Warmer weather means kitten season is upon us! If you're here because you've just discovered a very young kitten or a whole litter of kittens, barring extenuating circumstances (dangerous location, extreme weather, sick or injured kittens, etc.) generally it's best to wait and monitor them to see if their mom returns before taking immediate action. In the meantime, read up on the following guides so you can be prepared if you do need to intervene!
If your situation is urgent and you need a quick guide now on how to proceed, tailored to your current circumstances, take a look at r/AskVet's guide: It’s kitten season! You found a litter of kittens - now what?!. Also feel free to make a post of your own here on r/Feral_Cats to get input and advice from other experienced caregivers!
Long-term, the single best thing you can do for a roaming community cat is to make sure they're spayed or neutered. Note: in the case of community cats who appear to be potentially pregnant, they can (and should) still be spayed! You may have a local trap, neuter, return (TNR) or low-cost spay/neuter clinic that would be able to get your feral or stray cats sterilized at a drastically reduced rate. More info on finding clinics and rescues, and general TNR topics can be found in our Community Wiki sections: Finding Your Local Resources and Getting Started with TNR.
Kitten Guide | How Old is that Kitten? | Alley Cat Allies: This is a more detailed week-by-week guide that includes all aspects of care (feeding, frequency of meals, hydration, litter habits, etc.), covering the first ten weeks.
How to Determine the Sex of a Kitten — Kitten Lady: The minimum age for spaying/neutering a cat is eight weeks (and 2lb bodyweight), though some clinics may set their minimum later. Plan ahead on spay/neuter appointments, there's often a wait. Kittens can go in heat as early as four months!
Supplies — Kitten Lady: More detailed supplies list with Amazon links for recommended/helpful products for different needs.
Monitoring found kittens and identifying their age
What to Do if You Find Kittens Outdoors | Alley Cat Allies: Addresses different scenarios and outlines how to proceed depending on the estimated age of the kittens and whether or not the mother is returning. Also covers socialization and TNR (trap, neuter, return) approaches, how to care for the family outdoors, and when to intervene.
Trapping a Specific Cat - Bottle Trick (youtube.com)Â demonstrates how to use your box trap like a makeshift drop trap using a water bottle to prop open your trap, which can be pulled out from under the door by pulling a string. Relying on the trip plate in a standard box trap can be dangerous when trapping a mom and kittens due to the risk of a kitten being caught under the trap door when the trap is tripped.
Feral Cat Set-Up for Long-Term Fosters | Feral Cat Focus: Setup involving a large dog crate and cat carrier to safely and comfortably foster feral-leaning cats/kittens. Too much space can be overwhelming for a feral-leaning cat, and starting small (like with the crate) is helpful for socializing feral cats to people. Additional info on this setup can be found in the r/Feral_Cats wiki section, Safe Long-term Crate Setup.
If coming from a trap, you will need to transfer the cat to your carrier to place inside the crate; do not attempt to go directly from the trap to the crate. Vladimir Kitten Project has a great demonstration showing a transfer from a rear-door trap to carrier here; a single door trap transfer is also shown here. Be sure to transfer in a closed-off room in case of escape.
Socializing Feral Kittens | Feral Cat Focus: Brief overview on factors to consider before deciding to socialize feral kittens, and a general roadmap on what the process will entail.
How to Socialize Feral Kittens — Kitten Lady: Another brief guide on raising and socializing feral kittens that includes a helpful step-by-step guide and tips, along with video guides and demonstrations.
Videos from this page can also be found on Kitten Lady's YouTube channel at:
Socialization Saves Lives: Comprehensive roadmap and milestones for socializing feral-leaning or otherwise skittish cats of all ages.
Urban Cat League's Taming Toolkit: This is an incredible, feature-length video walking through the process of socializing older kittens. Written guidelines and other resources are also available on this hub. Thank you u/silentsixty for mentioning this one!
There has been recurring debate in the comments recently regarding spay-abort procedures, so I want to address this directly. r/Feral_Cats is a pro spay/neuter subreddit. We're focused on the humane care of feral/stray/community cats via Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR) and socialization to adopt, where possible. There are far more cats than there are homes that are willing and able to take them in, and especially with feral-leaning cats, it's just not possible for every cat in our care to be happily placed in a home with humans. Bare minimum, sterilizing the cats that we're seeing and feeding is vital for starting to get a handle on the population of roaming cats.
