Expert: Jessica - 7/4/2010

Question
2 strays, not ferals, adopted me %26 moved in. Mother %26 son. Both fixed, chipped, %26 licensed. They have open access to cat door %26 use the outside as their litter box as they always have. Never had an accident inside. Son, of course, was able to be socialized %26 loves to cuddle %26 be scratched on the head until he doesn't want it %26 he'll just jump off. Mom will not let us touch her but rubs against our legs. We took her to the vet for exam %26 shots %26 we all had scratches. Vet said he'd have to charge us extra! So need your advice about finding a vet who can deal with "wild" cats. Couldn't they give her a shot through the carrier to knock her out like they do with lions %26 tigers who need vet care? 2 cats have always gotten along, sometimes grooming each other in long sessions.It's been about 3 years. The mom is @ 3, the son @ 2 as per the vet.Suddenly, son is chasing mother every day. The mother acts as though she doesn't like it, running away so fast all you see is a streak, hissing, sometimes hitting son in the face with her paw. Sometimes he just stares at her for a while, as if confronting her, %26 she stares back with a glazed look in her eyes %26 physically pulls back. He usually breaks off the stare %26 saunters away, but often she will break it off, run away very fast %26 hide under something. Is this some kind of dominance or male sexual maturity thing going on or something else? She has what we call 'eye snot' dripping out of one eye. She has always had it. Unfortunately, the vet was not able to examine her or get a sample of it to diagnose. Son had a little bit dripping out of one eye when I took him to the vet, but nowhere as much as her.Vet gave me ointment and put 2 drops in son's eye %26 told me to to do the same. Son never had it again. Vet prescribed a few different meds for mom. She refuses to eat her food if anything is in it. Vet said she wouldn't smell it, but she does every time. No way are we getting anything in her eye unless she is knocked out.Sometimes her eye is almost closed and I feel that it must bother her. Any ideas on that? Today son was chasing mother %26 she jumped up on the guest bed/couch, now folded into the couch position. They have free access to the couch and often sleep there. He stayed on the floor %26 stared at her. I told him to stop it %26 get away, which I have done many times before. He left but came back again to the same position on the floor which is usual behavior, but his face had a strange look on it as he looked at her. I looked at her %26 noticed she was not really sitting on the couch, her back end was a little raised. It took a few moments for the neurons in my brain to fire %26 I realized she was urinating! I went over to the couch %26 she jumped off %26 ran away. I pulled off the pillows, the sheet, the mattress pad, etc. It was a good soaking, as if she hadn't gone in awhile. What is going on here? She could easily have gone out. I hope you can answer my many questions and concerns. If you need more info, just let me know. Thank you Jessica.

Answer
Hi Mary,

You should call around to find a vet who's feral-friendly.  Ask if they have many feral patients or work with any feral rescue orgs.  Your stray sounds like she may have begun to revert to a feral nature before she came to you.  Or perhaps she's always just been very difficult to handle and anti-social.  Whatever the case, she is unmanageable like a feral, so finding a vet who knows how to handle a feral cat will be imperative for you.  My animal hospital works closely with my trap-neuter-return organization, and all the staff are highly trained to handle ferals.  This works out fantastically for me!  But some of the vets at other animal hospitals I've been to have not been so adept.

Vets can use tools such as squeeze cages, where the cat is placed into a cage that is gently "squeezed" until her rump is directly against the bars, to inject a sedative when absolutely necessary.  Your vet could also prescribe you acepromazine, a sedative to give orally, which mixes well into food if ground up.  I've found my own cats really can't detect it in chicken baby food, although yours may be extra finicky.  However, most ferals or otherwise challenging cats won't need to be sedated if they are restrained by a properly trained technician.  The key is that the tech needs to be wearing the appropriate protection (raptor gloves, for instance).  Cats can also be placed in restraint bags, which are nylon bags that are zipped around the body, with only the head exposed, so the vet can examine the cat's eyes and ears without any risk of being scratched.  They also have cat muzzles, which cover the mouth and eyes.  These calm a cat down amazingly.  Since the cat can see no threats, she simply sits still in nearly every case, and the vet can examine every part of her except for her mouth and eyes.  A feral-friendly animal hospital should have most of this equipment in their office.

It would be good to get an antibiotic into your kitty's eye, but since that sounds impossible, the next best thing I could suggest is to try to slip her some lysine.  Most eye discharge is the result of the feline herpes virus, and lysine helps to suppress the virus.  There are lysine products formulated especially for cats, such as Viralys and Enisyl-F products.  Most of them are to be mixed into food, but Enisyl-F does make treats.  You may want to see if she'll go for the treats.  I would give the treatment a couple of weeks to produce any benefits.  The products are available through many pet product websites and through some vets.

As for the recent behavior on the part of your male, there shouldn't be much sexual behavior left once he's neutered, but cats do remain somewhat territorial.  I'm not sure what the trigger might have been, but it sounds like your male may be feeling very territorial.  I would recommend trying to add some more space to your home in the way of a cat tree or window perches.  Also, consider adding another feeding station so that your female feels she can eat in peace and your male feels he can claim one feeding station as his own.  As much as I'm sure you hate to have a litter box in the home, you may also want to bring in one or two of these.  I believe your female probably felt too threatened to leave her perch on the couch to go outside to urinate.  It sounds very much like your male was just sitting there holding her hostage, waiting for her to come down from her safe place (elevated areas are considered dominant and safe to cats) so he could bully her, and she finally could hold it no longer.  Hopefully if you add some perches around the home such as a cat tree and window perches, and you have a couple of litter boxes, your female will have a few areas where she won't feel vulnerable, and she'll be close to a litter box wherever she is.  That way if the need does arise, she can quickly run to the litter box rather than having an accident.

Since there seems to be some tension between the two kitties, I may also recommend that you try a product called Feliway.  I use this in my home at all times.  It's a synthetic pheromone, a hormone that helps promote a feeling of calm in cats.  It can help reduce territorial aggression and also urine marking.  At this point, I would suspect that your cat just had an accident, but in case it does turn out to be urine marking, Feliway would be a must-have.  Learn more about Feliway at www.feliway.com.  It's available online, at pet stores and through some vets.

Best wishes!

Jessica