Hi all,
I am excited to be a new member here and get some guidance in taming my recently captured feral tom cat.
A little history in how I got interested in rescuing stray and feral cats. My wife and I love cats. When our two girls were young we bought two kittens from a pet store. Nineteen years later after exchanging a lot of love between the cats and our family the cats got pretty old and past away. This was three years ago.
Last spring a young stray(approx 2-3 yrs old) cat came to our door so we began to feed him. He was very scared of us and would run in the bushes if we went out on the back deck. What finally got me was his tiny little mew that sounded like a little baby 3" kitten. Well that pulled my heart strings and after four months of getting his trust and socializing with him in our back yard we adopted him. He turned into the most loving cat ever. I would clarify him as a fairly wild stray. We named him Tiger.
This spring another cat showed up but he was much different. I would put some food out and he would only come after sunset to an hour or two later. If he saw me watching him through the window he would run away and sometimes come back later. I fed him all summer in hopes he would come during the daytime so I could begin building some trust with him. Most every nite for seven months he would come to eat right at dark or a little latter just like a wild animal. I sat and watched him eat every nite he showed up. If I didn't and he came later the racoons would eat the food, so I was always there to chase them away. He is a tabby cat with a beautiful face that attracted us to him.
I want to say that I captured him rather than trapped him because I have an outside cat run that attaches to the house and window that enters a two story cage that are both 2-1/2' x 7-1/2' long.
Well, the evening of Oct.17th right at sunset he came to eat inside the cat run.
I built a drop gate on the right and set a food bowl inside. I had a pin with a string running to the window where I sat hidden back of some cardboard with a small hole I could see when he entered the run. He came in to eat, I had his favorite food, hard food mixed with some canned fancy gourmet chicken feast. He took one bite of the food looked around to see his escape route in case of danger and then took another bite of food and I pulled the string and the drop gate came down in the nick of time. A second later he hit the gate and he was captured. He bent some of the run wire fencing trying to get out. I had the window unlocked and with a pole I opened it through the cat run fencing. As soon as he saw the window open and the darkness inside he figured that was his escape route. He dashed through the window into the attached cages inside and I shut the window and he was safely inside with the least amount of stress.
I covered most of the screening on the cage with cardboard to keep him as calm as possible. The bottom level will be for Tiger my first cat after Tabby which we named this wild kittie gets the ok from the vet..
Today is his 35th day of capture and doing very well. I have removed all the cardboard from the screening. He can go into the two upper levels which has a hide cardboard box in them, a litter box and water at each level and the whole thing is carpeted. He even has a scratch pole.
He looked pretty sad the first week or so as the pix indicate.
One week after capture. (upper level of the two attached cages) You can see the top of the other hide box below.
Lower level area taken after 10 days of capture, he wasn't too happy.
This is his 27th day and he is much happier.
Today is his 35 day and he is on this routine for the last three weeks. I just free fed him but to get him to eat during the day only I feed him at 8am and 6pm, I talk with him at 1pm and at 3pm. I'm retired so I can do this. Lights, a 4-foot shop light, illuminates the cages. I have an amber drop plastic in front of the light to tone down the brightness a little. The lights are on a timer set to come on at 7am and off at 7pm. I have a 4-watt nite light also so it's not total darkness.
He seems to be coming along nicely giving him a lot to time and patience.
He greets me with hisses and long deep meows. Then he settles down to more or less regular meows with a few hisses inbetween. The other week I wanted to test his playfulness. I had a bamboo stick with a small cloth on the end and I wiggled it around in front of him in the hide box. Well, he slammed it and knocked the pole out of my hand. So I got a small fluffy ball and rolled it in front of the hide box opening. Bam, faster than grease lightening and with the force of a hammer the ball was gone. At that moment I had a different respect for this wild kittie.
The other day I went to feed him. I usually call his name several times with the kittie, kittie thing. I opened the door to the cage and showed him the food, his hide box opening is about 6 feet away. I was about to set the food down when he came out of the hide box headed for the bowl and was going to start eating before I set it down. Well, I immediately got my thumb out of the bowl. I had a flash back when he batted the pole and little ball away with the force of a stricking hammer. Fortunately he was only interested in eating his food.
Here are my near term concerns.
1.) Is there an advantage to get him neutered right away, which I assume he is still whole, in the taming process?
He uses the litter boxes nicely and doesn't spray. I really don't smell him at all. I know a lot of feral cats get trapped a neutered right away. I didn't feel I wanted to put him through all that stress right away.
I talked to my vet and he doesn't want to deal with a feral cat. He told me to get him tamed down some and make a dry run in the carrier and see how he does.
I did get his stool checked and it's ok and i've had him over 10days so he shouldn't have rabies. The only thing is the leukemia. I do keep my other cat upstairs away from him as a precaution.
2.) How long should I keep the hide box in the cages?
He does stay in there alot when he needs to feel a little more secure. He is though spending some time outside the boxes. If he is in the hide box the only time he will come out, when i'm there, is at feeding time. During feeding time if i'm within 6 feet of the feeding bowl outside of the cage he will go in his cage to clean himself after eating. If I go to the otherside of the room say 20 feet away he will clean himself in the cage after eating and then lay in front of the hide box.
3.) Should I push him a little with the play toy thing which he see it as a threat right now?
4.) Should I get closer to him while he is eating, which he will let me, but he will be under tension, or remain in his comfort distance like I am right now?
5.) What do you think of my setup? Is it big enough for now?
Hopefully, after he sees the vet and becomes a little socialized, I want to socialize him with my other cat. I also built a 2-1/2' x 6' run that I can attach to the lower cage of him upper two story home. The little run inbetween the cage can slide in an opening that can be removed in the cage door.
What do you think? Am I on the right track to tame this wild little kittie?
