leaving home

[mudpuddle]

I recently had 2 feral cats spayed and they seemed fine after their operations.
Shortly after, they have taken off and I have not seen them since...is this unusual? (They had always stuck around since their birth here, to get fed.)
I just worry about them! Where did they go? Are they getting fed?

 

[frequentflier]

I recently had 2 feral cats spayed and they seemed fine after their operations.
Shortly after, they have taken off and I have not seen them since...is this unusual? (They had always stuck around since their birth here, to get fed.)
I just worry about them! Where did they go? Are they getting fed?

Keep leaving food out for them. They are probably around but may be a little scared you are going to capture them again and put them in a cage and take them to a strange place.

My offer to help you with food is still good

 

[ZARA]

I recently had 2 feral cats spayed and they seemed fine after their operations.
Shortly after, they have taken off and I have not seen them since...is this unusual? (They had always stuck around since their birth here, to get fed.)
I just worry about them! Where did they go? Are they getting fed?

Depends on a few things.

1. How feral were / are they?
2. How long after?

1. If they were super feral to the point of being almost wild, yes, this is very normal.
2. Depending on if they were healed or not and the mood that struck them:
a. They could have gone off to heal.
b. They could have felt healthy enough to go do some serious hunting.

 

[mudpuddle]

Keep leaving food out for them. They are probably around but may be a little scared you are going to capture them again and put them in a cage and take them to a strange place.

My offer to help you with food is still good

Thank you so much for your offer!!! You are the kindest/sweetest person!!!!

I won't be needing your help (thank you again)--my hubby's furlough is over and things are going well!!! We have five feral cats/kittens and they seem to not eat all that much that we can't handle-at least for now. I will always keep your offer in mind, though!!! Thank You!!!!

 

[ArkRescue]

Depends on a few things.

1. How feral were / are they?
2. How long after?

1. If they were super feral to the point of being almost wild, yes, this is very normal.
2. Depending on if they were healed or not and the mood that struck them:
a. They could have gone off to heal.
b. They could have felt healthy enough to go do some serious hunting.

I am hoping this is why Mama kitty is missing. Sat. she was limping. I hope she's ok. We were on the verge of a breakthrough with her switching from hissing at me to meowing .....

 

[ZARA]

I am hoping this is why Mama kitty is missing. Sat. she was limping. I hope she's ok. We were on the verge of a breakthrough with her switching from hissing at me to meowing .....

The trick to taming a severely wild cat:
Pillow case you have slept on, Cheese, strips of fried Chicken (bone in - skin on), and cream.

Place the pillow case on the ground and then place strips of the food and the small bowl of cream (room temp) on the pillow case. She will immediately begin to associate your smell with food. It has never failed for me.

 

[ArkRescue]

The trick to taming a severely wild cat:
Pillow case you have slept on, Cheese, strips of fried Chicken (bone in - skin on), and cream.

Place the pillow case on the ground and then place strips of the food and the small bowl of cream (room temp) on the pillow case. She will immediately begin to associate your smell with food. It has never failed for me.

She has been there every day for months. She eats breakfast and dinner on the deck and just LOVES canned cat food . She wasn't happy when I had her caged for a month (hold 1 week, get fixed, recoup 3 weeks), but that was 3 months ago and she's been there every day and living under the big shed. She had been going so far as to hiss at me, then turn around to groom her back - so her guard is going down for sure. When I would come out of the house she had started to run across the deck to greet me and meow.

 

[mudpuddle]

She has been there every day for months. She eats breakfast and dinner on the deck and just LOVES canned cat food . She wasn't happy when I had her caged for a month (hold 1 week, get fixed, recoup 3 weeks), but that was 3 months ago and she's been there every day and living under the big shed. She had been going so far as to hiss at me, then turn around to groom her back - so her guard is going down for sure. When I would come out of the house she had started to run across the deck to greet me and meow.

I hope she returns to your home soon and that she is okay!
We are just "softies". We get attached to feral cats!

 

[ArkRescue]

I hope she returns to your home soon and that she is okay!
We are just "softies". We get attached to feral cats!

I deliberately did not accept ferals cats at my home (relocations) due to the proximity of the road to my home. I had not seen any kitties running around so I figured there were none. Mistake - when I found those kittens I knew.

