will the feral cat that I trapped trust me again?

[Kieka]

Do you have any explanation for her being unresponsive, I kept calling her for an hour and she was acting as if I was not there !

She's purposfully ignoring you and mad at you. Don't worry too much about it. My cats last night were mad at me and ignoring me because I got home late. Backs turned to me, unresponsive. However, they followed me into my bed and demanded pats before trapping me in bed.... just out of arm reach.

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• Kieka
• Jan 28, 2017

Cats. They can hold a grudge ... for a little while. As soon as she is hungry she will be back to normal. Some hold a grudge a little longer so she might stay away for a few days and take up to a week to be normal again. But that she walked out is a good sign and she likely is just being a brat right now.

 

[rob19]

Hey ! 

"Bas" is doing well, she interacts again with me and asks for food, rubs herself on me and allows me to pet her. 

However, I feel that she is a bit sad and her meows are somehow softer.She doesn't interact with any other feral cat. Prior to surgery she had a friend who followed her wherever she goes. She did not seem to like him, but he followed her everywhere. Now this friend literally has disappeared ! I searched everywhere and I couldn't find him. Is there any possibility that she misses her friend ? 

 

 

[ondine]

I am sure she misses him.  Her world turned upside down (for a good reason) and now her best friend is gone.  She probably is a little sad.  Give her time.  Fingers crossed her friend returns.  If he isn't fixed, get that done.  It will cut down on his wandering.

 

[Kieka]

 
Hey ! 

"Bas" is doing well, she interacts again with me and asks for food, rubs herself on me and allows me to pet her. 

However, I feel that she is a bit sad and her meows are somehow softer.She doesn't interact with any other feral cat. Prior to surgery she had a friend who followed her wherever she goes. She did not seem to like him, but he followed here everywhere. Now this friend literally has disappeared ! I searched everywhere and I couldn't find him. Is there any possibility that she misses her friend ? 

 

Most likely the "friend" was a male following her as she came into heat. If you can catch and neuter him he may very well return. If he isn't neutered, he most likely will go off after the next fertile female he hears or smells. As to if she misses him, if she didn't seem to really be interested in him I doubt she does. Normal cat behavior typically trends towards females and males don't interact much outside of mating. Females might form a female/kitten community to care for the kittens if there is enough food to support it. But males usually roam a larger territory searching for females and don't settle into a long term friendship/bond with any other cats. They might team up with another male to defend an area or coexist when their is a good food source. But they don't really form friendships as we think of them and they don't usually do it across gender lines. Even in domestic household situations it is not common for all the cats in the home to form a tight bond. Although you will hear of cats forming close bonds and mourning each other; that is usually after years of living together in the same home and if they are spayed/neutered to eliminate hormonal caused friction.

As to her behavior, she is recovering from a major surgery and her hormones are adjust to the new normal. Give her a little time to settle into everything and adjust. She may be a little quieter from now on because she isn't trying to get a males attention but that is a good thing. The sad is probably just more mellow than before, which is also a good thing. Without her going into heat she should be a little quieter and calmer because she doesn't have her body yelling at her to find a mate right now. That she is accepting you again, wanting attention, and comfortable tells me that she is calm. It sounds more like she is a calm, mellow cat now instead of anxious to mate from before. 

Unfixed feral cats rarely live as long as the fixed ones. Females can get torn up by mating and develop infections from males grabbing them with claws. Females bodies can be devastated by frequent litters with no chance for their bodies to recover between. Males can kill each other fighting for females or get killed trying to find the females. Not to mention the high mortality rate of the kittens themselves. I know you have questioned your decision but please know that you have enabled her to have a longer and calmer life overall. 

My neighbors refused to spay the female that lived in their yard. Over the course of 5 years I saw her and her descendants slowly die. She only lasted 2 years before she died. Her daughter only lasted a year. Her granddaughter lasted two. And the great granddaughters each had a litter before they died. Of all though generations there were close to 60 kittens born in that yard. As of today, there are two cats still alive. Two. The kitten the neighbor caught and gave to me (because she thought my male was the father, he is neutered) and one kitten from the other litter born around the same time. Two 1.5 year old cats are the only survivors of at least 60 kittens born in 5 years (there may be two others who were males that went to find new territory but I am fairly certain they died since they had a food source and haven't been seen in a year despite that food source still being there). So many dead kittens and cats. Only 1 out of 6 made it to a year old and none made it past 2.5 years old. That neighbor is now banned from feeding outdoor cats by their lease because the homeowner came over and found dead kittens in the yard one day. So that neighbor stopped feeding and the one next to them took over feeding the sole outdoor survivor (I am currently trying to convince her to neuter him). 

