The feral cat in my house

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Our cats have always been the indoor/outdoor types and to accomodate them, we generally leave the french door in my bedroom open a little so they can get in and out. For the past couple of years, we have had a feral cat, who was dubbed “Apollo” by my son, sneaking in and helping himself to the cat food in the kitchen (we free-feed dry food, so there’s generally some there). From time to time we’d happen upon him when he was in the house, and when that happened, he’d make a mad dash for freedom, usually scaring us to death as he scrabbled over our feet to get away. I never really had a problem with this, but my husband, the non-catlover, really didn’t like it and always threatened to do away with Apollo.

Two years ago we had two cats, C’Nedra, the old skinny one, and Missy, the young fat one. Around that time another stray started coming in for food, but he was much friendlier than Apollo. We named him Jackson. Jackson soon moved in and became a part of the family. He and Apollo were always at odds, though. Apollo would come in and spray, and Jackson would go out and get in fights with him. This upset my husband even more, since Jackson was his “pal”, but there wasn’t a lot we could do. Jackson was definitely an outdoor cat, having lived out there the first 6 months or so of his life, and there was no convincing him to stay in. This, unfortunately, led to his end. On September 11 he disappeared, and it was a few days later that we found his body by the side of the road. A sad end to a short life.

So now we were down to only one cat, Missy, since C’Nedra had passed on in January at the age of 20. I hadn’t seen Apollo around for a while, and thought that maybe something had happened to him, but yesterday he reappeared. I was standing in the kitchen, when Apollo sauntered past me on his way to the food bowl. The weird thing was, it seemed like he had come from the direction of the living room. I didn’t think much more about it until that evening, when I was sitting in the living room working on my computer, and I heard a scratching noise coming from the couch. There was Apollo, hunkererd down underneath. He was looking very scrawny and scruffy, so I opened a can of wet food for him, and put it by the couch. Sure enough, out he came and polished it off. After that, he moved to the laundry room, spending the rest of the evening snoozing on the rug in front of the washer. Later, I found that he had pooped in there, and he had moved into my walk-in closet by the time I went to bed.

This morning, he was back in the laundry room, and scarfed down the wet food I offered him for breakfast. We can’t get close to him, or he will hiss and run away, but he seems to want to just hang out in the house. I don’t know what prompted this change. It could be the fact that Jackson is no longer around, or maybe the fact that my husband, the Apollo hater, is out of town. My husband is due back tonight, and I’m not quite sure what to do about this new situation. I’d like to trap Apollo and get him to the vet - he doesn’t look so good, and he needs to be neutered - but I don’t think I’ll be able to before my husband returns. We also have the poop problem, which will also set my husband off. This morning I found a pile on the landing, but I’m not sure if it was Apollo or Missy. The place Apollo is sitting is in front of the door to the garage, which is where Missy’s litter box is, so she could have gone on the landing because she is scared of Apollo. Missy is a very timid cat and Apollo can be aggressive, since he’s an unfixed male.

I got hold of a live animal trap this morning and set it up in the kitchen loaded with tuna. Missy tested it out for me - it took all of 2 minutes for her to dive into the trap for the tuna, and it worked! Now I have her locked in a room upstairs. I went home at lunchtime and so far there’s no sign of him. Maybe we scared him off? Maybe he was satisfied with two meals and has gone off again? I hope he’s in the trap when I get home, so I can wisk him off to the vet before my husband gets home!

2

any news? has apollo been contained?

3

I caught this kitty who had been hiding out in my garage. Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep it, because the other two didn’t seem to like them very much. Too bad, too. Quite a cute one!

4

I hope you can trap him and get him vet care. If you do get him in the trap make sure you cover it with a blanket or towel so he feels safer and more secure.

We had a cat adopt us for awhile. I woke up one morning and just as I was coming out of the bedroom I saw a grey tabby cat run from the cat food dish and go under the kitchen table. I was half asleep and thought nothing of it as we had two grey tabbies.

After I grabbed some coffee and the fog lifted I saw both of my grey tabbies come inside to eat breakfast, we free feed dry as well, and had a cat door. It dawned on me that I do not have three grey tabbies.

I looked under the table and there was a large grey tabby sitting on one of the chairs that was pushed under the table. I did a double take looking at the two cats at the food dish and this new guest.

From then on he came in almost every night. He would hang around on the kitchen chairs, eat breakfast and we would watch him slink away in the morning.

The thing that amazed me is none of my cats or our dogs seemed to care in the least that he was there. There were never any fights not even a hiss or growl. I figured they must have known him already from their outside adventures and perhaps invited him over. I nic named him Snagglepuss.

He came and went for several months. We never bothered him or attemped to pet him. I don’t think he was feral as much as a stray for a very long time. His eyes told us to let him be.

He just stopped coming one day. We have no idea what happened to him. Maybe he was just a hobo that needed a place to hunker down for awhile. Either way I was glad he found a warm dry place to rest for awhile. I hope he is still well.

5

I got him! It didn’t go quite as smoothly as I hoped, though. When I got home from work, he still wasn’t around. I sat in the living room reading a book, where I had a clear view into the kitchen, and before long I saw him come in. He didn’t like the looks of the cage even with the sweet smell of tuna wafting from it and he just went and had a few bites of the dry food, then went and holed up under my bed.

