Feral rescue cat

[HaveaMint]

I recently in the last three months rescued a cat from the company I am working with which I called the company mascat. (mascot) I was in fear the little girl would get run over with all the traffic in and out so I catnapped her to my house. It started almost a year ago with her skinny as a rail living on bugs from the floodlights and the occasional snake feast that she killed and filleted leaving the head and rattlers. I started bringing her cat food from my cat and feeding her. After a few months she trusted me enough to pet her a little and then it was "OK' that's enough. It got to where I could whistle a two tone whistle and she would come looking for her food and water. Well the little hussie got pregnant and had a litter so it was more food and water. One day I looked out the window of my office and she was on my car..(Oh hell no) So I went out and got her off the car and went to move it and ran over a kitten that hasn't learned to fear cars. I felt so bad and moma cat looked at me with that what the f look. Man I felt bad. Well I took Momma cat home the next day where she lived in the garage for the next week or so to get used to the surroundings. My cat knew another feline was in the garage and it wasn't easy getting him to accept it. Well when I let her out it took a bit for them to accept each other but they did. It wasn't to long after the acceptance that my cat got in a major cat fight according to my neighbor with another feral cat in the neighborhood and apparently nether cat lived because I haven't seen either one. So now the little girl is queen of the roost and she is no longer a little girl. She is getting big which leads me to the original purpose of this long story. I wonder if she has maybe some bobcat in her bloodline. She has the small hairs on the top of her ears. Oh well she has a home now.

[Moem]

That's lovely that she has a home now. Did you take her to the vet to get spayed yet?

[Penn]

I'm going to guess the answer to Moem's question is no since they would have told you if your new family member was actually a wild species (assuming they are competent). Regardless, a good move would be to make sure that was her last litter.

Cats normally don't give birth to just one kitten to the point where it would be very rare. Did you make an attempt to find the others or was it the only remaining (survivor or just still with her but old enough to go on it's own)? I know in the wild the average number of kittens in a litter to make it to reproductive age is one and a fraction (I'm thinking 1.3 but I don't recall if that is just one area I was familiar with or overall US average since that number varies by location).

I hope she brings you many years of being a happy servant.

Oh, if you post a pic maybe we can help figuring out if she is just one of the few breeds of domestics that have the ear tuft trait. The group I've been volunteering with off and on lately had one and most people that saw him just loved that feature. He got adopted fast.

[HaveaMint]

Yes she has been fixed, no more kittens and all shots up to date. All but one kitten (which I ran over by accident) had been killed or froze to death last winter. Even if she has any wild blood in her bloodline it isn't much.

[lsemmens]

[Moem]

Yes she has been fixed, no more kittens and all shots up to date.

Yay! Lucky kitty!

[DAMIEN1307]

i have 3 "feral" cats at the moment...i took them in 1 by 1 after my last 2 which were a brother and sister team died a month apart from each other at 16 yrs of age...that started with the first in late march of 2017, the second in may of 2017, and the 3rd and last in may of 2018...they are all indoor cats now and no longer skin and bones...very interesting that i can open the doors to the house and they never go past the threshold...they just give me that look that says,
"Do we REALLY look that stupid?, were not getting chased by the coyotes and wild dogs anymore and we eat really well here"...lol...DAMIEN

PS, my oldest cat which was also feral when i got it back in New Hampshire, it was a Maine Coon cat mixed with some other big wild cat according to the vet, its size scared everyone to death when they saw it, and yes, totally indoor as well and 33 pounds of very large cat, lived to the age of 23 yrs old.

[lsemmens]

using rimg tag...

Thanks Moem for fixing it, I tried both the img and rimg tags and could not achieve that result. Did you have to re-size the image or was it just a c&p

[Moem]

Thanks Moem for fixing it, I tried both the img and rimg tags and could not achieve that result. Did you have to re-size the image or was it just a c&p

I used the link to the image itself, not to the page it was on. If you get a link that ends in .jpg. .png or .gif you know that it will probably work with rimg.

[lsemmens]

i tried that. Probably not holding my tongue right. Thanks anyway.

[HaveaMint]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/ ... ornia.html

[lsemmens]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/ ... ornia.html

I hope the dog was fed to that cat! PRIDDY PUDDY! And I don't usually like them.

[majpooper]

I had a Black Lab, a really smart and sweet dog. When she was a pup we took her to my sister's for a visit. My sister's cat had just had a litter of ~week old kittens. My dog being a curious puppy went over to the box where mom and kittens were and snuffed around - well tried to sniff around and was viciously attacked and got scratched up pretty good. After that, even when she was full grown and much larger than the average house cat - I wouldn't say she was afraid of them exactly - but she sure avoided them.

[BenTrabetere]

My father was a veterinarian and I worked in the animal health industry for 20+ years; except for two dogs my father took as payment for services, all of my pets have been cats and all have been rescues, walk-ons or free-loaders. I have spent a fortune on their feeding and upkeep, but nothing on getting them into my life.

My favorite was my father's last cat. A six-pound walk-on carrying a bellyful of kittens. She became mine when he passed, and she was at least 24-years old when she died. A couple days after she died I left work to go home and found a half-of-nothing kitten looking for a home perched on the hood of my car. When one door closes you find out that cats can walk through walls....

- - - - -
@majpooper - This cat raised her brood under the house. At the time my sister had an idiot for a Rottweiler that spent most of its him in a nice fenced-in pen, and every afternoon she would release the beast from its pen to let it run around the rest of the 2.5 acres. He had seen the other cats, but he had not seen a kitten until the day they ventured from under the house - he went to investigate and came face to claws with a protective momma cat. She sank all of her pointy-things into his head and rode him for a good five seconds with him screaming the entire time.

