Skittish stray or feral?

[stacybee]

Hello all! I could use some advice if you can provide some. Recently we had a small grey cat start sleeping in our garage. I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's feral or just a really skittish stray. I've fed it two nights in a row now at the same time and it is highly reluctant to get very close to me. However, it did let me touch it while it ate and is also willing to come near to me from its perch in our garage if I have food. It makes eye contact and did the slow blink a few times tonight, but from a safe place in a hiding spot out of reach.

I keep referring to the cat as "it' because I haven't been able to determine the sex of the cat yet. Also can't tell how old it might be. It's rather small, so there is the possibility it might not yet be full-grown, or it could be just a small adult. It's thin, and rather dirty, but not unhealthy, at least from external appearances. (Eyes are bright, no obvious wounds or scars, no patchiness or matting in coat, but clearly dirty). It has vocalized a few times and has been willing to approach the back door of the house, right up to the threshold and look in, but did not come in. However, it flinches and runs if you make sudden movements or get too close without food, but it has not been aggressive and hasn't even been overly fearful (no hissing or growling when approached or touched.)

I would love to adopt it and have no other pets. But I also realize a feral cat may be more than we can handle and I don't want to try to subject a feral cat to that kind of socialization process, especially if it ultimately wouldn't work.

Any suggestions for how to proceed and the best practices? I fed it a can of tuna last night and went to the store today and got small cans of cat food and a bag of dry food and some treats. It liked the tuna best and ate the whole can, ate most of a small can of cat food tonight and was willing to eat the treats, but not from my hand. I only see the cat around 7 each night and sit outside with it while it eats and talk to it. (So far about an hour each night.) We live in Las Vegas so the nights aren't horribly cold, but I worry about it possibly getting hit by a car or attacked by other neighborhood animals. I'd rather not trap it if I can convince it to come in on its own but I'm not sure it will. (And I don't have a trap.) Any suggestion or information would be much appreciated. Thank you!

 

[keeneland]

I can share our experiences and let you know to a degree what you are letting yourself in for. We kept dogs for over 20 years but no cats. Our last dog passed of old age so we had no pets. Someone threw out a real pretty gray & long haired  female cat which was having trouble surviving last winter. It was joined by another that someone tossed that turned out to be a tom cat. These cats were full feral & had no use for human contact whatever except they were drawn to the food & water we put out.. By spring we had 4 kittens brought in so now we had 6 feral s. Talked to the local humane society about giving the kittens away and was told it would be a death sentence. If put in a shelter no one will adopt the wild kittens & they get put down.We starting reading a lot about ferals and borrowed a live trap to catch the adults & got them fixed. Still had 4 kittens to go! Remember these kittens are wild, wild! Prettiest kitten disappeared before we could get it fixed and we never knew what happened to it. The next one we got fixed was hit by a car about 30 days after TNR and it killed it. To make a long story short we TNR the last 2 female kittens & we have them all. Of our 4 cats the Daddy Tom has turned into a lap cat & one of the kittens has fast became the same. The other 2 some days you can touch them & some days you can't and keep in mind this started out 1 1/2 years ago. When you read or watch a video on youtube and they say it takes that long everyone me included thinks they can do better but this takes, time & more time. These cats have learned us a lot about ourselves & you will learn more than you ever would if you only deal with a tame kitten. This is not for everyone and there are days we wonder if it is even for us. All of these 6 cats have been different so what someone tells you works with their cat may not work for you. It takes time for trial & error.

In conclusion I am enjoying the ride with the feral s. I am not tempted to throw up my hands & get a tame cat. I tried to save 6 lives & we still are saving 4 of those lives. If it wasn't for us I feel all 6 would be dead. It's a good feeling to help something that can;t help it's self and realize they come to appreciate it. Wishing you the best of luck & may God grant you patience! 

 

[crimsonwings]

If it let you pet it it's almost definitely not a feral. To pet a feral you would have to feed it for years before it trusted you enough to pet it. Ferals are wild animals. Just like a bobcat wouldn't let you pet it, neither would a feral. It's possible it could be a semi feral (stray that has been wild a long time), though.

 

[cat247]

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• cat247
• Dec 10, 2016

​We had a mother cat who has been feral in our neighborhood for about 2 years, showed up in May with 2 6 week old kittens.  I started feeding them on the back porch and when Mom was done nursing and caring for them, I took over for her.  Cletus and Tippy Toes in time allowed me to pet them, pick them up and brush them.  I played with them, got them toys and provided shelter on a covered back porch..  Shortly after that the daughter of their mother had a litter of kittens on my neighbors back porch.  Once they were weaned they joined my two on the back porch and I was feeding all of them. At this point, they allowed me to pet them and brush them too.  In November I had 3 of them fixed using coupons supplied by our local shelter.  Talk about an experience of having 3 feral cats at one time in your room who had never even been inside except when they would run into the kitchen while I was fixing their breakfast.  People told me I was crazy for even thinking that it would work but those 3 adapted quickly and even used the litter box without any problems oh except for Cletus who decided to pee in the drawer I had made into a bed in case they did not feel safe.  Here is a picture of all 3 of them on the bed - they were all about 6 months old when they got fixed, rabies shot and pilled for fleas/ticks. Everyone did great so the 2 males were dying to get back outside so I released them 4 days after they were fixed.  Then the female we had to keep inside longer and we just fell in love with her. Tippy Toes never joined the community and now has a forever home with us.  I've had 2 cats before this one, one which I saved from the interstate during rush morning traffic when he was only 5 weeks old  and had for 19 wonderful years.  Feral cats are a whole new ball game - everything is new - scary and they have to be given space to do things in their own time and in their own way.  Is it worth it - yes!  Hope you can give the kitty a forever home and out of the garage.