-Pete
I am excited to be a new member here and get some guidance in taming my recently captured feral tom cat.
A little history in how I got interested in rescuing stray and feral cats. My wife and I love cats. When our two girls were young we bought two kittens from a pet store. Nineteen years later after exchanging a lot of love between the cats and our family the cats got pretty old and past away. This was three years ago.
Last spring a young stray(approx 2-3 yrs old) cat came to our door so we began to feed him. He was very scared of us and would run in the bushes if we went out on the back deck. What finally got me was his tiny little mew that sounded like a little baby 3" kitten. Well that pulled my heart strings and after four months of getting his trust and socializing with him in our back yard we adopted him. He turned into the most loving cat ever. I would clarify him as a fairly wild stray. We named him Tiger.
This spring another cat showed up but he was much different. I would put some food out and he would only come after sunset to an hour or two later. If he saw me watching him through the window he would run away and sometimes come back later. I fed him all summer in hopes he would come during the daytime so I could begin building some trust with him. Most every nite for seven months he would come to eat right at dark or a little latter just like a wild animal. I sat and watched him eat every nite he showed up. If I didn't and he came later the racoons would eat the food, so I was always there to chase them away. He is a tabby cat with a beautiful face that attracted us to him.
I want to say that I captured him rather than trapped him because I have an outside cat run that attaches to the house and window that enters a two story cage that are both 2-1/2' x 7-1/2' long.
Well, the evening of Oct.17th right at sunset he came to eat inside the cat run.
I built a drop gate on the right and set a food bowl inside. I had a pin with a string running to the window where I sat hidden back of some cardboard with a small hole I could see when he entered the run. He came in to eat, I had his favorite food, hard food mixed with some canned fancy gourmet chicken feast. He took one bite of the food looked around to see his escape route in case of danger and then took another bite of food and I pulled the string and the drop gate came down in the nick of time. A second later he hit the gate and he was captured. He bent some of the run wire fencing trying to get out. I had the window unlocked and with a pole I opened it through the cat run fencing. As soon as he saw the window open and the darkness inside he figured that was his escape route. He dashed through the window into the attached cages inside and I shut the window and he was safely inside with the least amount of stress.
I covered most of the screening on the cage with cardboard to keep him as calm as possible. The bottom level will be for Tiger my first cat after Tabby which we named this wild kittie gets the ok from the vet..
Today is his 35th day of capture and doing very well. I have removed all the cardboard from the screening. He can go into the two upper levels which has a hide cardboard box in them, a litter box and water at each level and the whole thing is carpeted. He even has a scratch pole.
He looked pretty sad the first week or so as the pix indicate.
One week after capture. (upper level of the two attached cages) You can see the top of the other hide box below.
Lower level area taken after 10 days of capture, he wasn't too happy.
This is his 27th day and he is much happier.
Today is his 35 day and he is on this routine for the last three weeks. I just free fed him but to get him to eat during the day only I feed him at 8am and 6pm, I talk with him at 1pm and at 3pm. I'm retired so I can do this. Lights, a 4-foot shop light, illuminates the cages. I have an amber drop plastic in front of the light to tone down the brightness a little. The lights are on a timer set to come on at 7am and off at 7pm. I have a 4-watt nite light also so it's not total darkness.
He seems to be coming along nicely giving him a lot to time and patience.
He greets me with hisses and long deep meows. Then he settles down to more or less regular meows with a few hisses inbetween. The other week I wanted to test his playfulness. I had a bamboo stick with a small cloth on the end and I wiggled it around in front of him in the hide box. Well, he slammed it and knocked the pole out of my hand. So I got a small fluffy ball and rolled it in front of the hide box opening. Bam, faster than grease lightening and with the force of a hammer the ball was gone. At that moment I had a different respect for this wild kittie.
The other day I went to feed him. I usually call his name several times with the kittie, kittie thing. I opened the door to the cage and showed him the food, his hide box opening is about 6 feet away. I was about to set the food down when he came out of the hide box headed for the bowl and was going to start eating before I set it down. Well, I immediately got my thumb out of the bowl. I had a flash back when he batted the pole and little ball away with the force of a stricking hammer. Fortunately he was only interested in eating his food.
Here are my near term concerns.
1.) Is there an advantage to get him neutered right away, which I assume he is still whole, in the taming process?
He uses the litter boxes nicely and doesn't spray. I really don't smell him at all. I know a lot of feral cats get trapped a neutered right away. I didn't feel I wanted to put him through all that stress right away.
I talked to my vet and he doesn't want to deal with a feral cat. He told me to get him tamed down some and make a dry run in the carrier and see how he does.
I did get his stool checked and it's ok and i've had him over 10days so he shouldn't have rabies. The only thing is the leukemia. I do keep my other cat upstairs away from him as a precaution.
2.) How long should I keep the hide box in the cages?
He does stay in there alot when he needs to feel a little more secure. He is though spending some time outside the boxes. If he is in the hide box the only time he will come out, when i'm there, is at feeding time. During feeding time if i'm within 6 feet of the feeding bowl outside of the cage he will go in his cage to clean himself after eating. If I go to the otherside of the room say 20 feet away he will clean himself in the cage after eating and then lay in front of the hide box.
3.) Should I push him a little with the play toy thing which he see it as a threat right now?
4.) Should I get closer to him while he is eating, which he will let me, but he will be under tension, or remain in his comfort distance like I am right now?
5.) What do you think of my setup? Is it big enough for now?
Hopefully, after he sees the vet and becomes a little socialized, I want to socialize him with my other cat. I also built a 2-1/2' x 6' run that I can attach to the lower cage of him upper two story home. The little run inbetween the cage can slide in an opening that can be removed in the cage door.
What do you think? Am I on the right track to tame this wild little kittie?
-Pete