This Mama had been living off the land, which is something most domesticated cats are incapable of doing and Foxy and LuLu are case-in-point domestics that were found literally starving outside. Mama had killed a squirrel and she isn't that much bigger than a squirrel herself. In the time she has been staying close, she has used my deck as her lunch plate to eat many critters she has caught despite the fact that I feed her every day. I don't mind her killing the mice or other small rodents, I don't want her killing birds and baby bunnies, you know?

I suspect a critter came up on the deck to eat the food and she got injured that way? Something ate the food on the deck 2 times in the past few days so I wonder if it is her or another critter. If it was another critter, that may be why she is afraid to come back? Reminder to self - put a baited trap cage on the deck to try to trap whatever is eating the kitty food.

 

[ArkRescue]

I hope all of our feral friends make it safely back home.

I have been contacted by multiple people recently concerning feral cats they have been feeding, they can no longer care for. When I ask if the cats have been spayed/neutered the answer is almost always NO. Sadly I don't have time to deal with any more than I have on my hands already. If anyone is open to having 1 or more ferals relocated to their home/property let us know.

We have 4 kittens already vetted and ready to go and we need the vet fees (adoption fee) back from those 4 to fund the next 4 kittens to be vetted. The 4 kittens are paired up and the 2 pairs get along great! Hoping they can go to new homes in pairs. We give people a break on the vet fees if they are willing to adopt kittens in pairs.

Anyone open to having a couple new furry kittens around to spice up their life? I need to video these kittens, they are so much fun to watch. Feel free to email us: LisasArkCritterRescue@gmail.com

 

[Roman]

I deliberately did not accept ferals cats at my home (relocations) due to the proximity of the road to my home. I had not seen any kitties running around so I figured there were none. Mistake - when I found those kittens I knew.

This Mama had been living off the land, which is something most domesticated cats are incapable of doing and Foxy and LuLu are case-in-point domestics that were found literally starving outside. Mama had killed a squirrel and she isn't that much bigger than a squirrel herself. In the time she has been staying close, she has used my deck as her lunch plate to eat many critters she has caught despite the fact that I feed her every day. I don't mind her killing the mice or other small rodents, I don't want her killing birds and baby bunnies, you know?

I suspect a critter came up on the deck to eat the food and she got injured that way? Something ate the food on the deck 2 times in the past few days so I wonder if it is her or another critter. If it was another critter, that may be why she is afraid to come back? Reminder to self - put a baited trap cage on the deck to try to trap whatever is eating the kitty food.

When we first bought this house, I'd estimate that we had nearly 30 ferals living in the out buildings here. We vetted all that we could catch, and found homes for them. When I went to feed them, I would wait until they were finished if I could, and then took the food up when I wasn't there. We left water only out there. The Racoons would eat the food otherwise. Did the Kitty return?

 

[ArkRescue]

When we first bought this house, I'd estimate that we had nearly 30 ferals living in the out buildings here. We vetted all that we could catch, and found homes for them. When I went to feed them, I would wait until they were finished if I could, and then took the food up when I wasn't there. We left water only out there. The Racoons would eat the food otherwise. Did the Kitty return?

I found her under the shed - YAY - so I put food/water under there for her, initially she ate the dry food, then I put canned food, she ate that, then dry again - nope - she wanted canned and showed up the other day on the deck for dinner - it was dark so I didn't get a good look at her. If I turn on the back light at night the chickens think it's time to eat again and some of them will hop off the roost - they get confused LOL.

I really need to get a look at her because if she has an infection, I will try to trap her, otherwise I will let her hide to heal. I figured if I put a trap out, and she is limping and she hops in ... she may trigger the closure too soon and get hurt even more so. The fact that she wants to eat/drink is certainly a good sign.

 

[ArkRescue]

oh and PS Roman, I have 2 dogs around that are constantly in/out all times of the day/night, so it would be a quite daring wild critter to come to my deck to steal kitty food more than 1 time. For the most part I try not to leave food out overnight though.

I think I saw some kittens in the grass up the road the other night - put out some dry food over there the past 2 days - will go back today to see what's there. If nothing else, I'll get all the local strays/ferals trapped and fixed. In the meantime we are still trying to adopt out the kittens (Ginger & Marianne, Gilligan & Mrs. Howell) to come up with $$ to get the last 4 kittens vetted.

The kittens I found at my barn? Of those, Gilligan has to be the most loving of them all. He practically leaps into my arms when he sees me. He is such a purring lover boy. Mrs. Howell on the other hand is a little head shy, but you can touch her from her neck and down her back and she loves it. I hope those 2 can stay together.