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So if you recall, we had an outside cat, Coco, who was the "neighborhood cat" who "came with" the house we recently bought. She's slowly started spending more & more time at our house & we started letting her inch her way inside. We were letting her spend nights in our screened porch & then send her out during the day. I'm growing weary of this in & out business & besides, that room is not a long-term plan. So we started letting her stay in a room in our basement & she's now been inside for a full 2 days.
She seems OK with it, but I have some concerns and feeling like we're in over our heads a bit (we've had a pretty rough year in the cat dept). For starters, she's older & been outside 5-10yrs now, I have no idea what health issues she could have. We want to take her to a vet, but how??? She's very, very friendly with us, but she still has her limits. I can't imagine getting her into a carrier or having a vet poke and prod her and being in an office!!!!! How will that ever work?!
We are concerned she may have ear mites because a few times now we've seen her scratch at her ear pretty intensely and she starts to meow while she is doing it. She fusses when I try to look in her ear, but it looks kinda dark. I've never dealt with ear mites, so I don't know much about it. We have 2 other cats who don't interact with her, but they share us humans with her, is this something we could pass them?
First off, I think you're doing a really nice thing by taking in this cat. I understand your concerns with taking her to a vet. She does need a check up before SHE passes anything on to your cats. I would look for a mobile vet. This is much easier on the cats. They don't have to leave the house while getting all stressed out. We found a mobile vet about 2 years ago, and it is so much easier, stress free for all involved. If you can't find one listed, just call a few rescues/shelters, that is how we found ours. Good luck and let us know how it all works out.
If you can't find a mobile vet as suggested, you may have to bite the bullet and stuff her in a carrier. She needs to be tested & otherwise checked out to protect your other cats, so you really don't have much choice. What you described about her ears does sound like mites, and needs to be treated. IIRC the last time I had to treat one of mine for them, there were two kinds of drops available. One required multiple applications over a period of time & the other was a one time deal, but more expensive (which I opted for). You could treat the ear mites yourself at home, but you really should vet her completely if you're planning to introduce her to your home.
Just let the vet know the situation and maybe s/he will have one of the techs hold her. Let them give her the first treatment for mites if she has them.
Well, at least there are two of you. I had to stuff two strays into carriers and take them to their first ever vet visits by myself!
Luckily, while they were very vocal, they behaved very well at the vets.
Now, they are part of my cat clan....one sleeps in his carrier, the other sleeps on top of her carrier.
My other three.......run at the mere sight of a carrier.
Bless your hearts for taking her in. I think the idea of a mobile vet is great, but if you don't have any in your area, you'll have to suck it up and stuff her in a carrier. It does sound like she has ear mites, poor thing. Don't allow her to interact with your cats until this is cleared up.
Have the vet check her carefully for any parasites, and have a stool sample analyzed in case she has worms.
Thanks, I'm going to check around about one of these mobile vets first, but if we have to take her to the regular vet, well I'm sure we can't be the first to have brought in an unhappy cat right!?! I know they make various calming agents for cats, so maybe we'll try one of them as well. She very friendly with other people, I just hope she doesn't freak at the smell of other animals.
In the meantime we'll continue to keep her seperated from my house cats. I don't see that interaction going well at all anyway, so I have no problem delaying it a bit!
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I understand your concerns with taking her to a vet. She does need a check up before SHE passes anything on to your cats. I would look for a mobile vet. This is much easier on the cats. They don't have to leave the house while getting all stressed out. We found a mobile vet about 2 years ago, and it is so much easier, stress free for all involved. If you can't find one listed, just call a few rescues/shelters, that is how we found ours. Good luck and let us know how it all works out.
