Watching Over #Feral and Homeless #Cats, Part 2

 

Watching over feral and homeless cats has become part of our daily routine!

When I was growing up, my cousins lived on a farm. On visits, I always headed straight for the barn where the cats and kittens lived. That's where my love of cats began.  After my dad brought a kitten home, I started to learn about cat behavior.

To catch you up, my husband and I have adopted three rescued indoor cats--two are twelve and one is a year old. We found Zoie Joy, the baby, in our backyard last summer at six weeks old, hungry, dehydrated and needing lots of love.  Catch up with Part 1 Seven Lessons I Learned About Feral or Homeless Cats

Because of a dry food we had put near our patio last winter in case Zoie's mom was out there, we had two yellow tabbies visiting. The yellow tabby who we dubbed Lancelot--Lance for short--appeared on our property battered and bleeding with sores on his face and back.  But he (we thought he was a she at the time) was protecting a kitten.  Before we could build enough trust to capture the kitten and maybe its protector) the kitten no longer appeared.  I'm hoping a good family found and adopted him.  Lance, however, kept appearing.  We had set up an igloo in case he and the kitten needed shelter. My blog about feral shelters

Since Lance was so battered and had trouble eating from the injury to his face--I could tell by watching from a window--we got a feral feeder and left canned food, too.  I learned the times when he appeared most--around 8 a.m. and around 4-6 p.m. --and joined him on the patio, sitting very still in those first weeks and talking to him in a low voice.  I was so hoping good food would help him heal.  (I added L-lysine and Omega 3 to those dishes in the beginning. His eyes were runny and I knew the lysine would help that and the Omega 3 would help his coat.  Often adopted cats who have been in the wild have the eye problem for a lifetime.) Then I began moving around slowly when he was there and my husband joined me.  He began taking the morning shift.

After those first few weeks, Lance did begin to heal.  (We considered capturing him and taking him to the vet, but he definitely returned to someplace else after eating on our patio and we didn't know if he was returning to protect kittens.  We also didn't have a place to keep him confined if that was necessary.  Every time I had contact with Lance--he began rubbing against my legs and accepting a head rub--I made sure I left my clothes in the basement and either showered or washed thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap before going near our inside cats.)   Blog about vaccines and L-lysine

Lance in igloo

Lance was definitely a roamer, afraid of confined spaces.  We have a porch area off the patio but could not coax him there.  After he ate (sometimes four plates full plus softened dry food), he washed a few feet away in front of the hydrangea near the igloo.  With catnip as an enticement, he rubbed against the entrance and finally sat inside.  Only for a few seconds, but I felt that was progress.  After he began to feel more comfortable with us, if he saw the other yellow tabby approach, he chased him away.

Romeo on alert

This other yellow tabby, we dubbed Romeo.  Even though Lance chased him, Romeo began visiting regularly, watching from the base of a pine in the distance.  Where Lance might be homeless, Romeo is feral.  If we were outside, he didn't come around.  But after Lance ate and left, we put food down for Romeo.  Sometimes we would catch site of him from the window about fifteen minutes after we went inside.

One evening Lance had eaten and left and we were pruning at the edge of the patio.  Romeo must have been really hungry that night because he ventured to the dish at the other end of the patio and ate.  He was on the alert the whole time, ready to run if we moved.  We didn't move.  This is the same night that a beautiful gray and white cat appeared at the edge of the vegetable garden.  As pretty as she was--thick gray and white coat, no injuries, full face and body--I suspected she was an adopted female.  I was hoping a spayed female!  But she was jumpy, too, and if we moved, she ran.  Still, she didn't seem homeless or feral to me. Just out for an evening jaunt before returning home.

Later that evening when it was almost dark, I happened to look out the window.  I called my husband and what we watched over and the next fifteen minutes was amazing, an absolute study on how two cats behave.

The dance between Lance and Guinevere next week!


My sleuth in my Caprice De Luca mystery series rescues stray animals. My love of cats and dogs shines through her in STAGED TO DEATH, the first book in the series available for Preorder now.

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RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 5

 A CURIOUS ZOIE

To catch up from the past few blogs...

