The Joy of Ferals & The Fear of Crapping Your Pants

Gabby peeks around the cat carrier to see what sort of monster
is shining a bright light into her face.

Ahhh...ferals. To know them is to fear for your life, I mean, love them. It's been, how long, a few days or so since Mama (I'm told she's called, Gabby, by her caretaker, Larry) and her three offspring came to live in the big dog crate in my spare room.

So far, I've had no contact with any of them, other than to feed Gabby-she's been eating like a pig. Three-5.5 oz cans of food a day for the first few days, plus dry food! She must have been VERY hungry. Now she's slowed down a bit, I think because she knows she's going to get more. I think she's even become a bit picky-the nerve!

To give Gabby more room and to put myself at more risk of being bitten (idiot that I am!), I removed the cat carrier from the dog crate. Gabby was constantly closing the door to the cat carrier, then hiding behind it, so what good was it really doing? Once I removed it she started shredding up the newspaper and trying to break out of the dog crate. What a MESS this one makes! I know she wants out, but I don't dare let her loose in the bedroom. I'm already afraid she's going to let me have it every time I have to open the dog crate door! Imagine my fear of walking into the room each day, wondering where she's hiding. No thank you!

I'm going to rig up a cardboard box for her so maybe she'll relax a bit, if she has somewhere to hide. She's a pretty kitty, but has made it clear by her hisses, that she wants nothing to do with me. I won't stop trying to be her friend, though, but for now, I'll be cautious. My main concern is how I'm ever going to get a hand on her offspring? They're two weeks old, today. I have a little bit of time, but if I haven't started handling them by next week, I'm going to have more trouble socializing them. I hope she'll let me touch them! I still don't know if they're males or females or if they need any medical support. They seem to be fine, but...we'll see, I HOPE!

Although I realize, I'm doing more for my group by fostering the ferals, since we have fewer families that can deal with them, I have to admit that I hope for some sweet kittens some time, too! The theme for this Kitten Season, so far, has been "Fractious Foster Felines Forever!"