I've been working a lot each day with Iona. It is very challenging when she has had no human contact before. We start with a couple of hisses, then a little growling. I slowly inch towards her while talking softly and she closes her eyes and pretends to ignore me. I can usually get within a few inches of her. I slowly move an arm towards her, letting it lie beside her. I then talk to her a lot while she continues ignoring me. That's pretty much the routine so far.

She showed some interest when I showed her how a rubber ball can roll and bounce. She has also touched noses with a couple of cats through the baby gates. She had trouble understanding how to use a litter box so we got Dr. Elsay's Cat Attract litter which worked great and she is using the pan now. She is also eating very well. I am feeding her Wellness foods and a couple of other premium foods without byproducts to build her up. She was grossly malnourished.

Here is a photo I took today. This is her trademark "eat poop and die" look she gives me when I first come into the room. This girl has a lot of attitude!

Iona was checked Thursday by the vet but he was too frightened of her to get her out of the carrier. He did look her over and said everything looks good so far. Next Thursday they are doing another set of x-rays to see how the healing is going and will probably rewrap the arm. Hopefully she won't have to wear the sling for too many weeks.

Yep, I see the "eat poop and die" look................

Our daughter began to feed a feral cat at her job. Someone helped her to trap her & have her spayed and shots given. She tried to keep her but was not too successful with it and knowing my daughter she does not have the patience that you obviously have. She returned her to where she was and continued to feed her. She left that job but continues to go feed her every couple of days. She will not let her touch her but she comes running when she sees her car.

If we ever get settled where we do not go to spend time with my ailing Mom & Sister I'd like to help out with cats needing a place to live. We have a lot of space now so I could house many,any cats.

Thank you for what you do....................... I'll be following Iona. It will be interesting to see how she opens up with your loving care.

Ginger

Ken,

Without you, this beautiful creature would not have survived! I think that we humans have a part of our souls missing, and the only thing that completes us is loving and caring for little creatures such as Iona. i know that the love I had for my little Bitsy caused me to truly mature as no other love could have done. You are an example for every one of us to look to, and I pray that you can continue to keep up your faithful work with these animals.

Andy

Iona went in for xrays yesterday to check the leg. She shows some bone calcification already so things look promising. The shoulder joint is still in place but of course she's in a sling to keep the weight off. They changed slings and now she is in a stylish purple color. They also changed the angle some so the leg is hanging lower and she can put a little bit of weight on it. The plan is to take the sling off entirely next Thursday and to take the pin out in 2-3 weeks. We have crossed fingers that the shoulder joint will stay in place and nothing will go wrong.

She is a real spitfire, still hissing at me when I come into the room. I've been acclimating her to the other cats by bringing them in a couple at a time. There has been a little hissing from some but overall she seems curious about them. Her taming is really being hindered by the injury so far. She eats well but still cries to get out afterwards. I am not too surprised at this and am still spending a lot of time daily with her to get her past it. I estimate it will be after Christmas before she accepts the situation and starts to enjoy indoor life. She will come around because my patience will outlast her stubborn streak. She doesn't realizr that she got hit by a car because she was living outside. It's all she has ever known and she is reluctant to give it up for the great indoors. One day it will click in her mind that maybe living inside with the other cats here is not a bad thing. I'll take another photograph once her sling is off.

I laughed when the vet told me he wished she would have worn the E-collar. This girl doen't do anything she doesn't want to do! He forgets that sometimes so I put a sign on the cage telling him to gently restrain her with gloves and tranquilize her in the carrier before removing her in a closed room and to put her back in the cage before trying to wake her up. Otherwise she would be flying around the room and trying to kill everything in sight. He took my advice this time after seeing her in action once.

hi ken
you are my hero! what a wonderful happy ending to such a sad story. iona reminds me of my little riley (he passed almost 2 years ago). he was a little feral cat that i rescued from beneath a just-about-to-turn car. i had seen the little black blur cross a very busy and wide street and land in the wheel well of a car. luckily for him and me i was able flag down the car and since the jerk wasnt willing to get on his hands and knees, i did. it was almost 14 years of happiness that we shared. but in the begining, boy it was rough. he hissed, growled and wouldnt let anyone touch him. i would gingerly open the door to his room, quickly refill his food and water bowl and q uickly shut the door. i was scared of him too. but little by little he came out of his shell and although he wanted out really badly, he grew to like living indoors. it got to the point where i could leave the door wide open and he wouldnt step a foot outside. he joined my family of two (me and fred (who passed this year) and the three of us were very happy. the eat poop and die look? yeah riley mastered it too
well, i just cant say enough how wonderful you are and thank you for giving iona another chance at life
god bless you and your entire family!
patricia

God bless people like you.

madi xx

Thank you all for your very kind replies but I am just doing what I can. I could never leave a hurt animal outside like that.

I am so excited! We had a minor breakthrough today in that Iona let me pet her for several minutes. She was very apprehensive and her pupils were huge but she seemed to enjoy it at the same time. I did it twice more today. The second time she panicked and hissed at me. The third time went well. You may not think of this as much but for a feral cat who would run and hide when I entered the room this is a huge improvement after 10 days. She still hisses and growls when I enter but it is almost like she does it out of habit now. She actually stretches out on the table and relaxes though she keeps a wary eye on me. She is coming along well and should be reasonably social in a few months if I keep working with her. It has the same type of challenges that you would face in taking in a wild bobcat and trying to tame it. Most people wouldn't try it and would have just euthanized her but that was not an option here. My wife jokes to me that I am Dr. Doolittle since I am starting to get through to Iona a little bit. I wish I were because it would be a lot easier! I watch her eyes for indications of how far I can go with her at any given time. When the pupils dialate I know I have to ease off a little and talk to her until she relaxes.

congratulations! boy do i know how you feel. at one point, i never thought riley would ever let me approach him. but one day, to my surprise, he tiptoed out of his room, one slooooooooow step at a time, jumped on the couch and squished his little body next to mine. he shut his little yellow eyes and slept peacefully and that was the beginning of a wonderful life with him. however even though i had him for almost 14 years, he never stopped hissing at me, followed up by loud purring i miss you my little riley. momma loves you forever and ever.

i know how happy you are as i too remember the feelings of elation when riley finally started coming around.
god bless
p

I am seeing tiny improvements in her behavior each day but we still have a long road ahead. We took her in for xrays and to have her sling rewrapped. The vet said she is starting to heal and everything looks good. Tomorrow she goes in to get the sling removed. In a week or two the pin will come out. Here is Iona today. You can see that she is a little more relaxed. I still can't get too close without her pupils getting huge but she isn't hissing now.