Hi I am fairly new to this website and wanted to tell my thoughts on how my socialization project is going to help others doing the same and to also ask some questions. I had been feeding a colony of 4 feral cats 2 males and 3 females. Both females were pregnant so after they gave birth I trapped them and put them through TNR by a reliable TNR program in Brooklyn Ny called the Toby Project. One female had 2 male babies brothers and one sister who also came in my yard with her to feed always together and I put them all through TNR as well and continued to feed. Unfortunately one of the older females was a bully and kicked the sister of the brothers out of the colony we had seen her in our front driveway a few times but not lately but we do have many neighbors who feed so am hoping she goes elsewhere for food and I heard that females can be territorial around food.
We also put up shelters for them for the winter. The other female gave birth to atleast 2 babies one passed away unfortunately and the other who is a male at 2 weeks old we rescued and bottle fed and are raising him as our own his name is Murray and he is 2 year old now and he is just a joy. The other two males cats born to the other female also now turned 2 this year we also decided to take in and try to socialize them. We trapped and rescued them almost a year ago this coming September. We brought them to a reliable vet who specialized in caring for feral cats and he checked them over again for all the obvious issues and the cats were fairly healthy they were vaccinated and tested for feline leukemia and for a second time were negative I only had to treat them for some intestinal parasites which are fairly common in feral cats. After bringing them home we transferred them from the traps they were in into two big travel pens that have a zipper cover on them and also a zippered doorway with room to walk around in with toys, beds, water, food, litter box, scratching posts and they are in a climate controlled environment and are very comfortable and I care and interact with them a few times a day daily. One of the cats who we believe to be part gray Russian Blue we named Chuck seemed semi feral to me he would always come up to my sliding backyard door waiting for food and when I brought it out he would come right up to me and rub his head on my leg and lay down on his back with his belly exposed asking to be petted. To me this was a cat asking to be loved and he is by far the sweetest he didn't act feral. His brother who we named Marty is part Maine Coone we believe and may have the same father as Murray did. Marty was always a little timid but I believe it was because he is much smaller than his Russian Blue brother and the same female bully picked on him too on the outside she would hit him with her paw when he approached the food we put out because she always had to be first to eat at the feeding station so I think related to feeding he was fearful to approach me and would not let me pet him on the outside. So I had to put an extra bowl out even though I had already had two bowls set up so that he could eat.
Although it took a lot of time and patience everyday Chuck is doing great and so is Marty. With some advise from this cat site regarding blinking with your eyes using a calm voice when approaching them, interacting them with play toys, getting down low to their level and to use a feather toy to pet them with and then eventually using the same motion petting with your hand starting with the body first Marty is letting me pet him & he is hissing much less and is much less fearful. He is still a little timid regarding his food but I reassure him that the food is his and that no one is taking it away from him. Chuck is just the same a sweet mush very trusting and very happy both of them are very happy.
Now that you know my story so sorry it's so long my questions are we are going to be bringing Chuck into the house probably in another month or so he will be going into my second bedroom so I can handle him and interact with him more and get him used to being picked up etc and he will be free to roam around the room. We have been letting him out of the pen to walk around and he is good with it where he is now so he is ready for the next step of socialization. I read that it is a good idea to put the travel pen with the door open inside the bedroom while socializing him to another room of the house they say in case he gets scared he has his safe haven to go to. Is this a good idea or to just let him roam free?. Marty is not quite ready to be brought into the bedroom yet. We have let my resident cat Murray go into the area where they are now in their pens to see how the reaction would be since the travel pens are made out of a strong mesh that they can see one another through it. Murray is very gentle and shows no aggression toward either cat but he wasn't raised with other cats so he was curious about them and has gone straight up to both of them nose to nose on the outside of their pens. Chuck shows no aggression to him and has been gentle. Marty hissed a bit in the beginning but since that one time he did he no longer does. My question is once Chuck is in the bedroom how long does it usually take for a semi feral to come accustomed to being inside? I am going to put his water, food, bed, toys and litter box on the outside of the pen in the bedroom so that he learns that it's safe on the outside to get to his things. Also I read that in introducing 2 cats to one another the door method is the best one to use is this true and how long should I wait before I introduce Murray to Chuck with no pen involved? I would appreciate any advise and I hope my way of socializing helps someone else out.
