Meowing Stray and Our timid cat

by Jacob
(Pittsburgh)

Last week my girlfriend and I pursued a cat that has been living around our apartment complex for months and months now. The reason we looked for the cat the other week was because it was meowing relentlessly...almost like it was hurt.

By the end of the night, the cat warmed up to me and was head butting me, purring, etc. I picked the cat up, and right before I could get her near our apartment porch she wigged out, scratched a bit, got loose, and bolted.

Tonight while i was grilling I heard the cat meowing again. She poked her head out of the brush across the parking lot. I took a few steps and whistled a bit. She came right to me. I brought her into the apartment and put her in our bathroom.

I did spend a good amount of time petting her, as well as feeding her.

We have another cat we rescued that is extremely timid and only a little over 1 year old. So I went to the store and bought flea/tick shampoo and spray. I gave the stray a good bath and brushed/dried her well. She was remarkably pleasant during the entire process...our cat is a completely different story when i bathe her.

Tomorrow I plan to take her to the vet to have her checked for respiratory illness/FIV, or any other sicknesses before introducing her to our cat.

My impatience is getting the best of me. I really want to know why she meowing so much...which to be honest as quieted down quite a bit. Do you think she is sick? in heat? pregnant? hungry?

I really believe the cat is not feral...way too friendly to be wild.

I let the cat look at each other a bit. The stray was very timid, and hid on/behind me...while our cat, which is afraid of its shadow, showed a bit of aggression.

I abandoned the introduction plan quickly for several reasons. One to make sure our cat doesn’t get sick, as well as for future friendship reasons between the cats if we decide to keep the stray. I know the process is very intricate.

The one thing that really concerned me was how our cat acted around us alone. It hissed and took a quick swat at my girlfriend when she tried to pet her shortly after we put the stray back in the bathroom. I can understand stress levels must be high. She did warm back up a bit, but its hard to tell because she has never really been that warm in the first place. We rescued a cat that had an extremely difficult start in life.

What do I do?! I really like the stray...its remarkably friendly, and loveable!

I don't want to keep her though if it wont work between our cat.

How common are cat sicknesses? I am a new cat owner with our first, so I am a bit uneducated in situatiosn liek this.

We have a great vet, as well as an excellent "no-kill" shelter nearby, where we got our first. I am sure they will offer great insight.

You seem to have an outstanding 'knack' for cats, so I hope you can offer some incite! Trust me, it will be most appreciated.

Thanks


PS they are both black cats. Ours is much smaller. Hope that helps.

Reply
Hi
Great story, you certainly went out your way to help this little girl, good for you, i wish more people were like that.

Anyway as regards to your current situation. I do suspect that this cat is not spayed and that is causing the excessive meowing. Cats only meow for a couple of reasons, to get your attention for food or petting or for mating. They do make other more gentle sounds too but they are much less, let’s say annoying.

So if you do intend to keep her then having her spayed will help greatly. She may also be feeling rather nervous and so of course her calling may be slight distress too and again with time this should reduce.

As for your other cats behaviour, again i think this is probably due to the fact that there is another cats scent in the house which can make them feel anxious and so react aggressively towards things. Also if the cat is not spayed then she will smell very threatening to your other cat. I.e. a new chick on her territory. If you do decide to keep the new cat then yes a gentle introduction using the safe method described on this page is your best option and then only after spaying.

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/introducing-cats.html

Can i just add a little word of caution regarding the flea sprays and bathing your cat. I am not a big fan of these sprays etc as they can contain insecticides and they are not a great answer for keeping your cat flea free. The spot on treatments are far more effective. I have also heard of cats becoming ill after these baths too and they should be used in extreme flea infections and then only once.

A cats coat and skin can react badly to too many baths also and again a bath should only be needed in extreme cases. Hope you don’t mind me mentioning it but i have seen and heard of some nasty results and I do like to make people aware that there can be problems with sprays and shampoos.

Any way I wish you all a happy life together, it sounds like with a bit of time and lots of TLC you will have a happy new edition to your home.

Best wishes Kate

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