Feral cat to inside cat

[Kwik]

I wonder if I should hang something over the outside french door so he can't see out to the catio. But there is a window in his little room so he can still see outside.

I like thst Idea- he dudnt go out thfiugh the window so he wont associate it the same way as the doors

 

[grawmmawmoses]

She is very sweet but sadly probably won't be around a lot longer. I've had her for 16 years and there's no way to tell how old she was when I adopted her. My vet thinks Robbie is about 5 years old so he could be even older. It's amazing that he survived even one year in this coyotes infested neighborhood! As he got older and slower he would not have survived out there even though he is amazingly intelligent.

 

[grawmmawmoses]

So I just hung a beach towel over the outside of the french door. Now he can't see the patio/catio where he has lived all of these past months.

 

[Kwik]

So I just hung a beach towel over the outside of the french door. Now he can't see the patio/catio where he has lived all of these past months.

Good,I think it's a good idea( out of sight /,out of mind) --- and not so much the catio but the habit of seeing the way out to it.....Robbie is going to be great inside,he's semi feral so it doesn't take as much to subdue those instincts,really in comparison to a truly wild state being F1- he's a good boy,he knows his person ,he's going to do very well.... lil love bug

 

[price053]

Ok so now it's very light out and he is whining to go outside so I brought my old girl out of the room and left him in there alone. Hopefully if there is no one to hear him crying he will stop. I should have known it was too good to be true. He IS going to take time to adjust and it IS going to take time to integrate with the other cats so they all get along.

I am about to be there my three resident just adult cats can see Bella under the door but that's it. When I put the screen up it will be game on. But at least they won't get to touch each other. Just pray for peace and harmony and will do the same. Things will calm down right now all is new, yet it is all worth it in the end

 

[price053]

Oh, I'll be camped out with him anyway. The last time I tried closing the catio (after he stayed in my bedroom from 5 am to 9:30 pm), he went into his little room, discovered that the catio was closed, and yowled until I opened the catio and let him out.

This one of the videos I use for Bella and there are more after it
this live so it plays all the time

 

[price053]

This one of the videos I use for Bella and there are more after it
this live so it plays all the time

4K Stunning Underwater Wonders of the Red Sea + Relaxing Music - Coral Reefs & Colorful Sea Life

 

[price053]

one more

 

[grawmmawmoses]

Not a peep out of Robbie since I hung up the beach towel to obstruct view of the catio. He spent the night in bedroom with me and my oldest female cat. He now knows that he's not allowed on the bed if she's on the bed. If she's in her igloo on the bedside table it's ok for him to be on the bed with me. I'm going to bring one more cat into the bedroom today.

 

[grawmmawmoses]

I tried Newman and he hissed so out he went. I replaced the door to my bedroom from the rest of the house with the screen door. Then I fed all of them wet food, Robbie and my old girl on the bedroom side of the screen door and the others on the outside. While I was changing the door, I had Newman and Tommy closed up in the office and Robbie went out and explored other parts of the house. When he went into the living room, Sasha, my semi feral, ran right up to him like she was going to give him trouble so I scolded her and Robbie ran back into the bedroom.

 

[Kwik]

I tried Newman and he hissed so out he went. I replaced the door to my bedroom from the rest of the house with the screen door. Then I fed all of them wet food, Robbie and my old girl on the bedroom side of the screen door and the others on the outside. While I was changing the door, I had Newman and Tommy closed up in the office and Robbie went out and explored other parts of the house. When he went into the living room, Sasha, my semi feral, ran right up to him like she was going to give him trouble so I scolded her and Robbie ran back into the bedroom.

Perhaps you might try distracting her next time instead of scolding her- don't want to associate interacting with Robbie as a bad thing nor do you want to frighten Robbie....

Did Sasha charge at Robbie? What was Robbies reaction to Sasha running towards him?Intervention is good as you do want to " prevent" a potentionally aggressive interaction so I'm not saying you did anything wrong.... I'm just wondering if she was so fixated that you had to scold

 

[grawmmawmoses]

She charged him and he stood his ground. I was afraid of a cat fight. I called out her name (not really scolding) which did distract her and then Robbie ran back into the bedroom. It's just going to take time with them but I'm most happy that my old girl and Robbie spent the night with me in my bedroom and we had no problems. She's the only one who consistently sleeps in my bedroom and the only one who would be put out if she was shut out of our bedroom at night. The others sometimes sleep in there but not on my bed and sometimes they sleep elsewhere so I don't think this will be traumatic for them. Now they all just need to get used to the idea that he is in the house too and not only confined to the bedroom. I will shut the others in my office from time to time so Robbie can explore the rest of the house. This is how I've introduced new cats in the past and I took about 6 weeks and it worked fine. The only difference here is that Robbie is in the bedroom and previously new cats were in the office. That would be traumatic for Robbie as he is used to his little room adjacent to my bedroom.

 

[price053]

Not a peep out of Robbie since I hung up the beach towel to obstruct view of the catio. He spent the night in bedroom with me and my oldest female cat. He now knows that he's not allowed on the bed if she's on the bed. If she's in her igloo on the bedside table it's ok for him to be on the bed with me. I'm going to bring one more cat into the bedroom today.

