Feral cats and play

5 weeks ago I took in a feral (Oskar) who's about 2 years old. Making great progress with everything (cuddles, playing, eating next to my other 2 cats) but she's still anxious (pacing a lot). While there was initially some animosity (hissing/swatting) from my resident girl who's 1.5 years old, she now wants to play. There's the amazing butt wiggles and jumping towards Oskar but obviously Oskar is pretty spooked when that happens. I now wonder, do ferals even know what play is? Oskar did not come from a colony but lived alone in my backyard. If she does not know what play is, can she learn?

   Yes, indeed they can but it can take awhile. Feather-teaser type toys are a good way to foster parallel play which eventually leads into interactive play.  I tamed an adult feral named Scotty (I saw him in the field across the way,dragging a huge dead rat for his dinner & I knew that I absolutely needed that cat to rid my garage of rats, which eventually he did) but it was quite the process for several months. when winter was coming on, Scotty decided to venture into the house & almost immediately set up shop in front of the woodburner. My regular cats were used to fosters coming in & out but Scotty's antisocial behavior to them was confusing. I would use "DaBird" in a play circle in front of all my cats and Scotty found that observing our play was most interesting and eventually he joined in. After that, he got into a terrible scuffle with my cat Cindy and shortly after, they were cuddling and grooming each other, best friends for years until Scotty got old and died. An interesting note was that Scotty liked kittens and was fond of teaching them how to "kill" play mice. 

catsknowme said:

:nod:   Yes, indeed they can but it can take awhile. Feather-teaser type toys are a good way to foster parallel play which eventually leads into interactive play.

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Good! I've been doing the exact same thing. She loves playing with wand toys and when one of the others joins, she sits back and observes and even continues to play (I go back and forth between them when that happens so that no one feels left out). Tho I'm not sure how to help her understand that playing "fight" with the others is just fun and no real threat to her.

Play is almost as important as food in socializing a feral.  They know what play is, play hones their hunting skills when they are young and it's a common complaint of cat haters and cat lovers that they play with their prey.  We are continually rescuing poor little Chipmunks from one of our ferals who in typical cat fashion tortures them, plays, before they are dead and he can eat them.   Rarely have they been dead before we got to them.  We rescue the ones we can.

I made this thread a while ago about a toy I've found to be very effective, the magic stick.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/321538/the-magic-stick

Piano Cat said:

Play is almost as important as food in socializing a feral.  They know what play is, play hones their hunting skills when they are young and it's a common complaint of cat haters and cat lovers that they play with their prey.  We are continually rescuing poor little Chipmunks from one of our ferals who in typical cat fashion tortures them, plays, before they are dead and he can eat them.   Rarely have they been dead before we got to them.  We rescue the ones we can.

I made this thread a while ago about a toy I've found to be very effective, the magic stick.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/321538/the-magic-stick

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She has played with me and various toys since before I took her in. She absolutely loves playing but I wonder about cat on cat play. My two residents rough play a lot. There's constant chasing and rolling on top of each other, which the feral seems to interpret as legit attempts of trying to fight. I was just curious if ferals outside play with each other (i.e., chasing, jumping on top of each other, love bites).

Two of my outside ferals play with each other daily. The third one does not play. He is clueless. He will play with me with wand toys but does not play with the other cats.

The feral I brought into my home 3 years ago now plays with my other indoor cat. Yet it took almost 18 months.

Oh sorry, I didn't understand you meant would they play with each other.  I have two outside who are getting to that point.  They ambush each other and often it seems "half joke, whole earnest" as my mother used to say.  One will chase the other away when I'm playing with them but they don't run in fear.  This morning I was lucky to witness outright affection between them as they waited outside to be fed and one licked the other's ears and head.  They are not related (I doubt) one has been here four years and the other one year.  I don't think they will ever play like my inside cats as it probably isn't safe for a critter outside to give up attention to would be predators.

My feral kittens play with each other. They are siblings. Before I trapped them they got a hold of one of my cats skineez teaser toys and ran off with it. I found it later under the deck. The mom looked confused when she witnessed them taking off with the toy lol. They love for me to play chase the duck on a stick! I love watching them. Even feral cats like play! 

piano cat I've searched the Internet for this magical magic stick but can't find anything. Would you mind sending me a link? Thanks so much!!!

I made one years ago.  I just used the stick of an old wand toy.  A dowel rod would work too.  I wrapped an old sock around the end and secured with duct tape.  I then wrapped a soft piece of flannel around it.  Once again secured with duct tape.  I have used this to play with my feral cats as well as getting them their first taste of touch.  My boys have all been frightened of it at first, but gradually get used to it.  I have also put some catnip on the ends to entice them.

Here is a picture of the one I have used.  This is Hampton last summer.

shadowsrescue ohhhhh, I thought that was some sort of toy. Since Oskar loves hand petting, I don't need one. I'm still looking for something Oskar would be interested in playing by herself. Mice, balls, crinkly toys are all a no go. Catnip she likes but that only occupies her for 5 minutes. Maybe this will come with time?

AlexIsOnTofu said:

@ShadowsRescue ohhhhh, I thought that was some sort of toy. Since Oskar loves hand petting, I don't need one. I'm still looking for something Oskar would be interested in playing by herself. Mice, balls, crinkly toys are all a no go. Catnip she likes but that only occupies her for 5 minutes. Maybe this will come with time?

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Have you tried a variety of catnip toys?  I bought some great ones on Etsy that my former feral boy loves.  What about a laser pointer?

ShadowsRescue said:

Have you tried a variety of catnip toys?  I bought some great ones on Etsy that my former feral boy loves.  What about a laser pointer?

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She goes nuts over Goodnip Mice Dream, which I have in several toys. Laser pointer and any wand feather toys she loves too but those are again toys that she can't play with by herself. The strange thing is that when she was still living outside and came inside to visit, she looks loved balls, now she doesn't even acknowledge when they roll past her.

AlexIsOnTofu said:

@Piano Cat I've searched the Internet for this magical magic stick but can't find anything. Would you mind sending me a link? Thanks so much!!!

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LOL, it's just a stick I cut off a shrub outside.  About 18 inches long, stripped of leaves, stiff enough I can poke it under things like a mat or edge of a cardboard box.  When it gets old and brittle and they've chewed so much end off I just go cut another one.  Oh, because they do chew it make sure it isn't off of anything poisonous, that might be a factor for some shrubs.  Sometimes I use a small diameter piece of dowelling and put a string on the end but I always start without the string.  It really seems to help them get used to my hands moving.

Even if Oskar is used to your hands now, he might still like to play with the stick.  Or the stick with the string on the end.  I keep a stick out by one of our big spruce trees at the end of our yard and even though I can now pick up and snuggle and kiss one of the ferals, STILL, whenever I go back there he runs along too and sits by the stick waiting for me to make it move so he can chase it.

piano cat we got lots of oak trees in the backyard. Do you know if they are poisonous?

There is a poison oak.  We don't have it here, but I can't say about your area.  However, it is not a tree but a leafy shrub or a climbing vine.  The shrub can apparently grow quite tall though.  A red or white oak skinny little branch here would be fine (except my OH would have a fit if I broke one of ours off ) but you'd be best to ask someone in your own area.  An agriculture extension agent?  Botanist?  A local naturalist club?  They probablyt won't know about poisons to cats as well but you don't want to be handling something that's going to give you an awful itchy rash either.