Share Your Story Of Adopting A Feral

[Ram Keswani]

Have you ever tamed a feral cat? How did you tame it, how much time did it take? Please share. Thank You.

 

[FreedomKitty17]

I found a litter of feral kittens (maybe 5 weeks old?) several years ago. I was only able to catch 1, and I really wanted to keep him. He hissed at everything, he wouldn't let us touch him, and I kept him in a cage so he wouldn't for crazy. I was told it may be months of gentle coaxing before he began to become tame. A few days later, I decided to just go for it. Though he wasn't happy, I petted him and BAM he started purring and it seemed as though he was thinking "oh this is actually nice"! He was completely tame after that, playing and snuggling like normal. Today he has only 3 legs, but he gets around the same as any other cat, and he is one of the sweetest, most beautiful cats I have ever seen.

 

[susieqz]

my feral is a young adult. after 2 months of work, several hours every day, she has grown fond of me. i can stroke her as she eats because all meals are taken with me,
some days she will cuddle, some days she won't.
deep down, she remains feral. however, my goal was to get her to live in my coyote proof garden. this has succeeded
since coyotes are everywhere here, this is the best way to extend her life'
with the help of people here, i was able to cure a respiratory infection she had.
i have a litter box set up in case she decides to come live in the house, but i doubt she wants to be a house cat. not all cats do.
one does what one can.

 

[Kieka]

Rocket was dropped off at my front door. She was flea covered, smelled and at 4 months old was barely over a pound. She was very malnourished, dehydrated and terrified of humans.

Since she was dropped off (the person had put food in a trap then closed the door) I didn't have to trap. So I started off with cleaning her up. She was so malnourished that she didn't have much energy to fight me. Once cleaned I found the highest protein and fat content kitten food I could. I set her up in our old rabbit cage (which is a little longer then a standard dog kennel but shorter). I gave her a little stuffed monkey and fabric tent to hide in plus a litter box, food and water. We put the cage in our dining room and I didn't do more than give her fresh food and water for 24 hours.

Once she was a little settled I started bringing her out. I kept her in my lap or hands the whole time wrapped in a towel. If she got too stressed or scratched or bite me she went back in the cage to relax. Once she calmed down and ate something I took her out again. I did it every day for a week until she stopped fighting me. During that time and onward I used her name frequently during interactions so she began to learn it.

Once she relaxed with me and stopped getting stressed out of her cage I started holding her without wrapping her in the towel. I allowed her to walk around me but would put her back on my lap if she got out of my reach.

After another week I started letting her move a little further. I used toys to keep her close and used her name to call her back if she got too far. If she got scared or tried to run I would bring her back and back into the cage went. After about a month she was better about coming back if called and less jumpy.

At that point I moved her into my bedroom and kept the cage open when I was in the room. Rocket was allowed to run around the room freely with supervision. After about a week she started sleeping on my bed with me. I started leaving the cage open all the time after that. Another week later I let her explore the hallway. I slowly opened up a little bit of the house at a time. It took a total of 4 months to get to the point where she was allowed full range of the house. Another 2 months of training with her for outside access.

Just really slow and steady. Honestly my experience was easy. A lot of people work harder and longer with ferals. Rocket was so sickly when I got her that I think the first week she was just happy to be fed and safe. Having my two other cats really helped her too because she mimicked their reactions in some situations.

 

[Norachan]

I care for quite a few former feral cats. They all vary a lot in how friendly they are now and how long it took to get them that way.

The easiest one was Happy.

She was very skinny and sick when I found her, but she seemed to know I wanted to help. She let me bundle her up in a sweater and carry her round to my vet. I could touch her from the first day and she was always very affectionate.

She looks a lot better these days.

The most difficult one was Marley. I managed to get him indoors but it was about a month before he would come out of hiding and I think around 4 months before I could pet him. He's still very skittish years later, but he's healthy and seems to like living here.

I don't think there is any schedule or plan for befriending a feral cat. They're all different.

If you are going to try to help them you need a plan. You need to think about how you can trap them and get them to a vet, where they will live, what kind of shelter you can provide them with if they are going to be outdoor cats and how much money you can afford to spend on their food and medical care.

You also have to understand that this is a life long commitment. You can't start feeding them and then suddenly stop. Once you've taught them to rely on you for food you have to make sure you can keep feeding and taking care of them for the rest of their lives.