Feral Caturday: Update on Ethel

Per reader request, we asked the new owners of "Ethel" — a formerly feral cat who lived around the apartment building at 15 Hawthorne Street (just off of Flatbush)—to write an update on her progress. Here's an edited version of what they had to say:

BACKGROUND: Some of you may remember a skinny, white and grey cat that hung out with a colony of ferals near Flatbush. Ethel is unusual in that she was feral since birth, yet people-friendly (though she strongly preferred women, and would run from most men and children).

Since Ethel was as emaciated as the other cats were plump, we started feeding her last August. She liked me and would follow me home, so every day, we'd place some food further and further inside our place. For the first couple of months, we always left the door open so she could leave whenever she wanted; closing it made her nervous. Over time, she'd stay longer and longer. We went on vacation for 2 weeks in the fall and arranged to have neighbors feed her outdoors. When we got back, Ethel came inside the house, used the litter box for the first time, and made it clear that she had no plans to leave.

PERSONALITY: Ethel is a great cat! She loves to be petted, brushed, and held. She's as playful as a kitten. And she's remarkably trainable: she comes when called about 60% of the time (not bad for a cat!); she avoids the "no cats" room; and has been good about not scratching things that aren't designed to be scratched.

PECULIAR HABITS: Ethel can spend up to 3 minutes covering her tracks in the kitty litter box. Sometimes she'll dig out all the litter from one half of the box and create a large mountain at the other end. One time, while making one of these lopsided castles, she somehow knocked over the entire litter box!

Ethel tends to follow us around the house, dog-like. We leave her food out at all times, but she only seems to eat when we're in the kitchen. If I'm not in the kitchen and she's hungry, she'll look up at me and make a little sad sound to get me to go in the kitchen to eat. For water, she prefers to drink out of my glass (a habit I discourage).

HEALTH. Ethel had a few problems when we adopted her: worms, fleas, and a respiratory infection. She's been treated for all, however, and is now doing well. The one remaining problem is her teeth; due to bad nutrition when she was on the streets, most of them are rotting and the vet says we will need to have them pulled within the year.

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Every day around 6pm or 7pm, the period known as "spazz time" begins. Ethel will roll herself up in our area rug, chase phantoms, and run from us as if we're going to attack her. Often I'll bring out a toy to keep her busy. She has a little plastic dreidel that she kicks around (usually when we're not looking), and she likes to play with rolled-up paper and rubber bands. Sometimes I'll put a rubber bracelet on top of the stairs and she'll kick it all the way down. Her favorite thing, however, is to box with dangling string or dental floss. After learning how much fun little white strings are, she now knows how to locate them in their natural environs. If she sees me flossing, she'll try to jump on my lap and swat at a lose end. We can't use an ipod around her. Last night, I caught her jumping up toward a door knob and realized that she was trying to get the white wire coat hanger. (Maybe it looked a bit like string?)

SKILLS. While we haven't seen any mice since adopting Ethel, she clearly has a prey drive and would make an excellent mouser.

AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT NEEDED: Though Ethel was relatively friendly on the streets, she's pretty shy as a house cat. Whenever friends come over, she hides for a while. We need to get her used to seeing different people so that the next time we go away for vacation, she doesn't totally freak out.

Comments

[babs]

Congratulations -- Ethel sounds like a dream! So glad it's worked out. Just be careful with the dental floss -- if she were to eat a strand it could do nasty things in her intestines. Thanks for the update!

[Sarah]

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the update!
i am very happy to know that she has a good home now.

[Jeanne]

She's beautiful! You did a wonderful thing. I'd adopt one of the feral cats in a heartbeat but my cat has such an extreme and violent reaction to other cats. Even though she is otherwise the sweetest cat you'd meet (other than Ethel!).

About the teeth, do pull them and soon. She'll be okay. My cat's first owner, a friend, was a good and caring animal lover but completely overwhelmed after having a baby, and neglected my cat's health for a couple years and didn't address a gingivitis and teeth problem until it was too late. One tooth got so rotted it created an infection that went all the way out to the exterior of my cat's cheek. My friend fixed that then gave me my cat and I had more teeth pulled. I had pulled any and all that were even starting to look bad. Now my cat's left with only 2 or 3 teeth but the gingivitis is gone and she hasn't had any rotten teeth in 8 years. She eats fine, and she even used her one remaining fang to kill a mouse she caught. Animals are so adaptable. Quite an inspiration to humans in that regard.

[carol]

Does anyone know whether indoor pets,
a cat, are allowed in the co-op at 135
hawthorne? Can't seem to get a consistent
answer....love the location but need kitty
to tag along. Anybody have any first hand
knowledge??????

[Charles Star]

While I'd like to think of HS as your one-stop-shopping source for PLG info, I think you are more likely to get an answer if you post the question to the Lefferts Yahoo Group.

[Erin]

Ethel's kittens, atleast the 3 I have tabs on, are doing wonderfully as well :-) They've all turned into chubby little house cats.

[carrie]

Erin, that's great! I wondered what happened to those kittens and whether they survived.

Just fyi, the mother is one of the tabbies, not Ethel. Ethel had her baby organs removed last summer. In fact, that tabby is the only fertile female left in the colony. (2 of the males are neutered; the large black one I call "the Sloth" probably isn't.) Tabby I needs to be spayed too but the nearby cat lady has retired because the super in that building wasn't willing to work with her.

[Erin]

I think they were Ethel's she was nursing them. They were from the litter last summer right before her spay, not the missing kittens from the winter. One of the kittens actually looks EXACTLY like her too.