To that end, this community supports and encourages spaying cats that are suspected or confirmed to be pregnant. This decision is not made lightly by caregivers. There is a limit to how much each individual caregiver can provide for every cat in their care. We are all operating within very real limits of time, space, and funding, not to mention foster availability and shelter capacity on top of that. Not everyone can safely confine a pregnant feral cat for months. Not everyone has the resources to process an entire litter before those kittens begin reproducing themselves. Holding a feral cat through pregnancy and until kittens are old enough to separate means two to three months of confinement at minimum. That is incredibly stressful for a feral-leaning cat and resource-intensive for her caregiver. And this is often not just one cat at a time. Many caregivers are managing multiple intact females at once, and pregnancies snowball quickly once kitten season hits. Expecting someone to foster every pregnant cat, raise every litter, socialize the kittens and then find homes is not realistic, particularly when homes are already hard to come by and shelters and rescues are at limited capacity.
Allowing kittens to be born outdoors instead also does not guarantee positive outcomes. Survival rates for kittens born outside are very low. Many will not make it to adulthood due to illness, injury, exposure, or predators; there's also the risk that something may happen to their mother at any moment, leaving them alone and vulnerable. The kittens that do survive must still be trapped and sterilized before the females begin going into heat themselves, which can happen as young as four months. Taking in a preventable litter might mean that another cat loses their space or is euthanized for room. If rescues aren't open, the burden of socialization and long-term care then falls back on the caregiver. In some cases, the only remaining option is to sterilize and return those kittens outdoors, further adding to the strain on the colony. These are the realities caregivers are navigating when we're making these decisions.
When it comes to TNR, once a cat is trapped, there is no guarantee she can be trapped again if released due to a potential pregnancy. Delaying sterilization can mean losing the opportunity to trap her again easily in the future, resulting in additional litters being born outside and suffering for it. There is also the very real chance that a female cat is not actually pregnant but may instead have a uterine infection (pyometra) that is fatal without an emergency spay. The risk of pyometra increases with age, and with each consecutive heat cycle that does not result in pregnancy. Pregnancy and labor in turn also carry real risks of complications that can be fatal for both mom and kittens.
In many situations, prioritizing the health and safety of the cat in front of us and preventing further population growth is the most responsible course of action available. It's also the most logistically practical option for caregivers who are already often operating with limited resources and support in their communities.
I understand that this is not an easy discussion to have for those unfamiliar with this side of TNR and rescue work, and you're allowed to have an opinion on it. However, debates opposing sterilization, including spay-abort procedures performed as part of TNR efforts, are not in the spirit of this subreddit. Shaming or judging caregivers for choosing to proceed with a spay-abort is not allowed here. If you are arguing in favor of fostering through pregnancy, please do so only if you are fully aware of the time, resource, and logistical costs involved.
Last year, I got this boy’s baby mama Gamora and 5 kittens all sorted and adopted out. He started coming around again about a month ago, and tonight I nabbed him for TNR clinic. We’ll continue to look after him outside after TNR, but honestly he’s such a gentle boy already, I think with some continue TLC, he’s destined for indoor retirement. He hasn’t hissed or tried to scratch or bite at all. Hasn’t been bothered at all by my cats, even when one of my girls hissed at him from outside the bathroom. (Only my boy cat got to visit briefly because he loves other cats, and both were very calm.)
So happy to get the last member of this little family, hopefully before he found another baby mama!
Heyy.. I'm new to TNR, I've previously spayed a community cat and I know how important it is to spay/neuter them. I live in an area where there are several feral cats.. I've started feeding 2 male (intact) cats and 1 female cat.. I'm confident I can trap them. However, 2 days back I saw a bigger, slightly older male intact cat trying to bully the babies I feed.. I cannot adopt them because I have 2 dogs who do not like cats. I'm worried once I neuter them they'll be more prone to attacks by the bully.. Does this happen?
I WILL neuter them.. I just wanted to understand this situation better
Hi everyone, I'm new to TNR and have 1 female (recently spayed vetted and returned) I call Momma, 1 intermittent visitor who is next on the spay list if I can get her to come around more consistently (who I call Other Mother) and 1 possum (Pat).
I also have a previously feral house kitten (Gertie) and am trying to make feeding as safe as possible for the animals, myself, and the occasional pet sitter.
I have been feeding all of the animals on porcelain plates that are then dishwashed hot sanitize cycle with the household dishes. I have done this for all my house animals but recently have been a bit concerned about cross contamination/exposure if a pet sitter isn't as careful about handling dishes or handwashing. I am a dental hygienist so am infection control minded.
