Feral Cat Behavior

Pilling cats in this household is so much fun! NOT! Formerly feral cats, I have two that take a lot of time to corral, reassure and then pill. I keep a bottle of hydrogen peroxide close at hand for my bloody arms and fingers.

We just went through and de-wormed the bunch. There were mice that got into the enclosure. This is the third time this year that mice have invaded the cat’s area and I had an epidemic of tapeworms!

So how do you worm formerly feral cats? Very carefully…

I bribe the ones I can into the house by popping open cat food lids. Once they are inside, Mike shuts the doors leading to the tunnels. Then it is a matter of listing each cat, and popping the correct amount of pills inside their mouths.

Next it is out to the enclosure and the herding cats begins. Chaplain, Maverick and Dash are the ones that I can’t get close to when intent is at hand. I do not know how they know that I am going to worm them, but they do.

If they shoot up the tunnel, Mike is waiting on the other side to open the door, thus trapping them in the house. I finally cornered Dash as she was attempting to scale the chicken wire door upstairs. My hands were already bleeding from Maverick and Chaplain, so with Dash’s claws thus engaged, I scruffed her neck, tilted her head in an angle to the ceiling and popped the pills in!

Success- all seventeen cats wormed and teed off at me! They will get over it. They always do.

Mike and I have decided this winter, we will be putting down a concrete floor in the enclosure to prevent any more mouse infiltrations. That would be nice!

“Incorrigible Kitty” those were the words used on the phone when the gal was telling me about her 7 week old kitten that bites. Apparently this kitten bites so hard that they were thinking of euthanizing him! I suspect the problem lies with the owners, not with the kitten. The woman has requested I “cure” the kitten in a week! LOL Yeah right! It would be a week before I would put the kitten into general population. I told her it will take as long as it takes.

She will be bringing the kitten down next week. I feel so sorry for the kittens and cats that end up in homes where the people do not understand cat dynamics, take time to learn cat behavior and expect cats to jump through hoops and become miniature dogs in under 8 seconds. It just doesn’t work that way.

About a week ago on the trail with Leah we both saw an owl. I was startled at the sighting, not that owls are rare in Oregon, but the time of day that the owl flew ahead of me on the trail. It was 2:00 in the afternoon. To my knowledge, owls only come out at night.

As I watched his blue wings streak by, I was reminded of an old indian saying that goes “See an owl by daylight and someone you know will die.”

I shrugged it off as just an old supersition, though I did tell hubby when I got home about it. Then I added as if an afterthought that I felt it was his sister, a warning. We just laughed it off.

But soon we learned, that indeed she did pass away that day which gave me the chills.

I have been on the same trail several times at all hours of the day and have not seen the owl since. It wasn’t like he just flew by me and left, he followed us up the trail, perching on the sides of the trees and peering at me from every angle. I thought he was beautiful when I saw him, now I wish I had never noticed him.

On a better note, all the cats are doing good. I went and re-organzed their cat enclosure, moved some of the furniture around and made a few more platforms for them. Winter is coming, so I also stored some blankets in the storage trunk out there just in case I need them when the cold weather hits. Last year we wrapped the entire outside with plastic, but I don’t think we will do that this time. Keeping it open will keep the air circulating. Providing warm nests inside is the key to keeping them warm.

I have been taking our German shepherd puppy Leah into the woods in the morning and also at dusk. This walk has helped her considerably to mellow down some of her more enthusiastic characteristis.

The other morning, we came over the hill and started into the curved path to the woods. Suddenly, I see this figure ahead of us in the path, it was a young buck! I grabbed Leah’s collar and we stood there, he was eyeing us, then suddenly he put his head down, snorted and pawed the dirt. I am thinking to myself “uh oh, we are in trouble now…” He stayed there on the path, we couldn’t get around him, though I would have never tried. When I stepped back, so did he. Leah was beside herself, quivering and whining and on alert.

Then I heard crashing in the underbrush, and behind him ran this doe and her fawn. Once the woods swallowed them, he snorted, kicked his heels and took off after them. It was scary, but at the same time magical. They were here, and then they were gone.

We had a bit of a scare recently when Taylor started crashing. I don’t know what it is, but when my bottle babies start to fade, everything I know just flies out of my head! If someone contacts me about a problem with a kitten, I can give advice without hesitation. But when it happens to one of mine? I totally panic!

Thank God for my friendship with Dusty Rainbolt- author of Kittens for Dummies I called her, and she told me to give Taylor some semi-warm coffee with karo syrup. I did, and about 10 minutes later, Taylor came out of her lethargic stage and her gums started to pink up.

Now, she is playing with her littermates, and being a normal kitten. I found out something interesting during this scare. One of the symptoms she had, is also a symptom of a kitten with a bad heart. I will keep my eye on her closely but for right now, the crisis has passed.

We have a huge nest of caterpillars high in our walnut tree. It has to be crammed full of caterpillars because it is so large. Take a look-

Taylor has now come down with diarrhea and leaky butt syndrome. I called the vet and we are now on a treatment of Panacur for two days. I hope this works, these poor kittens, their bums are so sore and they cry when they use the litter pan. I switched out the litter in their pan with dry beans. They have the same sort of feel for the kittens on their pads, but they don’t cling to the sore butts like cat litter does.

These kittens now seem to welcome the baths they get several times a day to help clean them out. Poor babies, I do hope the panacur helps.

On a happier note, the shelter called and Sinatra was adopted out as a barn cat! I am so relieved, I was afraid because of his aggression factor that he would be euthanized. But the bite quarantine proved he didn’t have rabies (I didn’t think he did). I am glad that he has a chance for a life, he will be an excellent barn cat as long as no one bothers him to much!

McKinley has come down with a puzzling bout of diarrhea. There is nothing jumping out in the fecals, he is bright, alert, playing, drinking, eating. No fever, just this diarrhea. I have tried several different things to help him stop this- flagyll (in case it is coccidia) because coccidia doesn’t always show in the fecals. Plain yogurt with active cultures, cooked hamburger and twice cooked rice, lactose free milk, canned pumpkin and nothing seems to be working.

I was going to contact my vet today, but fell behind schedule, but I have a special mixture I want to see if he will mix up for me, because all the ingredients are vet prescribed only. I will connect with him tomorrow and talk it over with him.

In the meantime, the new introduction cage is coming in mighty handy as a sickroom for McKinley. His poor bum is so sore, I just put some desitin on him to give him some relief.

Took Guinevere in to see the accupuncturist today and the first session went well. She tolerated and even seemed to welcome the needles that were placed in her back, stomach and legs. The session was about 25 minutes long, and she will be returning for other sessions to see if we can get her some relief in her aching joints.

I am FINALLY out of pain with my shoulder! After two years, it has been a dream come true for me. I went to see Mandi (the accupuncturist) every week for 3 months and now I am pain free! How wonderful this feels=

After making myself hoarse by using my special kitty call, Cleo has shown up! He is limping, but examination revealed a thorn between his pad that was removed. I was so glad to see him! We had a great snuggle time and he ate well then vanished off into the bushes. Darn him, I wish he would just stick around, but it isn’t in his nature to.

After twelve year’s of living out-of-doors, I fear that something has happened to our sweet Manx-cross Cleo. It has been over a week since I have seen him. The land where he chose to live (under a deserted barn) has been sold, trees cut down, building demolished. I keep looking for him, but in vain. I hope I am wrong, but he has survived the odds before and shown up. I heard a cat fight the other night, it sounded horrible. By the time I got dressed and got outside the cats had retreated under our house and even seeing which cats they were became impossible.

Be well old friend, you will be missed-