I was asked to foster a cat ( approx. age 6 months or so) that was part of a 33 cat colony. The cats from the colony all had to trapped and relocated as the houses and shopping center they were living around are being bull dozed to make way for an upscale shopping area. The houses were abandoned months ago. 10 cats were completely wild and went to a feral sanctuary, 6 were very friendly and social to people, the remainder were somewhat social meaning not as wild as the wild cats. All the cats are in foster homes except for those that went to the feral sanctuary; I have one of the semi social cats.
She appears to be a purebred blue point Birman complete with the white mittens in the front and the laces in the back. The amazing thing is that a number of the cats appeared to be purbred Himalayans and Siamese. All the cats were in very good condition, only 2 had ear mites and only one had Feline aids(very friendly and in a permanent home with another feline aids cat). .
My question is: is it kinder to try to socialize her or return her to a really good feral sanctuary. I have read that ferals don't vocalize. My girl hadn't made a sound in the 4 days that i had her then on day 4 when my other cats were in her room visiting (she is in a 5 foot X 3 1/2 foot condo) she satrted making these really soft little noises. Then on day 6 she talked to them for 10 minutes, real soft cute little sounds. This was while I was in sitting in the room. She even got down off her bench and walked over to the side of the condo. I hadn't seen her move an inch off the bench since I had her until then. She seemed very calm. Today she is back on the bench although appears a little more relaxed. I don't touch her but she lets me put treats right next to her paw, almost touching. She won't eat the treats until I leave the room though. She spent about a week or more at the vet clinic. The Vet Tech there said she would let him pet her. Maybe she was too afraid to anything about it?
So is she feral feral or is she a potentially good candidate for socilization? I have had her for 7 days now. By the way she is great with the litter box, no issues. Eats well.
She appears to be a purebred blue point Birman complete with the white mittens in the front and the laces in the back. The amazing thing is that a number of the cats appeared to be purbred Himalayans and Siamese. All the cats were in very good condition, only 2 had ear mites and only one had Feline aids(very friendly and in a permanent home with another feline aids cat). .
My question is: is it kinder to try to socialize her or return her to a really good feral sanctuary. I have read that ferals don't vocalize. My girl hadn't made a sound in the 4 days that i had her then on day 4 when my other cats were in her room visiting (she is in a 5 foot X 3 1/2 foot condo) she satrted making these really soft little noises. Then on day 6 she talked to them for 10 minutes, real soft cute little sounds. This was while I was in sitting in the room. She even got down off her bench and walked over to the side of the condo. I hadn't seen her move an inch off the bench since I had her until then. She seemed very calm. Today she is back on the bench although appears a little more relaxed. I don't touch her but she lets me put treats right next to her paw, almost touching. She won't eat the treats until I leave the room though. She spent about a week or more at the vet clinic. The Vet Tech there said she would let him pet her. Maybe she was too afraid to anything about it?
So is she feral feral or is she a potentially good candidate for socilization? I have had her for 7 days now. By the way she is great with the litter box, no issues. Eats well.