Hi, new to this

forum, I have been on the kittens forum lately. OK, my ferral cat Slick had her kittens 4 weeks ago. She had been getting tamer in the wild and when I brought her in to have the babies, she tamed right down. Like she knew me all her life. Trusts me with her babies, I can rub her belly. Anyone new who comes in gets a bit of an evil eye or should I say a wary eye. Never has she been aggressive. A very docile lady. Will she revert to ferral once the kittens get bigger? Gosh, I sure hope not. I plan to keep her. I have already found homes for 2 of them and the remainder will go to a no kill shelter who actually were in the running for a Zoo Too make over. They ended up with 5,000 dollars. Anyway, the kittens are very tame. Should I be too concerned? I have a couple of ferral cats who have become my house cats. They are a little skittish now and then, but I can still do the belly rub and they love to be petted. Any thoughts? Thanks

It is very possible some of her tameness will be reduced. But surely not all. I believe the chances of fostering her are excellent especielly as she is SO much tame-behaving, more then the average semiferal mom.

A severely hurt or sick ferale who seeks help, and IS helped and attended by a human - do bonds and get easy fostered if he manages the hurts.
It can sometimes go astonishingly quick. The "window" wide open to kittens do opens again.
I believe something like that is also happening with ferale moms.

It sounds to me like you have yourself a house cat. If she's tamed down, chances are she was a stray or was dumped by someone. In any case, I don't think you'll have too much trouble from now on.

Get her spayed as soon as possible. And bless you for helping her and the kits.

Originally Posted by Ondine

It sounds to me like you have yourself a house cat. If she's tamed down, chances are she was a stray or was dumped by someone. In any case, I don't think you'll have too much trouble from now on.

Get her spayed as soon as possible. And bless you for helping her and the kits.

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for the input. I will have her spayed asap. She has had her shots and she was tested and came up negative for FIV and FLV. Real nice calm girl. She had been around the yard for about 1 year before I brought her in. My reasoning was she was the only female ferral. Three males. This way, even though it is difficult with my other cats to take care of, the ferral population will dwindle. First time in 30 years!! Slick's pictures are on the pregnant cat and kitten forum. Since I brought her in, two of the males have been scarce. I hope they are ok, I love them all. Thanks again.

The odd thing about strays is that, of course, many of them didn't start out that way. If a kitten is handled a lot in the first 3 months of life, and especially in the first two weeks, it will never be truly feral. Just a little bit of attention will win over their confidence again.

I live in the country and have a horse barn. Needless to say, every feral in town sees the "eat at joes" sign that must be hanging out, and come in to eat. It also includes possumns raccoons, etc. I had a big big orange tom that would show up for about 2 years. Would run if he ever saw us. One day he showed up after being in another fight, this time with one of his eyes ripped open. It was also cut right below the eye. for the first time, he let me touch him, tend to his eye as best I could, and from then on, he let me take care of him, pet him, hold him, etc. I had him neutered and now he is the sweetest thing in the world. He is blind in that one eye, and still roams some, but nothing like before. He is my baby. It's amazing how once you help them, they know it and really become so nice. He is now best friends with one of my feral females, and they are always side by side. i think your girl may be the same way. they seems to know love and respond to it.

Mary
owned by Fuzzy, Smooth, Gray, Orange,Yellow, and Smokey.
also, mitzi,chelsea, Heidi, Lucy, Major, Amadeo, Ernie.(4 dogs, 3 horses)