# new arrival at Vantage Acres



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

So, the family are back home after a few weeks in the UK.
I'm out at work yesterday, and come home to find a new kitten installed in residence!
First i'd heard about it!

A friend is leaving Dubai, but rescued a kitten 3 weeks ago. It was found trapped behind a DEWA pillar and a tree about 3 weeks ago, and very dehydrated.
It is a proper local street-hoodlum-urchin-terrorist-cat. Stringy, big ears, small head.

So having rescued it and brought it back to health, they've passed it on to us. The kids are delighted. After a few hours under the sofa, it has come out and is behaving like a proper kitten. No shoelace, toe, or electrical wire is safe!

SO - my question..
I've had cats in the UK, and usually have them as outdoor cats, free to roam, and come in whenever. 
How do you introduce a cat to the outside world here to avoid it disappearing altogether, and make sure it gets streetwise quickly?! It is clearly a local, but i'm sure there are some gangsta-cats from the wrong side of the tracks out there, ready to give her a hiding. (yes, she'll be 'done' before she gets outside)


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

I'd never feel comfortable about letting any of ours out proper, I wince when I see the semi-feral that lives in our garden cross the road.

I've manged to pen in the back garden with some shelf brackets and thin wire fencing. The eldest has got through it a few times but a bit of redefining and v3 seems to be holding.

There's also fancy cat pens that are like big aviaries, a company here does them but they're not cheap. That said a man if your DIY talents.....

Sorry for totally not answering your question.


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

For what it's worth, in the UK when one gets a cat from the RSPCA (for the non-UK folks, that's would be a rescue cat from an animal welfare charity), they recommend you keep the cat indoors for 3 weeks or so. That way they get to learn that they are fed and loved there. After the three weeks, there's a good likelihood that the cat will keep coming back if you let it out.

D.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

dnastudios said:


> For what it's worth, in the UK when one gets a cat from the RSPCA (for the non-UK folks, that's would be a rescue cat from an animal welfare charity), they recommend you keep the cat indoors for 3 weeks or so. That way they get to learn that they are fed and loved there. After the three weeks, there's a good likelihood that the cat will keep coming back if you let it out.
> 
> D.


yes, i was proposing that SOP, but wondered if people had a different strategy here, given that most of the local cats are armed..!


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Vantage has she been vaccinated etc? How old is she exactly? It's little bits at a time. She needs to be kept in for a few weeks and gradually introduced to the outside. My cats don't go out - too many nasty people that are likely to kidnapp and torture them - cats are fair game here.

If and when you do let her out, make sure she has a collar, with her municipality tag on - otherwise she's at risk of being picked up as a street cat.

Also seeing as she's come from the streets, might well be an idea to have her tested for FIV (feline aids) - sadly many street cats have it. They can live normal and long lives, but do need medication later on.


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## imac (Oct 14, 2012)

Chocoholic said:


> ...have her tested for FIV (feline aids)...


learn something new everyday... didn't know there was such a thing...


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

Chocoholic said:


> Vantage has she been vaccinated etc? How old is she exactly? It's little bits at a time. She needs to be kept in for a few weeks and gradually introduced to the outside. My cats don't go out - too many nasty people that are likely to kidnapp and torture them - cats are fair game here.
> 
> If and when you do let her out, make sure she has a collar, with her municipality tag on - otherwise she's at risk of being picked up as a street cat.
> 
> Also seeing as she's come from the streets, might well be an idea to have her tested for FIV (feline aids) - sadly many street cats have it. They can live normal and long lives, but do need medication later on.


thanks. Plan was to have her chopped and vaccinated before letting her out.
We 'think' she's about 7 weeks old.
Vet is on this week's 'to do' list!
Good to know about collars and strays getting lifted. There is no collar available that would fit this bundle at the moment! its scrawny neck is about the thickness of my thumb!
Never knew about feline AIDS....
beyond happy lives requiring later treatment, is there any risk to humans from this?