We also put up shelters for them for the winter. The other female gave birth to atleast 2 babies one passed away unfortunately and the other who is a male at 2 weeks old we rescued and bottle fed and are raising him as our own his name is Murray and he is 2 year old now and he is just a joy. The other two males cats born to the other female also now turned 2 this year we also decided to take in and try to socialize them. We trapped and rescued them almost a year ago this coming September. We brought them to a reliable vet who specialized in caring for feral cats and he checked them over again for all the obvious issues and the cats were fairly healthy they were vaccinated and tested for feline leukemia and for a second time were negative I only had to treat them for some intestinal parasites which are fairly common in feral cats. After bringing them home we transferred them from the traps they were in into two big travel pens that have a zipper cover on them and also a zippered doorway with room to walk around in with toys, beds, water, food, litter box, scratching posts and they are in a climate controlled environment and are very comfortable and I care and interact with them a few times a day daily. One of the cats who we believe to be part gray Russian Blue we named Chuck seemed semi feral to me he would always come up to my sliding backyard door waiting for food and when I brought it out he would come right up to me and rub his head on my leg and lay down on his back with his belly exposed asking to be petted. To me this was a cat asking to be loved and he is by far the sweetest he didn't act feral. His brother who we named Marty is part Maine Coone we believe and may have the same father as Murray did. Marty was always a little timid but I believe it was because he is much smaller than his Russian Blue brother and the same female bully picked on him too on the outside she would hit him with her paw when he approached the food we put out because she always had to be first to eat at the feeding station so I think related to feeding he was fearful to approach me and would not let me pet him on the outside. So I had to put an extra bowl out even though I had already had two bowls set up so that he could eat.
Although it took a lot of time and patience everyday Chuck is doing great and so is Marty. With some advise from this cat site regarding blinking with your eyes using a calm voice when approaching them, interacting them with play toys, getting down low to their level and to use a feather toy to pet them with and then eventually using the same motion petting with your hand starting with the body first Marty is letting me pet him & he is hissing much less and is much less fearful. He is still a little timid regarding his food but I reassure him that the food is his and that no one is taking it away from him. Chuck is just the same a sweet mush very trusting and very happy both of them are very happy.
Now that you know my story so sorry it's so long my questions are we are going to be bringing Chuck into the house probably in another month or so he will be going into my second bedroom so I can handle him and interact with him more and get him used to being picked up etc and he will be free to roam around the room. We have been letting him out of the pen to walk around and he is good with it where he is now so he is ready for the next step of socialization. I read that it is a good idea to put the travel pen with the door open inside the bedroom while socializing him to another room of the house they say in case he gets scared he has his safe haven to go to. Is this a good idea or to just let him roam free?. Marty is not quite ready to be brought into the bedroom yet. We have let my resident cat Murray go into the area where they are now in their pens to see how the reaction would be since the travel pens are made out of a strong mesh that they can see one another through it. Murray is very gentle and shows no aggression toward either cat but he wasn't raised with other cats so he was curious about them and has gone straight up to both of them nose to nose on the outside of their pens. Chuck shows no aggression to him and has been gentle. Marty hissed a bit in the beginning but since that one time he did he no longer does. My question is once Chuck is in the bedroom how long does it usually take for a semi feral to come accustomed to being inside? I am going to put his water, food, bed, toys and litter box on the outside of the pen in the bedroom so that he learns that it's safe on the outside to get to his things. Also I read that in introducing 2 cats to one another the door method is the best one to use is this true and how long should I wait before I introduce Murray to Chuck with no pen involved? I would appreciate any advise and I hope my way of socializing helps someone else out.
