I agreed to take a new feral cat, transferred to me by a local rescue agency. Sammie could not stay in the garage arrangement any longer where he was being fed. So he came to me November 17, 2009, just having been neutered.

I kept him in a holding cage for about 4 days. We took his cage outside during the daytime (Arizona is temperate during daytime in the winter) so he could get acquainted with our cat colony and possibly gain some attachment to the place where we feed everyone. He was quite fierce, scratching and hissing when I put food in his cage or changed his litter (using heavy gloves was a must). Of course, as all the ferals are prone to do when caged, he appeared to become increasingly depressed. He ate once a day, but eliminated very little. Many other ferals before him have basically shut down even worse than that while recovering in the holding cage. I was not concerned about this since they always come back to life upon leaving the cage.
However, I was quite concerned about whether he would stick around after we let him out of the cage. The place where he was being fed in the garage is quite far away. Now, eight days after releasing him, there has been no sign of him. I know he saw the food as he was leaving (see above photo). And we made sure Sammie saw our colony eating each day.

Please pray that Sammie comes back to our Debby’s home in Prescott Valley, AZ so I can be sure he gets the food and water he needs.

Thanks for reading my post – leave a comment if you like. I plan to share more about my experiences and what I have learned from managing this homeless colony.
And please let your friends know about my blog.

Debby Taylor

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