Zoie had two veterinarian visits and took over my office as her living quarters.  It was already kitty-proofed from Ebbie and London.  While Ebbie had no contact with Zoie, although we washed our hands constantly, Ebbie's eye began to run though Zoie's were clearing.  The vet prescribed L-lysine for both, determining they had the Feline Herpes Virus in their systems.  The best management technique was to limit stress and give the antiviral treatment L-lysine.  This was the first time Ebbie was under this kind of stress since we adopted her.

ZOIE'S SWEET BIG "SISTER" EBBIE

Ebbie took liquid medicine easily as the sick baby we brought home on a snowy day.  But now she's particular.  She can always taste it in her food or smell it and will have nothing to do with it.  When she had digestive problems a few years ago and the vet prescribed a quarter of a crushed Pepcid, she did accept that in a dab of Reddi-Wip.  A few months ago Ebbie hurt her back and the vet recommended pet variety glucosamine.  I use heavy cream, whip it and empty some of the capsule into it.  As long as I don't go overboard, she eats it.

I didn't have to be concerned about Zoie taking medicine, especially in food form.  She gobbled up the L-lysine snacks.  But Ebbie wouldn't try them.  So we got an alternate choice--L-lysine gel and I mixed that in the whipped cream.  Success.  Ebbie didn't seem to smell or taste that.  I also started mixing a few of the L-lysine snack pieces with her food at night.  They were a different color from her food so I could tell if she was eating them.  Slowly, one piece started disappearing and then another.  London doesn't eat out of that dish, so I could keep my eye on exactly who was eating what.  Both were on the road to recovery, yet I know that the Feline Herpes Virus can never be cured...just managed.

Zoie's digestive problems cleared up with the anti-inflammatory medication the vet prescribed, but her second test for round worms was still positive.  Thank goodness we'd kept the cats separated.  So we had to worm her again.  When those results were clear after our third vet visit--she received her last vaccination that time--we could start to integrate our family.  (This was over a month after finding Zoie in our backyard.) During the time Zoie was in my office, Ebbie and London knew another cat was in the house.  London would sit by the closed door, watching it.  Ebbie was still trying to deny what she was hearing and scenting and it was obviously stressing her out. She was afraid without knowing what she was afraid of.

 A PLAYFUL ZOIE

We had used an introduction technique when Ebbie and London were babies that I detail in my mystery.  (My amateur sleuth takes in stray animals and finds them homes.)  When we introduced London to Ebbie over eleven years ago, this is how we did it.  Ebbie was upstairs.  We brought in London in her carrier and set her in my office.  Then we went upstairs with Ebbie, let her out of the bedroom and went downstairs with her to "find" London.  Ebbie smelled around her carrier for about a half hour.  With no adverse reaction, she seemed ready to meet her new sister.  We let London out, they began chasing each other, then settled near each other looking out the window.  Easy, right?  They were both kittens with about six months age difference.  They were also half sisters.

A SLEEPY LONDON

I was excited as the time came to introduce Ebbie and London to Zoie.  After we got the all-clear from the vet on Zoie, we put her in her carrier and set her in the kitchen, a central location.  That day London walked up to the carrier and realized a cat was inside.  She hissed and ran.  Ebbie heard Zoie's meows, went to her steps by the window without even being tempted by going to the kitchen, curled into a ball with her head on her paws and wouldn't come down.

Maybe not so easy this time!

More of the kitty integration next week.

I'd love to hear your cat introduction stories.  Feel free to comment and share.


©2012 Karen Rose Smith

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RESCUING A KITTEN, Part 4

Before I continue Zoie's saga, I want to tell you a little about Ebbie, one of our eleven-year-old cats, another black beauty.  I've always believed my mom sent Ebbie to me.  She was one very sick kitty when I rescued her from a friend's farm.  My mom had died and even years later, I was still missing her terribly.  So that snowy Christmas week when I picked up some galleys my friend was proofreading, I brought Ebbie home.  I stayed up nights with her while she was sick, massaging her sinuses so she could breathe.  And ever since that day, she's filled a hole in my heart and given me unconditional love and affection.  So I knew the process of taking in Zoie wasn't going to be a simple one.  Yet I was in it...and committed...and that was that.

Less than a week had passed since we'd rescued Zoie Joy from inside a bush in our backyard.  She was only about six weeks old.   No one had claimed her and we'd already taken her to the veterinarian once.  We had a second visit in three weeks.  Zoie's eyes were still running after a week so I called the vet and she ordered antibiotic drops for her eyes.

