In honor of National Feral Cat Day... your feral rescues!

  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #22

ldg

TCS Member
Thread starter
Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
41,310
Purraise
842
Location
Fighting for ferals in NW NJ!
MA, I always love seeing pics of your crew! And I also always love seeing pictures of your jungle gym thingy!


WHO is that gorgeous kitty with the white goatee on the right?

Chaplain!

...and every time I see Hurricane Charlie I expect to see Cyclone, don't ask me why. And they are about as different as a Hurricane and a Cyclone!
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Cotton
....

Hissy wow at the changes ...
 

lovewhiskers

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
426
Purraise
2
Location
Stow, OHIO
What special babies
, all of them. The transformation in Starlight is incredible.

Sweet Pea in Jan this year, a couple of weeks after we trapped him.



And now:


Marina
 

xulili

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Mar 14, 2007
Messages
215
Purraise
1
Location
Milwaukee
One phantom.. rescused 6 years ago, still very independant but a love bug at night.
 

eilcon

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
11,094
Purraise
1
Location
Cincinnati
Here's a pic of my own feral "kittens," Claire and Peter, who were trapped with their littermates at 3-4 months old. They were a bunch of scared, hissy, growly little creatures at first, but came around quickly with plenty of socialization.



Here are two little feral guys, Mickey and Monty, trapped in my colony at about 10 weeks old. They were born to feral mama cat, who was fixed and released, and had no human contact prior to being trapped. Mickey decided humans were pretty cool within a couple of days. Monty took a little longer, but once he came around had the loudest purr I've ever heard. They were adopted together and are now very sweet, loving adults.
 

white cat lover

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
22,206
Purraise
35
Tabitha









NOW -



Ophelia Rose (The "Spook" of the Basement)



NOW -



Gumby (The Gut) B Bendy Cat





NOW -



Margo - (caught from a feral colony) - Pics @ the shelter







Once she got home -



NOW -



Molly - (caught from a feral colony) - Pics @ the shelter



NOW -



Captain Nemo - then (this spring)



NOW -
 

voicefromcatlan

TCS Member
Kitten
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Ohio
Here's the two feral kittens I picked up on Wednesday:


This picture is from today of my brother with the orange baby:
 

captiva

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
Messages
10,312
Purraise
25
Location
Indiana
This is such an inspiring thread. You've all done amazing work with them.
 

valanhb

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
Laurie, thank you so much for starting this thread. I've seen some of these before, some while they happened, and some I haven't seen. All of them are amazing and beautiful! The people behind the camera are all amazing too! Every person who socializes a feral deserves a medal for being so patient, so understanding, and most of all willing to listen to these amazing survivors to allow them to feel comfortable enough to let the walls down, learn to trust and learn to give and accept love.

I have two to share.


First is Ophelia who was definitely a feral kitten. She was stuck between the walls of our apartment building and thankfully in the wall by our bedroom. We guess that she was ~6 weeks old and very independent, and had never seen a human before.

Then:



Now:




Annie isn't a true feral. She really didn't even have feral tendencies except that she didn't want to be confined in any way, but she is a rescue that I'm pretty proud of. Not because I did anything special, but because a group of people most people would never expect came together to help one little kitty cat. She showed up at a rifle match in the middle of the Pike National Forest in the Rocky Mountains. All the guys helped out with her - one made sure I knew about her since he knew I was a cat lady, one had cat food in his truck (that one surprised me too!), another found a bowl and gave her water (there's no running water up there), another had a box, another (literally) gave one of the shirts off his back for her to ride back in comfort, and I brought her home.
Most people don't think of a group of tough, NRA-type shooters would give a kitten a second look, but it was as much them as me who made sure she was safe instead of being a light snack for something in the forest.

When I brought her home:


Now:


And yes, she still looks and acts like a kitten. She may not have been feral, but she sure wasn't able to be a kitten until she came down the mountain when she was 6-8 months old.
 

hissy

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 19, 2001
Messages
34,872
Purraise
76
I love all these pictures and my heart swells at the thought of someone who really doesn't know what they are doing-taking that kitten out of the bushes, out of the wall or out of danger. Knowing that with each step you take with a stray who holds to feral tendencies can be swept away in an instance by one move on our part that causes distrust- and yet, there are people who are still willing to put up with the frustration and put in the time to gain that first headbump.

If you look at these pictures and pay attention the eyes- you can see in the after picture, that the cat has learned to trust a special human and that speaks volumes.

Bless all of you for attempting that first difficult rescue and then perservering and going for more. I know you can't save them all- but THANK YOU ALL OF YOU for saving these!
 
Top