Commiserating with you! We've had our little orange feral cat home with us for 2 weeks and 3 days now. We fed her for about a week outside before we trapped her and had her spayed and tested and she got her shots. Had to laught when you mentioned the booster shot. We've in the same boat! She is in an extra large dog crate in the basement at the moment. We have a cardboard box with a "door" in it at one end of the crate and she hasn't come out of it yet when we're in the room. She does sit in the doorway now - at least she's now cowering in the corner. She still hisses and growls whenever we come near her. We can't give up as we don't think she would have made it with all of the below zero weather we've had and are still having. Just have to keep hanging in there and doing our best!
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Help And Commiseration Needed
- Thread starter thefiresidecat
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- #42
well good for you for bringing her out of the cold! if she's in a crate in the garage are you able to get much time in with her? I think you really have to spend time with them before they start to come out of their shells. is there a inside room you can put her in?
She's in our nice warm basement and I've been trying to spend a couple of hours with her each day. The basement has drop ceilings and a raised floor so we can't let her out down there or I'm sure we'd lose her. Upstairs we have 4 cats and 7 dogs - all but 2 are rescues - and we thought we should let her get used to being inside and used to us before we introduce her to the upstairs family. We don't have a room upstairs we can use - my husband's 94 year old mother lives with us. I've been thinking of buying a dog pen that I could fit into with her and setting that up in the basement when she shows a little more progress. As with you, we're moving slowly! I have another thread about her, and Keika just gave me the idea of fish pudding in a tube. She said I could hold on to the end and she could lick from it. I found them on Amazon and just ordered some in chicken flavor and some in tuna flavor. Seems like I will be able to stick it through the side of the crate to tempt her and maybe protect my hands at the same time. Possibly something you might like to try.
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- #45
the gerber 2 baby food is the one we went with. unfortunately we can't do tuna with him. he gets the trots. we've been battling the trots for awhile now. we have some of those baby spoons we use to try and hand feed him with. we've had a little luck but very little.
glad your girl isn't in the garage! I must have misread.
glad your girl isn't in the garage! I must have misread.
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- #46
ok, i am absolutely sure we're making progress now. I think soon I will be able to pet him. we took a shoelace type string out of a pair of sweatpants and used it to try and play with him. not a ton of luck but a little! then I petted him with our cardboard petter (it's a torn off strip of a top of a shoebox and folded a bit) I petted around his neck and he rolled into it like sweetbaby. then I dangled the toy a bit more and he bit at it kitten style. he's also made a move like he's considering getting out of his cave when we're present. he's done it like four or five times now. and he didn't hiss at me absolutely every time I went over there this evening. I hadn't spent such a large chunk of time down there as I did today. it was like 3.5 hours. usually it's an hour or two. I think I just need to be spending my afternoons with him in entirety. I was worried i'd keep him from the litterbox. but I think a few more days of this and it might be past that worry.
It does sound like you're making progress. And you may be past this point already, but have you read this article about handling ferals: Handling Feral Cats
And you may be past this point already, but have you read this article about handling ferals: Handling Feral Cats- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #48
I had already read that but I read it again. I think there are probably still a few things in there we can implement and it makes me feel better that he is no where near as bad as it could be. I'm pretty sure he's just a shy stray not an actual feral. lol. I've always had a strong preference for long haired cats (which really means forest cats and their mixes lol) and it seems like they do tend to run to the shy as a whole. Tibby is only a little shy and if he ever got out doors and ran away I'm pretty sure he'd quickly find a neighbor to take him in.. but other cats I've had.. they'd be like him. lol.It does sound like you're making progress.
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- #49
k always darkest before the dawn. when I wrote other day with some despair it was right after that things started turning around. tonight I actually got him to ask me for pettings. I think we're this close to breaking thru the barriers. It started off with a hissing but then the cardboard petting stick got a lot of traction and he was like pettings!!!! I let him smell my hand and it was ok. so I pet him with the stick some more and he was like come on pettings. so I let him smell me again then pet him. not just a tiny little touch the ears but a full on noggin and chin rubbing!
alright next step achieved. he got out of his carrier to eat while my husband was sitting right by the cave.
alright next step achieved. he got out of his carrier to eat while my husband was sitting right by the cave.
