Feral Cat Behavior

It is supposed to get into the teens tonight, so I went to the hardware store and bought some moisture barrier. I just finished wrapping the upper level of the cage where Buzzby is now living. I tried insulating with hay, but it seemed to scare him, so I had to do something else. Even standing inside the cage now, I can feel it is a lot warmer than it was. He still has air coming in from the bottom, but where he is sleeping now, there is an nice layer of warmth. I am also feeding him chicken broth warmed up and warmed canned cat food. He is doing quite well and I picked him up today and nestled him in my arms briefly. Then I put him down and gave him a wormer pill.

Cole is sniffling, so I have isolated him back upstairs. I am going to make a poster after the holiday and see if I can find him a good home. He seems so overwhelmed by the other cats, although he gets along with all of them except for Prowler.

Because the coffee stand is named Buzz’d I decided to name my newest visitor Buzzyby. I have discovered, he has been declawed- front paws only BUT not neutered! WTH is wrong with people? Talk about having your priorities messed up!

He is a really lovely fellow. Some serious headbumping is going on when we spend time together. I am always amazed when strays or ferals come here. I can offer them the softest bedding, the most secure cloth cave available and they shun it for a cardboard box with only a few rags inside. Or a basket open to the air with bedding in it. Because he has to stay outside in the cage, I have set him up with a cat carrier that is wrapped with a heavy blanket to retain warmth. I also padded the cardboard box with pieces of foam I had left over from the recliner project. I also put up flat sheets of trimmed plywood along the middle ledge to keep out the cold. It is supposed to get to 20 degrees tonight.

But, he has shelter, and company as the other cats come by the cage and hiss at him. He has food, water, medicine and places he can hide. I am so tempted to keep him, because I have a soft spot for orange kitties (and calicos). I will just have to see how well he merges with the others whenever that might happen.

My mother sent me a tee shirt yesterday for Christmas. My older sister Gwen who is actively trying to help a feral cat colony in Florida, staged a fund-raiser for the cats. The shirt shows a beautiful tuxedo stray and the front says “I sent a Cat to Camp!” I love it!

Both my sisters are actively involved in rescuing or providing for feral cats. Maybe it is just in our blood?

This morning I went out to get my customary cup of Joe, and came back home with cat. The cat had taken up residence underneath the coffee hut where I get coffee. I was asked to help and trap it, but was hesitant to leave the trap because of the public exposure it had. To often, when you leave a trap out in a public area, nasty bad people take it upon themselves to hurt the cat inside, or simply let it go.

I got lucky though, once I baited the trap with food and set it in place, there was only a mattter of a few minutes before the cat was inside!

He/She is a sweet faced golden and white color. There is a bit of white on its chest, and I think it might be just over a year old. It is in the introduction cage right now, the only place available right now in the house. I haven’t had much of a chance to check the cat out. I was at the airport today dropping off my stepson, By the time I got home it was 9:00 p.m. I did go and feed the cat, it is so skinny it is heartbreaking. It might be to late to really save it, I will check in the morning for telltale signs of feline hepatic lipidosis; yellow ears, yellow gums or yellow eyes. Right now it is eating everything I am feeding it. A/D KMR and feline factor laced cat food.

Received a call tonight from a good friend. Her 13 year old cat was open mouth panting, drooling and regurgitating saliva only. These can be symptoms of a seizure. She is going to watch her through the night, and if she gets worse she will take her in to the vet, but most certainly first thing tomorrow morning she will be at the clinic door. I only hope I am wrong, but it was the first thing that came to my mind when she told me about the situation.

On a lighter note, tonight my stepson took us to dinner. We were sitting there and just rehashing his visit with us. I told him that I was so glad he was so tolerant of the cats. We have had visitors here in the past who were not so tolerant. He laughed and said he learned something valuable about staying here. If he needs a clean towel, he will never take one from the top of the pile. Instead, he will take one several down from the top of the stack.

Apparently, the other morning, he took the top towel and when he got out of the shower, he buried his face in the towel to dry it off, and what he got for his trouble was fur in his face, nose and mouth! My towel cupboard is 8 feet high (until the remodeling is finished, towels are stacked on top of the pantry cupboard. I have seen Prowler lying up there, unsure of how she gets up there though, she has no clear launching platform except the floor. Denny got a Prowler towel and a lesson in cat hair and how hard it is to remove from wet skin!

Went to Wally World to purchase some foam. I spent the better part of the morning making inserts for underneath the recliners. Now, the only way the cats can get up there is if they are part bat and cling upside down.

I heard a disturbing fact yesterday that I wish to pass on here. The new Neosporin, the one with the pain relief added is toxic to both cats and dogs! The old formula, the regular strength formula is fine to use with deep wounds and punctures.

It really is frustrating sometimes when these new and improved products keep circulating. The old Kaeopectate is still okay to use to stop diarrhea, but the new one is toxic. The old formula is getting harder and harder to find. I use Neosporin a lot with my cats. I am grateful that I was told this before I used it on Guinnevere.

She has these two deep holes in her neck, they are not cat bites, no cat gets in there with her. She had these when she arrived here, but they keep reopening. I called Dusty Rainbolt the other day to pick her brain about these holes and she thinks (and is probably right) that these are two b-b holes that never healed. She shared with me a trick, about filling these holes up completely with neosporin (regular formula) and seeing if the foreign bodies will “float” to the top. Time will tell I suppose, and nothing else seems to be working at this point.