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

vantage said:


> some *gangsta-cats* from the wrong side of the tracks out there


You don't want the new kitten meeting these 'cats': 


















Cause they be:










Some make it big too:










In the end you don't want to hear :


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

And I though the internet was meant to be full of pictures of _cute_ cats.


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## BBmover (Jun 15, 2013)

Maybe you could knock this up? And if you can start a new business as they're a bomb!

Not just the top dog kennels Dubai, we manufacture custom enclosures too


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

Everyone came down on me like a ton of bricks when I mentioned the cat I was looking after went out. The one I am currently looking after goes in the garden but can't jump so she comes in and out with us. She just loves being outside, having spent her entire life in an apartment. She needs her jabs and worming tablets before anything else though. FIV doesn't affect anything else except other cats. And just think, after building your gazebo, you have a new carpentry project. Hide the ladder Mrs. V!


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

BedouGirl said:


> Everyone came down on me like a ton of bricks when I mentioned the cat I was looking after went out. The one I am currently looking after goes in the garden but can't jump so she comes in and out with us. She just loves being outside, having spent her entire life in an apartment. She needs her jabs and worming tablets before anything else though. FIV doesn't affect anything else except other cats. And just think, after building your gazebo, you have a new carpentry project. Hide the ladder Mrs. V!


i'll have a look at that idea. try to get her inot the garden as freely as possible, at least!
To me, i'd rather a cat was outside, able to be a cat, even if it did have to take a beating every now and then, rather than keep them cooped up indoors.
I think our American friends still allow cats to be de-clawed to be totally indoors reliant. Thankfully illegal in UK and Europe.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

saraswat said:


> You don't want the new kitten meeting these 'cats':


that explains the slightly seedy looking character hanging round the neighbourhood with a camera the other day.....!


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

BedouGirl said:


> Everyone came down on me like a ton of bricks when I mentioned the cat I was looking after went out.


I've literally had to chase arabic teenagers out of my garden when they've been trying to set their dogs on the strays that bed down there.

I've personally seen dead cats on the road where it's been impossible for the cat to wander on to eg the very bottom of airport tunnel. 

A friend has a cross that looks like a staff. When he takes it for a walk, almost every evening an FJ Cruiser or F-150 would approach him and either try and buy his dog or try to arrange a dog fight with it. One evening he had to pick up his dog and run down the street as a guy just pulled up and opened his car door and set his own dog upon them. Cats are used in the training of fighting dogs to get their blood lust up.

Another actual friend (not pub talk) had a rescue dog. It was rescued from a labour camp where they kept a male and female in a shed and were eating the litters. If people are that desperate, it's a fair assumption cats are on the menu too.

Yes I'm preaching, though I'm not judging and in an ideal world cats should be able to wander. But there are some real horrible scumbags here and these experiences are enough to safeguard my own cats less I end up doing something with unfortunate consequences.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

Mr Rossi said:


> I've literally had to chase arabic teenagers out of my garden when they've been trying to set their dogs on the strays that bed down there.
> 
> I've personally seen dead cats on the road where it's been impossible for the cat to wander on to eg the very bottom of airport tunnel.
> 
> ...


crikey!
will bear all that in mind..


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## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

vantage said:


> crikey!
> will bear all that in mind..


Sad to say, I know Mr. Rossi is speaking the truth. Like I said, I was following suit from her Mum's way, which was to let her roam. Amazingly, she was still in one very beautiful piece, when we shipped her off to NZ. The newest foster child, also Persian, is a little more delicate and I think she would just be overawed to be out, out, so to speak and I don't think she would have any idea what to do except to run! She is fine with going into the small, fenced off safe area in the garden and I am very happy with that, particularly as I would not now allow a cat to roam, although I do agree it's their nature and they should.

Also, after a summer of having to take practically newborn kittens to the vet to be euthanised, that really was enough for me.

Post photos of the run after Mrs. V. has inspected and approved the final construction. You may have a new business on the up - you never know!


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