HOW TO START RESCUE

Gesine Lohr

(A work in progress!)

I think there's a "spectrum of socialization", from totally feral (I've only encountered a few and I've done hundreds and hundreds of not tame cats), to what I've called "hard stray" (what many people call feral), to "shy stray", to "stray", to "shy tame", to "tame", to "ridiculously tame".

My rough definitions:

TRUE FERAL:

• can move faster than you can track
• "disinhibited": can use ALL its force
  (e.g. cat dying of FeLV, can repeatedly jump from floor to ceiling of emergency vet room)
• You rarely see unless injured, very ill, or desperate about starving kittens; usually eats at night
• Won't eat in front of you
• Won't make eye contact
• If caught in trap, will "popcorn", bouncing up and down
• If really really feral, may do this to the extent you worry cat will harm itself/may actually harm itself, even after you've draped the trap with a towel
• If in say a recovery cage, may pace just like the cats on the wild kingdom programs
• Never vocalizes at you (except if it's screaming)

HARD STRAY:

• Can track its motions
• Not disinhibited
• Frequently see in daytime, may see at night
• Will eat in front of you, if you're at a distance
• May make eye contact
• If caught in trap, will quiet down pretty soon after you drape trap
• Probably won't continue eating once you trap it
• May vocalize at you
• If a hard stray is very hungry, it may finish eating food in the trap; will tend to gulp it
• Will not approach you; will wait til you go to a distance, to eat food

SHY STRAY:

• Can be pretty skittish, but will eat in front of you
• If very hungry, may eat pretty near you
• May vocalize at you
• Runs away, but then approaches you again
  (may do this repeatedly)
• Usually see in day
• May allow very limited touch
  (eg might sniff your finger)
• Will make eye contact

The first thing for your friend to determine is how socialized this cat is. My "default" rule is, IF YOU CAN TOUCH THE CAT AT ALL, even if only a brief nose touch, you must assume it is tame, and you must post at shelter as "found". NOTE: check by phone with the shelter before hand; some shelters demand you bring in any found cat, then refuse to allow you to arrange to take it back when they plan to euthanize it. Ask if you can "put a hold on the cat". If the shelter is difficult about this, you may want to publicize this in other ways. You could put up posters, talk with neighbors, put notes at vet offices.

A common mistake beginning rescuers make is, "this cat is in such terrible shape, it CAN'T have anyone looking for it". Often that's true; however, if you can at all touch the cat, I feel it's a moral imperative (and a legal one) to list the cat at the nearest shelter. Sadly, I've gotten very few calls on these posting; but, I can show for each cat that I've listed it, which protects me, and I feel good knowing I've done the right thing. Years ago, a beloved cat of mine got out and was missing a while; when people called after reading my ad in the paper, they brought me a cat that I didn't even recognize. We identified him by how he scratched in the litter, and by pigment patterns on the roof of his mouth. He lived another 12 years and was my cherished Fuffums. So, LIST!

Feed the cat regularly, that will make trapping it easier. Plan to trap cat, bring to prearranged vet visit, have tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus (if negative, fine; if positive and NOT at all touchable, most people euthanize; if positive and touchable, you have a moral decision to make: will you try to find the cat a home as a positive cat, or will you euthanize the cat?)(the other issue is you can retest in 3 months, some cats initially testing positive will have "seroconverted" to negative -- some people, do this only with touchable cats). NOTE: if you have a positive, touchable cat, and you don't want to hold to retest or try to adopt out as positive, you may want to see if the local shelter can hold the cat. (Of course, you would have already LISTED the cat!!). Unfortunately, many shelters will only hold a positive cat for the legal minimum, which is often three days, before euthanizing.

After the testing/decision phase, have cat spayed/neutered, and have it vaccinated; I have them get FVRCP, FeLV, and rabies vacs. (Some rescuers have a squeeze side cage and and do the vacs on hard strays themselves; I have the vet do the initial vacs on hard strays).

You need to plan to keep the cat inside for 1 day if male, 3-5 days if female. You also need to tell the vet if you want the cat spayed if it is already pregnant. It's very sad, but I always have pregnant cats spayed, and the kittens aborted/or euthanized in the womb; there are already so many who lack homes. You can keep the cat inside the trap, over newspaper to catch waste; you can fold a paper bowl, put in trap using tongs, fill with water using say a turkey baster; fold bowl, put inside, fill with crunchies by having them in a folded paper you tap.

If the cat is a "hard stray" or "feral", you should have the vet ear tip -- either notch or tip the ear, letting people know this cat has been s/n (spayed/neutered). Alley Cat Allies has an info sheet for vets on how to do this.

There usually aren't many rescuers who can come "take the cat away and solve your problem". There are a bunch of groups that can help you TNR: trap neuter return. If the cat is hard stray, this is the best option: the cat won't produce kittens, will help "hold the territory" or niche, and will be better prepared to resist diseases. Ideally your friend would then make sure the cat has a feeding station and water; you can initially use Rubbermaid bins on their side to shield the bowls from rain.

Trying to relocate a hard stray or feral is very difficult to do correctly; it can be done, but is a lot of work. Again, Alley Cat Allies has info on this issue.

If you go to the Alley Cat Allies web site, they have tons of info on these issues; they're the main national feral cat advocacy/education group. www.alleycat.org EXCELLENT info. (They don't use my term hard stray, but they really know their stuff).

This is probably a sort of overwhelming amount of info; but it'll give you an idea of some of the issues.

Some other thoughts on socialization:

The thing to remember is that every cat is individual -- classifications like my "feral" vs "hard stray", can be useful, but you have to observe the particular animal.

The absolutely WILDEST cats I've dealt with, have been about 50% abandoned/abused pets. Yep, wilder than the ferals I only trapped when they were 10 minutes from dying. Serious purposeful abuse is the worst.

Some cats that I knew histories of the colony of, were absolutely nth generation feral, yet tamed quickly. Some were 1st generation, and were heck on wheels. Innate temperment, the cat's experience with people, medical history, pain level, experience with mom cat, experience with other cats & how wild are those cats, all make a big difference.

I haven't talked much about socialization techniques here, but I'll just mention that with time, any cat can be socialized; also, a good "general guiding idea" is that you calm YOURSELF first, then interact with the scared cat. The calmer you are, the calmer the cat will be. This gets better with practice.

The other thing that I think we're all guilty of at one time or another, is the "these cats I'm dealing with are the WILDEST!!" Well, most of the time they're not, and that's OK! My experience with city colonies and with growing up in a rural area, is that most cats people call "feral" are what I call "hard stray" -- you may never see the true "hard ferals" unless they are dying. Most of the cats I've dealt with have been hard stray, with some true ferals.

But I think the concept of "levels of wildness" is a very good concept to spread around; that's what I've been trying to do with the "feral/hard stray" idea. It's a SPECTRUM.

And remember, no cat is truly "wild", as this is a domesticated animal. (Not that they can't make a good argument for it though!)

Gesine Lohr
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/feral_cats
GesineLohr@excite.com

Copyright © 2003 Gesine Lohr

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