I don't understand my feral cat.

We moved into a house with gophers and a black feral cat. We accidentally locked the black feral cat in the shed for two weeks. We went in and she was weak and crying (meowing). We felt so bad. I picked her up by tummy and took her to the back porch and fed milk, then a scrambled egg. She ate it and seemed happy. I was petting her while she ate and everything was fine. Then, without warning, she really gave me a big scratch and a bite. I have had pet cats before, so I know I was not upsetting her. We named her "Her Viciousness". We figured she was feral and made a note to keep our distance. 

Now she comes a lot to the back door to be fed, and I feed her. She meows like a Siamese. She looks like a pure black Siamese: thin but healthy, really  loud, whiny meows. I open the door slowly with the food so I don't scare her, and she backs up and hisses. When she eats, she lets me pet her, but I do it with the oven mitts on. She has attacked my hand unprovoked. 

This is the weirdest. I will stand in the back yard and not move. She sees me and meows and she comes trotting over. I don't move. Sometimes she makes sniffy noises like a dog, but she is about a foot away from me, not actually sniffing my hand or anything.  She rubs up against my legs for about a minute. I don't move. Then she flashes and sinks her teeth and claws into me. I jump, and she jumps back. My husband says she is smelling me to see if I smell tasty, then she rubs up against me to claim me, then she tries to "take me down" to eat me. She will do this even after she has eaten and I know she is full. 

I used to think that she was lonely and wanted attention when she meowed and came over, so I used to squat down and say, "kitty kitty". I would pet her while she rubbed up against me, and then she would attack me. So I started to remain standing and hold very still. It's scary because I know she is going to attack me. She is not playing because she draws blood, so I only hold still when I have my jeans on. If I have bare legs, I run inside when I see her meowing and coming over to me. I let her rub against me hoping that that some day she will relax and not attack me, but I guess that is unrealistic. 

I don't think she is a kitten because she has a couple of gray hairs on her back. When I pet her, I never hear her purr. 

What do you think? Why does she do that?

I have the same issue with a feral male that I have been feeding for about three months.  Comes up to me, rubs against my hand when I put the food dish down.  I can pet and scratch him while he is eating but only from the back.  I can't approach him from the front.  He also hisses at me and has clawed me several times.  After the first clawing, I too put on heavy gardening gloves to pet him.  No longer do that but also don't put my hand up to him from the front.  It seems that if we don't make eye contact, I can pet him without a problem.  Have gone thru the closed eyes routine with him but so far it doesn't seem to help.  My neighbor built him a house (gorgeous) but he won't use it either!  I have a 15-year old female who is experiencing some medical issues so I can't bring him into the house.  Although the other day I left the screen door ajar and he came into the house.  As soon as he saw me approach he darted back out.  The hissing and clawing has me bewildered.  Hope someone has some suggestions on what may be the problem and how to handle it.

cjorgensen:  It is wonderful that you were able to save this cat.  Do you know if she is spayed?  Some of the friendly behaviors may mean she's in heat.  The best thing you can do for this cat is spay her and get her vaccinated.  The behaviors may modify but they may not - she sounds like a former stray who has gone feral and she's confused about how to act around you.

feralmomma:  Your cat sounds similar - once they learn to live on their own, they will have some difficult being domesticated again.  He also needs to be neutered and have his vaccinations.  After that, if you each provide food and shelter for them and not expect too much from them, they will have good lives.  They may never be "your kitties" but sometimes that's the best you can get.

BTW - sometimes a house with only one entrance will be rejected by a cat that's used to needing a "just in case" escape.  If you can cut another entrance in the house, he may use it.

Thank you both for helping them!

I have found that cats who have been physically abused will lash out like that. Sort of a "strike first" kind of thing. Hurt the person before they hurt you. It's not a normal feral thing, as ferals would just prefer to avoid human contact until they come to trust you. So she was probably a pet at one time, and was treated harshly . If you don't react angrily to being attacked she may eventually decide she doesn't have to lash out at you. But mostly just try not to get in a position to be attacked.