So, now that I'm off for 9 WHOLE DAYS, yesterday I decided to go out and clean up the kitty enclosure. Remember, we have 2 feral kittens that we are attempting to save from extermination? Our neighbor is OUT TO GET THEM, so we made an enclosure out of the old dog kennel and hubby put two pieces of lattice over the top. Anyway, they seemed to be warming up to me, so I went inside to do some housekeeping. I also decided to stop buying Purina Cat Chow (ugh!) and I switched to Taste of the Wild salmon. I'll have to go to my neighborhood dog & cat food store to buy it, but I can't, in good conscience, keep feeding them Purina. I read on Facebook or somewhere (I forget...) that it was causing cats to vomit and have blood come up. I do NOT feed anything by Purina to my horses anyway, so it wasn't a big deal to switch to another, BETTER brand of cat food. Ripley gets the COSTCO brand salmon dog food, which really looks just like the Taste of the Wild salmon brand, only it is about $12.00 cheaper for a huge bag.
But, I digress...
So, I went out to do some housekeeping and I noticed that their "cat cube" wasn't facing completely out so I moved it. Then, all HELL broke loose! My goodness! They ran around. They tried to crawl out. The little tabby tried to crawl through the one hole by the door! I literally had to push her away with my foot (NOT wanting to get my hands scratched). I'm afraid I did 1 step forward and 14 steps back on their progress! They were terrified. I might just have to take a chair and just SIT with them for this next week and let them know I'm NOT going to eat them!
However, this morning, they were yowling for their breakfast, so they are back to normal (I guess...)
Poor little things. I really did SCARE THEM!
Not really a cube, but I don't know what to call it. Most of the time, they are BOTH huddled in it together!
We have a couple of adult ferals here that I've managed to tame. They respond to kitty treats if I shake the can now, and they readily move near to get them if I put one or two on the floor. I did this by giving them a treat if they came closer. It took a couple of months before they responded fully enough to let me pet them as they are eating. One of them will let me pick him up. Our mobile vet came out to give them rabies and distemper shots and that was my goal all along. As for Purina cat chow...I absolutely agree.
ReplyDeleteIt IS going to take time.
ReplyDeleteThose kittens are adorable. Sounds like you just startled them, and cats can really go berserk when that happens! Sitting quietly and feeding them should help, but if they are true feral cats they may never come around.
ReplyDelete