feral & stray cat rescuers!

[jukes]

all cat friends feel free to PM me @ anytime w/ cat probs. lay knowledge only, but i'm very experienced & can advise or direct research readily. this cause is dearest to my heart & i welcome the opportunity to help in any way i can.

if i'm unsure of an answer, i'll openly admit it, & research or direct you!

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Great!

:loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya: :loveya:

Good to know that there are good people out there!

Fellow Animal Lover

Hawkeye-X

[jukes]

17. TX,, HawkeyeX

retired, so my involvement keeps me sane.


fact is, though, i just love cats (& doggies, too-have 4 abuse-rescues), esp ferals. amazing when you can gain their trust!

[Droopy]

2. That's awful kind of you, jukes

This isn't a question about stray cats, but about our cat who is an adopted stray. I've never seen that cat drink water. Do you know if it's possible for a cat to live without water? We do feed her soft food which does have some moisture to it, but as far as I can tell that's the only water she's getting.

[adriennel]

4. does she go outside?

my cat loves to drink out of our neighbor's ponds and kiddie pools...very strange behavior, but he just loves small bodies of water!

[Droopy]

9. She's an inside cat

but she does manage to sneek out every once in a while if we're not careful. We do have a creek that runs along side the house, but even if she was drinking from there she doesn't get out but maybe once a week. So I would think that she'd need more water intake than that.

[Jo March]

8. I had a cat that did that

I think that he was afraid to drink during the day. I caught him drinking from the tap in the kitchen one night. It had a constant drip and he apparently felt safer up off of the floor. I had to put his water bowl on the counter. He was better after that but still drank at night mostly.

[jukes]

20. was he a stray?

someX's they get use to drinking from springs, a dripping tap is a close approximate. it's good to separate their food & water supplies, cats differ from dogs, they don't consider it a similar consumption & don't often like their food & water in proximity.

[jukes]

11. Droopy

cats derive most of their moisture needs from food indoors. if you're feeding canned, it may have enough water for her.

to be honest, she's probably drinking from your toilet; it's the freshest & coldest water in the house.

there's a trick for testing cats for dehydration; gently pinch her loose neck skin & release. if it's elastic & returns to normal quickly, she's fine. if it "peaks" & returns slowly, she's in trouble.


cats w/ periodontal problems, malfing organs, or "stomatitis" (chronic throat lesions) will often stop drinking, or drink excessively.

but they *are* sly* & shy, she's probably drinking when you don't see it.

some cats drink lots, some little. the neck test will apsitively alert you to a problem. if she peaks, get her to a vet asap.

i stock gear to rehydrate cats subQ, but that's beyond a normal cat household.


hope that clarifies! :pals:

[lynx rufus]

18. I suspect you are correct

That cat is sneaking water from somewhere.
Good to see you here, jukes.
There is a special place in heaven for those who
work with colonies.

[lynx rufus]

16. Unless your cat is Felis margarita (Sand Cat) he needs water

Felis margarita (a small wild cat) is the only feline species
with the ability to derive all the water it needs from its
food intake.

[jukes]

21. howdy, lynx

nice bit of esoteric knowledge! that's 1 i didn't know.

at 75 post, you're not a newb, but haven't bumpt into you before, so: welcome to DU!


:hi:

[Ready4Change]

29. Some of our cats lick water from sinks or bathtubs when we're done.

Makes us roll our eyes at them. A million bowls of water for cats around the house, and they're licking the walls of the shower.

Ah well.

[Rhiannon12866]

44. Some cats prefer running water

I have a friend who got a kitty fountain for his cat, so he would be sure to drink. I got one for my beloved Rhiannon, but the damn thing quit after a week.

My friend in animal rescue, who placed two dogs with me, has a cat that expects her to turn on the faucet for her. She has had to do this for the cat sometimes when she has been on the phone with me, LOL!

Anyway, this is just a suggestion.:shrug:

[Ready4Change]

3. Gonna do so.

We just brought in our first homeless cat and her wilder kittens.

[jukes]

12. Ready4Change

will be honored to help.

[TX-RAT]

5. Thanks jukes

I've got 4 inside cats and 12 outside cats.
All from the Humane Society. My vet bill for my cats runs higher than the bill for my cows.