That is awsome so happy for you

 

[gypsylea40]

I have been feeding feral orange tabby "Robbie" (Robert Redford) for almost a year. He was already TNR'd with clipped ear when he showed up. I closed off a small room that already had a doggie door, separating him from my inside cats with a screen door. He plays with them through the screen door and sleeps in there on his bed during the hottest part of the day but stays outside at night. I think he knows he would be trapped in there if a predator came in through the doggie door. I think he sleeps in the big Arizona Ash tree in my back yard at night which is good so the coyotes can't get him. I keep dry food and water in his room and feed him wet food on the patio table in the morning and pet him while he eats. He waits by the kitchen door most of the day hoping I'll come out and pay attention to him. He tries to play with me by smacking my legs when I'm out and about in the yard but doesn't know to keep his claws in. I tried closing him in his room once and he was terrified. It was very traumatic. I have to close the doggie door at night to keep the raccoons from eating his food and muddying his water bowl. Is it possible to make him an indoor cat? My cats have accepted him and one even waits by the screen door for him to come into his room. But Robbie loves his back yard. Also I don't think I could pick him up and put him in a carrier to take him to the vet for testing.

It's possible to make him a indoor cat..Alot of people tell you it's not .The thing is there's ally cats and ferrell cats..By how you are describing him ..he could be a estranged housecat that is now on the streets.The orange ones are actually rare .I think he wants to be part of your family 100% ..Its good he is familiar with your other furballs..Give him a Christmas wish and buy a cat collar for him with his name and make him a All-Inn member of your family. I think it would be fine .Just get him vaccinated first and groomed if you can just to be 100% sure he isn't going to risk the other furbabies health.

 

[gypsylea40]

My buddy was running with th e ferral vmcats outside of the hotel I was staying at qhen visiting NC..He's neutered and when I bought the cat carrier crate to take him to his first vet appointment..He instantly knew what the crate was and started mewing and growling ..it was a challenge pitting him in .He had all four legs spread out like he was a flying squirrel when i was puttingh him in thecrate..So my point is that if my buddy knew what the crate was and your orange one knew what a cat bed and feeding bowel was ..also just how you described his mannerisms ..he seems like he was a house cat..Ferral cats don't really know what the luxury cat items are ..I actually find it easier to catch a female cat then a house with the crate carrier. BUT only once it's good after I will never be able to catch a ferrall again..Iv had a pet Bob cat and that cat ended up being the sweetest cat ever..He was almost left for dead on the side of the road in NC I brought him home and nursed him back to health and he loved with me for 10 years until he couldn't use the bathroom and he got really old ..He was already older when I saved him

 

[grawmmawmoses]

Poor Robbie hides whenever I'm not in the bedroom with him and I can't stay in there all day. I put on a YouTube video for calming cats. It has lovely soft music with underwater ocean scenes. When I was in there with him, it lured him to sleep. This morning I fed the other cats in the office and shut the door so Robbie could explore the rest of the house but he seemed to be frightened of it and ran back into his hidey hole in the bedroom. It's going to be a long process but we will get through it!

 

[price053]

Poor Robbie hides whenever I'm not in the bedroom with him and I can't stay in there all day. I put on a YouTube video for calming cats. It has lovely soft music with underwater ocean scenes. When I was in there with him, it lured him to sleep. This morning I fed the other cats in the office and shut the door so Robbie could explore the rest of the house but he seemed to be frightened of it and ran back into his hidey hole in the bedroom. It's going to be a long process but we will get through it!

It will be a process. We always want them to adjust fast, I know I wish Bella did. Yet I have to remember slow in this case is not a bad thing. Bella likes to hide when I am not in there too. I kinda let her do her thing and interact with her when I go in. Robbie will come around. Bella was used to being alone 16 hours a day. And now sometimes I think she gets overwhelmed. Just Love on Robbie when you can and give room where needed. You are doing Great!!!!!!

 

[Kwik]

In my opinion it is far too early for Robbie to explore outside of his little safe space- I always stick to around 30 days when transitioning from outsdoors- this builds confidence and highly likely( almost always) when that door of partition is opened they are not very quick to explore very far- which is actually good because they are also not looking to go back to where they came from- they've established territory ....

 

[grawmmawmoses]

Newman was able to burst through the screen door in the middle of the night a couple of nights ago which is why he's so afraid now. I woke up to cat screeching. I redid the latches a couple of times on the screen door that separates them until I think it’s finally secure. He’s afraid of the other cats which makes me sad. I wanted him inside so he didn’t have to be afraid of predators but he’s afraid of the other cats. He doesn’t seem to realize that they can’t hurt him like a raccoon or coyote or even an owl or hawk could. They all need to at least tolerate each other even if they can’t be friends. I had hoped that at least one of them would be a playmate for him.

 

[Kwik]

After 30 days of Timmys containment he did not go past maybe a one foot perimeter around his enclosure - after 30 days he was free to begin exploring with my supervision because of the4 resident cats---- probably 90 days before he even peeked into the other rooms.....

But you have to look at the big picture- fast forward to 6 months.... Timmy never goes in his enclosure,never hides,get along with the 4 others as if they were all raised together & he prefers to be inside with me and has free access to the patio outside.... He's afraid of nothing in the house,blender,food processor,can opener(vacuum a little scary),crinkling bags,dropping stuff, nothing - he just looks at me to say' it's okay'...... Slow and easy acclimation,guidance,re- assurance ,lots of praise & love .... Goes a very long way