Pretty calico stray my wife just caught in a havahart

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I let Taco out and about yesterday morning as usual, she shot out of the garage like a cannon! I went to work for a few hours, and when I got home I found she had brought me a gift and left it right by the door to my house!

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We *used* to have a rat problem in the garage but not for years. However, they have been spotted across the street near my neighbor's garage. So I think she killed this critter and brought it back "home"

My mom said "well of course! She likes you guys, she is bringing you presents and tokens of her appreciation for being good humans"

I told my wife she gets big bonus points from me. I figured her presence in the garage would deter any rodents even if she was not much of a mouser herself. But this proves she is a badass! This was a good-sized rat not a little mouse. Super clean kill with a single bite to the neck.
 

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Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
Hi Diane!

She has a pretty steady routine now of spending her nights curled up in her little warm spot in the garage and being out and about during the day. Sometimes she is gone all day until my wife gets home from work, other times she comes back after just a few hours. The garage is attached to the house by a small porch/breezeway area and my wife is working to try and insulate that area more so it stays warmer as well, and my wife also has an appointment for her at one of our local vets to get her checked out.
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Is the plan for Taco to live inside your home if she checks out healthy at her vet appointment? A garage, even if it's insulated, doesn't seem like much of an improvement over her previous living situation. You wrote that she's a very social kitty who desperately wants to give and receive attention and love so living by herself in a cold garage would be very lonely and sad for her. It's pretty clear that she wants to live as part of a family, not as a feral cat.
 
Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall said:
Is the plan for Taco to live inside your home if she checks out healthy at her vet appointment? A garage, even if it's insulated, doesn't seem like much of an improvement over her previous living situation. You wrote that she's a very social kitty who desperately wants to give and receive attention and love so living by herself in a cold garage would be very lonely and sad for her. It's pretty clear that she wants to live as part of a family, not as a feral cat.
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yeah and this is actually why I would like my wife to be on board with finding her a home. We have a small house (~1000 sq ft) and 6 cats already including an older kitty (15), a diabetic kitty, and out of the six there is a rescue that doesn't get along with the other 5. So it is already a complex multi-cat household and the prospect of trying to integrate Taco is daunting at best.

I would love to bring her inside and have her join the family. Just doesn't seem feasible right now so...we'll see where this goes. She doesn't really 'live' in the garage she sleeps in there. She likes to be out and about the neighborhood during the day, most days. But I still would prefer to make her an indoor kitty, whether here or somewhere else.
 
Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
happy kitty enjoying the warmth of this blanket and the space heater I have running in the background

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MvMyRDkcaU4



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we have three ferals that live in our garage. we can't heat the garage but we put a few plug in heated cat tents out there and they love them. We have a pet door in the garage door so they can go in and out. :D You sound like such nice people. I'm in a small 1200 sf house and at one time we had 7 inside and about 7 outside we were feeding. We are down to 5 inside and the 3 outside.
 
JanetNJ said:
we have three ferals that live in our garage. we can't heat the garage but we put a few plug in heated cat tents out there and they love them. We have a pet door in the garage door so they can go in and out. :D You sound like such nice people. I'm in a small 1200 sf house and at one time we had 7 inside and about 7 outside we were feeding. We are down to 5 inside and the 3 outside.
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Plug in heated cat tents you say? Do you have a link?
 
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Hendrick Cuddleclaw said:
yeah and this is actually why I would like my wife to be on board with finding her a home. We have a small house (~1000 sq ft) and 6 cats already including an older kitty (15), a diabetic kitty, and out of the six there is a rescue that doesn't get along with the other 5. So it is already a complex multi-cat household and the prospect of trying to integrate Taco is daunting at best.

I would love to bring her inside and have her join the family. Just doesn't seem feasible right now so...we'll see where this goes. She doesn't really 'live' in the garage she sleeps in there. She likes to be out and about the neighborhood during the day, most days. But I still would prefer to make her an indoor kitty, whether here or somewhere else.
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If it's a matter of integrating her, I can help with that. It's fairly easy with the right tools and the patience/ commitment to see it through. Already having multiple cats could work in your favor. However if that is really not possible, I would be happy to offer her a home. We're down to two cats, a diabetic and a 19 yr. old, and the house feels kind of empty.

There are 8 cats in this picture, about half of the clowder we had at the time (occupational hazard of doing rescue). Four of them discarded diabetics. Most of our cats came as adults with unknown history regarding other animals. They not only learned to live together, but many formed bonded friendships. How they are introduced can make or break what kind of relationship they will have.

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Deborah & Muffy(GA) & Wendall said:
If it's a matter of integrating her, I can help with that. It's fairly easy with the right tools and the patience/ commitment to see it through. Already having multiple cats could work in your favor. However if that is really not possible, I would be happy to offer her a home. We're down to two cats, a diabetic and a 19 yr. old, and the house feels kind of empty.

There are 8 cats in this picture, about half of the clowder we had at the time (occupational hazard of doing rescue). Four of them discarded diabetics. Most of our cats came as adults with unknown history regarding other animals. They not only learned to live together, but many formed bonded friendships. How they are introduced can make or break what kind of relationship they will have.

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that is an amazing offer. We shall see! Vet appt for Taco is next Wed the 28th, one of the things I was looking to glean from the appt is whether or not she is spayed, because the so-called previous owners did tell us at one point that she was not, and they were planning to get her fixed and chipped as well. But I never believed they were serious about that.

And now...my wife said to me yesterday she wonders if Taco is pregnant. She said her belly feels a little unusually solid. Well I gave her a quick exam myself and I am thinking my wife is right. We may have a pregnant stray living in our porch/garage. Oh my
 
Honestly, if there’s any chance she’s pregnant, I’d at least keep her locked in the garage until her vet appointment. This is NOT the time of year to have kittens out in the elements (and if she’s young, you never know where they might choose to give birth). Been there with strays/rescues … “kitten-cicles” are never a good thing. And young kittens can’t regulate their body temperature so even the garage might not be warm enough (a cage in the house would be better).

I will quietly mutter under my breath about owners who don’t spay …
 
JL and Chip said:
Honestly, if there’s any chance she’s pregnant, I’d at least keep her locked in the garage until her vet appointment. This is NOT the time of year to have kittens out in the elements (and if she’s young, you never know where they might choose to give birth). Been there with strays/rescues … “kitten-cicles” are never a good thing. And young kittens can’t regulate their body temperature so even the garage might not be warm enough (a cage in the house would be better).

I will quietly mutter under my breath about owners who don’t spay …
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Ha, my wife said the same exact thing yesterday about keeping her in until the vet appt. And for sure, into the house in a crate in the basement if we have to.

We have upgraded her living arrangements to the enclosed porch and she has a new sleeping spot my wife made with an old plastic tote and one of those K&H warming pads that turn on when kitty sits on them, she spent the night in there very happy and cozy.

It was zero degrees outside this morning and 21 °F in the porch. So the extra insulation my wife put up all around the windows (thick plastic) is helping. Still way too cold for newborn kittens though I agree there.
 
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