[weezerweeks]

I’m the crazy lady with the rescue cats at Subway. I want to bring the 5 out of 8 that I have home. They have been at Subway for over 2 years now. This is their home. They have beds and a cat condo. They are fed twice a day and given treats by my night manager. All my girls at Subway love them and help me with them. My vet says if I bring them home they might try to go back since that’s home to them. I only have 5 left and I feel they will be safer at my house.Any advice. Thanks

[anonymously]

I have not owned a cat in a long time due to allergies. However, I have helped friends with feral and unadoptable cats. They don’t always adjust very well to changes or being kept indoors if they have had their freedom. So, I guess I agree with your vet.

Often the best solution, in my experience, is to find an indoor/outdoor sanctuary that accepts cats, make a donation and try to get them in, unfortunately often these places are filled beyond capacity.

Example, if you could find a place like this in your area: http://www.winslowfarm.com/index.html
http://www.winslowfarm.com/cats.html

Hope this helps

[Acroyali]

Anonymously, what a cool place!

Weezer, are you hoping to make them indoor cats, outdoor cats, or both? A few of my current house cats are former outdoor strays, and they’re indoors strictly except for a smallish outdoor cat enclosure they have access to 24 hours a day. This has been a tremendous help to cure that wander-lust. Do all the cats get along, and are they able to be handled by humans at all?
My rule of thumb when bringing a new cat home is confinement for a few days, in a small, quiet room (a guest bathroom or spare bedroom works well) so they can adjust to their new surroundings and hopefully the homing instinct to their previous dwelling will at least lessen. Free roam of a new house, the entire thing, can be “too big”. One of my newer cats was kept in a covered ex-pen, and if she gets afraid or tired she seeks that place out as “home”. I haven’t had the heart to take the ex-pen down as she loves it 🙂
If you’re planning to keep them outdoors, a barn or an outdoor building that has plenty of air flow and is cool would be your best bet; if you’re able to keep them confined in it for a few days. Feed them there, let them know that’s where food arrives, and that it arrives at the same time every day so even if they do tend to roam around, they’ll hopefully come back at feeding time.

[crazy4cats]

Hi weezerweeks, my fellow crazy cat lady friend!!! I’m so glad to hear that you still have so many that stuck around. I’m sorry about the ones that didn’t make it. I agree with Acroyali! I think you have a shot at making it work. Especially since it sounds like they are not totally feral.

You definitely need to keep them contained for a while so they do learn where their food is coming from. Can you bring the beds and condo home and put them somewhere that you can keep them contained? I’d try to keep them in for a couple of weeks. I also have a small cat enclosure set up off a down stairs door with a pet door in it for mine to go in and out as they wish. It’s basically just a covered kennel with a few perches for them to climb on and get some sun and fresh air. I do not let any of my cats roam free outside anymore due to losing one to a coyote a few years back and couldn’t deal with that again.

If you google, pinterest or youtube catios and/or cat enclosures, you will see some very creative and clever ideas to keep cats safe. I have bought a lot of my kennels and crates and such off of Craig’s list at very good prices.

One of my current cats who recently turned 17 was feral when I trapped her. It took her a very long time to warm up to us. But we were patient and didn’t push it. She still is very shy, but not mean or aggressive and very cute!!

We have moved a couple of times and have never lost a cat due to it trying to return to its home. Albeit, they were already used to being inside/outside at the time which probably makes it a little easier.

Keep us updated on what you decide Good luck!

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