Update on feral cat and kitten

Here's an update on a feral cat and kitten that I took in
about six months ago:

From: Ar Fai Ve
Subject: Feral cat and kitten
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2004 04:33:08 GMT

I discovered a feral cat and her kitten living under my
deck last Monday. I fed them dry food outside a few times,

Both mother cat and kitten remain healthy. The mother
cat to this day remains very feral. The kitten is very
friendly and socializes with my other 2 non-feral cats.

Both cats had tapeworms, and the mother cat also has
bartonella. I gave both of them the medicine (single pill)
to kill the tapeworms. Medicating the mother cat was a
royal pain and involved cornering her in the bathroom,
wrapping her in a towel, and administering the pill very
quickly. I've decided to **not** treat the mother cat
for bartonella because it requires 20 consecutive days of
liquid antibiotics. If she becomes more friendly, I'll
start the bartonella treatment. I even called the vet and
asked them to estimate what it would cost to board her and
medicate her, and it would have added up to more than $300.

My oldest orange cat doesn't like the feral mother cat at
all and constantly tries to chase her and beat her up. I
need to keep them separated at all times. I usually let
the feral have the run of the bedroom and then at night, I
shut her up in a large crate that is covered with a sheet
for privacy. That seems to work for the most part, but
usually there is at least one "explosion of hisses" once
a night between the orange cat and feral cat.