For the rest of his life that dog would retreat to his house and whine every time that cat walked past his pen.
- - - - -

The current clowder has four members - five, if you count the one I share with my neighbor. The best I can figure the shareling was part of the feral colony outside the Univ. of Southern Miss - she sports one lopped ear and was already spayed when she arrived, something my veterinarian found amusing as hell ... he was in school the last time he tried to spay a spayed cat. And the best I can figure she cannot make up her mind whether she wants to be an inside cat with my neighbor or an outside cat with me. Or maybe she prefers the food over there. Or maybe she is just being a cat. She will be back ... or remain in good hands.

There are also three you-don't-live-heres that show up from time to time to grab a quick bite to eat before they mosey on home. I do not want or claim them, and they do not want or claim me.

[BG405]

Lovely to know your new master has a good home. Thanks for sharing!

There's a stray who has taken to using the shelter in the back yard. I'd be tempted to take her in but not sure how my two would take this .. especially as they are mostly indoor cats (only let out when I'm there to keep an eye on them; never out the front as I'm close to a main road & she might not like being indoors most of the time). In any case it's tricky enough getting both of mine to come in together & it'd be even more so with three!

She had a couple of litters but someone has had her spayed, thankfully. I couldn't afford that myself at the time. I was feeding her when she had the kittens, someone around here is evidently giving her food. Haven't seen her for a couple of days though. Hope she's OK. She does sort-of trust me but is still quite wary.

[HaveaMint]

Lovely to know your new master has a good home. Thanks for sharing!

There's a stray who has taken to using the shelter in the back yard. I'd be tempted to take her in but not sure how my two would take this .. especially as they are mostly indoor cats (only let out when I'm there to keep an eye on them; never out the front as I'm close to a main road & she might not like being indoors most of the time). In any case it's tricky enough getting both of mine to come in together & it'd be even more so with three!

She had a couple of litters but someone has had her spayed, thankfully. I couldn't afford that myself at the time. I was feeding her when she had the kittens, someone around here is evidently giving her food. Haven't seen her for a couple of days though. Hope she's OK. She does sort-of trust me but is still quite wary.

LOL I saw that most replies don't understand that a cat allows you to stay in the house only because you supply food to it. The new addition is quiet the addition at that, I have been in the house for 25+ years and have only seen one snake until she got here. She has shared several snakes since she got here which gives me a heart attack when I come up on the porch and see a snake on it. She looks at me with a "What?" look. My last cat laid on the front porch on his back faking sleep and birds would swoop down from nests to chase him off. He would swat them and have a free lunch. He would leave parts behind to share also.

[lsemmens]

We have owned cats over the years. When we built our last home we moved house and the pet cat we had at the time disappeared. After much searching, TC was not found. Whilst in temporary accommodation waiting for the house to finish, a dog (Ridgeback cross) wandered into the yard, He was scrawny and riddled with ticks but he looked like a nice dog, so we fed him and he stayed.

Meantime, we moved into our new home with dog and kids wanted another cat, so off the RSPCA we went and came home with a tabby. Now we had a dog and a cat.

One day we get a call from friends from whom we had inherited TC that they had seen him wandering around. Our response was, if you see him, catch him, we'll come get. A few weeks go by and sure enough, they ring and we found TC happily cuddled up on the lounge with friend's daughter. Of course we bring him home. He knew us immediately and went straight to our daughter. Upon arriving at his new home, he finds it inhabited with another cat and a dog. In the end the pecking order was sorted out, TC as head of the roost, and dog and tabby as his underlings. The fights were alway dog and tabby against TC.

[151tom]

.

[BG405]

OL I saw that most replies don't understand that a cat allows you to stay in the house only because you supply food

I'd add love to that statement. I'm always under the paw .. finding a comfortable position to place the keyboard is a bit of an issue. I get pounced on before I've had a chance to get my bum in the seat properly. Roobarb is flaked out on me now; Custard is under the throw on the other sofa but they are often snuggled up on me together, or in the bed with me. I don't need a hot water bottle even in the cold weather! They are like my shadows

A few weeks go by and sure enough, they ring and we found TC happily cuddled up on the lounge with friend's daughter.

So pleased you found him. Had a scare when Custard got locked in one of the houses round the back overnight. Roobarb was pacing the perimeter wall for well over an hour calling loudly. We eventually came in but not much sleep to be had. Luckily she was back by around 7AM.

Cats are enjoyable little creatures.

Fascinating, highly intelligent and so incredibly affectionate. The rewards outstrip the shredded furniture & wall paper .. .. these two are brother and sister by the way & I adopted these two as they were always together from when they were born. Squabbles, yes .. lots of chasing sessions but lots of cuddles too.

[Tomgin5]

I was raised by bulldogs. but after many years I was adopted by a kttty in the middle of winter when I was working in my garage on a Fiat X1.9. She came in from outside when it was snowing and I opened the door to air out after using some sovent to clean with. She came in and curled up on the head of the engine while I had the head off. We wound up feeding her and she stuck around for 18 years. I took her to have her fixed but she all ready was. She was an indoor cat but always rang the doorbell for someone to let her in or out several times a day. GUESS WHO THE BOSS WAS? When I came home and parked in front of the house she always came running full tilt and jumped grabbing me with her front paws around my neck in a hug. I never figured out how she did it but she never scratched me. Her claws caught my shirt but never went through. when she laid on my lap her head was on one arm of the recliner and her tail was draped over the other arm.. She loved to be scratched and spen hours at a time on my lap when I watched TV in the evenings. At 19 pounds she was a good sized cat. she totally intimidated the sister in laws dogs ( Standard Poodle ) that she rode around the yard and hung on the dogs back as he cleared a 6 foot fence to run back to her van. The dog went into the driver's window and the cat went over the top when leaving the dog. She also killed 3 raccoons that were raiding the neighborhood.