06/27/2024
This feral cat showed up about 2 months ago crouching in the ferns outside our house. She's completely wild and doesn't let either Adrian or I touch her. I had applied for an MSNAP voucher to do a catch & release and hopefully get her to the vet for a spay and her rabies shot (waiting to hear back). Trapping her will be a challenge when that day comes. We started calling her "trash bandit" because she is like a ninja when it comes to opening our trash cans. Every morning for weeks has been spent cleaning up trash scattered all over the driveway. Which was frustrating. So we started feeding her some of our indoor cats' food next to the trash cans. Which has successfully kept her out of our trash ever since. Unfortunately we realized a few days ago that she is already pregnant. 🤦♀️🙃 She is now coming onto our porch and after many weeks of patience, on our part, we have established some level of trust with her. She hisses at us constantly but she acts like she WANTS to be near us and she will "talk" to me (between hisses). Poor girl has definitely been through some trauma so we are trying to not force anything. She's put us in a tricky spot because I had every intention on trapping her and getting her vaccines & dewormed etc ASAP but NOW that she's pregnant it throws a kink in our plans. I am also trying hard to keep her completely separate from my *mostly indoor* kitties Tristan and Meli. Because if she is carrying some sort of disease I don't want them exposed to it! We lost our 2 indoor cats to Feline Leukemia years ago after a very similar situation where a stray showed up. Despite the fact that our own cats were both vaccinated. Kitty diseases often seem to be be HIGHLY contagious and although she doesn't seem sick we want to play it as safely as possible. ANYWAY I wanted to introduce you to the new girl that's been occupying my time - since Audrey passed away. We named her Fern. She's teaching me about patience and resilience and healing. I am hopeful that all her kittens will be born healthy and we will be able to find them good homes. ❤️ If you'd like to donate to her care and help me pay for some of the supplies (I just got home from Petco 💰) let me know and I'll send you my PayPal.