Lily is a 9 year old, 6.5 lb. cat who was feral when we brought her into our home 7 years ago and is now our lapcat. We first thought (and so did our vet) that she was a kitten because she was so small, but after further examination, the vet decided she was about 2 years old and unbeknownst to us, she was pregnant when we brought her in to be spayed and tested for diseases. It took me 10 months to be able to pet her, she had never been in a home before, but adapted to living inside.
Cali is approximately 2 years old and weighs about 12 lbs. She showed up on our property during the winter and we felt sorry for her - she was so hungry so we started feeding her outside. My husband and I started calling her the phantom, because the food would disappear, but we'd only see her occasionally. After awhile, she would just hide under our deck stairs, wait for us to go back inside and then eat. Eventually she started sleeping on the deck railing and one night at 10:30, I turned the light on and she was sitting at the sliding doors looking in.
We knew Lily would not be happy about having another cat in the house, but we thought we could at least get Cali spayed and tested for diseases & then let her go back out thinking she was a feral. The vet discovered (after cutting her) that she had already been spayed, so we assume she either ran away, got lost or was abandoned. We kept her downstairs in a dog crate that the sanctuary owner lent us so she could recuperate. We checked with all our neighbors (we live in a rural area) and all the local shelters and vets, but no one knew her. She showed no interest in going back outside so we put her in a spare bedroom - she adapted to the litterbox and is the perfect houseguest. She has a large window to watch the birds, etc. and we bought her a cat tree. She has been in that room now for almost two months. We have baby gates stacked on top so Lily can't get to her. We tried several times to introduce them, but Lily attacks Cali even though Cali is twice her size - she just does not want to fight - she runs and hides. She has no "chase" instinct, does not know how to play and we have to force her to interact with us. She definitely enjoys our attention (most of the time), but doesn't want to come out of that room and we still can't pick her up - she'll tolerate us petting her for only a very short time and then she'll either try to nip us or swat at us. We realize now that we have to stop trying to get the two cats to tolerate each other and strengthen our bond with her first. We feel that we have to keep her because if we bring her to a shelter, she would have to live in a cage because she's so afraid of other cats and most people who come in to adopt a cat want one that's outgoing and she's definitely not going to be sociable with strangers.
Sorry for the length of this, but I wanted to give as much detail as possible and I think we just need some moral support and would appreciate if anyone has some suggestions for speeding up this process.
Sorry for the length of this, but I wanted to give as much detail as possible and I think we just need some moral support and would appreciate if anyone has some suggestions for speeding up this process.