# Foster kitty



## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

She's more of a TNR situation than a true foster, but she's staying here for a few days (surgery next week, then a few days to recover) so I thought I'd share her on here. I haven't actually examined her (feral), but given her coloring, I think it's a safe bet that she's a she. 

I snapped a picture tonight. Will upload it tomorrow. She's a beautiful cat...not quite a year old yet. Mostly white, with some small orange and black spots.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I guess you will find out if he is a she or not next week! Looking forward to pics! We get MANY cats into the shelters that are initially pegged as feral, but after a couple days they settle down and we realize they are not feral but just scared. There is fine line between scared and feral!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

I'm sure she's legitimately feral.  She's lived at her current residence for nearly a year. They trapped her when she was about 5 months old but she got away from them (I was able to get her brother neutered at that time). They were able to catch her again somehow on Wednesday (she about a year old now) so I rushed out to pick her up. She's not aggressive or particularly vocal, and with time and intensive work she'd probably gentle down....but all I am able to do for her at this point is TNR.

I'm calling her Spring, just so I can call her something.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Great name for her. I love her markings and those green eyes. She is a beauty!


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

She does have gorgeous green eyes. She doesn't look too freaked out either, so I guess you're working your usual magic.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Well, camera with a good zoom.  I've got the double crates set up again (giant dog crate with a blanket over it for her and a wire crate zip tied to the front with litter box/food in it. So I was about 4 feet away from her still when I took that. Last night she let me clean the box and refill her food bowls while she was sitting at the front of the crate (so about 2 feet away) without hissing or getting upset. I'll do what I can for her while I've got her here in terms of socialization.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Take a picture of your set up. Trying to visualize it??!!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Here's the setup. I have a few more pictures I'm trying to upload, but it keeps saying they're too big. Just a moment.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)




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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Venusworld, Thats a Great Set Up!!


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Spring had her fling but now she's been sprung! She is indeed a "she" and was about 3 weeks pregnant. She is now spayed and back here recovering. Hopefully she can go back to her home by this weekend.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Venus, So glad you got her taken care of!
She's such a pretty girl...to bad she's got to go back...


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Great set up. Never thought of that one. Did you permanently remove the one side or is it folded down? Brilliant! 

How is your kitty doing with recovery. Is she still acting feral? Good job. Kudos for all the work you do! Its impressive.


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## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

She's so pretty! I love the pattern on her tail.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Mitts & Tess said:


> Great set up. Never thought of that one. Did you permanently remove the one side or is it folded down? Brilliant!
> 
> How is your kitty doing with recovery. Is she still acting feral? Good job. Kudos for all the work you do! Its impressive.


The wire crate has two doors, one on the long side I use for cleaning/feeding access and the other is on the end attached to the plastic kennel. I just left that door open and took the door off the plastic kennel. There was a small gap left, which is what the cardboard is covering.


She's still pretty feral, but she's not the most feral one I've ever worked with. Her brother was rowdier. They are able to touch him now, so they do work with their ferals, but I don't think she'll ever gentled down enough to be considered tame. She's only been back from the vet since this morning. Has already made quite a mess in her litter box and is staying way at the back of her crate again. I'll be taking out her dinner before too long, that should cheer her up.


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

Spring is heading home tomorrow. Surgery complete. I don't have any way to check her for infection at this point (7 days post-op), but she's still eating and drinking and using the litter box normally.

Any TNR people know how to check a feral for signs of infection post-spay? Or do you just let them go and hope for the best?


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## Venusworld21 (Oct 23, 2012)

The day we put her back in the live trap to take her home, we had the idea to just lift up the trap and look at her if she would sit still. We were able to get a good look at her incision from below and it looked great, no signs of infection after 8 days. Her owner took her back home and set her loose. I haven't had an update on her since then, but hopefully I will hear soon that she's mellowing out some. Good luck, darling girl!


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

That is the rub with TNR. My group will keep a female a couple days to make sure the females are eating and acting like they are recovering. We are a small group. There are people up in the town above us who do large trapping and wont keep cats over 24 hours. We've had two females this year that had issues. We had to take them back in for treatment by the vet. If they had been release in 24 hours they would of died.

The group which keeps them only 24 hours wont work with people who need a place for a cat to recover a couple days. They are approaching it from the numbers point of view to solve the problem of multiplication of cats. I understand but we choose not to do it from that approach.

I taught a woman how to TNR and we cant find a place that will let her put a cat for a couple days to recover because she only does one or two at a time. She is new at this. I think they should make an exception like we did with her since she technically isn't from our trapping area. To me we are solving this problem of s/n one cat at a time. They look at it like an inconvenience to mess with just one or two cats at a time. 

Plus she has an injured cat at her apt complex and we cant find someone who will help her and get the cat treated for its injuries if she trapped it. and a place to recover. We are trying to find people for her to network with in her trapping.

We treat all our cats for injuries whether feral or socialized. To us every cat has value and deserve to live a good life whether the feral life or a life with an indoor only life.

Sounds like Spring wants to be feral and she is a wily girl. A good survivor. If her incision looked like it was healing well and she was eating well and she was eliminating properly then I think she was doing well enough to be released. Vets will tell us once they get in there during a spay whether they see issues to which can alert us to watch a cat closer during recovery too.

Sending angels to protect this sweet girl! Thanks for caring for her. You did a great job.


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