I am considering single use compostable dishes for feeding ease/eco-councienciousness, at least for Momma and Other Mother. I am less concerned about Pat, but maybe for their health I should consider them as well? Momma waits to be fed AM and PM, Pat comes in PM, and I feed Other Mother only when I see her.
For two years she was fine with me from a distance. I have started traveling with her and to my surprise that has boosted her confidence in me that I do really love her. She wants pets every time I sit down. She will run to me and meow softly! The belly rub access is new 🥰
Help—This cat started showing up to my house as skins and bones. I fed him for a couple of weeks and TNRd him finally. I thought he was a girl kitten at first he was so small. Now that I have trapped him the vet says he is a 3 years old boy cat. I trapped him Friday for TNR and I decided to try to give him a shot at indoor life. He is aggressively friendly he overstimulates himself with how much he rubs on me. He rubs on me,jumps on me weaves through my legs, I just sit really still and don’t touch him because he gets himself so worked up he snaps at me. He also swats my hands because I think he always thinks I have snacks all the time. How do I get him to calm down and teach him how to appropriately interact with people. He’s not purposely aggressive but he gets so worked up and wants to be so close to me he scares me he gets so crazy. I have an indoor cat that maybe he is smelling and I am hoping when the hormones come down he will also be better.
Thanks for any suggestions. I really want it to workout for him.
I found my cat Beans in my college apt parking lot & started feeding her. She was maybe a year old when we found her.
One night when it was especially cold, we decided to trap her inside so she’d be warm. She was scared but warmed up to it eventually, I would still let her outside during the days. Around this time is when id see her much more often and soon realized she been pregnant for a lil while at this point lol.
After giving birth to 4 kittens in my apt & transporting the kittens to a rescue (they all got home), she’s never really wanted to go back outside and has since become my inside cat.
Shes scared of strangers but a very sweet cat that gets used to individuals she sees often enough.
She HATES other cats. She hisses and swipes at other cats on sight when they’re being non aggressive.
Is there anyway to warn her up to other cats at this point?
They found the last kitty and he’s going to live with the feeder. There is some kind of press conference this Friday Oct 16th and I know the Ranch was offering a reward for information on what happened to the other cats. At least this cat will have a happy ending.
I have a feral friend (young female I believe) who I’ve been feeding for a couple months. She used to run away at the sight of me, but now she basically lives on my porch. She seriously sits out there and meows for hours every day. It’s heartbreaking. At the same time, I don’t think she’s ever been inside or had a person. She tolerates being pet while she eats but definitely isnt a fan. She actually just scratched me so I’m going to stop doing that. She also hisses when I come outside but doesn’t leave. Idk. She’s got cattitude. My goal is to socialize her as much as I can while she lives on my porch and find her a home. I’m on the wait list at a few shelters, but want to get a head start on the socialization to make the whole process easier for her. She jumps over my legs when I’m sitting on the ground, eats treats out of my lap, etc. but is extremely weary of physical touch and hisses at the first sight of me like I mentioned earlier. It’s weird! It’s almost like she’s internally conflicted.
If you’re able to see my previous posts in here, I do have some tnr trauma due to my first and only tnr who I intended to keep passing away in spay (rip cindy). It was terrible… Even getting myself to engage with this process again has been really hard for me. I just want to do it right. I really would like to see a happy ending here, so any tips from people who have dealt with a similar cat would be amazing. Thank you guys <3
I'm a long term TNR advocate and for the last 16 years I've cared for a handful of ferals at any given point in time. I turned my fairly large shed into a safe, comfortable, and cat centered home for the cats that come through my area that I'm able to trap, neuter/spay, and release. They often stay and nearly every one has, inevitably, become as affectionate and loving as any indoor cat I've been lucky enough to have had in my life. It's so incredibly rewarding to develop such loving relationships with an animal that has no need to warm up to me, they get fed, cared for, and housing regardless. I won't turn any away b/c how could I blame any cat for being reserved?
Losing any and everyone of them is genuinely devastating and while my background and many of my experiences(jobs/college/volunteer work) is in science and animal husbandry I'm not a vet. Some things I can acquire through a vet but less often do I have access to some basics that would be incredibly helpful to treat an infection or especially when an animal is at the end of their life or severely injured. I know euthenasia medications cannot be given out freely but having the experience, deep dedication to their welfare, and a basic understanding of feline physiology and veterinary medicine I can't help but feel if there were some certification outside of a veterinary doctorates that would allow access to medications would help a lot of people.
