Need Experts to reply

jewelcat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 31, 2001
Messages
77
Purraise
0
Location
Antioch, CA
Hello Everyone!

It has been a while since I visited last. I need a favor from everyone who is willing to participate.

I need to get several statements from those who would be considered experts in working with feral cats. What we need to have are your professional opinions about taming feral cats, not kittens, but fully grown adult feral cats. Please include the question in your answer.

The issues at hand are:

1. Can someone tame an adult feral cat to the point of being adoptable in any situation? (i.e. the adoption applicants might be families with children or seniors, etc.)

2. How long does it take to tame an adult feral cat?

3. What percentage of adult feral cats would you say are truly able to become companion animals to the fullest degree?

4. Can adult feral cats that have been tamed live the remainder of their life completely indoors without evidence of any behavioral problems resulting in being forced to live inside?

5. According to most experts the time required to tame an adult feral cat usually ranges between 4-12 months, sometimes even longer. In one year, how many adult feral cats could one person tame to the point of being easily adoptable let's say from a PETsMART OR Petco adoption site?

I don't want your answers to be biased in anyway, but we are trying desparately to provide support that the most humane way to deal with feral cats is to Trap, Neuter, and Release them back into their colonies. And that the possibility of taming thousands of feral cats is not likely and could be damaging to their psychological wellbeing as well as their physical wellbeing.

There is a group in our area that claims that they can tame every single feral cat they trap. They also state that they can keep any "tamed" ferals that they are not able to adopt out housed inside their foster homes for the remainder of the cat's life and this permanent indoor life would not be cruel to the feral cat.

Thanks for your help!
 

jeanie g.

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 21, 2002
Messages
5,046
Purraise
12
I am moving this thread to Feral Colonies, where it will reach people who have a great deal of experience with feral cats and will be better able to answer your questions.
 

hissy

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 19, 2001
Messages
34,872
Purraise
76
Hi Jewelcat,

Can someone tame an adult feral cat to the point of being adoptable in any situation? (i.e. the adoption applicants might be families with children or seniors, etc.)

Your questions are worded quite well, however the taming of an adult feral is actually based on how long the cat has been surviving in the wild. The longer the cat has been out there, the more prone it has become to abuse and neglect and the harder it is to gain the trust of such an animal. I have had several adults in my care that thrive outside and put them inside for even an hour and you risk losing your wallpaper, wood, screens, whatever is in the way for this cat to be out and to be free.

. How long does it take to tame an adult feral cat?

It takes as long as it takes, it can take a week, a month, a year, even longer. Again, it depends on the cat and the temperment and the experiences the poor thing has had to endure. I had one kitty that lived underneath my sofa for over a year, coming out only to eat, and never learned to use the litterbox.


What percentage of adult feral cats would you say are truly able to become companion animals to the fullest degree?


Again, you are dealing with variables and this is not something you can just set in stone. I can't for the life of me even figure out how to answer this question. I have had some ferals who were *non-approachable* when they first arrive here so they were just gradually introduced to my others and then turned loose outside. But then one day, simply out of the blue, they come in and start sitting on the couch or jumping on our lap. Totally unexpected, and wonderful, but not something I ever worked them towards, something they decided on their own to do.


. Can adult feral cats that have been tamed live the remainder of their life completely indoors without evidence of any behavioral problems resulting in being forced to live inside?


Forcing a feral to do anything usually leads to disaster. I allow my ferals (right now I have 14) to choose their life. We have several doggy doors and the cats know they can go in and out at will. The majority of them choose to stay outside in the warmer months and as it gets colder they gravitate towards the barns, the shop or the house. The only time I force a feral to stay indoors is in when they are ill, but I have one feral who will not come indoors for any reason. He has never been to the vet except to get nipped and he is the healthiest of all my cats. But I know, should I try to bring him inside, it would be disaster. I have another feral who loves to sleep in my sock drawer at night. So again, you cannot (in my opinion) put any sort of predictable pattern down for these cats as they are not domesticated and do not respond as such.

. According to most experts the time required to tame an adult feral cat usually ranges between 4-12 months, sometimes even longer. In one year, how many adult feral cats could one person tame to the point of being easily adoptable let's say from a PETsMART OR Petco adoption site?


I believe the experts have already answered that question. If I am working with ferals, I work with them one at a time if they are adults. If they are an easy fix, it goes easy, if not, it takes a lot longer.


