Stray/feral kitty I named Onyx

[uwllv88]

I have a big problem with the little girl kitty that I've been feeding - I lured her into our garage with her food to keep her in there during a couple of the really cold nights last month. While she is eating she will let me pet her and that is the only way I can get close enough to touch her. So I opened the garage door and put her food down and soon she came walking in real carefully, alays looking at the door to make sure she could leave when she wanted. I sat on the steps and when she was busy eating I closed the door. She freeked and hid so I put a litter box down and left her food and water. NO GOOD, she refused to use the litter box and peed in a few places and made the garage smell horribly. All 4 of my cats go out there so I had to keep them out until I got it cleaned. The problem is that since this kitty won't use a litter box how can it ever have a hope of being adopted?
Our complex had a feral SNR a couple of years ago and I'm not sure but she may have been already fixed. If so, I don't want to take her to the shelter but I also don't want to leave her out there to have more litters. How can I tell if she's pregnant? Will her nipples get enlarged before she gives birth? I've tried to feel her belly for a spay scar but it's just almost impossible to tell. I just wish I knew if she were fixed and I'd just keep feeding her and let her be, but I feel so bad when it's cold out. Plus all she does now that I've been feeding her is hang out by my door 24/7 waiting for me to put food out. It seems like such a lonely life for her. What would you guys do? Should I just take her to the shelter - I'm sure they'll put her down though since she won't use a litter box - And I'd hate for her to get adopted and then returned because of that.

[nanamouse]

You might try using a sponge (and rubber gloves) to soak up her pee accidents and squeeze them into the box. It might also help to start with yard dirt and leaves in the box, then start adding litter as she gets accustomed to it.

Usually a feral TNR will mark an animal that has been fixed, it might be worth calling yours to see what method they marked them with.

If she's eating regularly she should start to show around 5 weeks, plenty of time to still have her spayed if you want.

If you can pet her while she's eating she'll soon associate you with the food, sounds like she'll tame down nicely once she gets the hang of the box.

[uwllv88]

Nana, yes, she already does associate me with food. When she sees me come out to put food in her dish she will run up and start gobbling. She'll eat ANYTHING so I suspect she's gone hungry many times. Poor little thing. She's so sweet, no hissing or anything and she'll let me pet her sometimes even after she's finished eating. She had a brother and I had to take him to the shelter because he was really aggressive and would get up on the window and even on the top step of the screen porch and my cats are really laid back with Onyz, but him they got in horrible fights through the window/screen. I couldn't allow that to continue. I'm letting this one stay because my cats don't mind her at all. She doesn't look them in the eye and just goes about her business of eating and they all watch her through the door. I'm waiting for a call from one of the rescues (I'm on the list ) to get her spayed but they said it would be in JUNE. If she's not already fixed she'll have a litter by then so I don't know what to do - I sure don't want to look for homes for the babies as I've been through that and it's almost impossible especially this time of year.
Nana, I'll give it a try with the dirt in the litter box and see if that helps but my husband will kill me if she pees out there again. We have our swim spa out there for therapy and he doesn't want to smell cat urine (it's the most horrible smell). I'll let you know how it goes.

[dlaura]

Best of luck. I hope you are able to catch her.

[uwllv88]

Thanks dlaura. Oh, I forgot to mention the reason my husband was so upset (and me too) she peed on the "bubble cover" to the spa and we had to throw it out - a $200 cover! I didn't want to take a chance that my other cats would smell it and re-pee on it and it was too big to find all the places she peed so it was just easier to toss it.