We kept Zoie in the sunroom for ten days then decided to bring her into my office in the main part of the house, yet keep her separated from Ebbie and London.  My office has a hall and a double door leading into our kitchen, so this was easily possible.  In my office I didn't have to worry about Zoie hurting herself on a concrete floor because scattered rugs dotted the wood floor.  My office already had a kitty condo, scratching tree and litter boxes.  There was also one in the main part of the house. We started a new litter box to have two for Ebbie and London outside of my office.  Our vet had recommended one more litter box than we had cats. 

 A few days before Zoie's next appointment, she developed diarrhea probably from too much dry food and too much water.  After another call to the vet, I watched her carefully to make sure she was still eating and drinking and playful until our vet visit. Dry food makes animals drink more than they would with wet food.  I'd been trying to leave a scoop between wet food feedings so she'd have food on demand when we weren't with her.  I was feeding her about every hour and a half except during the night and in the afternoons when she slept.  We still had her separated from our two older cats, Ebbie and London.

During the second vet visit, the doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory medicine twice a day for the stomach disruption, gave her the second distemper vaccine, and rabies injection.  She said to continue to feed her on demand, but no dry food, just wet, until the medicine was finished and she seemed well.  Then we could start the dry food again, little by little.  For Zoie, the dry food was like candy to a child.  She would stop eating her wet food when full.  But the dry...  She would keep gobbling it until it was gone.  The doctor said to keep her separated from the other cats until both the eyes and digestive issues were resolved.

Zoie didn't mind noise from weather like rain or thunder or outside noises like vehicles or mowers.  But she was afraid of voices and anyone other than us.  She became familiar with my office, one section at a time, exploring thoroughly before proceeding to the next.  We supplied her with toy mice, balls with jingle bells, her beanie baby bear, and a wand with a flannel strip that we put away every time we left so she didn't get tangled in it.  Oh, and those mice?  I pulled off their eyes and ears which didn't seem to be attached very well and cut off their tails.  One of our other cats choked on one when it came apart.  There are no standards for animal toys so they have to be checked.  I found a couple of chew toys that Zoie could chew to her heart's content and I knew they would be safe.  I spent most of my days in the office with her with the television turned on to HGTV.  No explosively loud commercials!!

To add a bit of complication to this story, Ebbie had a virus when we rescued her that I was told would stay recessive in her system although we'd cleared up the secondary infection.  I also knew stress could make it reemerge, though it never had.  In the midst of our Zoie adventure, Ebbie had an appointment for a rabies injection.  I give our cats homeopathic remedies before and after treatment that a holistic vet had recommended and prescribed.  Even so, after a rabies injection a few years ago, Ebbie lost her hair at the site of the injection in a three-inch circle for about six months.  Afterward, I discovered the agent the company used to distribute the vaccine was mercury.  That vet wasn't concerned when I called to discuss it, so we changed vets.  Our new more-concerned, better-informed vet told us about other companies' vaccines that aren't as harmful.  But this time, I was worried.

Ebbie is my intuitive cat and we have a sister-like bond.  She knows when I'm hurting and always consoles.  She's my constant companion, sweet, and would never hurt me or anyone else.  She's a pacifist!  Even though she hadn't seen Zoie, she knew she was around.  Even though I washed thoroughly and changed clothes, she knew.  She began withdrawing.  I think it was a case of fearing the unknown.  Without any physical contact with Zoie, Ebbie's eye began running a week after her rabies shot.  So she had another visit to the vet.  He prescribed L-lysine snack pellets...or a powder or a gel.  He felt the conjunctivitis in her eye stemmed from the feline herpes virus that is one of the most common causes of upper respiratory infection and eye problems in cats. It had laid dormant in Ebbie's system all these years.  The L-lysine is an amino acid that helps suppress virus replication.  In other words, it breaks the cycle.  But Ebbie is not and has never been a pill taker or kitty snack consumer.  I would have to be inventive.  He suggested that it would also be a good idea to treat Zoie, too, with half the dose. I would have to check that out with her vet.

More about meds and cats next week along with how the first face-to-face (or nose-to-nose) meeting between Zoie and Ebbie and Zoie and London progressed.

© 2012 Karen Rose Smith

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