The Next Step

One of the principal concerns of a cat in a new environment is that she eats. Sometimes, when we rescue cats, the feline refuses to eat for days on end. That is very worrying, as you may imagine, since the only alternative to the cat eating of her own accord is force-feeding by syringe. That’s not a viable option with a feral or even semi-feral animal.

Fortunately, Sable has surprised all of us involved in her care by having a meal at some point during her first night in captivity.

She was offered two kinds of Fancy Feast, as well as some very tasty rotisserie chicken. I know which one I would have preferred, but Sabe may never have consumed human food, and instead selected the old tried and true chicken Fancy Feast, eating the greater portion of half a tin. This is a great load off our minds.

Sable is currently in a large cage in a private room. Tonight, the cage door will be left open, and she will be free to explore the room. We think she is more amenable to doing things at night, when the house is still and quiet. That is when she ate her food. During the day, she will likely retreat to the carrier that is inside her cage. (This is desirable at this stage: the plan, when it is time to transport her to my new home, is that she retires of her own accord to her carrier and the door is simply shut on her. It has worked well for other very shy cats, who prefer to hide when people come to visit. Sabe will be socialised when she is at my place, and no more moving is in her future.)

Her next step, though, is using the litter-box. We have Cat-Attract litter in it; even so, a box is likely a new thing for her so it may be another day or night before she makes use of hers. Nonetheless, she made the first step to being an insider-cat last night.