After a while I added some Fancy Feast and moved the cage to my bedroom (and draped it with a towel), but he still didn’t seem interested in coming out. When I went to bed, he was still under there, snoozing away, and Missy and I went to sleep over top of him. (Missy shows no desire to go back in the trap after being trapped by it earlier in the day!)

Just about midnight, we were awoken by the Bang! of the trap shutting. He had finally succumbed to the smell of goodies in the cage. I heard him trying to get out a few times during the night, but he was really pretty calm, considering.

This morning, I took this photo. He’s pretty calm as long as I don’t get too close. He did not enjoy it when I picked up the cage and moved it to the front porch. He’s going to like it even less when I take him to the vet’s office when they open.

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Do you plan to get him neutered? Apollo would come in and spray, you wrote, which may be another reason your husband hates him.

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Yay!! He looks like the stray I had coming in my house.

I hope all checks out at the vet. Apollo is a great name for him. I am sure after some vet care he will be a happier and healthier cat.

Good on you for helping him :slight_smile:

She stated in the OP she was going to get him neutered.

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Yes, I just dropped the poor distraught guy off at the vet. They’re testing him first, and if he’s healthy we’ll go ahead with the neuter and vaccinations.

And yes, if we could stop him from spraying, peeing, and pooping in inappropriate places, he might be more attractive to my husband. His comment when he came home was “I don’t want that cat in the house.” It may take some work.

9

WVMom,

Are you keeping Apollo after you get him neutered and if so, will he be an indoor cat?

Just curious because I’ve had wonderful sucess in “breaking” feral cats in the past and turning them into cuddly indoor-cat love mongers. :slight_smile:

10

I really can’t say for sure. I would like to keep him around, but my husband does not want to have him in the house at all.

As for total indoor status, I have never attempted to have a solely indoor cats - ours have always been indoor/outdoor. That lead to Jackson’s death, though, as he was hit by a car, but I don’t think we could have ever convinced him to stay inside. He was too energetic and spent most of his time outside. If you looked at the linked picture of him, you can see that he would prefer to spend even rainy days and nights outside, using whatever was available as shelter. Missy, on the other hand, rarely goes out despite the fact she has that option open to her.

I don’t know how Apollo would do as an indoor cat, but he’s certainly spent a lot of time in our house for the past two days. Now that the husband is home, though, he may prefer the outside. One thing about him, though, I don’t think he wanders on the road as much as Jackson did. Jackson had friends in houses and apartments in a block or so radius of our house and often went visiting. He was very social. Apollo spends most of his time in the woods behind our house, I think.

11

When Shadow first came to live with us, he was a stray who’d been dumped by his owners. He was very “anti-social” to start with, he had some very bad habits like peeing in the bath and all over the bed. Literally, we were taking the duvet to the launderette every week because he’d sneaked into the bedroom and doused it.

We had to shut both of the cats out of the bedroom, leading to the ruin of the carpet on both sides of the door where our original cat (Ophelia) had tried to get in or out of the room.

Then Shadow was neutered. After a while he started to calm down a bit, the vet said it could take several months for the hormones to work out of his system but after a while he became a much more likeable cat. Now he has stopped messing in the bath, he can sleep on the bed without using it as a litter tray and he’s turned into quite a loveable character.

So it’s worth putting in the effort!

12

I just talked to the vet. Apollo has AIDS. He isn’t very healthy and is very feral, so they are putting him down. We can’t risk him infecting Missy or the other cats in the neighborhood and he’s too wild to keep inside.

He wasn’t part of the family, but I’m still pretty upset about this. I thought that the way he was hanging around he might want to stay with us, and I became attached to him over the past few days of having him around. He’ll be missed.

13

:frowning: Aw man. That’s sad WVMom. Poor kitty. Kudos to you for trying to help him.

14

Poor Apollo. At least he had a few days of comfort and a peaceful end, which is more than most strays can claim.

That said: Please get Missy tested ASAP. Even vaccinated, she runs the risk of contracting FIV, especially if Apollo was defecating/urinating/spraying in the house. I just recently engaged my vet in a tirade about another client of his (who I know) who, against his advice, brought a kitten into her house with her FIV-positive cat. Both cats are indoor-outdoor in an area known for a high stray population, and although she hasn’t been tested, we assume the kitten is now positive. We do know that it took months before the kitten was healthy enough to spay… every time they scheduled the spay, she would present with a fever/infection. It’s better to know and be able to monitor for secondary infections than not.

15

Awww man what a bummer :frowning:

At least he will have peaceful rest now. He was probably hanging out because he did not feel well and just wanted some company.

I am glad you tried to help.

16

ah, poor fellow. i’m sorry things didn’t work out well.

17

WVmom, thank you for trying. And I second the testing recommendation for Missy. I’ve been TNR’ing feral cats in our area for years. It’s a thankless job but it’s oh-so worth it when a cat that was previously untouchable crawls into your lap purring.

Thanks to coyotes, farm dogs and other predators I’m down to two ferals left on my property (used to be 7 or more). I try not to get too attached to them but it’s a losing battle.

And I used to think my cat pilling skills were Olympics-worthy. Try medicating a feral cat who just had to have her tail amputated! Thank goodness she was easily distracted by food. :slight_smile: