Can a feral cat be extremely friendly? Help!

Help! What should we do?
I've been leaving food out on the porch hoping our lost Mysty would return, but tonight, a tortie kitten (as old as Cindy and Lucy, or maybe a little younger) stopped by to eat the food. She was meowing like crazy and following us around, very tame, and wouldn't leave us alone, so we put her in the garage with food, water, a makeshift litter box, and a cardboard box with blanket. The kitten ate an entire can of cat food and some dry kitten food. What should we do with her? Should we take her to the animal shelter or to a vet and adopt her? She's adorable, almost all black with paintbrush strokes of orange and a white patch on her neck, just like a Halloween kitten.

I would be able to take her to the vet tomorrow morning, however, I am worried about my other two kittens being exposed to the stray one; that they don't pick up some diseases from her. This kitten seems very tame to be a feral. Help! The little kitten is meowing like crazy.

I posted this same message at another forum, the SOS one.

Maybe this is Providence's way of giving you another cat to replace Mysti- I will delete your thread in SOS and put you in feral forum. But if it were me, I would take this sweetie to the vet, get her scanned for a microchip then make her my own.

Although feral cats can become friendly, they're almost ALWAYS scared of people initially. Kittens are easier to tame then adults, but even they start off very scared. So, I would guess that this kitten was born into a home and socialized to humans and somehow got lost or abandoned. She's very lucky to have found you! If you have room in your house, I'd say take her to the vet, then bring your new baby home. Rescued cats really do know that they've been rescued and make great pets.

Hi. I'd adopt her. She sounds nice plus I think a lot of shelters don't adopt black cats out around Halloween so maybe they don't accept them either. My Fiancee is heavily into animal rights and I know she's said there are idiots looking for black cats around halloween. I don't know what they do with them but I know it's not good. Whatever you do I wouldn't let her back out this time of year unless maybe a neighbor owns her and you can rewturn her to them.
Jamie

I would get the cat checked by the vet to see if she has anything . Some one may just dumped her and she was lucky to find your house . Poor baby .

Hissy, that is so prophetic! Okay, here's the update on "Pumpkin," or as we call her, "Punkin."

We took her to the vet in the morning. She went in the cat carrier trailing the scent of some tuna that was packaged attached to Kraft macaroni and cheese, which we put in a bowl inside the carrier. She meowed all the way to the vet and continued meowing when we got there. Poor, scared thing!

The vet tested her for FLV/FIV, and she tested negative. She had flea dirt on her, but no fleas, so the vet treated her with Advantage. It lasts a month, so that's good. He gave her worm medicine (de-worming), also, and her first set of vaccinations.

According to the vet, Punkin was born in January and she's about 8 or 9 months old. She only weighs 3 lbs. 8 ounces, but her heart and lungs are healthy. She has a virus or respiratory infection, however, and she was sneezing at the vet's office. The vet says she's a petite and tiny kitten (well, almost a cat), and a real sweetie, very tame, kneading, purring, and rubbing against everything in sight. He believes that she was definitely not feral, but was surviving in the woods for a while and eating whatever she could find.

She's not a black cat, but a tortie. My daughter says she looks like someone threw orange paint at a black cat and my son says she looks like a black cat, tie-dyed orange! She also has a big splash of white on her neck and some splashes of white on her legs and paws.

She's in our garage now, until later tonight, when we'll put her in the basement, then it's back to the garage next morning, as the vet told us to keep her quarantined from the kittens (Cindy and Lucy) for a few days. But what an appreciative cat! She follows you everywhere, as if she doesn't want you to leave her. It's so sad.
I wonder what happened to her?

If I can get a pic of her later, I'll post it here. Thanks for all of your encouragement and advice! I hope she isn't pregnant, as she's so hungry and eating so much, but the vet checked her, so wouldn't he know?



Oops, I forgot to mention that I asked the vet about FIP, and he said it was contagious with no prevention or cure, but quite rare. He also said that cats can harbor the virus without being ill. This is scary stuff!

Sounds like Punkin has a new home! I'm glad she's overall healthy. She sounds like a real doll!

Punkin sounds like a real sweetie. As far as the pregnancy, I would assume that the vet would know. Do you plan on spaying soon? At 9 months, it's a great time to do it. Glad she turned out to be healthy.

Aaaahhhhhh....you got yourself a little punkin-head! You are an angel for taking care of this little girl!

I have never seen a kitten knead as much as this one, in fact, I never knew what kneading was! We've had her for two days in the garage and house, now, and she lies down on the loveseat recliner with you, purring, kneading, and stretching. You can't even walk near her, as she wraps herself around your feet and ankles. She was afraid to go down the stairs to the basement, and ir appears that she hasn't been up and down stairs. Here's a pic of Pumpkin:

what a cutie girl

She is beautiful!! And look SSSSOOOOO happy in her new home with her new people.

She is so docile and sweet. When we first spotted her on our back porch, we opened the door to see if she ate the food and then she ran away by the side of the porch, out of view, very scared, but began meowing, and wouldn't stop. My daughter said that as Pumpkin approached her, she was stumbling a bit, bumping into her legs as if she was weak or sickly, meowing all the time for help. My daughter was afraid that something was wrong with Pumpkin. She yelled, "Mom! This cat needs help!"

Whatever breed of cat she is, she is so petite and just adorable. She'll readily climb on your lap and look up at your face as if she is adoring you! Her ears are tiny and rounded and her face is so petite. I wish I could see her nose and mouth, but they're undistinguishable from her fur.

In contrast, here's a very recent pic of long Lucy with her large ears:

When I think of Pumpkin and the ordeal she went through, it brings tears to my eyes.

has taken a liking to Hill's Science diet dry kitten food. I'm wondering what they put in this kitten food that makes my kittens like it so much.

Observations of Pumpkin:

I have not seen her drink water from her bowl.

She makes somewhat a mess of the litter box, scattering the clay outside, but she does go in it.

I'm concerned about her eating the dry Science kibbles and not drinking water.

She makes the cutest trills, chirps, and noises.

She's still kneading.

She's very observant and smart, too.

When we go up the basement stairs, she'll follow us, but she stays at the bottom of the stairway, looking up at us.

She still follows us around the basement and greets us when we arrive.


It would be very interesting to find out Pumpkin's history.

Well, I'm off to bed as I'm so tired.

Originally posted by caterpillar
has taken a liking to Hill's Science diet dry kitten food. I'm wondering what they put in this kitten food that makes my kittens like it so much.

Observations of Pumpkin:

I have not seen her drink water from her bowl.

She makes somewhat a mess of the litter box, scattering the clay outside, but she does go in it.

I'm concerned about her eating the dry Science kibbles and not drinking water.

Click to expand...

I rarely see my Ivo drinking from her water bowl either. But I can tell that the level goes down during the day when I'm at work. I also see her peeing in her litterbox (well, if I don't see her peeing, I can find wet spots in the box. And btw, Ivo makes a mess of her litter too, I had to buy a covered litterbox). Do you see the level of Pumpkin's water going down? Do you find wet spots in the litter box? If you are concerned, you can give her some wet food-that should provide her some water.

She's a beauty, and she seems to have found a new home!

What a gorgeous kitten. I love the colors. Shadow never ever drank out of her bowl. Always out of the bathtub untill one day there was water in the tub and she fell in!! Then she stared drinking from her bowl. I guess it was safer

And thanks for the advice, as you are so right. While scooping in Punkin's litter box, I noticed that ammonia urine smell, and while changing her litter today, I noticed the clumps of green sticking on the bottom of the litter box from peeing. Also, the water level in her dish definitely looked lower today, so she is drinking from it.
It must be that she's in the basement and I'm not down there too often to watch what she's doing.

Punkin appears to be getting stronger, sleeping less, and playing more now. She has the full run of the basement and she must be loving it! She makes the cutest chirps and little trills while playing. I can hear her now with the jingle ball, as my computer is near the basement door. Well, I hope she continues to be our little lap cat!