what's the age limit on taming a feral cat?

Hi all, I was wondering how old is too old?   Back when I rescued my feral kittens I got them at eight weeks and that was soon enough but just barely.   I kept one and he's always had a bit of a wild heart even though he's tame - he gets more scared of strangers and has a harder time with confinement in a carrier to go to the vet.  The poor fellow just gets terrified by even a routine vet visit too.   Someone posted a link to a page where they said you could tame them up to the three years old.    This is all related to my quandry with the neighbor kitty who is 1.5 years now unfixed tom and is familiar with being fed by people but not handled and has never been indoors.   I'm wondering if there's any way on earth I could turn him into an inside cat?   Is it crazy to even consider?   Would it be fair to the two cats I already have?

For context too I'm in an apartment with thin walls, so if he yowls like crazy or throws himself against the walls trying to get out it'll be a bit of a problem....    I wonder how it would be for him to look at my windows at the very place outside where he used to roam too.    Still odds are I will end up responsible for feeding him (see other thread) and winter is coming and I don't have control over any good place outside to place shelter for him.

Well, there isn't really a set "limit." It's more due to the innate personality of the cat.

Say you feed a group of ferals over several months. Some of them will come up and sit with you while you're outside. Others will eat and run. Some may come to your porch every night. The ones that seem more approachable are candidates for socialization, IMO.

Cats can certainly be socialized after they're kittens. IMO, 1.5 years isn't a crazy age to think about socializing a feral. If he is giving you signs he would like an inside life, I would at least try. If he goes crazy trying to get outside after, say, two weeks, you can always just let him back out.

I think it depends if they had any interaction while younger at all.  I have a male who was cared for first month or so as an outside cat(held and talked to)  After that nothin was done and he was not fixed.  He was about 3 yo when I moved in and trapped him.  100 percent wild.  I let him out very soon after neuter as he was clawing cage and messing up his nails.

It took a long time of him being outside to warm up to a point I could even just drop a dose of advantage on him(syringe so it was more like point and shoot).  After a year or so of that he now sits in my lap kneading any part he can get.  He has been to the vet for shots and for 2 different infections(He still likes to fight and he got 2 very bad infections)  He shows no signs at all of being wild.  Even greets mailman and UPS guy.

I have tamed a few 6 month olds too.  None with gloves and all but the outside cat were put in small cages and taken out many many times a day to hold and also to offer canned food.  I would not try to tame a cat over a year old personally.  If it decided to hang around and tame itself then great but other wise I just do TNR.  I got enough cats lol

Speakhandsforme, that makes sense about seeing his natural inclinations I don't really know the personality of Oscar at all.   I've really only seen him literally maybe five times in those 1.5 years of his and he was moving fast!   (which is why it is so crazy that my neighbor is trying to suddenly turn me into his primary caretaker)  I guess it'll take time to see who he is and what makes sense.

Catsallaround,  I loved the story of your three year old kitty - I was amazed he finally became tame!   Sounds like he's better socialized than my cats.  Still quite a journey and a lot of effort on your part - he's one lucky cat.  Does he still spray at all?   I just have this urge to plan everything out in advance and every possible outcome but with cats they lead the way!

No he has not sprayed since a few weeks after his neuter.  I even had a cat I held back for medical reasons who did spray in the house before I finally neutered him(did fine!) and never responded to that or took up spraying again.  He also has calmed down even more in last year.  The fights were both last year.  I managed to get a few more boys TNRed.

Oh and oddly enough Will don;t mind my cats at all-never has been an issue even though he will attack any stray who shows up, alsoloves my dog!  Though my dog likes cats she is a big wimp af times.  We were all cuddled up outside last night. 
 

No age limit.  Depends on the patience of the human, not the cat.
 

my cat was feral up until 5.5 months old.Now he did have some interaction with humans as a woman used to feed him and his brother and mom.

My cat is completely tame now though I did have to spend a month getting him to be completely calm and non fearful in his new home

He still hates strangers though and will hide if anybody other than myself or my husband is in the house (then again, so does my mom's cat, and she was never feral, so I think that depends on personality).

His brother, I am told, took longer to tame. (I don't have him). He still lived semi feral for a while but would come in to the house where the woman who was feeding him lived. Eventually, after a cold night, she took him inside, and now he lives there full time. The mom cat is still feral I am told.

I believe it all depends on the personality of the cat and the patience of the person who is trying to socialize him or her. It is my belief that any cat can be tamed, though it may be just to one person.

