In honor of National Feral Cat Day... your feral rescues! - Page 2

Tabitha









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Ophelia Rose (The "Spook" of the Basement)



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Gumby (The Gut) B Bendy Cat





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







Once she got home -



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



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Captain Nemo - then (this spring)



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Here's the two feral kittens I picked up on Wednesday:


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

This is such an inspiring thread. You've all done amazing work with them.

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.

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!

This thread is fantastic and looking at all the photos has made my day.