Taming a feral 2 year old kitty boy

Right now he has three hiding spots in the room: the carrier, a box taped up with a hole and lined up with a blankie and a cylindrical kitty bed with two entries. Then there is a couch, a kitty tree and the crate which is in the middle of the room. We have to remove the crate in order to create more hiding spots and be able to move easier in the room. But I wonder if itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a bit early to do that since today at noon when we went with food he was in the crate. The bedroom he is in is not very small but not very large either. The couch takes a lot of space and we could not take it out before we brought him home because there is not other room in the house for it. Any suggestions?
Joe went this afternoon and took a nap in the room; when he entered the room Sweet Pea hissed at him from behind the crate, not a mean hiss just a little one. When I went to visit this morning he was ON THE COUCH meatloafed. He just sat there looking at me and said something. Then after about 20 min he moved to his carrier, he did not run, he walked towards it.

I called our vet this past Friday to ask about the second round of immunization shots and she said that in her opinion it would be probably better at this point to get him more used to us before we take him in. If we donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t take him in when he is due for his second immunization shots, then we will have to do it all over again. I need to call her again and ask about deworming also. He got a dose of Revolution and a shot of Ivermectin and I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t know if this enough to kill the parasite eggs. Our other kitties get Revolution every month. If only taking him to the vet would be easier, I am so afraid of traumatizing him in the process of getting him!

I will have to share with you how his name came about…

Marina

Oh that is great news! Sounds like he's doing really well!!!!!!!!!!!! (And napping in the room tis PERFECT. Sleeping humans are SO non-threatening! ). The room set up sounds just fine, really. Is the crate the same one you'd use to get him to the vet? I'd remove something else if he's using it.

The crate is the one he was in for almost 4 weeks. We removed it yesterday.
Last night I went in and read him "The cat who came home for Christmas" and he was on the couch dozing off, he fell asleep. He loves it when we read to him .
This morning when we went in with breakfast he was in the middle of the room and he ran towards our side of the room not away from us. He went behind the kitty tree and sat there watching us as we put fresh food and water and cleaned his boxes. Is this a good sign? I worry that he is thinking of getting outside of the room and of escaping outdoors. He is also trying to climb on the windowsill and he can't because it is too narrow. I know he wants to look outside but maybe he is trying to see if he can escape that way?
He does this very endearing thing, as soon as he is done eating he says something outloud, maybe "I am done, thank you" or "I just ate and my tummy is happy"...
I just wish we had done things differently with him from the beginning but we can not change that...

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

Last night I went in and read him "The cat who came home for Christmas" and he was on the couch dozing off, he fell asleep. He loves it when we read to him

. .

Click to expand...

A calm, melodic voice is very soothing for cats, not to mention that he is getting used to your presence by being in the room with him. Great choice for a book!

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

This morning when we went in with breakfast he was in the middle of the room and he ran towards our side of the room not away from us. He went behind the kitty tree and sat there watching us as we put fresh food and water and cleaned his boxes. Is this a good sign? I worry that he is thinking of getting outside of the room and of escaping outdoors. He is also trying to climb on the windowsill and he can't because it is too narrow. I know he wants to look outside but maybe he is trying to see if he can escape that way?

Click to expand...

It looks like he is getting more comfortable with you. I currently have a 6 year old (Lucky Pierre) that I didn't get into the house for the first time until he was about 18 months old. I keep cat condos in the windows and he spends a good part of his days laying in them looking outside. He loves the one by the window with the bird feeders. Keeps him occupied. As long as the window is shut, I wouldn't worry about allowing him a look outside.

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

He does this very endearing thing, as soon as he is done eating he says something outloud, maybe "I am done, thank you" or "I just ate and my tummy is happy"...

Click to expand...

Lucky does that to me, and even "thanks" me when I put food out for him. It is very sweet.

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

I just wish we had done things differently with him from the beginning but we can not change that...

Click to expand...

Don't ever beat yourself up on what you may have done differently!! Every last one of us on the site who have worked with feral cats learned through trial and error. And every cat is different, so if you ever go through this again, what works for Sweet Pea may not work for another cat. We're giving you ideas that seem to uniformly work with all feral cats. But there are probably many other things that you'll discover over time that will help. You are doing a wonderful job with this boy!!

Thank you, it is so nice to hear encouragements and meet such nice and caring people!
We will move thekitty tree in front of the window, it should be easier to do it now that the crate in not in the room anymore.
Here are some pics of our sweet baby boy from when he was in the crate. Hopefully we will be able to get new ones soon

Everything Amy said!