I look at your dilemna this way, if there is a group of people in your area with the expertise and time to tame adult ferals and put them into foster homes, then I applaud their efforts. After all, the flip-side to their life would be one out in the wild and although some may prefer it that way, it is infinitely safer for them to be one-on-one house cats. But again, it would depend on how this group is accomplishing this monumental task. If they are doing it with kindness and love, or if they are forcing these adults into cages and hurrying the process? I am not sure why you seem to want to discredit anyone from working with ferals because all over the United States, many of these ferals are simply ignored. If this group is doing good work for the benefit of the cats, then God bless em! If say, they are traumatizing animals who have already a large distrust of man- declawing them to make that portion of their *re-training* easier to prove something then by all means, shut them down. My hope is they have the cat's best interest at heart and simply want to bring them in out of the cold.

If someone would of told me when Stryker, Callie, and Karma arrived here that one day they would love to lay on my couch, I would of called them fools. But that is exactly where they like to stay now and they are as wild as they come.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

jewelcat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 31, 2001
Messages
77
Purraise
0
Location
Antioch, CA
I, too, have tamed my fair share of feral cats. In fact, my entire original clan were once feral. But, they were all older kittens, when we began the process, and even then it took about 8 months because we weren't able to work with them one on one.

Believe me, I am not trying discredit anyone working with ferals. This group, by the way, does end up caging the feral cats they cannot adopt, and it is for that reason alone that I disagree with their approach to this situation. They seem not to finish the job before they are on to the next feral cat. Therefore, the previous feral cat winds up in a cage because they have not managed to fully tame it and they don't want to release the cat.

I am somewhat uncomfortable in placing this free spirited animals in a cage strickly based on the fact that someone didn't spend enough time with the cat. Do you see what I mean? I would not consider all members of this group to be highly trained in feral cat rescue, granted some of their members are experienced, but most of them are not. They seem to be more interested in the number of cats they process through their program even though most cases prove to be unsuccesssful in their attempts to tame the ferals, so they cage them or force them to life inside.

You can definitely see anguish on the faces of these cats, yet the group claims that it is safer for the cats. Of course, everyone would agree that is safer, however, safer does not always mean that these cats have a happier life. I just lost my mother to Alzheimer's Disease, and she was only 70 years old. I watched her decline, which was extremely fast, and it was a terrible thing to see happen to anyone. Her quality of life completely disappeared and for the last 8 months of her life it appeared as if she was caged inside a body and a brain that couldn't communicate with each other and it was very painful to see this frustration on a daily basis.

I am not trying to compare my mother's situation to that of a caged feral cat except in one way. In both instances, each seems to know that the life they once had is gone and they don't understand why they have been bound to an existence that is purely based on their safety and not on their happiness or quality of life.
 

hissy

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 19, 2001
Messages
34,872
Purraise
76
Ok I understand your predicament now, and shame on this group for "giving up" on a noble animal and *deciding* to confine this free spirit to a cage. Are they going to cage this cat for the rest of it's natural life? I can hear spirits being broken as I type. It sounds to me after you have explanined further, that perhaps this group is looking for recognition of *doing something* about the feral population, rather than wanting each cat to do well in the program.

Some cats cannot be tamed. I know of one woman who insists the quickest way to tame a feral is to confine it in a cage that isn't even big enough for the cat to turn around in. Essentially, the cat comes out with a broken spirit, and yes it is *tame* but at what cost? Kind of like the old way of *breaking* horses. Use force and ropes and the horse will realize you are a worthy opponent and quit fighting, but in doing this, you loose the essence of the true spirit of the animal and that is to high of a cost.

My suggestion to you is to go to Alley Cat Allies website and email someone in charge and give them all the information about this group. Let them then guide you as to how to save some of these unfortunate animals that have no say in what is happening to them. Good luck!


BTW what ever happened to the over 700 domestic cats missing in your area? Were they ever found?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

jewelcat

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
May 31, 2001
Messages
77
Purraise
0
Location
Antioch, CA
The 700 missing cats has turned into 950 missing cats and the numbers just keep rising.

I have lost two more of my precious cats to this invisable demon, which makes a total of four beautiful precious souls that have been abruptly stolen from our home. This time, however, everyone pretty much agrees that what happened to my cats was a direct hit against me. In other words, a warning, for me to quit while I am ahead. When my last two disappeared, which was within 24 hours of each other, my neighbor spotted a suspicious man, that we now believe to be one of the main suspects involved in the hundreds of disappearances. The suspect was driving slowly up and down my street at 4:30 a.m. with his headlight off and windows rolled down. He was seen at exact the same time when my cat, Ray, disappeared.

The car was a beat up older model toyota, and it obviously did not belong in our neighborhood. We have a pretty good description of the vehicle and the man driving it, but of course, law enforcement still refuses to do anything.

Thanks for your comments about the feral cats. I am in complete agreement with you. The spirit has been broken in each of these cats that I saw and I feel that it is such a tragedic thing that this group is doing.
 
Top