Our last cat was an 8-year-old feral whose cat colony was dissolved. He moved into our yard, then over a long period of time (> a year) took to sleeping in our garage and then the heated cellar. We managed to get him castrated and about half of his horrible teeth removed by feeding him in a cat carrier and waiting our chance to get him to a vet. He got a cat flap in the cellar window so he could come and go as he pleased. We had him for 6 years, and he eventually allowed me to touch his head (only!) and would come upstairs and hang out when the mood hit him. We used potting soil in a litter box to get him used to it, gradually replacing the soil with litter, and he never sprayed in the house. He never became really tame, but he lost most of his fear of my husband and me and turned into an indoor/outdoor cat. He did freak out if he was denied outdoor access, so that wasn't really an option. It might have been different if he'd been younger at the start.

what you all are talking about are wild cats, not true ferals, a truely feral cat does not rely on humans for food, infact you would barely see a truely feral cat, having delt with both "wild" street cats, and truely feral cats I will say it takes a long, long time to even get a true feral comfortable enough to come out in the open around humans, when we moved onto the farm when I was younger there were feral cats already on the land and surrounding woods, after living there for 16 years those cats that were already there remained as wild as they always were, you would have to get a truely feral cat as a VERY young kitten, under 6 weeks of age, otherwise there is very little hope after about 8 weeks for they already can move as fast as adults.

wild cats on the other hand (the different between a "wild" cat and a feral cat is that wild cats have had limited human cantact, be it being fed, or having once been a pet, where as a feral cat is a true wild animal) I have tamed wild cats as old as a year old, it took several months, but she finally was tamed enough to pet, but try to pick her up and she would remind you that she was a wild cat.

I have tamed wild kittens in a matter of days.

Your definitions would lead to a lot of confusion here in Europe, at the very least, because "wild cat" refers to either the European Wild Cat (Felis Silvestris Silvestris) or its subspecies, the Scottish Wildcat which live without human contact.

The HSUS distinguishes between strays and ferals:

What is the difference between a stray cat and a feral cat?
A stray cat is a pet cat who is lost or abandoned. Feral cats are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats or other feral cats who are not spayed or neutered. Stray cats are accustomed to contact with people and are tame, but feral cats are not accustomed to contact with people and are typically too fearful and wild to be handled. Whereas stray cats may be reunited with their families or adopted into new homes, feral cats do not easily adapt or may never adapt to living as pets in close contact with people. However, there are many things you can do to help improve the health and quality of life of feral cats.

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Why are there feral cats? Where do they come from?
Feral cats are the offspring of lost or abandoned pet cats or other feral cats who are not spayed or neutered. Females can reproduce two to three times a year, and their kittens, if they survive, will become feral without early contact with people.

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Our cat was definitely a Domestic Shorthair born to either a stray or feral mother, not a European Wild Cat, and not socialized.

jcribbs said:

No age limit.  Depends on the patience of the human, not the cat.

 

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Completely agree. It totally depends on the feral cat's innate personality and temperament. Feral or not, those individualities will vary greatly. It is VERY possible to socialize a feral cat at any age. Now how far they come along in that process is going to be different for every cat and it can take a VERY long time. The rewards outweigh the length of time and patience required to me.

Gibbly said:

what you all are talking about are wild cats, not true ferals, a truely feral cat does not rely on humans for food,

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There is no difference between a "wild" cat and a "truely feral" cat. Feral cats do rely on humans for food on so many levels. From garbage dumpsters behind restaurants, garbage cans put out by humans for weekly trash pickup, feral caretakers, etc. Are they happy being around human beings?? nope. But they are smart enough to know that where the humans live there is food.

Thank you all so much!     You guys have really helped me to decide that I really will have to get to know Oscar and get him neutered and wait a few weeks at least after that to judge which direction to go.   

I have tamed two litters that were six months + when they found our feeding station. One of them is a year and a half now, and we just moved her inside in June and she never once tried to get out, in fact she took over the couch right away. It was a long, slow process, but it probably would have been quicker if we had landlord permission sooner for indoor pets. What I did is at first I lured them to our porch with the cat food. Then, when I came home and they were eating I would watch them from about five feet away, either quietly or making calming noises. A couple weeks later I would be able to be two feet away and they would continue eating. I continued this until I was standing right next to them, and eventually I would touch a finger to their heads. Most would dart away at first but they would come back because at this point they learned that if they were to be fed they needed to tolerate my presence, and eventually, my touch. Not once was I ever bitten or they made moves to bite. In fact, within minutes most of the six month + cats were playing "catch me"- the game where they come closer to me then dart just out of my reach. So I coaxed them with moist treats. It usually took about a week from this point until they were trying to get into the house.

Most of them were tamed to the point of being social with me, rubbing themselves against my legs, occasionally sitting in my lap, butting their heads under my hands, etc. One didn't really tame up, two left our area but were found by people in the neighborhood and became house cats. One, we had almost gotten our landlord's permission to bring him inside when he suddenly died (we think it was FLV now that we think about it, he went downhill really quickly) but we had brought him in on occasion for a little bit before hand and he would have been a great pet.

Binky (our adult female who was mentioned) is so tame that I can actually trim the fur in between her paw pads (she is a longhair) and she will make no movement to lash out. She's very laid back and chill, she has never tried to fight me. She has accidentally scratched me launching out of my arms and stuff but never once did she ever try to scratch or bite. And she was about 7 months old when she first came to the house.

