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Cat Forum / General Topics / May 2006Feral (?) cat has fleas - Can I help?
I have no pets of my own, but a cat has taken to hanging out in my yard. I figure it for a female because it's on the small side. She's a mottled brown-black and seems pretty good natured, however she will not trust me to pet her. It's been over a year now, and she did disappear for a while (several months) but has taken to hanging out in my back yard once again. After a while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and since she spends so much time in my yard I figure she doesn't have a home, but I really don't know. She was a lot thinner last year before she stopped coming to my yard. The last 2 months or so, she's come back and not nearly as thin, but still not fat by any means. I figure I shouldn't feed her too much. I feed her enough to keep her coming back but she probably survives mostly by mousing. When I feed her and she's eating, I can maybe manage to touch her (if I try) without her jumping away, but in general she's very wary and I can't get her to accept me as a safe personage. She's probably had a bit of a rough life. A tip of one of her ears is missing, and I figure she's been attacked. She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to put a flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just don't know. I'm afraid to try to pick her up or grab her, and have never tried. Is there something I can do to help her with what's itching her? I figure it for fleas. Dan Advantage for cats When you pet her if you can you put it on the back of her necks real quick the applicator is the size of your pinky and squeezable You will never get a collar on her with out trapping her at least without a fight. Plus a flea collar can cause her to get hung up and flea collars are about 10 - 25% effective I would get a trap from the humane society trap her take her to he vet get her neutered, flea dipped, micro chipped get her vaccinations is the least you can do. If you can get a break away collar you put a tag set on her keep a set for you. You can get extra sets made up extremely cheap if not at a flea market. DON'T PUT A BELL ON IT that is only inviting trouble. The microchip will lead them back to you if she is picked up by animal control If you can not afford this there are plenty of low cost spay and neuter clinics just let us know where you are. Plus being a feral cat you can qualify to use those centers >I have no pets of my own, but a cat has taken to hanging out in my yard. > I figure it for a female because it's on the small side. She's a mottled [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > > Dan >while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of >canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and You are great for feeding this stray, but if she is just getting tuna on a daily basis and no cat food, that is unhealthy for her; eating tuna only can cause steatitis (vitamin e deficiency): http://www.lenhumanesoc.org/Tips/ASPCA-Tuna.htm Can you provide her with some cat food? >When I feed her and she's eating, I can maybe manage to touch her (if I >try) without her jumping away, but in general she's very wary and I >can't get her to accept me as a safe personage. She's probably had a bit Can you get a humane trap and try and trap her? >She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to put a >flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just don't know. Don't put a flea collar on her; she will probably spend a lot of time struggling to get it off or could get it caught on something. Those are not the best option for fleas anyways; they are covered in toxic chemicals that the cat would constantly be exposed to; personally, I would never use them. If you can catch her with the trap and bring her to vet for check up that would be great. :>while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of :>canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] : :Can you provide her with some cat food? Actually, the last two times I fed her it was catfood from a can. I bought 4 of them at a market and she promptly disappeared for a couple of weeks. I'd put out my wash to dry in the yard and she'd evidently freaked out. :>When I feed her and she's eating, I can maybe manage to touch her (if I :>try) without her jumping away, but in general she's very wary and I :>can't get her to accept me as a safe personage. She's probably had a bit : :Can you get a humane trap and try and trap her? I could. One thing is, I'm not sure she doesn't actually belong to someone. It's possible in my neighborhood. I have a feeling she may already be spayed, but don't know. :>She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to put a :>flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just don't know. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] :If you can catch her with the trap and bring her to vet for check up that :would be great. Maybe. Or maybe I'll put some of that stuff on the back of her neck to at least kill off or repel the fleas. Thanks. >>> while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of >>> canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > someone. It's possible in my neighborhood. I have a feeling she may > already be spayed, but don't know. if you can get a close look at the ear that's missing the tip, that may tell you. If it's her left (ear most commonly 'tipped' by the people that manage feral cat colonies), and the cut is smooth, straight and even, she's probably been Trapped, Neutered & Released (TNR) by someone else. If the cut is ragged, it's probably a fight wound. >>> She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to >>> put a flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Maybe. Or maybe I'll put some of that stuff on the back of her neck to > at least kill off or repel the fleas. Thanks. That's a good opportunity to check that ear. :>>> while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of :>>> canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] :probably been Trapped, Neutered & Released (TNR) by someone else. If the :cut is ragged, it's probably a fight wound. I don't see her in the yard