I think this is great advice! I love the idea of catching them on camera with no people around. Here's an example of how cameras can help.
Last year, I trapped a feral cat with a bad limp. My vet and I were trying to decide if the cat needed to have one of his legs amputated. (If so, he would have been permanently housed in my cage-free feral cat sanctuary.) The cat's leg had been badly injured at some point and healed incorrectly. It was similar to a club foot. I didn't think he was using it at all, but the vet wasn't sure, so I put the cat in a large dog kennel (8'x10 fully enclosed) with some things to climb on and mounted a night vision camera to the kennel. We get clear video of him using the leg to walk, jump and climb, so we opted to let him keep the leg since he was using it and didn't seem to be in any pain. The camera footage was the deciding factor for sure, and without the camera being mounted and active while no people were around, we wouldn't have gotten any footage at all and might have made a different decision. We TNR'ed him and let him go.
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Lisa Crawford
Mission Possible Homeless Cat Foundation
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-17-2022 03:51 PM
From: Sheila Segurson
Subject: Cats Surrendered due to Owner Passing
Hi Chelsea,
Do you have any video of the cats when people aren't near? Can you set up a phone on a tripod to get some video? Would be good to see how they are reacting to each other when people aren't around. Ideally, i'd put them in a foster home. Second choice would be to put them in an office- somewhere where they have more space. With about 98% of cats who we know are social but reacting negatively in a cage - they come around in a larger space.
These two cats are currently undergoing a traumatic experience, having lost their owner and everything they find comforting. I'd do everything possible to keep them together (if they like each other) to avoid exacerbating that trauma even more. This article is dog focused, but talks about trauma and how we can help animals: https://humanepro.org/magazine/articles/ask-expert-treating-trauma
Let us know how they do!
Sheila
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Sheila Segurson, DVM
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Behaviorists
Director of Outreach and Research
Maddie's Fund
9258608284
Original Message:
Sent: 11-16-2022 02:54 PM
From: Chelsea Pittsley
Subject: Cats Surrendered due to Owner Passing
Good afternoon! We have two adult cats (Punky and Blue) that were brought into our center due to their owner passing away. Blue seems to be adjusting much better than Punky. Blue is rolling on his back, taking all of the love we are giving him. He comes up to the cage for attention. Punky on the other hand has been hiding in the back corner of his kennel, hissing and swatting whenever we try to work with him. Blue does seem to get feed off of Punky's hissing a little, but quickly warms back up to us. We understand Punky has been through a lot and every cat adjusts at their own speed. We are wondering if it would be better to sperate the two since they are adjusting at very different speeds? Or if they need to stay together?
Thank you,
Erin Ammons
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment
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Chelsea Pittsley
Laramie Peak Humane Society
307-358-6475
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