Momo, the feral cat with the injured eye, is in my basement crate. Recovering from his surgery, he was successfully neutered, and they gave him a shot that lasts for 2 weeks to heal his eye. They asked if I could keep him for at least a week to see if his eye was improving. He hasn’t eaten or drunk since the day I trapped him, which was Aug 8, 2022, after 5:30 pm. That is concerning me. He loves wet food, I left him food twice, the first day he was recovering from anesthesia, and then on then last night the 9th after I got him into the crate, he just seems bummed out, and depressed, I understand he is in a new environment, and he will come out of his shell when he is really hungry.
This is my first TNR so I am not used to it. Normally, when a male cat is neutered, soon after they are released, as long as they are completely aware, and the anesthesia has worn off. With his eye recovering, I am going to keep him for a week and see how his eye progresses. I pray the medication that they gave him will work. So far I have had to clean his crate once. After he came out of anesthesia, he urinated where he was sitting, poor baby, it breaks my heart. I managed to clean the crate, pulled out the trap, replaced the pee pads, hand wiped down the trap, and added new newspaper, but he has not left the litter box, he is literally laying in it. I hope it doesn’t have any feces or urine in it.
I pray that the good Lord, will guide me, and give him the courage to come out of his shell, and at least eat and drink because that is worrying me. With the temperatures so hot recently, it worried me a lot. Today we are getting a break from the weather, it is cooler, but the humidity is still on the high side, so with the cool weather, and high humidity at the very least he is comfortable where he is. Below are some recent pictures. I watch him on a camera, to be sure he is ok. He got up stretched and is going to sit back down, I hope he steps out and tries to eat food.
The first 2 photos, are of him, right after we brought him home and put him in the crate, leaving food and water for him. In the 3rd photo, he got up and was trying to find a way out, in the process knocking water around and moving the pee pads around in the crate. I went down at about 3 am and left him food, and a little more water. When I checked in the morning, he had not eaten any of it. In the 4th and 5th photos, he is laying in the litter box, after I had cleaned it all up, and put down some dry food, and water. The last photo is after he go up, stretched, and repositioned himself to sleep in the litter box. I hope at some point he gets up or at least drinks water. I am getting worried about him. I wish there was a way for me to reassure him, but I think it will just take some time.
Meanwhile, my inside cats Daisy, and Lily, continue to complain about wanting to go downstairs. I cannot let them down there. After speaking with the vet’s assistant, she said he may be FIV+ with that said, I cannot let my girls near him without doing a blood test. That will cost $70, plus whatever they charge for anesthesia. It is something my husband and I would have to talk about. Because we are unsure, my girls (inside cats), will have to remain away from him. They are used to having free reign to explore the basement and come up as they please, until now. I feel bad for them but I have no choice, it is for their well-being.
I have been praying that the Lord please guide me in what to do with Momo, if his eye is better, should we release him back outside, as he may be too feral to tame, and we can just try to adopt a kitten that needs a home, or another adult cat that does not have anything that my girls can catch. If we decide to get him tested, and he is negative, then we will go from there. Right now, he has to stay put, and in the crate, for a week. From now until then I will try to post some photos of how his eye is doing.
I think that is all for now. Please keep him in your prayers, so that his eye will heal. And that the Lord guide me in the right thing to do with Momo.
God Bless
Emily