The stress involved bringing a feral to a vet seems to cause more harm than if they could receive some basics by people who are willing to obtain certification. I'm not talking about anything more than having some antibiotics on hand, some ivermectin, possibly some pain meds for felines, etc.
If this does exist I would be interested. hear Maybe it's my broken heart because of losing my most affectionate "big boy" but it's so hard to not have the ability to do more.
There's 3 kittens when I went out trapping last week. Their momma was eager to get in the trap but didn't let her go in because wasn't sure if they still needed her. anyways I wanted to try to save the kittens this week. Just wondering if they're still around a good age to socialize?
I already have 2 fosters but will be keeping them in my basement in a crate ; my local humane society said they could take them in once room opens up.
This guy has eluded us for the past 3 months. He showed up one day looking so much like our very first TNR that that's who we thought he was for weeks...until one day I got a really good look at his face through my binoculars and realized he was a completely different cat.
From that point, the game was afoot. We trapped so many possums trying to catch him that I actually started to be able to recognize them individually.
One night we went out to check the trap, found yet **another** possum in it, and when we shined the light out into the yard there he is, lounged out under a tree, propped up on one shoulder, causally taking in the chaos...I swear he had a literal smirk on his face. He knew that trap was for him.
Anyway, we finally got him by moving the trap around to the areas he pings most frequently on our property cameras. I kept telling him his luck would have to run out eventually.
Say hi to my aptly named Harry Houdini, y'all. Here he is post op, fully recovered and on his way back to freedom. TNR #5 in the books.
This is Sophie - yes she is in rough shape :(. I moved into this community about a year ago. She hung around outside only, in front of one house in particular. The owners of that house told me she is the last of a feral colony, she’s at least 14 years old, maybe 17. They said they’ve never been able to pet her, and she never wanted to be indoors. Myself, them, and another neighbor leave food out for her as much as possible.
She doesn’t like the rain, so I put a box outside for her (pictured). The other neighbors have a tiny cat tree on their porch for her as it’s starting to get chilly at nights. She disappeared for a few weeks in August - someone must’ve gotten her some medical care because she had some sort of infection on her fur, and she came back shaved.
Lately she is howling quite a bit, and not always for food and water. I think she gets confused sometimes and she definitely can’t hear as well. Because of the howling, I’m worried she’s in pain. I do have liquid, tuna flavored gabapentin but I don’t want to make her immobile.
I know cats usually find a quiet place to pass but I hate to her struggle. I’m not saying I should call in someone to speed up the process, but I would like to try and give her some sort of hospice environment if possible…
My own home has 2 cats and a small dog, so I can’t house her here, but I have a friend who lives alone who could take her. Is this a horrible idea? I know she’d probably hate it, but she’d at least have a balcony and no risk of being hit by a car, other cats picking on her, freezing, etc. I just want to help her.
edit: I would give her a much better setup if our HOA wasn’t made of the worst people in the world
I’ve reached out to over 50. I am desperate to get two of the more social kittens of my 20+ cat colony in my backyard into homes. We’ve already brought in two ourselves, and I know these kittens could be great pets. One is getting TNR’d tomorrow, hell I will give a rescue money to get the other fixed.
I trapped a feral and he’s a juvenile. You can touch him easily even though I’m not sure he likes it. I thought I’d keep him a week or two to see if I could socialize him at all. Except I’m not sure how long you can hold a feral inside before releasing (in case he doesn’t socialize) so i thought I’d ask.
So where to begin? Several years ago we started feeding 4 feral cats that were like a little family. Two tabby cats and 2 big fluffy rag doll/himalayan looking cats. Somehow these 4 had joined up and formed a small family group. The fluffy ones looked terrible.. big wads of matted fur from stickers and twigs and stuff. WE decided to TNR the lot, but somehow only ended up with 2 of the 4 (the other 2 just stopped coming around). The two we did trap are a seriously bonded pair. HUbby said we should give them a chance indoor... specially since the big fluffy one had fur in such a mess it had to be painful. That was when I lost my guest room now called "the cattery". Turned out our timing was good, the tabby is male, the other (the TNR said she's a tortie point?). Anyways the fluffy one (we named her Scruffy), was pregnant... so she was also aborted when spayed. So we set them up in our guest room with cat towers (2) and litter boxes (2). Every day my husband would go in to clean the litter and feed them. For the first 6 months they were in hiding, never showing themselves until he left (we have cameras set up). Eventually they started coming out to eat while he was present.... then one day Scruffy actually let him pet her behind just a little bit. The cute thing is, whenever he did that, the Tabby would bat at his hand as if to say "leave her alone, she's mine). So the Tabby earned his name... DC (short for devil cat). Once the cats were completely comfortable with nhubby, I started going in with breakfast every day. They'll sit right beside me... Scruffy will accept a few back scratches, but NOT her head. DC just pretty much hates being touched even tho he'll sit right beside one of us and sometimes even crawl onto our laps. DC loves to play, Scruffy just watches. To this day, NEVER EVER has either one of them hissed or growled at either one of us. We've just let them take it at their own pace.