[jukes]

13. TX-RAT

dig it. w/ my housefull, and the 2 colonies i'm supporting, it costs a bundle. working on a non-profit org recog from IRS, to get some tax break for expenditures.

you're a good guy, TX-Rat!

[MuseRider]

6. Cool!

So many good people with different knowledge here! I have 4, well now only 3 stray cats but I did catch and raise a feral once and she was a really great cat. Thanks.

[cedahlia]

7. how lucky we are

as DUers and cat lovers to have you among us, Jukes. You're an angel! O8)

[jukes]

14. blushing profusely

but tx++, cedahlia!


:hug:

[aden_nak]

10. My Formerly Feral Feline.

He's a fatty now, but he clearly prefers it that way.

[jukes]

15. sweet boy!

& not *that* fat! pretty normal for an indoor, esp a neutered male; they bulk up pretty quick.


it's amazing to make friends, and be accepted by, a wild creature.

[aden_nak]

19. No, that was when I found him. He was skin and bones then. Only 14 lbs.

He is now up to a robust 19, down from 21.

[jukes]

23. ah, so desu ka!

19 is hefty, but if he's got a large frame, he's still just a normal plumpfer. glad you got him to drop from 21, that's getting scary.

[brokensymmetry]

22. Thank you!

I don't have any feline challenges at the moment - just well fed, happy cats - but I've added you to my buddy list so I'll have a contact.... :)

[catmandu57]

24. We have four indoor, and four outside

recently, within the past week, we had another young female show up. She's very friendly and must have been raised around people, I've put an ad in the local paper hoping that someone comes to claim her.
The problem is we have a feral male we named heinz because he has some siamese, and some tabby, sometime in his life he suffered an injury that causes him to limp. Heinz absolutely hates this new female and has tried to do her bodily harm, she scoots up a tree and sits up there meowing until we coax her down.
Hopefully she'll be claimed, but if not, I'm not sure what to do with her, we can't get her to come inside where she'd be safer. The indoor cats would ignore her, but would'nt try to kill her.
It has me confused, because I thought he would'nt mind a female, the other cats all get along except these two.

[jukes]

25. cats are very territorial

until she's in estrus, he'll try to drive her off.


see: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=1441047&mesg_id=1441047

for capture techniques. i do spay/release in the colonies i support to contain the population explosion. this girl will have kittens by the aggressive tom, if she wasn't fix before she was abandoned. if you observe her rolling back & forth on the ground, she's nearing heat. she'll be much easier to handle then, & you'll need to get her to a vet quick, or you'll have an enormous stray/feral population w/in a couple of months.

tommy needs to get lopped, also. will make him less aggressive, keep him out of fights which leave infected wounds & can spread epidemic diseases.

[Chovexani]

26. People like you give me hope for the world

Really. :)Seeing strays on the street breaks my heart because there really is no need for it. And there are so many twisted cat-haters out there that do awful things to them.

My kitty is a rescue. He was a kitten when I found him and his mother with the rest of the litter, they were all very badly bruised. Obvious signs of abuse. The runt of the litter didn't make it, but the rest of the kittens were okay and we took them to a local no-kill shelter. Unfortunately the mother cat didn't make it either, she was fairly hurt and ended up dying from an infection.

I think about that cat all the time. I don't understand what makes people do things like that, I really don't.

[jukes]

28. it really hurts

to me, it's as bad as child abuse.

sorry for your pain, but you did your absolute best for that clouter.

be proud of yourself!


:hug:

[jukes]

27. have to run for now

chores are calling.


again, feel free to PM, all!



:grouphug:

[jukes]

30. kicking

for the graveyard watch.



:kick:

[jukes]

31. another kick

this 1 was buried deep

[Philostopher]

32. I'll kick it again for you, Jukes,

before I slip off to bed myself. I'd like to suggest to you, if you don't get it already -- and to everybody else who has pets and wants to keep up with information -- Cornell University Veterinary College has good publications for both cats and dogs. The URL for Cat Watch, their cat publication, is:

http://www.catwatchnewsletter.com

I don't see a link in the copy of Dog Watch I have on the shelf, there must be a different editorial staff for it. Or, maybe they've had enough interest in the cat publication's having a web site and not the dog publication yet, I don't know.

