Around October of last year yet another stray kitty showed up in the neighbourhood. This cat was very skittish and I only knew of her presence because she showed up on the wildlife camera.
Then, she started showing up during the day, helping herself to the two ferals’ leftovers from their daily feeding. Unlike my two previous cat rescues, I couldn’t get near her. I asked all around the compound but nobody knew who she belonged to. She was so wild that I couldn’t just scoop her up and take her to the no-kill animal shelter, so I just started feeding her during the day alongside the other two TNR ferals that showed up at my house.
Another resident had seen the calico and made contact with me about her. After reaching out to Felines & Friends, I agreed to socialise her and foster her while the neighbour/local artist Claire Libin would provide food for her and cover any vet bills for shots, etc., provided I could trap her. A local animal rescue organization informed me I could move her into their adoption pool once she was socialized.
So, I trapped her and brought her inside and put her in an enclosed space so I could do an assessment on her. She was a little wild, but her aggression was more from fear and was defensive-based rather than a straight-up feral.
I got her a rabies shot from a local vet, who agreed with my assessment that she was only semi-feral after probably being either abused or out on her own for a while (she was already five years old), and then took her to Espanola Valley Humane Society’s veterinary clinic, who spayed her for free (though I gave them a small donation, courtesy of her financial foster mom).
She was doing really good with me. I worked with her for a few hours after I got off work, sitting on the floor and interacting with her. She passed all the tests: she eventually let me pet her, she didn’t evidence any food aggression, she was litter trained, she began to interact with toys and she would come up to me when I came into the room. I named her Asuna from Sword Art Online, but I was trying not to get attached so I mainly just called her “Dumb S**t”, truthfully. Or Little B***h. Forgive my language. 🙂
She was doing so well that I lined up a home for her with an experienced cat owner who loved calicoes. Circumstances arose that made it difficult for this person to take her at that time. But they were still open to adopting her down the road.
This put me at an impasse with her socialization process. It was overdue for her to “graduate” into a bigger room that could be closed off, except I didn’t have another room in my small place.
I reached out to this individual who also had experience working with ferals. This person offered to complete the calico’s socialization process, since she would eventually be able to move her into a larger room she could close off. It was a tough call, because we’d have to start over. This person did all the right things, but it didn’t go very well, to say the least. She had definitely been abused at some point in the past.
At this point, I felt that she wasn’t going to be able to adopt her out. I took over the costs of her food and maintenance. I got her settled back into the enclosed space for about a week or so, so she could calm down and readjust. The issues the calico had evidenced at the other foster’s house did not reoccur. I got my place ready to unleash the cat unto my entire house and hoped for the best.
It went well for a couple of weeks. Then she peed outside the box on a piece of furniture. I had the piece of furniture treated and cleaned thoroughly. I added another litter box. Even got scoopable litter to replace the Yesterday’s News she formerly didn’t have an issue with. Finally, after consulting with the community outreach hotline from the local shelter, we determined her behavior was not a litter box issue, but a behavioral one from her inability to adapt to life indoors (there were other behavioral signs that pointed to this.). So, I let her outdoors, even though I’m not an advocate for indoor/outdoor cats. I was able to lure her in at night, so I covered the piece of furniture with plastic bags and pee pads. She would still pee on the piece of furniture if I didn’t let her out fast enough in the morning. I would leave the door open so she could come in and out, and she would come in, pee on the offending piece of furniture, and run back outside.
Then, I realized that Spring was arriving. I have severe allergies to, well, everything Springtime, and letting her in and out wouldn’t be a possibility, as the house would have to be sealed up during the day. We have coyotes and bears and Godzilla-sized raccoons so I hated to keep her outside all the time. So I chose to keep her in totally and just kept the protective pads and the plastic bags on the piece of furniture. She settled down a lot more after her brief stint as an indoor/outdoor cat, actually, so she must have not found it to her liking as much as she once did. But she kept peeing outside the box. I cleaned and re-treating the furniture with an enzyme cleaner on a routine basis just in case. I tried Feliway and that didn’t work. I even tried spraying the furniture with diluted orange oil that the financial foster dropped off that she heard worked. It didn’t work.
Finally I bought a different kind of scoopable litter (World’s Best) and it luckily worked. I got the lavender-scented one that probably smells like my all-natural furniture spray. It’s been several months now, and no marking issues. I got her some interactive motorized toys from Chewy.com. And I crossed the final Point of No Return and renamed her the ultimately cute(r) name Moon Pie aka Moon Kitty.
She’s still a dumb kitty, though. Just look at how stupid she is.
While most would call this a foster fail, I have to disagree. This is a foster success. She didn’t want to leave you and go live with someone else and she made sure to be very clear about that. I am glad you found a litter that works. Cat per is the worst smell ever. You have a beautiful Floof.
Hee hee…lots of patience and months of work with her. I found this great stuff…will have to get the name of it and share it!
Feliway is a wonderful product if you have an anxious baby. I have started using it with my feral colony of barn kitties and they no longer run from me when I feed them ☺
Ha, they decide when you are ready for a new one, not you.
That’s a fact! After my ginger tabby Louie died, I wasn’t ready for another pet. When I picked his ashes up at the veterinarian’s, one of his technicians came out with a little furball that I didn’t recognize as a kitty initially it was so odd looking. She set it down on the counter, the furball walked over to me, and that was my introduction to Andy the smoke Persian kitty! I was trapped!
Later, his brother Dougy – by now I recognized Persian kitties as kitties (LOL!) – won my heart, too, and the two kitty boys celebrate their seventh birthday on July 1st, most of their lives spent with me. So much for not wanting another kitty, let alone two kitty brothers, after the death of the beloved Louie!
Awww…I know! But now two cats have a great home!
Yeah, unfortunately LOL
Glad you persevered with Moon Pie. My girls had multiple names, and what they were up to determined what one was used!
What a beauty. She wouldn’t be the first feline to reject a type of litter. Several months ago the store ran out of our usual and I bought a “natural” product that comes highly recommended. Simone would not go near it. Lesson learned and as always, around here, the diva has her way. Love to Moon Pie, Colette, Simone and our human
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Cute cat
Free shipping! (joke!)
The Naming Of Cats by T. S. Eliot
The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey–
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter–
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover–
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
I always think of that when I call my cats by all their different names! I love TS Eliot!
You were wonderful to persevere…she’s a beauty!
Thanks! Where do I ship her to? LOL (joke)
Moon Pie is a perfect name for a kittie who will be your companion for many years to come. Her long search for a forever home is done. You do not find love. It finds you. ?
Aww…yeah, she’s still very kitten-like…I’m used to senior cats, so it was quite the transition!
I love her. I am not a cat person but like you, cats seem to find me. This one is a beauty and her eyes and a good cat’s eyes.
Susie
Yeah, I imagine cats put the word out on the street for people like you and me… 🙂
Beautiful cat! And you are beautiful for saving her!
Very nice post.
She is so beautiful!so fluffy!!thank you for having the patience to care for her…
What a wonderful ending for you both. x????
🙂 One lucky cat, I tell ya…*laugh*