Hi,

It is said that the younger a feral is rescued the better. Some say 8 weeks or so.  We trapped a feral cat in Fl. that was more than 2 years old that roamed out neighborhood. She was wild too and so afraid of humans. She was pregnant and we took her to our vet as soon as we caught her. Had her checked out, spayed and microchipped.  We moved out of state and she traveled so well in the car and gave us no trouble at all. We have lived in Nevada since late Dec. and she has responded so well to us.  At first we kept her in our master bath to get her used to the new surroundings. She now has run of the house and gets along good with our other 4 furry guys/gals. She always heads to the master bath when she wanders off and encounters one of us. She feels like that is her safest place since she spends more time in our bedroom connected to the bathroom.  She spends a lot of time looking out our sliding glass door in our bedroom.  She is no longer afraid of us and comes out in the open all the time. Her taill is up in the air and she has playful times. We are able to get close to her with treats and talk to her. As long as she knows it's us she is comfortable. As long as you have patience, understanding and give her/him their space they are good. She does not want us to touch her yet but she does not growl or hiss at us or the other cats. She really is a sweet mellow girl. We named her Sox as she has white tipped front toes and white feet and legs. I say it is never too late to help a feral if they appear they have a good attitude and not aggressive. There was something about Sox that told me she would make a good pet and she has as she is not agressive.

Revenwyn, thanks for sharing your stories - it is encouraging to know that there is hope.    That's amazing about your kitty letting you do a paw hair cut, wow!   I think most tame all their lives cats might put up a fuss at that.  

Merstocktgo, thanks for telling me about Sox - she sounds like a sweetie.  That's wonderful about her traveling so well!   Another case where the personality matters so much - guess time will tell with Oscar. 

I have two feral cats, but the differences are many.  Our first was a rescue kitty that found us at a very early age in Trinidad (he was less than six months old).  Now 14 years later, I can honestly say that he is the most affectionate cat I have ever known.  He does hide when there are strangers in the house and he is not particularly happy about visiting the vet but, that may have more to do with his personality than his early kittenhood.

We recently adopted a second little feral, she was about a year old, and she is getting better.  I think it is a combination of the purrsonality of the cat and the people.  If a cat never completely warms up to you, that does not mean you are not a good cat caregiver.  Rather, that particular cat might just be a bit standoffish no matter what.  The important thing to remember is that, if you do decide to bring a feral cat into your life, you have to love them unconditionally. 

Good Luck

I spayed a 6 month old feral.  After I released her, she followed me the next day for food, got attacked by an adult cat while following me, and I caught her barehanded and shoved her back in my apartment.  I kept her inside because she was so frail and pitiful.  I spent about an hour a day socializing her with canned food for the first weeks, and lots of time on her the first few months.  She is an adult cat now.  She is friendly and normal with me and my husband.  When company comes over, she keeps her distance.  If I try to hold her, and introduce her to people to pet, she will hiss and spit at strangers (pretty much anyone who isn't me or my husband).  She also acts feral with the vet.  I can handle her fine in the vet's office, but when someone else touches her, she tenses up, fights, and generally acts feral.  It means she can't get a normal annual check up and pretty much just gets shots.

Overall, the older feral isn't a success.  I now have a cat who is very attached to me, but who I didn't plan on getting, and who is inconvenient in terms of difficulties with cat sitters, no possibility of me ever passing her off to anyone else, and her not being social with people generally.

If I had it to do over again, I would have left her outside to grow up feral.

Thanks Mina for sharing your experience though sorry it didn't work out as well as you'd hoped.    Still that she's friendly and handleable as she is with you is a great success.  Only cats who are well socialized when kittens with many people are able to be fully sociable in my experience.

For update on my situation, my move date approaches and I'm looking again into finding a barn home for Hercules.   I care very much what happens to him, but he has approached me no closer after many months of feeding though we have a "relationship" of sorts where he knows when I put the food out and waits for me and watches me from his safe perch.    I often wish I had a house with a yard and he could just be my outdoor feral, but it is apartment life for me so gotta figure something out.   

Bastfriend said:

Thanks Mina for sharing your experience though sorry it didn't work out as well as you'd hoped.    Still that she's friendly and handleable as she is with you is a great success.  Only cats who are well socialized when kittens with many people are able to be fully sociable in my experience.

For update on my situation, my move date approaches and I'm looking again into finding a barn home for Hercules.   I care very much what happens to him, but he has approached me no closer after many months of feeding though we have a "relationship" of sorts where he knows when I put the food out and waits for me and watches me from his safe perch.    I often wish I had a house with a yard and he could just be my outdoor feral, but it is apartment life for me so gotta figure something out.   

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I hope you are able to find a barn home for Hercules.  Finding homes for our beloved ferals is beyond difficult.  Please let us know if you find a home for him.