Postings by Arwen

Kitten Corner > How to tame a feral kitten

Arwen My little hobo- friend     Purred: Mon Feb 11, '13 3:48pm PST  I like what Felix said. I also speak very softly and make no fast moves when I'm around Arwen, especially when I was still trying to win her over. Now, she trots right up to me and it's not really an issue, but, she has been outside for a long time, and every once in a while she gets a little spooked and retreats from me, when she sees my hand from behind her, but I just have to realize that she had probably never been touched before me, and I have to respect that. I remember the first time she decided that she would eat from her bowl while I was about six feet away from her, she slinked up to my front porch, dragging her belly and terrified, and she shook all over and kept one eye on me and one eye on her food. Now, I can pet her all over while she is eating. This is the cat who used to hiss at me. I never got angry with her for any of her behavior. I respect that she is a wild cat and I accept her for what she is. It is so funny now, how much she loves me, she is all over me. She rubs her head all over my shoes and she almost lays down at me feet, like my other cats do but she still has yet to do that, to give me her belly, not sure if she will ever do that. She has jumped in my lap two times, but I had food. It has been a long, long time, gaining her trust, and it has been so sweet to see her come around and how much she loves me. She used to only let me pet her by my front door, now, she will come running up the sidewalk when she sees me outside. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Arwen My little hobo- friend     Purred: Sun Feb 10, '13 7:07pm PST  I agree, you are doing everything right, it just takes a long time to really gain that trust. I adopted a feral kitten once, and it took many, many months before he would even let me pick him up. He never really took to anyone else but me. Once they know they can trust you, they will come around. I have a feral cat that I have been feeding for going on a year now, and it took months before she would even come within 6 feet of me, and she used to hiss at me to. Now, I can almost pick her up, she just jumped in my lap a few times, she lets me pet her, scratch her chin, but it took a lot of time to get to that point. Trust takes time. She will get there. Bless you for being so patient with her. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cat Health > Cat Won't Eat

Arwen My little hobo- friend     Purred: Thu Jan 17, '13 3:42pm PST  My feral, Arwen, will not touch any fancy feast that has beef in it, even if it is a mix with something else. She has never once touched it....even when she is really hungry. She has not been feeling well right now, so I have been buying her those fancy feast ones in the blue can...tuna and florentine or something like that, they all have fancy titles, but she will usually eat those. She is not doing well and will not eat sometimes, so I try to buy her the good stinky ones in hopes she will eat. Good luck with your kitty, and I would get her to a vet ASAP if she still won't eat other foods too. Good luck. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cat Health > Help with my feral...what to do?

Arwen My little hobo- friend     Purred: Wed Jan 9, '13 3:19am PST  Thank you so much for your kind words. I am going to look up a group that does TNR and see if they can point me in the right direction. I very much appreciate your kind response. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cat Health > Help with my feral...what to do?

Arwen My little hobo- friend     Purred: Tue Jan 8, '13 3:14pm PST  I have been caring for a feral cat for about 6 months, though she has been in the neighborhood for several years. She loves me. I feel like I am all that she has. She has gone from hissing at me to now showing up twice a day, sometimes she hangs out by my door all day long. I love her. She has been TNR'd, her ear is tipped. I feel as though I can't risk having her around my inside cats, so I feed her twice a day, give her lots of love, spend time outside with her, I feel like I don't know if I can do more. I also feel like if I trap her and take her to the vet, what do I do with her? I'm already overrun with more than I can handle. All this said, I'm concerned about her. Twice now, she has showed up with a swollen hard belly. Once, I thought, could she be pregnant, and maybe not a TNR? You could feel what felt almost like golf balls in her stomach. But then a day or two later, gone. Normal stomach. She has brought me home rats, squirrels, etc, so I know she eats some awful stuff, and she once threw up what looked like a mix of a whole rodent and who knows what (sorry I know gross), and after she threw that up, the stomach looked less bloated. So tonight, she shows up, hard, distended belly again. Usually she gobbles down her fancy feast (the only kind of canned food she will eat....I've tried better and she won't touch it), but tonight, she would not touch it. Sometimes she does reject her food, and I just figure she ate something else, or someone else fed her, so it's not totally out of the norm for her to reject food. Also, she is usually at my door or across the street hiding out in the neighbors yard or shed, and this afternoon, there was no sight of her, so I'm assuming she was out hunting, and ate something ghastly. She is being sweet, and letting me pet her otherwise. I've read about the possible causes, FIP, cancer, and all the other posibilities, but the fact that it comes and goes puzzles me. Any ideas? I wish I could do better for this cat. I just adore her. But I fear that she could have some bad things and pass them onto my inside cats, my house is tiny, and I already have 3 and a large dog....I can't have her inside. I have a bed and a house (she will not go inside it) on my front porch for her, and I feed her and love her. Sometimes I just cry because I feel like I need to do more for her, but I don't know what to do. If I took her to the vet to be treated and checked out....I could not bring her inside. She'd never live inside, and I can't risk her being around the others. But I adore her. I'm so torn. Am I a bad cat mother for not doing more? How do others in my situation deal with this? Sometimes I just sit and pet her and cry, knowing I am all she has in this world. She can't even go in my back yard, because I have a doberman, who is great with my inside cats, but chases anything in the back yard. I wish I had an old house with a basement, but I live in FL, no basements. Leaving your garage open here leads to all sorts of opossums and racoons and rodents, so that is not a possibility either. Just wondering how others who take care of a feral cope with all of this. I'm feeling especially sad tonight about my darling little Arwen. She was gray, drab and skinny before I started feeding her, now she has colors, she is no longer skinny, and she knows that I love her. Sorry this is so long. I'm distraught right now my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the rapid nature of forum postings, it's quite possible our calculation of the number of ensuing forum posts may be off by one or two or more at any given moment.