If you can, put something up by the window so he can easily sit there and enjoy looking outside. We put up suction cup bird feeders on the windows, and the cats absolutely LOVE sitting there, watching the squirrels and the birds! It's like Cat TV, and it helps prevent them from becoming bored. They chatter and wiggle their butts and lunge at the window - and watch the birds fly away - and the squirrels just look at them and laugh.

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

Thank you, it is so nice to hear encouragements and meet such nice and caring people!
We will move thekitty tree in front of the window, it should be easier to do it now that the crate in not in the room anymore.
Here are some pics of our sweet baby boy from when he was in the crate. Hopefully we will be able to get new ones soon

Click to expand...

He sure is cute!!!! He has very similar markings to my grandma's cat.

Things sound like they're going great!!!

Oh my!! He's a spitting image of 2 of the 3 feral siblings that I took in many years ago. Love the slightly crossed eyes!!

Thank you for the compliments, I made sure he got them them!

We moved the kittytree in front of the window. Yesterday afternoon when I went in he was sitting on one of the perches facing the door. He did not jump down, just sat there looking at me in aver royal pose. After about 20 min he moved to the couch and settled in for some nap time with one front paw all stretched out. Last night Joe went and lied down on the floor. Sweet Pea started jumping off and on the kitty tree over and over again and he was calling. He does a lot of calling mostly at night. What does this mean?

Momofmany, how are your Sweet Pea look alike babies doing?

Originally Posted by Momofmany

A calm, melodic voice is very soothing for cats, not to mention that he is getting used to your presence by being in the room with him. Great choice for a book!


It looks like he is getting more comfortable with you. I currently have a 6 year old (Lucky Pierre) that I didn't get into the house for the first time until he was about 18 months old. I keep cat condos in the windows and he spends a good part of his days laying in them looking outside. He loves the one by the window with the bird feeders. Keeps him occupied. As long as the window is shut, I wouldn't worry about allowing him a look outside.


Lucky does that to me, and even "thanks" me when I put food out for him. It is very sweet.


Don't ever beat yourself up on what you may have done differently!! Every last one of us on the site who have worked with feral cats learned through trial and error. And every cat is different, so if you ever go through this again, what works for Sweet Pea may not work for another cat. We're giving you ideas that seem to uniformly work with all feral cats. But there are probably many other things that you'll discover over time that will help. You are doing a wonderful job with this boy!!

Click to expand...

^^ what she said! ^^

Originally Posted by LoveWhiskers

Thank you for the compliments, I made sure he got them them!

We moved the kittytree in front of the window. Yesterday afternoon when I went in he was sitting on one of the perches facing the door. He did not jump down, just sat there looking at me in aver royal pose. After about 20 min he moved to the couch and settled in for some nap time with one front paw all stretched out. Last night Joe went and lied down on the floor. Sweet Pea started jumping off and on the kitty tree over and over again and he was calling. He does a lot of calling mostly at night. What does this mean?

Momofmany, how are your Sweet Pea look alike babies doing?

Click to expand...

He may be just playing. Tolly sings a LOT when he plays at night after I got to bed.

Jennie called nightly for the first few months after she came here (rescued stray, raising a family on her own)

I forget, is he neutered?

If it is not play, perhaps he had a companion in his stray life, and the companion disappeared, and that is what led him to Choose you. Or...calling for a human he used to know.

It's going so well, I am thrilled for all of you!

I just caught this thread and I am so thankful you listened and let Sweet Pea out of the cage. He is already in a cage (your home) with no escape, so putting an adult stray with feral tendencies in a smaller cage causes more stress and sets you back eons toward socializing him. He will never be "tame" but he will be socialized in time. You are well on your way to that, but don't be alarmed when there are setbacks. It just happens to be the way of the strays. One thing you might try is going to a florist with a bunch of artifical flowers and leaves and asking her to build you a sort of barrier wall that you can attach to the cat condo. If SP is Alpha he can then relax a bit while on the condo looking at you through the artificial foliage. This is a method I have used countless times with the older strays and it works really well.

Good luck with your attempts to reach this kitty. Sounds like you are well on your way with it- just wait a bit before you introduce anything else new to him. You also might talk to the vet about a new product called Profender. It is a topical wormer and you just have to make sure there are no outward signs of illness (runny stool, runny eyes, sneezing, vomiting) and know the weight of the cat. The weight is fairly easy to get, just get a broad based digital scale, smear some wet cat food on the scale and prompt him to climb up to be weighed. Doesn't sound like you can pick him up yet nor would I try to. not for a long-while.

