Feral Cat Owner

Hello fellow cat lovers!

This is my very first thread on this website. I thought this would be a good start because my little companion is a domesticated feral cat, actually all three of my cats are. I was wondering if anyone else has brought feral kittens into their home as well? I know there are caretakers, but I'm fairly new to in-depth cat care, and was wondering if this was a rarity? 

My cats are very tame! 

If you wondering the story of how I got all my cats, here we go! ( Share your feral kitty stories in the thread)

Rocky: 

Rocky is a very, very big cat. He has a thyroid problem that makes him gain unnecessary weight. When we first brought him into our home around 2005, he was normal, tabby cat. He came up on our porch and meowed and meowed, then he would leave, then meow again. We took the necessary precautions to make sure he wasn't owned by anyone. We found out he wasn't, then took him to the vet to be neutered, and brought him into our home. in 2005, I was the ripe old age of 5... 

Welcome to the Cat Site.

Sounds like you've done some really good work!  You will find most of the posters in this forum are the proud owners of ferals and former-ferals.

I personally think cats who were born in feral circumstances appreciate the good life inside.  All of mine run the other way whenever an outside door opens.  They are not taking chances!

I trapped two feral kittens at my work place and brought them inside the office building. I named them Kitty and Rusty. I have had them inside for over two and a half months. They are approximately 10 months old. Unfortunately from what my vet said it sounded like it is rare what I did, they said very few people do what I was doing (trap feral kittens, pay the vet bills and keep them as indoor cats).

Would have taken them home but the short story is one of my house cats is a bit screwed up.

The work cats have shots, spayed, neutered and id chips. Kitty is a small female and Rusty a larger male. They are not completely settled in but very close, I have a bit more work to do on socializing them to trust my co workers. I visit them frequently throughout the day and the company owners have no problem with the cats living in the building. I also pop in on weekends to check up, feed and play with them. I have plenty of blankets and toys for them.

The long story of why my house cat Taz is screwed up. I think everyone should read this because people should be very aware of who they give a pet to. It is not really relevant to this thread so I posted it at the bottom of my comment. When I get the chance I will post all my cats to the new cats on the block and put Taz's story there.

Taz is a bit screwed up from the people that had him before us. Taz can be a handful at times, he can get angry really easy. I don't think Taz would do well with me bringing home more cats. He was a very screwed up kitten when I got him. I had a hard time getting Taz to eat cat food, thank God he was only 2 1/2 months old when I got him or it could have been much worse. He wanted to eat people food off my wife's plate and didn't seem to know what cat food was. Taz is beyond terrified of dogs, I think the previous people let a dog play / maul him and he was scared for his life (he would have been under 2 1/2 months old). I don't have a dog and don't want a dog so that is not a big issue for me. Taz's health is well, like I said thank God I got him when I did those people would have screwed up his health feeding him people food. And the type of people, we are not talking home cooked meals but more like fast food and other crap (I don't mean to attack fast food but that stuff isn't for cats and dogs). I would imagine there were days Taz didn't eat. And when I say the people were drug abusers I don't mean drink a bit and smoke pot but more hard core drug users (pills, meth, crack, etc). My little brother knew them from high school and rescued Taz from them. They let him take Taz, my brother said "what is with the cat" and the guy said "go ahead and take it". Thank God my brother had the common sense to know those people should not have a pet. He was still young when we got him so we named him Taz, I can't remember what the other people called him but I am sure he didn't want to hear that name again.

It has been easier to condition the feral cats at work than it has been to recondition Taz and those people had him for such a short time. It is amazing how much damage they did in such a short time. I think to some degree Taz learned to not trust people where my work cats learned to trust people. I have had Taz for over 2 1/2 years and unfortunately he is a work in progress but I will never give up on him.