The best part about them? Unlike 'Cat Fancy' and 'Dog Fancy' and many other publications, I don't have to flip through twenty pages of ads for breeders to find the information. I hope nobody mistakes that for a knock on people who want purebreds -- I guess I can understand somebody having a sentimental or aesthetic attachment to a certain breed -- but I volunteer at a shelter myself, and I see hundreds of cats and dogs come and go every year through the place. I'm probably overly sensitized to the sheer numbers, and all five of our animals -- four cats and a dog -- either came from shelters or were living 'on the economy' when we took them in.

Though the good news is the number of animals euthanized for the crime of being surplus has diminished by a great deal since the 1970s, we still breed too many that nobody wants. I have great respect for anybody who takes in strays, works with trap/neuter/release programs and helps out ferals. They don't ask to be born, and they don't ask to be neglected when they're unwanted. I know there are plenty of people who don't care, but if those of us who do care didn't, the stray and feral population would be considerably larger -- and the dangers to the domestic animal population through diseases would be considerably greater.

[Piltdown13]

33. Not sure if you'll see this, but...

I'm just wondering, out of curiosity, about how long it might take for a malnourished cat to get back to his healthy weight.

We recently took in a stray (I think he was abandoned, my boyfriend thinks he got out of someone's house and couldn't find his way back) who obviously had no idea how to find food on his own. He's a neutered adult male, and when we got him to the vet he weighed about six and a half pounds -- this for a brown tabby, which is a kind of cat that I remember (from my past shelter volunteer work) as being typically quite large (I know it's not technically a breed, but for some reason just about all the brown tabbies we got at the shelter were huge!). His pelvic bones were clearly visible beneath the skin, and he was very weak -- unable to jump onto a chair, staggering, etc.

It's been about a month since we took him in, and he still only weighs about 8 pounds. I'm just curious as to whether, in your experience, we might expect him to get much heavier (I tend to think he's simply a little guy). Well, I do have another motive in asking. I'm getting ready to re-order flea medication (my kitties don't go outside by themselves, but both love to go out on harness and leash) and am trying to decide how much to buy of the various dosages. My other cat is well over 10 pounds, so he gets Advantage Purple, and the cut-off between Purple and Orange is 9 pounds...and I can't decide if the new guy is going to get big enough to share the same supply as Timmie.

:hi:

[jukes]

37. Piltdown13

there can be many reasons for failure to gain weight.


check his rectum for baldspots or inflammation; indicates chronic irritated bowel syndrome. if so, get him to the vet.

CAVEAT: vet's , for some reason, love to 'scribe flagyl (metronidazol) as an anti-protozoic. it has the worst taste imaginable. if you can't "pill", and i can't due to clumsy hands, you'll have to crush it. i NEVER use it, your cat will avoid you after the 1st dose, and you won't be able to do much w/ him for a long time. it's really that bad (i "taste" any meds i have to admin, won't force them to take something i can't stand.)

if you can pill, coat with soft butter to lube & assist swallowing, + add calories.

parasites; worms, giardia, etc. also , in response to your flea med question: there's a new med available, "advocate" that disrupts all phases of the flea cycle, and treats for almost all parasites (ticks, hookworm, roundworm, heartworm, i'm not sure if it combats tapeworms) i purchase mine online from australia, much cheaper. here's a link:
http://www.pets-megastore.com.au/

you can probably use the same med for both cats, if you use the topicals. they'll only absorb an appropriate amount, & the weight diff is minimal between your cats.

to assist in weight gain, you can use a product named "nutrical", company evsco. it's heavy in usable & usable calories. it's a paste, malt flavored which many cats like. you can apply it to paw so he'll lick it off (cats hate sticky paws) or mix in w/ food @ mealtimes; i sugg canned food, which usu has more calories than dry.

i also heartedly advocate an enzyme supp, papain or bromelain, to aid in absorption. you can find it in the homeopathic/herbal aisle of your grocery or pharmacy. i use "prozyme" a powder version tailored for animals, because i can get it in industrial quantities. the pills will be fine for you, crush & mix, they have a very neutral flavor that won't be noticed. weight lifters use enzymes for weight gain.

your guy is past the age for bone growth, so he won't get much larger in frame, but the above shd help him fill out.

PM if you need further.

