I have a question about my formerly feral cat who seems to have become overly attached to me. I worry that this behavior is unusual for a tamed feral, if he will eventually grow out of it, or if it may cause psychological problems for him in the long run. Or, perhaps this is just part of his socialization. First, let my give you his history:
Last summer, I rescued three feral kittens at about 10 weeks of age. The first two I trapped within a couple days of each other. Unfortunately, one of them developed an infection, so I waited until she got better (about a week) before trapping the third. As you can imagine, this turned out to cause a huge difference in the behavior and socialization of the third kitten. The first two became extremely friendly within the next couple of weeks, and I was easily able to find them a home. The third one, however, still acted scared around people after a couple of months, and I didn't feel comfortable giving him away for this reason. I only trusted myself to have the patience to work with him, so I kept him.
I named him Sirius Black. (I know that's means "dog," but I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.
) Although he remained leery of me, Sirius immediately became very fond of my other cat, Rocky (a four year old neutered male). He would follow Rocky around everywhere, and Rocky would groom and lick his new little brother. It was obvious that Sirius felt very comfortable around another cat, even though he had not yet warmed up to humans.
After a while, Sirius did slowly warm up to me. He would let me pick him up when he was eating, but usually at no other times. I fed him in a separate room from Rocky because they ate different food. Also, Rocky tends to be greedy with his food and I didn't want him to steal Sirius'. At about five months of age, I got Sirius neutered. His behavior didn't change dramatically, although he was gradually warming up to me and even my fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] (the other human of the house). Although Rocky sometimes acted a little annoyed at Sirius, they still got along famously.
When Sirius was one year old (last April), I stopped feeding them separately. Now, I just leave an unlimited amount of food out for them to share. I believe this is the time that Sirius stopped being so attached to Rocky and started to become attached to me. He follows me into every room, and demands a lot of my attention. The behavior is most pronounced when I wake up in the morning. Every morning, he follows me around as soon as a open my eyes. He meows incessantly, rubs against my legs, licks my knees, and jumps up on me when I walk around.
He and Rocky still play, but they aren't as inseparable as they used to be. Sirius seems to have transferred his attachment from Rocky to me. He is still somewhat skittish around my fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji], and definitely won't let any visitors to the home pet him or pick him up. Is this normal behavior for a formally feral cat to become this attached to his owner and never warm up to others? The attention craving doesn't bother me, I really compare how he acts to me to having a dog that just demands more attention than a normal cat does. Do you think he will grow out of this, and perhaps warm up to other people eventually?
I would appreciate any advice or theories about his unusual behavior. I am new to this forum, but from what I read everyone here has a lot of experience with these issues and really knows what they're talking about. Thanks for reading!
Last summer, I rescued three feral kittens at about 10 weeks of age. The first two I trapped within a couple days of each other. Unfortunately, one of them developed an infection, so I waited until she got better (about a week) before trapping the third. As you can imagine, this turned out to cause a huge difference in the behavior and socialization of the third kitten. The first two became extremely friendly within the next couple of weeks, and I was easily able to find them a home. The third one, however, still acted scared around people after a couple of months, and I didn't feel comfortable giving him away for this reason. I only trusted myself to have the patience to work with him, so I kept him.
I named him Sirius Black. (I know that's means "dog," but I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.
After a while, Sirius did slowly warm up to me. He would let me pick him up when he was eating, but usually at no other times. I fed him in a separate room from Rocky because they ate different food. Also, Rocky tends to be greedy with his food and I didn't want him to steal Sirius'. At about five months of age, I got Sirius neutered. His behavior didn't change dramatically, although he was gradually warming up to me and even my fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji] (the other human of the house). Although Rocky sometimes acted a little annoyed at Sirius, they still got along famously.
When Sirius was one year old (last April), I stopped feeding them separately. Now, I just leave an unlimited amount of food out for them to share. I believe this is the time that Sirius stopped being so attached to Rocky and started to become attached to me. He follows me into every room, and demands a lot of my attention. The behavior is most pronounced when I wake up in the morning. Every morning, he follows me around as soon as a open my eyes. He meows incessantly, rubs against my legs, licks my knees, and jumps up on me when I walk around.
He and Rocky still play, but they aren't as inseparable as they used to be. Sirius seems to have transferred his attachment from Rocky to me. He is still somewhat skittish around my fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji], and definitely won't let any visitors to the home pet him or pick him up. Is this normal behavior for a formally feral cat to become this attached to his owner and never warm up to others? The attention craving doesn't bother me, I really compare how he acts to me to having a dog that just demands more attention than a normal cat does. Do you think he will grow out of this, and perhaps warm up to other people eventually?
I would appreciate any advice or theories about his unusual behavior. I am new to this forum, but from what I read everyone here has a lot of experience with these issues and really knows what they're talking about. Thanks for reading!
