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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / December 2003Feral cat behavior
I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still quite wild 10 years later. The "pet-like" one, Melon, has some kind of skin condition which is autoimmune. She is being treated for it with steroids. Now that I have to pill her, she is reverting to wild. She doesn't come to bed anymore at night as she used to. She runs from me when she sees me (understandably). It's really quite a challenge to find her just to give her medication! Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a solution? > I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled > down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a solution? Switch to steroid shots. The vet started us on these because Cheeks and I were new to one another and he did not want the pilling to get us off on the wrong foot. Two years later, all is well. She gets the shots about four times a year. Hers is Depo Medro (?) for asthma and linear granuloma, the latter a kind of skin disease part of a syndrome that is related to an autoimmune disorder and allergies. Long-term use of steroid shots has some complications, so do ask your vet. Can you crush the pill and put it in her canned food?? She is frightened/annoyed by the pilling and is experiencing a minor regression. My feral does this, also. Gail > I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled > down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a solution? > I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled > down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a solution? Is pilling followed by yummy treat? Maybe you could go to shots instead, which last longer? Karen > I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled > down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Has anybody else experienced this? Is there a solution? One of my cats developed colitis recently and reading about this condition, I learned that many cats will develop skin problems instead of (or besides)intestinal problems because of the food they eat. You could try changing her diet and see if it works. I have 14 cats and the one that developed colitis is on a special diet so it´s not something impossible to do even if you have more than one cat. Thanks for the feedback, all. I was doing shots. I am leery of them--it requires vet visits and that spooks her too. Also I think they are riskier than gradual tapering of medication. I like the yummy treat idea. As far as diet goes, I try to feed the highest quality food. Although, I guess a cat can get allergic to even the highest quality food. I DO use Swheat scoop. I am wondering about the wheat being a possible allergen, but can't find anything documenting this. Anybody have any leads? > > I have 11 cats, 2 are rescued ferals from my old neighborhood. One settled > > down into almost pet like behavior after she was spayed, the other is still [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > the one that developed colitis is on a special diet so it?s not > something impossible to do even if you have more than one cat. > As far as diet goes, I try to feed the highest quality food. Although, I > guess a cat can get allergic to even the highest quality food. > > I DO use Swheat scoop. I am wondering about the wheat being a possible > allergen, but can't find anything documenting this. Anybody have any leads? Allergies can show up because of anything, it´s not a problem with the food itself but with the immune system of the animal (or person). The immune system starts reacting to "things" that it wouldn´t normally react to. There´s a tiger in the zoo here that developed gastritis because of raw beef. Once he was switched to raw porc, his gastritis was gone. Wheat has a "powerful allergen," gluten. You should find many sites discussing about gluten intolerance (e.g., www.gluten.net) and one of the things to avoid is wheat. Sometimes it´s not even the protein that is causing problems but the fiber in the food. My cat´s colitis seemed to be related to the fiber and not to the protein source (chicken). So you´ll need to experiment. |
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