[Piltdown13]

40. Thanks for the info!

He doesn't seem to have irritated bowel; the vet "wormed" him when we first took him in, so I hope he doesn't still have parasites! (He stayed at the vet's for a week, because she thought he might be coming down with a respiratory infection that we didn't want our other cat to catch, so I'd hope they would notice anything like that, but you never know....)

We'll have to look into the new flea meds...thanks for the link; I've never seen that site before (I usually order from PetZPost, which I think is based in New Zealand).


And we should certainly check out the weight gain supplements. His body has filled out pretty well, but his legs are still really skinny, and he doesn't seem to have as much energy or desire to play as our other cat (who is almost 5 years old; the new one is probably 2 or 3). He's much better than when we took him in, of course; he may have just had lots more ground to cover than we originally thought. And he does seem to be a fairly small cat -- very dainty feet and smallish head.

Thanks again!

:hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

34. Thank you so much.

I just wish I had known you when I was attempting to bring in my abandoned kitty who had reverted to feral behavior. I was very fortunate to get good advice, but I had to really ask around. There is a woman who I met who feeds and works with local ferals. I was directed to her and she called it immediately, my cat was not a true feral, but I cat that had belonged to someone, but had lost trust. She told me how to bring her in and was of great help when I finally managed to. The world is a better place because of people like you. This is the toughest kind of animal rescue.O8)

[jukes]

38. thanks, Rhiannon12866

i've always admired your posts, & your regard is touching.

feral work *is* difficult, i've got the scars to prove it!

[Rhiannon12866]

48. Feral work is not just difficult, it's impossible

That's the reason that I so admire those who are dedicated to it. I cannot tell you the ups and downs I had just trying to bring in my kitty that had only reverted to feral behavior. It took four months and there were times I almost lost hope.;(

The woman who advised me, who also works with ferals, is equally dedicated. She gets in her truck, accompanied by her dog, every night, and waits for them to come to the place where she feeds them. She also uses the have-a-heart traps, trying to bring them in, but said that some of them have learned to outwit the traps. She has brought in many of the young ones and is attempting to socialize them in her home. The night I had my longest talk with her and she showed me how to handle my kitty, she said that she had 23 in her home. But that's nothing to you, right? She also works at our local SPCA no-kill shelter, which has a feral colony there. Such amazing work, I admire you both more than I can say.:yourock:

[Divernan]

35. Any source for trap-and-release programs in Pittsburgh area?

I have three ferals who stop by for dry food and clean water, which I leave outdoors - but I've found that a blue jays, cardinals, squirrels and the occasional raccoon also like dry cat food. I only put food out in the mornings now because the raccoons are night time feeders and I don't want to attract them.

I also have a very low level bird bath with a wide rim, set in the middle of a landscaped area, and one of the cats loves to perch on the rim and take an occasional sip while keeping chipmunk watch. I have even come home to find her curled up on my front door welcome mat, although she dashes off at sight of me.

[jukes]

39. Divernan

no personal knowledge of T&R in pittsburg, i don't network. if you want to try this yourself, there's a link to capture techniques higher in this thread.

your local animal control, humane society, or vet may lend you a "havaheart" trap, they're easy to use, and might also rid your possum/'coon problem. i freq capture them accidentally & convey them to a local state park w/ a lake & release them there.

sugg you call your humane society for info on local T&R orgs, if you can't do it yourself for time or other reasons. after all, you can't leave an animal in a trap all day if you're @ work.

good luck, & sorry i can't be more help. maybe some1 else will catch this & advise.

[Philostopher]

46. Hey, Divernan --

You could check with Alley Cat Allies (http://www.alleycat.org), they may be able to put you in touch with a TNR program in your area. Don't know it for a fact, but I know they are one of the more prominent TNR promoters around.

[ploppy]

36. Kick

:kick: We need a cat smilie!

[flamingyouth]

41. I have some experience in this as well, jukes

Thanks and a great big :hug: for doing this work! People often don't know what to do, and they don't know that there are resources out there to help them. Thank you so much for doing this.:D

[jukes]

42. kick

:kick:

[jukes]

43. again

n/t

[amerikat]

45. I will help too........I have some experiance.

[Arugula Latte]

47. Thanks for doing this!

I just looooooooove dem kitties. I am going to become a foster parent for the local shelter. Can't wait to see my foster "children."