When feral cats get sick for extended periods of time you need to provide extra space for them to recover safely and humanely. I’ve run into that situation a few times this past year, and the Feral Cat Recovery Cage has been a lifesaver, literally, for the cats. My TNR friend, Dave H, invented this set-up, and actually ended up donating it to me. I am indebted to Dave’s ingenuity and generosity. The cats are lucky to have him working so hard for them, and I really don’t know how to thank him enough.

This set-up is so swank that I actually call it the Feral Cat Recovery Lounge. It’s a two-doored dog crate with a Tru-Catch trap attached to another opening cut out on the side. You can attach a standard-sized Light Duty Animal Trap or Fat Cat Animal Trap. This is what the lounge looks like covered, but you can see the door of the trap is lined up to the cut opening to the crate. The door is kept open with a secured stick.

The trap is attached securely to the crate with these removable springs on both sides.

The cat can go freely from the trap to the crate, and vice versa. You always place food and water at the end of the trap for the cat. That was s/he is acclimated to going into it, which makes it easy for when you’re ready to transport the cat to the vet, back outside, etc.

Zombie Cat was in the lounge first earlier this year. She was very sick with an aggressive URI and lived in the lounge for about six weeks, receiving three rounds of antibiotics, and visiting the vet several times. Here she is in the trap, ready to walk into the lounge area.

Once I opened the trap door, she walked right into the recovery crate, which has a litter box, cat bed, and room to stretch. Here she is on the cat bed looking from the trap end.

And here she is in the cat bed looking from the crate end. 

She also had a choice of a cat bed on an elevated platform in the crate. The platform frees up even more room to stretch out in.

The lounge is once again occupied, this time by Dice, one of the cats in my yard from the James Gang Colony. Dice had a dental earlier this year, before I had this set-up, and frankly recovery was very stressful for him. We kept him in a crate, but had to prod him back into a trap when we needed to. This eliminates the need for such interaction.

Frankly Dice is so sick right now that he is allowing human handling, but the recovery lounge is a great place to keep him contained safely, and is easy to open up if I want to pet him, administer medicine, or pick him up. He has been sleeping non-stop – I doubt he could jump up on the second floor of the lounge because he is so weak.

I am so happy to have this recovery lounge at my disposal because Dice got sick very fast. I wanted to re-trap him earlier and take him to the vet, but he was still being evasive. When I came home last Friday from being out of town all week, I found him in the garden with black mucus all over his face, and meowing at me. I placed him easily into a trap and took him to the vet. He is not doing well – he is severely dehydrated, underweight at four pounds, his face is bleeding from the mucus, and he seems to be defecating and urinating uncontrollably. At the same time, he is seeking out food and seems to appreciate the care given to him, so this is not easy to figure out what to do. He received fluids and is on antibiotics for now. Please keep your fingers crossed him. At the very least, he is comfortable right now because of this lounge, and there is no stress involved in moving him.

Going out of town when you have multiple cats can be stressful. Not only are there pet cats to care for, sometimes with medical needs, but there can also be foster cats, sick feral cats resting in recovery lounge crates, and outdoor cat colonies.

Greer from Mama Bear Pet Care handles all of the above scenarios and then some. She cat sat for me a few times this year now. She has been a cat sitter for 20+ years, worked as a vet tech, and volunteers as a wildlife rehabilitator for Flint Creek Wildlife Center. She doesn’t just cat sit – she also cares for dogs and other pets.

In fact, she is currently pet sitting for a woman fostering a dog and her seven puppies for PAWS Chicago. Here’s Georgia and her one week old puppies.

Greer and I met last year when she adopted two former feral colony cats from me. Both of these cats ended up separately in animal control facilities. Their microchips were traced to me and saved their lives.

Louie is now the poster cat for her business. Louie is FIV+. So is his sister here that Greer adopted from Lulu’s Locker Rescue.

Emrys is a bit more shy, but he is now also a total house cat. Emrys does not have FIV, and he mingles freely and safely with his cat friends. More and more progressive shelters are adopting this approach.

See? Here they are together. They came from two different colonies with two different feeders a few blocks apart. I like to think they knew each other on the street and are reunited in Greer’s home.

When we were out of town last May I had Zombie Cat isolated and recovering in a feral cat recovery lounge. Here’s what the lounge looks like from the outside. It’s a crate with a Tru-Catch trap attached to it.

You could not touch her, but Zombie Cat was safely inside here and resting with a bed, litter box, food and water.

Zombie Cat is fully feral, and at the time, was in my house very sick with a URI, recovering from dental surgery, and required daily antibiotics. Greer took care of her and offered holistic suggestions from her own experience.

The cats in my yard also got her full attention. Greer kept their feeding stations clean and full of fresh food. While we were gone she gave me updates on their eating habits and who showed up for dinner.

She sent me photos. In fact, all of the photos in this post are taken by her.

Her photos made me smile because it obviously looked like business as usual and the cats barely noticed we were gone.

Bouncy Bear and Dice were still dining together.

Dash checked her out from the Jim Villa. And Funny Face stayed back on the Feral Villa. 

Of course Greer didn’t forget my pet cats, Mooha and Mini. Mini is semi-feral and mostly bonded to me, but Mooha loved Greer.

I can’t say enough about Mama Bear Pet Care. Greer cares deeply about animals, and has devoted her life to caring for them in her home, in her work, and as a volunteer.