now, but when I do I will check that ear as best I can. I don't recall with ear it is. My impression from afar is that it was a pretty straight cut, so that may indeed be it (TNR). :>>> She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to :>>> put a flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] : :That's a good opportunity to check that ear. Thanks! :if you can get a close look at the ear that's missing the tip, that may tell :you. If it's her left (ear most commonly 'tipped' by the people that manage :feral cat colonies), and the cut is smooth, straight and even, she's :probably been Trapped, Neutered & Released (TNR) by someone else. If the :cut is ragged, it's probably a fight wound. I had a close look today and it's the right ear. It does look very like a straight horizontal cut, though. Is it possible that this is a TNR sign? >> if you can get a close look at the ear that's missing the tip, that >> may tell you. If it's her left (ear most commonly 'tipped' by the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > a straight horizontal cut, though. Is it possible that this is a TNR > sign? Not all vets/surgeries use the same ear, but it sure *sounds* like a TNR ear-crop, by your description, but there's no way to tell for sure without a vet exam (for a female, they will shave the belly and look for a spay scar, male, just look under the tail, if the 'beans' are there with the 'frankfurter', it's not been neutered - fairly easy to tell with males - you yourself could do it if you catch him prancing around with his tail in the air :D) > :if you can get a close look at the ear that's missing the tip, that may tell > :you. If it's her left (ear most commonly 'tipped' by the people that manage [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > a straight horizontal cut, though. Is it possible that this is a TNR > sign? It could be the sign. What we did with a cat that showed up at our house that we weren't sure was a stray -- was to get a paper collar from the vet. It was bright blue and we wrote our phone number on it and asked the owners to call us if this was their cat. After a week with the collar and no calls, we took him to get neutered and said he was ours. Rhonda >:>while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of >:>canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >someone. It's possible in my neighborhood. I have a feeling she may >already be spayed, but don't know. If you can get a safety collar on her, you could put a message on for the owner to contact you. If no contact within 72hrs, assume she's a stray. It's important to establish this if you are giving flea treatment to avoid possible repetition. Program suspension may be an option if you can't get close to her at all, as you just mix this in with the food. This kills the eggs, but is not an adulticide; it gradually breaks the lifecycle of the flea. If she is unspayed, she is almost certain to be pregnant or have kittens, so I would suggest speaking to an animal charity. >:>She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to put a >:>flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just don't know. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Maybe. Or maybe I'll put some of that stuff on the back of her neck to >at least kill off or repel the fleas. Thanks. >>:>while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of >>:>canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] >If she is unspayed, she is almost certain to be pregnant or have kittens, so >I would suggest speaking to an animal charity. Sorry, I should have suggested the approach to the charity first - pregnancy/kittens will affect what flea treatment you could give her. >>:>She scratches herself quite a bit. I'm thinking that if I try to put a >>:>flea collar on her I might get scratched up badly, I just don't know. >[quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >>Maybe. Or maybe I'll put some of that stuff on the back of her neck to >>at least kill off or repel the fleas. Thanks. :If you can get a safety collar on her, you could put a message on for the :owner to contact you. If no contact within 72hrs, assume she's a stray. It's [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] :If she is unspayed, she is almost certain to be pregnant or have kittens, so :I would suggest speaking to an animal charity. Yes, the fact that I've observed her for over a year (with a 2-4 month lapse, I don't know how long) without a sense of her being pregnant, suggests to me she's spayed. I don't know for a fact that this cat is female, but on a scale of 1-10, I'd say it's less than 2 in size. It's a small cat, so I figure it for female. If you are able to palpate the cat, put Advantage® on the back of her neck, and it will deter fleas for about 28 days effectively. If you cannot touch her, there are products that are effective for a couple of days each time they are ingested. Usually they are in pill form, and do not have a discernible taste. You can grind the tablet up every couple of days and put it in her tasty food. I'm thinking the product is called Cap Star®. My advice is to get a trap from the local spca, etc. and catch her for spaying. Once she is at the vet, he can put the first dosage of Advantage on for you. After that you're own your own if you release her. I have caught, spayed/neutered/inoculated 65 cats in the last 10 years. Most were released back into the neighborhood, but some were kept and some were adopted out. It depended on the age of the cat, of course. Many of the *released* ones remain nearby and I see and attend them regularly. Some I can actually handle and apply topical meds. Those which I can't, I dose monthly with Ivermectin for ear mites, etc. by mixing it in saucers of tasty food and monitoring to make sure each gets their intended dosage. You can do the same with the flea med. --Catmandu > :>while last year I put out water for her and then feed her a bit of > :>canned tuna daily (maybe a couple of teaspoons). She has no collar and [quoted text clipped - 33 lines] > Maybe. Or maybe I'll put some of that stuff on the back of her neck to > at least kill off or repel the fleas. Thanks. |
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