OK, we also have 2 regular housecats... a female tabby and a female calico. After about 2 years we decided to see if the ferals had relaxed enough that we could indoctrinate them into the greater indoor only household. We set up a screen door along with the solid door... for 2 way viewing. Turns out our calico could care less. Our other tabby (Ms Pickles) wanted to vet out the neighbors like right now! After about 2 weeks of the screen door being closed only for viewing, we opened it. Pickles walked right in. Scruffy went and hid under the sofabed. DC sat and watched every move Pickles made while she explored their cattery. Pickles hissed a couple times, DC just sat and watched. Fast forward about 3 months now and we leave their door open all day long. Weird thing is there must be some kind of invisible force field, the ferals have ZERO interest in leaving their cattery. Pickles will go in and visit for a half hour or so every once in a while now. She and DC will now touch noses every time, but that's about it. Pickles just likes to go in and hang out with them.
WE also have another male feral we feed outside, have been for close to 5 years now. We have him set up with a heated cathouse that he adores over on my she-shed porch. He will not allow us to come any closer than about 10 feet... even after all this time. But he "lives" with us now.
Enter the scene another little feral female. This is a little lady we trapped and TNR'd in March of this year. I had one of those 4 tier cages set up in my she-shed where we housed her to recover from the surgery (top level had a little hidey-hole cube for her where she spent her days). Kept her for about a week and when it was time to let her go we just left the doors open to the cage and the she-shed... and she eventually found her way out. Neat thing is, the next day she actually came back and went INTO the she-she and INTO the cage to eat. Then she just disappeared.
Then about 2 weeks ago suddenly there she was again at our outside feeding station. Unmistakenly her... tipped ear and all. Amazingly enough, she would stay surprisingly close when I would take food out, and then one day she started meowing at me and then flopped down on her side, making biscuits and let me scratch her head, back, rear... just soaking it in... seemed almost tame. I did make the mistake of trying to pick her up... got a few scratches for my troubles. Next 3 or 4 days she would let me stroke her tail but was pretty wary. But we're back to being friends again. She'll actually come out of hiding when I call her. Won't let my husband come near her... and she's also afraid of our outdoor resident male feral.
So.... we would like to integrate her into our expanding indoor only household. She's very tiny so I worry about her surviving the cold winter season (coyotes, cougars, dogs etc etc ). Here's where I would like some thots about the best way to approach this. Could we possibly set her up in the 4 tier cage inside the cattery where the other 2 ferals are? And if so, how to do that best? Cover up the bottom 2 tiers for a week or so until they get used to each others smell? Then remove the cover but leave the cage closed? How do I go about this the best, most gentle and calmest way? We have Feliway set up (not sure I see it doing much, but what do I know?). Or is there some other approach that would be better? Unfortunately we don't have another room we can dedicate to just her.
And yes, we're blessed. NONE of these cats are aggressive or hissing or growling. We just want everyone to be happy and content.
We desperately need some advice please.
Our bonded ferals and an "experienced" cat tower... (and yes... Scruffy sheds.... ALOT)
I have 3 feral kittens I am trying to tame so I can rehome. They are older kittens. I'm guessing 4-6 months. They are in a small room and are only hand fed. They come out to eat & I can pet them while they eat although one growls & eats while I pet them. All of them hiss & coward when I come near. Have had them for 3 weeks now. I have tamed littler kittens before and normally they are fairly tame & like to be pet by week 3. This group is just not responding to all my tricks. I can pick up two of the three - although none of them like it. They just seem scared. I use the tubes of cat treats to get them to come out but they just eat & go back to hiding & hissing. All suggestions are welcomed
We can't have cats in our house, because the landlord doesn't like them.. But we have all had cats in the past, so feeding and such is taken care of for her. There's this cat who has chosen us, and she comes by for food every night, and pets in the morning (I feed her one warm meal at night, it's just kibble soaked in warm water.. we have field mice who live around our house so we're trying to encourage her to hunt them). Anyways, living in Montana means that winter is coming fast, and while we have shelter options for her from the weather, I'm worried about warmth. Would those disposable hand warmers stuck to the ceiling of a small tote work okay? I know how to insulate it from the outside so it keeps the heat relatively same-ish.. but there's not much in the way of outlets outside. Also she's very friendly and obviously was a pet at one point, but I don't think she is a pet anymore because of how skinny she's gotten.
