Hi Dr
I would like to ask you for some advice on how to adopt a feral cat. I hope you don't mind if I give you a history and background of our situation first. It looks pretty long but I believe it will help you better understand our situation. I have been reading your case reports on the website and find them very enlightening and honest. I greatly appreciate that you care to discuss real every day animal cases, both good and bad. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience and thank you for your invaluable service to animals.
OKAY, here goes. My husband and I live in an HDB flat and we've been feeding a feral cat called M2 for the past 4 years. Her ear was already clipped when we first met her. Let me give you a little backgrounder on her.
M2 is a feral cat who used to hang around our HDB block void deck. She took to us very well and would wait for us punctually for our regular feeding times. Then with the coming of other more dominant cats, she was eventually chased away from her roost at the void deck. She now naps and hangs out in a little garden patch (next to a power station) of shrubs and roses behind my flat. She doesn't stray far, always within calling distance. She is quite a scaredy cat, easily flustered by the slightest sound, sudden movement and intimidation of other cats. That she makes up for by using her claws in any iffy situation.
M2 can scratch quite vehemently when she's overly excited or agitated.She is a rather skittish cat. We know she has probably been through alot and is just trying to be defensive. We think she may have been roughly Handled by humans last time and hence her insecurity.
Over the years M2 has grown accustomed to our strokes and pets. In the beginning, she would not let us touch her, let alone approach her. Today whenever she see us, she will come to us with an upright tail, roll over on her back, expose her belly and let us rub her. We've been meaning to adopt her but trying to find the right time and not lose her trust.
However, she does not like to be carried at all. Once I carried her and she gave out this yowling meow before struggling out of my arms. We even managed to carry her into the lift and up to the 7 floor where we live. But once the doors opened, she bolted out of my arms and down the stairs.
Seeing that she is such a timid soul and often bullied by other dominant feral cats who usurp her territory and chase her out, we have always wanted to adopt her. Right now, she is at risk of being chased out of her garden patch by a very bossy and aggressive female calico cat who is a "newcomer" with unclipped ears.
A big problem is that if i were to adopt M2, given her temperament and dislike to being carried, how am I going to bring her to the vet for an all-over medical checkup as well as a one-time grooming before she becomes an indoor cat? I played around with the idea of sedating her with tranquilizers. Can I get these over the counter at a vet clinic? Will they sell it to me?
Another alternative people offered was cat trap. But M2 might
completely lose the trust we built over 4 whole years and be mad at
me, and won't come near me at all.
To tell you the truth, I had called a professional cat catcher (recommended by an animal shelter) to try and capture M2 after she had hurt her leg. To cut a long story short, after 5 hours, he failed. He also said when people call him to catch a cat, it's 100% success that he catches them.
Needless to say, M2 recovered from her "injury" and she was so mad
at us (or scared) that she disappeared for 2 wks. When she finally re-appeared, she was so suspicious of us that she didn't come close or let us touch her. She kinda knew we had a hand in the attempted capture even though we didn't personally catch her ourselves. So our 3 years of gaining her trust went down the drain.
As you can see, due to this episode, we are hesitant to use any force on her for fear of another episode.
What should I do? Don't tell me to ignore her or forget about her just cos shes feral, we love her like she was part of the family. We want to give her a home and not relegate her as a statistic. Thank you in advance.
Warmest Regards
Name given
E-MAIL REPLY
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 06:12:18 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY"
Subject: Re: How to take in a feral cat we love so much
To: ...@yahoo.com.sg>
Thanks for your compliments and detailed background of M2. I presume you are a journalist to be able to write so well. Here are some quick suggestions as I have never been asked to resolve this problem by any cat lover.
1. Tranquilisers from the vet. Your vet should be able to help you if both of you have a business relationship of integrity and trust. However, the cat is very smart and will not take the drug if you put it inside the food. There are other ways which your vet will explain to you. Obviously, if you don't have this relationship, it will be foolish of the vet to help you as you may be an undercover journalist interested solely in yellow journalism.
1.1 Tranquiliser dart. This is the best method but there are legal requirements in its use. The AVA may or may not have this dart. The vet in Singapore does not have it. Maybe the zoo vet? This person must be good at it. No second chance of blowing the dart as M2 would have sprinted off.
2. Professional Cat Catcher. I don't know if there such a profession. I will think that the best one in this business is actually from the AVA's dog and cat control unit. If you really spend time with these people, they may or may not be kind enough to help you to trap this cat. This depends on how good you are at people relationships.
3. Cat trap. I doubt M2 will get into the typical cat trap as she is street-wise after so many years of human abuse. Such cages usually smell of 'death' and 'fear' as these cat traps are usually used many times. A cat netting method is probably the best if it can be done by an expert.
4. Trust. During that period of time when the cat trusted you, you did NOT gradually hold her for short periods of time. Put food on your lap and let her eat from there for few days. Then slowly hold her for a few seconds.
Instead, I presume and I may be incorrect in my presumption, you suddenly carried her to your apartment one day? It was as if one is being kidnapped and being murdered. This act triggered in her the recollections of bad experiences with human beings.
5. How much time you have to re-gain the trust of the feral cat? In the final analysis, how much time/day did you spend with M2? Is it 3x per day? Or just feeding time? The more time you spend with M2, as with human relationships, the opportunities for the other party trusting you are higher. The only problem may be whether M2 has time for you? I think she will have.
Lots of time/day spent to gain the trust of a feral cat is probably my answer to your problem. Play time and fun time using toys that the cat likes must be included, not just feeding time.
5.1 Routine and priorities in your day.
My suggestion is that you write a time-table of action and priorities for the day (I sound like a teacher as I often suggest this method to some of my clients as well but they don't do it!). Below are my quick thoughts on this rainy Sunday morning.
You spend 3 or more times a day with M2, if she is available. Do you know where she wanders about? That is what I mean---getting to know her well. I know this is asking for the impossible. Who cares where M2 spends the whole day?
Start playing with her and getting her used to be carried. Feed from your hand and then from a tray (which may or may not evolve into a cat trap or cat net). One of the methods of catching her is a new well designed cat trap set by you, not one from the AVA or others.
I have an inspiration which may sound nutty to you and which I write below:
Feed her from the void deck, moving the food plate to the floor step of the staircase going to the 2nd floor. Then feed on the 2nd step and so on to the first floor. Feed her favourite food and milk, let her go. Repeat many times. Play time and fun time must be included when M2 runs down the stairs. Old cats may not want to play with the "catch the mouse toy" but who knows. Carry her from a low height, not high up standing. Put her down after a few seconds. Repeat and so on.
Feeding continues to the 2nd floor (this will take some weeks I guess). By the time you reach the 7th floor of your apartment and into your apartment, it may be 7 years later!
The above ideas are adapted from the puppy toilet training advices asked by an American yesterday. The American wanted to know how to get the Shih Tzu peeing and pooing from the indoors to outdoors for her adult Shih Tzu. It seems the method for the Shih Tzu can be applied to your case?
The above are my suggestions. Time is of the essence for you now. Let me know if you succeed. Best wishes.
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