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In reply to the discussion: I need some advice from people who are cat savvy (UPDATED WITH PICTURES) [View all]Samantha
(9,314 posts)I am told so many things and I don't have the ability to separate the truth from fiction. I can't pick Nikita up yet but I think the day is coming when I might be able too. I have only been able to pet her with two hands the last couple of days. She still scares very easily. She is not yet totally comfortable, but she makes baby step progress every day (and you might say that about me as well). We just came back from another walk -- I took Cheyenne out -- and once again she followed us. This has happened three or four times now, and it is very amusing. She is not yet comfortable with Cheyenne, but she makes progress with this everyday. So it is complicated (like the movie!).
That is amazing you have taken in strays for 45 years and never had a stray infect any of your house pets. It sounds like from the people I have talked to this happens more often than not.
My best friend, when I first told her about the cat, started telling me not to pick it up and not to let it near Cheyenne. She told me a story about her friend in Pennsylvania who had 10 cats which stayed in a barn. Someone dumped 3 more cats on her property. So Carol, the friend, just felt she had no choice but to let them live in the barn as well. One of the cats had feline pneumonia, and all 13 cats died from that. All of them. You mentioned feline leukemia. I didn't even know about that.
This is a work in progress. Tonight I have been trying to coax Nikita into her new igloo home. No success yet. I think I have to put something in it to attract her to go inside. Maybe some of her food (I don't really like that idea) or perhaps a cat toy.
So what is the complete list I should have the cat vaccinated for, and I am thinking I can't do them all at once.
I have never even spotted Nikita's poop. It must be out there under the bushes somewhere. I guess I will have to keep an eye out.
About the frostbite question, I don't know. It looks like the procedure my neighbor described for marking feral cats, but it is so slight, and upon closer inspection, the white hair on the tip is growing back and it makes the ear look pointed, but if you look very closely, it is just hair. So the PAWS lady is going to have to check that too and tell me if she has been marked as feral. I don't know the ramifications of that, but my neighbor said adoption is out for cats so marked. So if that is true, I don't even know if a vet would accept her as a patient and treat her like a normal pet. So is so much to learn here, at least for me.
Thanks for all of your wonderful advice.
Sam