Otto, this makes sense. We don't have any history on him other that he showed up in our yard at the same time our older kitty, our sweet princess Heidi Ann was getting very frail and losing her mobility due to arthritis. In the end she could not walk at all anymore. We sent her the the bridge in August last year. My heart tells me that she guided him here, but I will never know. I pray to her all the time to guide him and support him through the process! I am attaching a photo of her, she was my heart kitty, a mountain of wisdom and catitude...

A few people that heard Sweet Pea's story and saw his pics felt strongly that he was not born feral but became feral. I don't know, I would love so much to know though...

Hissy, thank you I have days when I am so very sad to think about how scared and lost he feels and then I have days when I feel joyful. There is no way of telling how and when he will open up to us and the biting incident was a huge bad thing for him, I am certain of that. He does not have to be anything he is not, we just want him happy and adjusted. But we do have to be able to handle him so that we can take him to the vet when needed...

Last night Joe went to read him. Sweet Pea came out of his hiding place and had some water. The food/water area is about 1 foot from where Joe was sitting.
And this morning he was sooooo hungry I could sense it in the air, and he was crying "I am hungry, I am hungry". We went in with wet/dry food and water. He came out of one of the boxes and sat next to it. He watched me exchange the dishes and then he moved on my side of the room behind the litter box. We decided to wait and see if he would come and eat. We did not move and did not look at him and he came about 1 min later and ate his wet food (he loves Wellness turkey microwaved 7 sec ) and some morsel but then he got scared (twins on the hallway outside) so he went behind the litterbox. I was about 1 foot away from him. I praised him and he said something back. So we left to let him eat the morsel. Joe went in the room 15 min later to clean the litterboxes.
We were talking that hopefully in a few months we can touch him, we will not try to do anyhting like touching him or picking him up before he wants us too. He calls the shots!
OH MY GOD we are soooooo happy!!!

Sweet Pea's doing great! And so are you.

Thank you Laurie for all your help and caring
Marina

Aww, Heidi Ann was a beautiful girl, I am so sorry for your loss of her. But absolutely she guided Sweet Pea to you. I agree with you that Sweet Pea was not born feral, that he has known humans. If he was truly feral he would not be making such great progress so quickly. Is he neutered?

Thank you for keeping us updated. He looks like he's going to be a real Lover one of these days!

Thank you so much!

Yes, he is neutered. We trapped him on Dec 22nd, took him to the vet and then home in the evening.

Yesterday he came out of the carrier and played with the cat dancer toy I was holding. He was running towards it and pouncing on it. He did this for about 30 min. Then he sniffed my feet and my hand and walked towards the base of the kitty tree. There he thouroghly cleaned himself and after that he started rolling on his back, feets in the air and was looking at me, his face saying "am I cute, am I cute?". Of course I conformed and told him all about it.

Marina

Sweet Pea has been rather quiet for the past few days. Sometimes he does not come out of his hidey spots (his favorite is his carrier) when we come in, somethimes he does come out and sometimes he is on the kitty tree and just sits there. Yesterday I went in with his two favorite interracting toys (da bird and the cat dancer) and after I moved them around for a while he came out and was brave enought to get close to them and almost attempted to pounce on them- the actual toys are a few feet away from me when I move them around.

I noticed he does this sudden move of tail once in a while and I looked it up, this is what I found "Sometimes the upright tail is jerked suddenly and briefly forwards. This seems to be the feline version of the human "two fingers" obscene gesture. It denotes mild irritation or derision. " I don't want to annoy him, should I be concerned about this?

It is amazing to watch him, once in a while I manage some quick looks. He is a cat but yet he is something more than that. I perceive him different from the way I perceive all the other kitties I have met in my life. I already feel I have a bond with him and is very strong and yet different from the bonds I have had with the other babies. Is it because of his wild side and deep connection with nature and universe? He is so beautiful, all cats are but there is a different kind of beauty about him...

Also, I forgot to ask for advice on when and how to introduce the other babies. It is probably to early but I thought I would ask anyway!

Thank you always
Marina

Aw, he sounds like he's doing great!!!!! I know what you mean about watching him and feeling how beautiful and powerful he is. I used to watch Patches outside all the time. It's hard to explain but I think I know what you mean.

Are you guys going to look into putting up a screen door? We can be screen door buddies!