay!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Me too! He's such a little mite, isn't he?

 

[ashade1]

Just got a message from Teddi- she said the little black kitten was flea INFESTED. Poor thing. She said the bath tub water turned red when she gave him a flea bath, but he is doing much better today! Won't eat on his own but eagerly eats from a syringe. The anemic kittens I had a while back were the same way. Poor thing. About 9 weeks old.

 

[tabbytom]

Ooooooo.............poor baby. At least now he has gotten his flea bath and is eating from the syringe. Hope he gets stronger soon.

 

[Norachan]

Poor little kitty. I'm glad you found him on time.

 

[Sarthur2]

Keep us posted on his progress!

 

[rubysmama]

Awww... poor little black kitty. Hope he'll be ok, now that the fleas are gone.

It breaks my heart when I think of the torment poor feral cats have to live with. Thankfully there are a lot of kind people who spend their time and money looking out for them.