normal behavior for a feral cat??

I have been tending some ferals and there's one regular feral named Callie who now lives practically on my porch.

She has taken to following me everywhere.. If I'm in the living room, she'll sit or lay down in front of the sliding door and stare at me.. If I go into the bathroom, she'll hop up on the window near the bathroom.. If I go into the BEDROOM, she'll move on to the next window which is closest to the bedroom.

If I go to leave, she'll follow me ALL the way to the car then sit on some rocks near the sidewalk to watch me drive away..

When I get home, she often will be on the rocks waiting then as I start walking across the lawn to my apt, she'll take off RUNNING and beat me (of course!) to the door then as I get to the door, she'll move away a bit so I wouldn't get too close to her.

I was wondering if any of ur ferals do this or is this hmm unique??

She still won't let me touch her BUT she will play with the feather wand with the door ajar a bit! Last nite, I got some cat treats onm y hand, put my hand out the door on the floor and she actually took a piece off my hand but then refused to so I had to put the pieces on the door mat then she'd eat with my hand near... I am still working on getting her to let me pet her and hopefully tame her someday..

I was looking at pics of Callie and it shocked me to see how FAT she has grown since I've started taking care of her!! I shouldn't be surprised though cuz I do feed her a lot (both DRY AND WET catfood) I put out both dry/wet food for all ferals..

that fat may be kittens- hope you catch her soon and get her spayed. It sounds like she has bonded with you, and that's great!

Pamela....has she been spayed yet?? If not...you should trap her so that they can determine if she is pregnant or not.

Katie

I got her spayed last summer so she's DEFINITELY NOT pregg! Just FAT from all the feeding I give her and she doesn't go far from my porch. I think she lives under my porch cuz whenever I open my door, she's at my door within 2 minutes.

So has any of ur ferals had the same behavior (following u everywhere, staring, etc?)

My ferals always come out of their hiding spaces when I'm outside. Most stay at a distance but Lucky (the youngest) has started following me around like that. In fact, Lucky looks for me inside the house and hops up on the outside window ledge for that room. My bedroom window is on the 2nd floor and I have a porch below that window. He will climb a tree up to the roof of the porch and stare at me thru my bedroom window! He'll meowl at me like he wants inside but would never do so (I've invited him inside more than once). He has also started letting me pet him a little bit at the feeding station, and follows us around when we walk the puppy, actually trying to play with him.

Yes, they start trusting you a little bit and want to become your friend but just don't have enough trust to go all the way.

We have ferals that have totally tamed up. She could just have the personality that makes her want affection. We had a feral, Bo, that was born in the park and lived there for 1 1/2 years. She became totally tame so we decided to bring her home. It can happen! She also may have been a pet that had been dumped or left behind and is now just beginning to gain your trust.

That sounds very much like my feral Buddy. He follows me everywhere when I'm outside and will let me touch him, but only if I have Nathan in my lap. Otherwise Buddy always stays just out of reach. He seems to really want to be petted and loved on, but just isn't quite sure it is safe.

Granet follows me and stares at me, licks my feet , sometimes I get to pet him, I held him for 30 seconds this weekend...that was a first! And we have had this little monster since he was 6-8 weeks old.

I am THRILLED!!! Last nite, I put my hand outside with the sliding door ajar a bit to play with the feather wand and Callie came up and SNIFFED MY HAND!!!!

After that, I decided to put some wet catfood on my hand and see... She ATE OUT OF MY HAND!!! It was COOL seeing and feeling her eat the food off my hand!

I'm definitely making progress with her.. She's soooo cute!!!!

Here's some current pics of her..

Last pic of her playing with the feather wand. She LOVES the feather wand.

This was taken about a month ago and was the only way I could interact with her. If I had opened the door and put my hand out at that time, she would've run away from the door. Now she just stays but if I get TOO close or act like im going to touch her, she'll scoot away..

That's excellent Pamela!!!

Katie

Pamela, I am THRILLED for you and Callie!!! My goodness, your heart must have skipped a beat when she sniffed your hand, and then ate out of it! MY heart skipped a beat just reading it.

Pamela, she is so sweet and you are so lucky she follows you all around! I think that's wonderful and I know you will pet her soon.

Next time she comes, sit down at the door and extend your hand out with treats inside. Don't look her in the eyes, look above her and just talk softly to her. Start doing this on a regular basis with the door open of course and don't be surprised when she headbumps you and climbs in your lap.

She is gorgeous! Isn't it great that she is starting to realize what a good person you are?! Bravo!!!

Originally posted by Pamela
I am THRILLED!!!

Last nite, I put my hand outside with the sliding door ajar a bit to play with the feather wand and Callie came up and SNIFFED MY HAND!!!!

After that, I decided to put some wet catfood on my hand and see... She ATE OUT OF MY HAND!!! It was COOL seeing and feeling her eat the food off my hand!

I'm definitely making progress with her.. She's soooo cute!!!!

Here's some current pics of her..

Click to expand...

Does that floor mat say "Please wipe your paws"? hehe i just got one of those the other day...

YUP, that's what the welcome mat says. Some of my friends have teased me about it- they'd say things like "Oh, I don't have paws so does that mean I CAN'T wipe my feet on that mat?"

Hissy, yep, that's what I plan to do- will make an habit of feeding callie from my hand and try to get her to trust me more.

One problem- when I move (don't know when but i WON'T be living there forever) I'll have to figure out what to do with Callie. There's NO WAY I'd leave her behind but at the same time, would she be happy being an "inside" cat and would she be able to be merged in with my 4 cats?? I'll cross that bridge when it happens..

For now, I'm enjoying getting to know her better, get her to trust me more, and having my 4 cats drive me up the walls!

What a cutie. Beautiful cat.

I have a colony of cats on a fast food strip. Totally feral. I was fixing the skirting on an abandoned used-car trailer, so they wouldn't live there (they were getting IN the trailer...not good), sitting there, running my screw gun, zip, zip, then suddenly realized something was moving by my elbow. I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was Pichou, would obviously had to see what weird thing was doing to one of her homes (they have shelters too) just sitting there watching me. She walked around and stared at me the whole time. Any other time, she would have been a little torti streak, running away.

Maybe they get bored and like watching us as much as we like watching them.

I'm betting you are going to have a nice little house feral soon..well, maybe a nice PLUMP house feral. What a pretty girl.

Hi All,

[HI, Susan!! ]

Pamela, boy, she is a beautiful cat. She'll be likely to be *perfectly* happy, as an indoor kitty. It would not be difficult given that she seems to have begun to trust you while on "her" turf.

IF there is any chance that when you move, you MIGHT not be able to take her, please think of whether one or another of the neighbors would be willing to look after her. I don't know where you may be in Maryland, but there are a couple of groups around that are what I call "feral friendly" now; so you might want to interview them and see if one or more would help keep tabs on her if she must stay behind. (My group periodically holds workshops on one way to re-socialize such cats)

It's wonderful that you had her spayed already! I guess, you are not anxious to use a safe trap in order to bring her in and begin re-domesticating her?