Marlow not happy

This morning Marlow is more readily expressing his displeasure. And now it's worse. He has hurt himself trying to escape I presume. See photo. He had his neuter on Tues morning. I don't think he will allow treatment of his nose even if I new what to do. Should I turn him loose? I don't want him hurting himself anymore than he has.

It's normal for a feral to scratch up their nose on the cage from their dislike. I think it's okay to let him out today.

Good Luck.

The neutering wounds should be OK now.

The homeless/ ferales who do OK are tough, being the survivors.

Thus they recover quicker then most homecats.

I was hoping to let him get to know me. He's calm now. Earlier when he hurt himself I had left the garage door up thinking he would enjoy the activity outside. Bad move on my part I think. Now with the door down, all nice and quiet, he's napping.
I just did a variation of the sit on a bucket and read to him with back turned away trick. (I read the clues and answers to the daily crossword then explained to him what numeral went where in the Soduko). He slept through it.
If I were to turn him loose would I ever be able to gain his trust after what I have put him trough? I'm not convinced that I would ever see him again.

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to set him free (=TNR), so you can apparently do it already if you wish.

If you hope to foster him into a homecat, and he did become calm - keep him!

Your opening the doors exciting him is no peculiar: a common advice for fosterers of ferals is to curtain off all the windows. At least in the beginning till they stressed down and landed.

He may disappear temporarily after you release him, but he'll return to his food source sooner rather than later. It could take a little time to rebuild that trust level, but most of the cats I've TNR'd have gotten past the trauma pretty quickly and back into their former routine and relationship with me or their feeders.

I guess I will let him go. If he chooses to live in my yard he can. Wanting to be his protector and idol was my idea, maybe not his.

Opened Marlows enclosure and it took him 20 minutes to decide to leave it. He walked out of the garage, streched, took notice of the flowers that I planted today, then stepped up into his domicile, the thick landscaping around the house. He took one lap slowly around the house and located his food dish as if nothing had happened.

The down side is that Sasha, my indoor cat, saw him and has reverted to his "I'm worried about that cat out there" mode. As I write he is roaming from window to window trying to put eyes on Marlow.

After having not seen Marlow for two days, Sasha was his old self all day. Playing fetch and dragging his favorite toys to me so I would play with them.

this will come to pass. It's natural, the curiosity.

My outdoor ferals used to sit on the outside windowsills while my indoor cats sat on the inside windowsill. Their hair would touch through the screen. At first the indoor cats got a little bent out of shape, and eventually they accepted them as just part of their pride. Over time, I've gotten the outdoor ferals to come inside and now that this is part of their daily routine, its not unusual to see them sleep in piles together and groom each other. Sometimes this just takes time.

At two and a half years old Sasha has time.

Every single cat I've spayed or neutered and released have stuck around. Even the ones who weren't tame.