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- #50
so tonight we broke thru the barrier of petting and getting out of the cave when we are present. he's really aggressive for attention. so would the next steps be like a week of just us down here building a relationship with him before we start introducing the cats?
then would we let our cats come down but with the door closed (there is about a half inch to an inch gap under this particular door) or would we start off with baby gates stacked up to the ceiling in the door?
with either of these steps should we only allow our cats down in the basement supervised or just open up the basement to them to smell the door with the new cat?
how long should either of these steps last before letting them trade places for a bit?
the room charley/shadow/tiny is in already smelled like our cats. and the scratching post he has is an old one so he does know their smells already
bigbadbass
you were right.. it was like a switch
so would the next steps be like a week of just us down here building a relationship with him before we start introducing the cats?then would we let our cats come down but with the door closed (there is about a half inch to an inch gap under this particular door) or would we start off with baby gates stacked up to the ceiling in the door?
with either of these steps should we only allow our cats down in the basement supervised or just open up the basement to them to smell the door with the new cat?
how long should either of these steps last before letting them trade places for a bit?
the room charley/shadow/tiny is in already smelled like our cats. and the scratching post he has is an old one so he does know their smells already
bigbadbass
you were right.. it was like a switch
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Wonderful news! So happy Charley is coming around. I think I already mentioned I have zero experience with ferals, but love reading these threads and following the progress with socializing ferals, so I'm looking forward to continued successes with dear Charley. 
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Great job! I had a feeling the petting stick would be the breakthrough, since it was for me. Yeah, I would have them meet under the door, then the gates. I would watch them at first, make sure they don't injure each other, but mine never did. They did play and punch each other through the gate, but never hurt each other. With mine, I just left the carrier out all the time and they would get right in it on command. They loved the carrier because they knew that it would get them out of that room to go into a more exciting room.
Next steps....at this point, i'd try the gates or a temporary screen door of some sorts to allow "sniff tests" and face to face between them....always supervised of course. You must give that ample time (a few days?) to assure there is no aggression from either direction. i'd then segregate the others and allow him SOLO roam into the next room only, always leaving free escape back to HIS room. His scent will be present, the others will then get used to that.
Slowly, room by room, solo exploration. See how he fares, building a trust between you both.
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- #54
for other people reading this who are going thru what I'm going thru.. for us the breakthru was a combination of the petting stick and the huge break thru came when I started spending LARGE amounts of time down there rather than just time down there. I went from going down an hour or so at a time (I was trying to be a little respectful of his toilet and eating time) to spending 3-4 hours in a sitting. the vet said 2-4 weeks before the hormones normalize completely. this was like 3.4 weeks after neuter. so I'm sure this is also a a factor.
he still has some hissy for us when we come in the room but that goes away with the petting stick. I remembered that I forgot to bring him fresh water in all the fuss of last night so I brought him some and he hissed at me. so i petted him with the petting stick let him smell my hand then was able to go right back to petting him.
my 3 year old took a good 6 week normalization for hissing/batting/aggression to entirely disappear
I'm not a vet, but could this vary cat to cat? Age a factor? ...you may note further improvement a few weeks from now.
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- #56
I'm sure they mean on average. age and breed and other things are probably a factor. I"m suspecting that maybe he hadn't reached sexual maturity yet. he never sprayed anywhere in the house or showed any inclination towards it. and norwegians can be anywhere between 8 months and 2 years before they do reach it. and the techs said he didn't have any evidence of fighting.
he does still hiss at first when you come near. it's not aggression though it's fear. its a clear, please don't hurt me signal.
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- #57
also In this thread I keep using the word carrier. what that really means is cat cave. I don't know why I keep using that word. lol. there is a carrier down there and he avoids it. I guess I could carry him in the cat cave... it has handles.
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My cats knew that if they got in the carrier, then they got to leave the room. I had this whole system where I switched them from room to room. It was quite the circus.
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- #59
i can imagine. lol! the cat in my profile pics sleeps in a open carrier regularly because he likes it. the others are not quite so approving of carriers.
One suggestion I read once, was to speak to the cat before you open the door, so he knows it's you coming in, and doesn't get a shock/surprise. Does he like treats? Or any particular food better than others? If so, you could say "Hey Charlie. Want a treat?" Then he'll look forward to the door opening. And seeing you.
