Here we go again ...

Ok .. happy household ... rescued one 6 day old kitten, hand reared, he's been here for 5 years. Then a stray found me, and he's been here for 4 years. All was content for a while.

Then a starving, and I mean starving cat appeared - he grabbed food and gobbled it from the floor he was so ravenous it was upsetting. He had quite bad injuries too, I guess from fighting. That was about 3 weeks ago, and since then we've progressed. He eats in the kitchen now, and lets me stroke him - sometimes. Sometimes he goes for me, he's very temperamental. He is getting quite territorial over our garden, and has started going for my very docile boys, and I am not happy about them being tormented, but I am equally not happy about our new boy being uncared for and so thin and scared.

So my question is this. New boy needs neutering as soon as. I'm scared to even attempt to pick him up given his reactions to me at times. If he got neutered I assume he'd calm down a bit and his aggression would decrease. I feel so sorry that he's had nobody to care for him, he flinches if I move fast so he's obviously been hurt in the past by humans. How can I get him neutered if I cannot handle him?? I know there are traps, but we have loads of cats around here it would be impossible to find out who owns who to keep them in at night. The main thing is he's being fed daily now, and is slowly getting more trusting but I really think it would be months before I could even attempt to get him into a basket and off to the vet. I also think he has worms, he's soooo thin. I have tried a tablet crushed into tasty food but by that point he wasn't hungry enough to tolerate that at all. I have the pipette wormer, but I very much doubt I could get close enough for that one either at the moment.

I love my new fella but need him without his offending articles so that he can settle a bit easier with my wimpy boys! I know he loves me in his way, that's shown in the last 3 weeks, but it looks like he's had such a hard life he's on the defensive all the time so he reacts the way he does to protect himself. That's all he knows at the moment.

Any advice on how to get him to the vets for the nad clearance? The 2 wobblies are clearly not very attractive and I would like to see them absent very soon!

 

The only thing i can suggest and someone will probably have a better idea is since he eats in the kitchen place a cat box or trap in the kitchen with his food in and see if you can catch him this way, Obviously you will have to keep your 2 boys out of the way so they don't get trapped.

If that works then its off to the vets with him and hopefully he will be fine after the neuter

Sorry i couldn't be of more help

Mike

 

Well I tried with a cat box earlier, and he put half of himself into it to eat, but was very dubious. I'm guessing with a cat trap though he'll go in as it'll be bigger than the box I had borrowed. He wasn't totally opposed so that's good.

I've phoned the CPL so hopefully they'll get back to me. I can get them to put a trap in my conservatory, keep my boys in the house and lock the cat flap between conservatory and house. My fellas will be VERY unhappy with that plan but hopefully it'll only be very short term. Presume the cat charity sort out the taking to the vet etc once the cat is trapped? I have no problem with paying, but it's just that I have quite a lot of commitments which I can't just drop as and when my little guy decides to oblige!

I really worry the trapping will scare him too much, but I know it's for the best. Hopefully long term it'll make him feel heaps better, and even longer term to settle with us all.

Thanks for replying, I've spoken to a couple of friends this weekend and we've all decided that a trap really is the only way ...

 

perhaps your vet can suggest a sedative you can mix with his food prior to taking him

 

Well, I had no luck with my local cat rescue. They told me they will give me a trap, but I have to do the vet trip and pay the majority of the fees! Even though he doesn't belong to me and they advertise as providing neutering for pets AND strays.

I'm still going to go ahead whatever, but was quite disappointed with the lack of help. Poor chap is just feeling so grotty and I am feeling grotty with him - fed up of being scratched and grabbed just for trying to be nice to the damn cat! I will post eventually with a success story I can promise you, I've never failed yet .... time ... and patience .... and now apparently money!

 

since you have taken on his care they probably consider you his new owner. I would still ask about a slight sedative you can mix with his food....keep him confined to a room for the day and then when he's out grab and run. You are doing a nice thing BTW

 

i wanted to ask...if he separted from your existing cats? I would worry about diseases if not - feline leuk being the main one