Mike and I bought each other recliner chairs for our Christmas gifts. We were both settled in these comfy chairs, kicked back in the full recline position watching movies. Unfortunately, we did not know that Prowler had jumped up underneath the foot rest and settled herself down for a nice nap!

When it came time to get out the chair, I leaned over as far as I could and I checked the floor for kitties lying there. I didn’t see one, so I went to lower the stool and it stuck. Being a brand new chair, I thought it might be the mechanism so I pushed down harder That’s when I heard this horrific moan and I realized one of the cat’s must be up there. I jumped off the chair, and Prowler fell with a thud on the carpet. She was shaking her head violently. It is Christmas and the nearest vet ER clinic is over an hour away.

I went over to her and scooped her up, looking for injury, heat, enlarged pupils, blood anything that would show me where the injury occurred. We got lucky, she was shaken, but not hurt. I tested her with some shredded ham and a little bit of milk and she can eat and swallow her food.

I feel so horrible, I would have never thought these comfortable recliners would pose such a danger. I hope anyone reading this that has cats and recliners will take heed and be careful as well. We could have lost her tonight, but God decided she is still going to be on loan to us for a little while longer.

“An empty blog is the product of a busy life.” I just made that up, based on the fact that I have been unable to post here. I don’t even know if anyone is reading this anymore. I read somewhere that a survey was taken by Google (I believe) and there are so many blogs in existance now, that only one person is generally reading one blog.

I keep this online journal for myself more than anything else. I love to write, and I love my life so therefore I share snippets from time to time.

It is the Holiday Season and the wind is howling outside. The cats are doing well. We have added yet another cat to the mix….(sigh) He was dumped off during the coldest part of the month 22 degrees outside. He is a sweet, shy black kitty I have named Cole. After four days in the cat room he was let out into general population. My crew is accepting of him..Sometimes, I think they just look at me with a particular expression as if to say “Damn mom! Not another one!”

I will try my best to find a place for him besides here. He likes his solitude and spends the majority of his time either upstairs or in the cat enclosure. Not a speck of white on him, he is pitch black.

My youngest stepson has flown down from Alaska to spend a week with us. Poor Dennis, I think he must be allergic to the cats, he spends a great deal of time being stuffed up and sneezing. It isn’t like he can escape the cats either. Once he sits down, they are all over him.

It is grand to see him, he is doing quite well for himself and his cell phone has rung many times with work issues. He works with computers. He surprised me the other day by buying me a new computer chair. I love it, and the best part is it isn’t shredded by cat claws like the other one was getting to be.

I think of my friends this time of year, those I have lost, and those who are still here. I wish for world peace, for civility to enter back into our civilization and for love to fill all hearts. We are so divided anymore as a country. People who should know better, fighting and spewing ugly words at each other, it is so insane, like this latest fight between Donald Trump and Rosie McDonnell. I mean come on folks, grow up already. Be happy with your lot in life and don’t worry about the little stuff.

Well, I need to get this article started for The World of Pet Sitting- so will sign off with a “Merry Christmas to All!”

Winds peaking at 60 mph, that is also about how fast these cats are racing around the house. With limbs breaking off of trees outside and the wind whipping through the cat tunnels, these cats are basically freaking out. It is unseasonably warm tonight as well. Really strange weather for this part of the country.

I finished my latest article on Cat Health Issues in France and Greece. Should make an appearance in Feb on catchannel.com

McKinley, Everest, and Rocky are now neutered. Rock weighed in at a whopping 12.9 pounds, McKinley was 11.5! Everest was a modest 6 pounds.
So now, all the kittens have been fixed, though I hate that word, because it sounds like something was broken. But spaying and neutering sadly is the only way to go with strays and ferals. Breeding should only be done by ethical breeders and by that, I mean someone who has studied years about the breeds, knows the genetic downfalls, and what to watch out for. Not just someone who has a pretty breed specific cat and wants to mate it with another male breed specific cat. Those, I call backyard breeders.

The males are now back with the group. McKinley still has a gigantic appetite even after having surgery. Everest is right now crawling up my leg for some mom comfort, so I need to go.

Anyone besides spammers reading this blog- I urge you to spay and neuter all your animals- unless you are an ethical breeder and know specifically what you are doing, and not just that you think “kittens are cute.”

I let the two kittens out today into the house. They were so stressed out being enclosed upstairs even though they were together. Since stress can bring on pain and other health issues, I opted to let them just have their freedom. They immediately went downstairs, jumped on the couch and slept there without making one sound most of the day.

Went to Petsmart today for the monthly supply run- dog food (canned and dry) cat food (canned and dry) Guinevere’s junk food (Meow Select Market) bones for Lei, a few toys and $142.00 later I was packing the car. One lady looked at my cart and said “i think you have to many animals!” LOL Ya Think?

Actually, it is a good balance here. The group readily accepted Sierra and Taylor without so much as a hiss, even though the girls still smelled of the vet and the meds. Now, in a few days, the boys go to get clipped. I will be stopping at the shelter beforehand to let the girls see just how well the kittens have grown up. McKinley is so handsome, Everest is the clown and Rocky is drop dead gorgeous. I wish I had been able to see the mom cat as well as the dad. All kittens favor each other, so it does look like only one tomcat was in this mix!