General Chat

I have two cats, one is a thoroughbred, the other a feral, I found her when she was 2 weeks old, you would think that she had no feral instincts , but WOW!!when shes in a mood it all comes to the front, shes just attacked me,lol she thinks its play but ive got the scars to prove it, I still love her!!

Have you tried to give it a bath?

LOL Roxanne My Dad rescued a feral cat once from his works - apparently she never really grew out of her feral-ness - used to tear my Dad to pieces on a regular basis lol

Yes it's so true. Hope your scratches are not too sore. I have a dog she had been very badly mis'treated before I got her. However I think she is a manic depressive as she has such terrible moods. One minute she is playing with her teddies and thern she just turns and growls at whoever is nearest! As you say even when they are naughty we still love them. Beryl

one of my cats jessica still has ferral instincts, she can certainly lash out when she wants to. we have to take her to vets to be wormed by injection I used to use the granules but vet says not strong enough so hubby says I will give her tablet, doh, endless scratches later he says never again, did try to warn him tho. jean

Daniel, no, not recently,lol Im sure you know why!!lol Anne, we have nightmares taking her to the vets for her injections, luckily the vets use to her now, she has to wear gloves up to the elbows!!very embarrasinglol

Beryl, Your an animal lover!!thats great. Jean, I know what you mean about tablets, she is also asthmatic and I have to give her tablets, at first she would fight me, now I honestly thinks she knows she has to take them so doesent bother as much, I still get a little scratch but not like it use to be.

I was scratched quite badly by one of our other cats we used to have, he put me in sling for a week and taking antibiotics, he went too far one day and scarred my daughters arm very bad and we decided we had no alternative but to sadly have him put to sleep, couldnt trust him not to lash out to anyone again, he used to go to the little boy along the street and I wouldnt have forgiven myself if he had hurt him. we think he must have turned a bit funny in the head, one minute he was fine giving you a false sense of security then suddenly teeth were in the side of your face or neck where he was cuddling up. pepsi is still missed today after 8 yrs. jean

My four cats are very good natured and loving (ages 16, 8 and two of 1 yr) None of them have ever scratched me or been spiteful towards me - I get the occassional 'loving nip' on a finger when they are cuddling, or some gentle 'attacking' of my arm when they are play fighting - but even then they are gentle and restrained :O) I'm very lucky with all of them - they are so affectionate :O)

A beautiful ginger and white female cat has adopted me, she had her kittens in my garden in September 2004,the cat protection people trapped her , found homes for her kittens, then they spayed her and brought her back to me.I have feed her 3 times a day, given her a lovely cosy bed outside my back door under cover, she will venture into the kitchen if the back door is open,kicks up a big fuss if food is late, but still won't let me touch her,will hiss at me if I try, so its true, once a feral always a ferel Jennifer.

hi jennifer, she will come round one day, it will take time. jean

Thanks for that Jean, I live in hope, at least she dosn't run away anymore when she sees me. Jennifer

Hi, I work for cats protection, and I see no reason why a cat should be put down because it scratches someone. Its a cats intinct to scratch if it gets scared or feels freatened. A cats home like cats protection would have taken it in, and wouldn't have put in down unless it was FIV+ or had some other incurable illness. A cat which scratches or bites someone should never be put down. In fact in makes me quite angry

Sorry Paul I disagee. OK if its a feral cat its instincts take over. If you understand cats you blame yourself if you get scratched or bitten. But surely most people wouldn't try to keep a feral cat as a house pet. I have a friend who has bred pedigree cats of different breeds for 30 years now. She had a Turkish van who was a real softie for about 4 years - believe me, I know just how gentle & loving she was. But over about 6 months or so she became extremely aggressive. Attacked my friend very badly on more than one occasion without any provokation at all, she needed hospital treatment, stitches, antibiotics, you name it. It got to the point where she was terrified of the cat. Only one option I'm afraid. On PM she was found to have a brain tumour.

paul, Im sorry you feel angry, but this was done with the vets advice, pepsi was 5yrs old and his odd behaviour was getting extremely out of hand, I also dont think he would have been any different anywhere else. this was done with a lot of thought from us as to wether it was right or not., he was not only attacking us and our other cats for no reason, in fact one of our cats at the time would not leave the chair under the table as it was scared of pepsi, this cat was a rescue cat taken from another family, and no he wasnt attacking him because he was new to the house, but he was also attacking a neighbours small dog as well. jean

It isn't reallytrue that once a feral always a feral. I often bring kitens home from work to tame, and make friendly. However I would only ever do this with kittens. Kittens minds are very plastic, and are easily moulded into what they think is safe, and normal. An aldult isn't impossible to make friendly, but it does take longer, and you have to keep them in close proximity at all times. So this is often unfair for a cat that has been probably outside for most of its life, and not used to confined spaces. So although its not impossible for an adult to become tame, you have to weigh up what you think is right for the cat. At cats protection we will never put a healthy cat down, and if it is unsuitable to be inside a home or as a domestic cat, we will home it to a farm, to sort out pest problems, so this will make no unwanted cats anywhere!

I've known people to want their cat to be pet down because it has bitten scratched people, and to be honest no respectable vet will do it. We are contacted by veterinary surgeory's all the time who do not wish to do it. No respectable vet will do it, sounds like your vet took the easy way out to be honest. A reasonable vet would have phone the cats protection first choice.

paul, we had pepsi from when he was 5weeks only, the day we collected him we were at the vets as he had contacted cat flu, we gave him lots of tlc even the vet said he was suprised with the turnaround, but pepsi was a strange cat not like any of the others I have or have had, he was the only one like that, I have had cats all my life with no problems like that, but as I say pepsi is still missed. jean

Vicky, thats a bit different, if it had a brain tumor which was incurable then it should be PTS. However if it just scratched someone( Without a brain tumor, or a brain tumor being known) , why should it be put down? Its the same as capital punishment for you thumping someone. Just because a cat is feral is still no excuse for it being PTS. It will be homes one way or another.

Well it sounded like he didn't like other cats, dogs and small children, and if he was taken to the Cats Protection, we wouldn't home him anywhere with Cats dogs or small children. We would have told the new owners what he was like. So as a say, no cat will go without a home, trust me, i've seen some of the most unexpected cats go to homes.