I moved here two months ago and my relocated my little colony. I started caring for a little colony about 5-6 years ago approximately 2 years ago I separated from my ex and he continued to feed them as relocating was too traumatic. Long story short, my ex decided he wouldn't take care of them anymore and refused to feed them. They had a nice living area, upper scaled homes and tennis courts, plenty of nice spots to hide and only dogs and raccoons to worry about. But they would come to my ex's front door and just cry he figured if he didn't feed them they'd move on to other areas and he wouldn't have to be "burdened" by them anymore (they never did). So 2 months ago I captured mommy, son and the first feral I came across. They really loved each other would cuddle on a bench all together and they all got along. I read about relocating- have to keep them in a confined space for 4 weeks or so to get acclimated so they wouldn't run away. I put them all in the shed. On day 3 after feeding them lots of goodies (sardines, wet food, etc. to get their trust- they hadn't seen me for really 2 years since separating from the ex) the little son ran out between my legs. It was at that point I had decided to let them all go. I'm very woodsy over here- horses on my block, deer and I've seen a few red foxes. I feared if the little guy went off by himself he might get lost or worse. He actually turned around and meowed to his momma as he was waiting for her. Jeff & Oreo (son, & mom, respectively) went off in one direction. Whitey, the old timer who was the first feral I cam across (at least 6+yrs old) went in another direction I didn't see. This was December 30th 2012. Whitey has never been seen since. I kept holding out hope he would come back but he never did. Oreo & Jeff have been around, initially they hung around my backyard all the time because I'd put good food out and then the others started coming around. JC (junkyard cat) which I just got fixed was very aggressive he chased little oreo up a tree the first night she was here. He would run after her and chase her and I'd hear them fight. I fixed JC last week as he was constantly hanging out in my backyard and scaring away my cats. He seems calmer now and comes during off hours now to eat. I think the TNR really helped him. But now there's another male I think (I saw him do the backwards feet kick and raise his tail into my bush- is that how they spray?) I call him Gandolf b/c he has long hair and all gray with a little white beard. He seems to be keeping the others at bay. He's on my porch all the time. after our massive storm, which was a whole different stress level, I saw oreo and jeff (mom & son) come back. at first I only saw jeff and then oreo came with him the next day. they always would travel together. I haven't seen Oreo in three days. I do not know if I can keep stressing out over her. She would be here 7pm like clockwork. Now I check to see if there are any spottings literally every hour and I haven't seen her in three days. I know this sounds overly dramatic, but she's a little girl she seems like she's afraid of everyone, even there was a orange cat that had an ear tip-seems like the only one in this neighborhood besides my oreo & jeff and she tried hissing at him when he came up for food and he smacked her and she ran away. Oreo doesn't really scare any of the other cats and I'm worried about her being on her own. I saw jeff- her son every day come and eat but oreo was here for 2 minutes 3 days ago now. Is she afraid of the males- could their spraying keep her away? Between the red fox and dogs in my neighborhood I really want to bring her and Jeff in. They are very sweet. I used to be able to touch them and they do trust me now, but they're scared of the neighborhood cats. I have two indoor cats of my own that are very laid back (scaredy cats too). If I can convince my bf to let me use the garage to socialize them, how do I go about getting them tested for FIV, treated, and socialized. If I capture them and it doesn't work out, do I risk scaring them even more and having them completely run away this time? All I know is I worry about them like I'd worry about my housecats, we have a long relationship. I actually got Oreo's other two kittens (jeff was a litter of 4) adopted- my ex's german shepard snapped one of the kittiy's necks and after that I said I wasn't going to let that happen to any of the others. One of the kittens even had a heart murmur and the (no-kill) shelter said she was so cute they were going to take her anyways (even though normally they'd reject such kittens). Jeff unfortunately was separated from the other two and when i brought him in by himself to get fixed I tried socializing him afterwards but it seemed impossible- not as easy as his siblings. Jeff was jumping into glass windows, etc. I reunited him with oreo and they've been inseparable ever since. They had it good at the other location, here I feel they are constantly stressed with their surroundings. Will it get better if I fix gandolf? Should i try to socialize them? I'm just so stressed over their well being. Starting a new job soon and I have a week off in between- is that enough time? Anyone successfully socialized ferals?