New to the group and have questions

[FeralMama]

Hello! I'm new to the group and live in North Carolina, USA. Here is my FIV+ kitty's story. We first met "Mama" when I noticed a stray cat slipping under our backyard shed 2.5 years ago. We soon realized this cat was completely feral and she had had kittens under our shed. It took us almost 3 weeks of setting numerous traps and trying so many different foods and techniques in an attempt to trap her. Throughout this time, we fed her to help keep her healthy for nursing those newborn babies we knew were under our shed. Finally after almost 3 weeks, we trapped her and we quickly began digging out the underside of our shed for the kittens. Mama had SIX adorable kittens, 3 solid black (like her) and 3 solid gray. After a lot of sweat, we finally safely transferred mama and kitties to a very large dog crate in a bedroom in a quiet area of our house.

For the next almost 2 months, I fed and watered mama twice a day, changed the litter box twice a day and blankets. I also began introducing myself to her kittens, who did not know any fear of humans like their mama did and though all six kittens tested positive for FIV initially, all 6 finally tested negative after 6 months and were all adopted into amazingly loving INDOOR homes. Mama was finally spayed, tested and vaccinated once the kittens were weaned and that is when I found out she was FIV+. We retested a month later with the same result. This entire time, Mama remained horribly feral, to the point I had to always move very cautiously while doing anything with the crate. She would constantly growl, hiss and strike at me at every opportunity. When I picked her up from her vet spay and testing appt., the vet told me she was one of the most feral cats she had ever worked with and this came from a veterinarian who did spaying and neutering of feral cats on a regular basis!

Two weeks later, I decided to let Mama outside but hoped and prayed she would hang around in the hopes of having regular feedings. I was torn about this decision due to her FIV status, but I knew she was terrified and living in a crate was not life. Once I let her out, she was gone for four days. On the fifth day, I saw her out of the corner of my eye and then she was gone in a flash. Fast forward 2.5 years later and Mama is finally coming inside our house each night. She loves and trusts me and will cuddle, head butt and give me kitty kisses. Though sadly, she still will not trust my husband and will hide whenever he walks by. She enjoys our 55lb pit bull, boxer female dog Hazel and she so much wishes to be best friends with our 19 yr old geriatric kitty Sophie, though Sophie will sleep near mama and tolerate her, she isn't a huge fan of the younger, more spunky Mama.

It has been very cold and rainy here for the last two days, this is Mama's second consecutive day before inside. She isn't happy about it, but at least she has a screened porch to safely go out on. I think I am now going to attempt to not allow her complete outdoor access, as we live in the city and there are so many dangers and I also worry about her health and the health of other cats in the neighborhood. I am hoping to build a cat proof fence attachment later this summer for her to enjoy going outside but be restricted to our backyard only.

Mama has had no vet care since her initial spay/testing and vaccinations 2.5 years ago. So, now I am thinking of slowly introducing a cat carrier to her and see how it goes. She is very food motivated and trusts me, so I am hoping that will help in my teaching her the carrier doesn't mean her any harm. Once that happens, I plan to take her to my vet for an exam, bloodwork and a rabies vaccine. She also is very healthy right now, with good stools, urine output and glossy fur. I give her high quality natural dry and canned daily, with salmon oil twice a day mixed in.

SO.....after all that, my questions:
1. Has anyone had a FIV+ feral cat become strictly indoor and if so, how was their transition?
2. What supplements would you recommend to keep her immune system healthy?
3. Do you give your kitty any homeopathic remedies before/after any vaccinations?


I apologize for this being so horribly long, but I wanted to give everyone Mama's story. Thank you for reading!

Tammy and Mama

[Ruth B]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for taking in Mama and helping her kittens find loving homes.

I can't really offer any advice, but I do know that FIV isn't the issue it was thought to be years ago, and that even a feral can accept living in a house given time and gentle treatment. I will however point you towards Tinykittens, a Canadian rescue that takes in a lot of ferals, some are rehomed, some returned to a managed colony, but the stories about the ferals that have eventually accepted home life, some have had no option due to medical conditions, are heartwarming and informative. There is plenty of information there that may help you with Mama. They have a Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/tinykittenshq
and you will find links there to other social media platforms they have.
In my uninformed opinion I think giving her limited access to outside is a wonderful idea if you can manage it, and access to come and go between the outside area and the house, as she pleases.

[FeralMama]

Thank you for the great information, Ruth!


Best,
Tammy