New Year Feral Project

This is Puff Ball, a little female 9 months old that we did a TNR.  When we had her in a recovery cage she actually responded to petting by purring & slept on my lap. Since we have released her the best I can do is get her to eat from my hand. Would love to get her to where I could could groom her & pet. It has been 4 months since the TNR and we seem to have reached a road block on the taming. Anyway this is my project for 2017 is to tame the little girl into a trusting kitty! Merry Christmas to all!

What a pretty kitten and what a lovely new year project. It will be so rewarding when you achieve it. Keep posting your progress with lots of pics. Good luck and Merry Christmas

Hello Keeneland, thank you for doing the TNR on Puff Ball. You have done a good job with the TNR.
Glad that you are taking this on as your project for 2017
Puff Ball is beautiful [emoji]10084[/emoji]️Do let us k ow the progress and also post more of her photos

stunning cat! I hope she brings you alot of happiness and joy!

We have 5 cats and every one of them is a stray or feral.  We recently added 3 kittens  which got into my shed on my farm. They are now at my house in Dallas, being socialized so they can be adopted.  When we caught them they were too young to neuter so we either had to take them or let them go.  We adopted a kitten from the first litter (Georgie the Sumo wrestler).  I am feeding the adult cats but because I am not there enough it is hard to TNR.  I called the ASPCA in Waxahachie Texas for assistance but they never even responded.  I have seen numerous cats over the last few years but it seems like they are there a while and either are killed (by cards) and animals.   The cats are great for keeping mice and snakes away.

Would be nice if they could be TNR but I don't know who can help.

As the weather gets colder I hope I can finally get through to this kitten. She simply will not let me handle her much less bring her in. She seems to thriving and we give her plenty of food. It's still a mystery to me how different kittens from the same littler can turn out. Her sister is content to be a house cat but this kitten has always been standoffish. She knows we mean her no harm but doesn't wish to be petted. I may be biased but to me she is as pretty as many pure bred cats. Wish me luck & if anyone wants to drop some advice feel free. I have already made up my mind that I am not going to enclose her and force interaction with her which was what I did during TNR. She responded during those 11 days that she was confined but I am not willing to put her or myself through that again. 

Whenever she feeds from your hand, always praise her with a calming assurance voice. Clench your fist and slowly let her rub her cheeks on your hand so that her scent is on you and it means she owned you and not you owned her. Don't to use your palm to pet her as she might be weary the she is getting whacked. Do this everyday till her confidence level got up in trusting you.

Also you might want to get a teaser to play with her and also leave out the brush near her to let her smell and get use to the look of it. Sit down and talk to her even if she keep a distance. this is just to show that you are no threat to her. Don't have to brush her at one go because her fur might be tangled and if she feels something foreign is tugging her might freak her out.

It'll take time but don't rush.