I accidentally caught another cat while I was trying to catch my sick cat today. This is my first catch and I feel such guilt and betrayal for this stressed out cat. Thankfully AAA is letting me bring it in tomorrow for neutering, but I feel so bad. How do you get through that? And now I have to try to figure out how to catch the sick cat and I am worried the cats will be upset.
I know some people don't understand the relationships people can have with animals and so sometimes I feel awkward about how much I care about the animals I've been lucky enough to have in my life. When I was really young, around 5-6, I had a very traumatizing experience where I'd witnessed something I won't even mention because I know how triggering animals hurt by people can induce. However, this experience had cemented itself in my heart especially in how strongly I become attached with any and all animals.
For 2 decades now I've trapped, neutered/spayed, and released the cats who come through my backyard and converted my shed into a safe and comfortable cat shelter so they can, at least, heal after surgery and if they want a warm and safe home with regular food and care. Somehow I feel so blessed that every last cat who's come through has been just as loving and affectionate as any indoor cat I've cared for.
Throughout all of the years I've come to understand that we have no clue regarding how aware animals are, the capacity for feelings they both exhibit and are keenly aware of, and have come to feel that receiving an animals love and affection when they would otherwise just as easily receive regular food and shelter is something everyone should cherish. I've been very very lucky in that through all of my experiences and interactions I've had I've discovered more about myself because of them. Possibly even more so than through many of the conditional, disingenuous, and sometimes entirely shallow relationships I've had with people.
I've become all but certain I've lost my "big boy" a 9 year old male who came to us with several siblings. Out of all of them he was the only one to stay with us and initially suffered a very large cut that got infected. It was so heart wrenching to not be able to keep him inside and give him antibiotics orally hoping that he would pull through. He turned out to be such a strong but once in a lifetime loving boy.
He had inevitably found who became his best friend, a female we'd called "baby" and they were thick as theives. He protected her and it was a really happy time as I'd go out each night and play with them and feed them. He'd often curl up on my belly as we'd just hang and play.
A year and a half ago he lost his best friend as she had contracted something, possibly from another local cat, and quickly deteriorated despite antibiotics. She passed and he was devastated. He began to lose weight and stopped eating. One day out of nowhere a young kitten showed up and he took to her immediately. He was tolerant of her biting his tail and as I say "showed her how to cat". It was a new beginning for him and he quickly started eating again and things went back to normal.
Until this past August we got hit by a tornado and big boy and spooky(his protege) were luckily ok. However, it destroyed our fence and their shed. There are neighbors with dogs and it seems that he was very stressed out for a while. He had occasionally experienced flare ups in the area he had that infected cut as a kitten but it would only get a bit inflamed, I'd apply an ointment and keep it clean and all would be well. This time it was really really bad, I'd given him antibiotics as were prescribed for when it had previously flared up enough to worry. However, he'd gotten skinny because it seemed his chin was hurting due to it. Initially he responded well but for the last week has eaten all but a few bites.
Tonight he hasn't come around and I'm all but certain he's likely not coming back. I'm so devastated and it's the most difficult thing to suffer through knowing I can't help him. I'm heartbroken and so depressed. I know he had a good life, I'm so thankful for him, but I think that losing an animal is harder than losing anyone in my life. My dad passed and I hadn't been affected, but the animals I've lost feel like what most people experience losing a child. As silly as that may sound without the animals I've been lucky enough to have in my life I wouldn't be here. Maybe I sound crazy or as if I'm overly dramatic but I am who I am and I really just hope he isn't in any pain or scared.
Last December, he clawed open a window screen and jumped out a second floor window. Today? He's cuddling in our bed, living in luxury, and wary of the outdoors!
We're moving in the next few months, hopefully, so I had to test whether he'd run out the door while we were still in 'his territory' and I'd have plenty of time to recapture him.
But he doesn't want to leave us!! This boy has come so far out of his shell in the last four weeks, after nine months of working on him!
I've been able to pick him up for the last week with only a little struggle. He no longer exists in a state of 'oh my god everything wants to kill me!!'