You did the right thing for Bas. You saved her from a similar fate. Please don't doubt for a moment more that you made the right choice. 

 

[rob19]

 
I am sure she misses him.  Her world turned upside down (for a good reason) and now her best friend is gone.  She probably is a little sad.  Give her time.  Fingers crossed her friend returns.  If he isn't fixed, get that done.  It will cut down on his wandering.

Well today her friend appeared, walked beside her and just kept walking as if he doesn't know her. She did not react to him. It looks like they don't recognize each other anymore.

 

[rob19]

 
Most likely the "friend" was a male following her as she came into heat. If you can catch and neuter him he may very well return. If he isn't neutered, he most likely will go off after the next fertile female he hears or smells. As to if she misses him, if she didn't seem to really be interested in him I doubt she does. Normal cat behavior typically trends towards females and males don't interact much outside of mating. Females might form a female/kitten community to care for the kittens if there is enough food to support it. But males usually roam a larger territory searching for females and don't settle into a long term friendship/bond with any other cats. They might team up with another male to defend an area or coexist when their is a good food source. But they don't really form friendships as we think of them and they don't usually do it across gender lines. Even in domestic household situations it is not common for all the cats in the home to form a tight bond. Although you will hear of cats forming close bonds and mourning each other; that is usually after years of living together in the same home and if they are spayed/neutered to eliminate hormonal caused friction.

As to her behavior, she is recovering from a major surgery and her hormones are adjust to the new normal. Give her a little time to settle into everything and adjust. She may be a little quieter from now on because she isn't trying to get a males attention but that is a good thing. The sad is probably just more mellow than before, which is also a good thing. Without her going into heat she should be a little quieter and calmer because she doesn't have her body yelling at her to find a mate right now. That she is accepting you again, wanting attention, and comfortable tells me that she is calm. It sounds more like she is a calm, mellow cat now instead of anxious to mate from before. 

Unfixed feral cats rarely live as long as the fixed ones. Females can get torn up by mating and develop infections from males grabbing them with claws. Females bodies can be devastated by frequent litters with no chance for their bodies to recover between. Males can kill each other fighting for females or get killed trying to find the females. Not to mention the high mortality rate of the kittens themselves. I know you have questioned your decision but please know that you have enabled her to have a longer and calmer life overall. 

My neighbors refused to spay the female that lived in their yard. Over the course of 5 years I saw her and her descendants slowly die. She only lasted 2 years before she died. Her daughter only lasted a year. Her granddaughter lasted two. And the great granddaughters each had a litter before they died. Of all though generations there were close to 60 kittens born in that yard. As of today, there are two cats still alive. Two. The kitten the neighbor caught and gave to me (because she thought my male was the father, he is neutered) and one kitten from the other litter born around the same time. Two 1.5 year old cats are the only survivors of at least 60 kittens born in 5 years (there may be two others who were males that went to find new territory but I am fairly certain they died since they had a food source and haven't been seen in a year despite that food source still being there). So many dead kittens and cats. Only 1 out of 6 made it to a year old and none made it past 2.5 years old. That neighbor is now banned from feeding outdoor cats by their lease because the homeowner came over and found dead kittens in the yard one day. So that neighbor stopped feeding and the one next to them took over feeding the sole outdoor survivor (I am currently trying to convince her to neuter him). 

You did the right thing for Bas. You saved her from a similar fate. Please don't doubt for a moment more that you made the right choice. 

Thank you for the lengthy reply. Too much new information for me. 

Yesterday at night when I saw 3 males chasing a female in heat , I told my self that I did the best thing for Bas. Mating in cats is one of the cruelest thing I have ever seen in nature.

However, today when I put for her food, she ate 2 bites then constantly meowed to my hand and even put her head on my hand.Then she kept rubbing herself on me. It really scared me because I feel that she is in heat again. She then started grooming herself, sat quietly in the garage for an hour, then left without finishing her food. I hope this is normal behavior and she is not in pre-heat or in heat . I am not able to tell if that cat is definitely in heat or not. If the spaying was not done successfully, It will break my heart because I don't think I can trap her again and traumatize her with the anesthesia and the surgery again. 

 

[catsknowme]

Welcome to TCS! Bas has found her guardian angel! I am so glad that she knows it,too. I have had young cats return to being more like kittens again, after they get spayed. You are now like a dad to her. I suggest that you try giving her some play time -feathers or a "cloth mouse" on a string are inexpensive yet very popular with cats.She wants your attention more than food.Thank you for giving us the updates - other people on the internet will read them and learn from your experiences.
I have 2 mixed colonies in my yard and they both have unique social groups. One group is very wild and even though they were born in my yard, they fear me because they heard their mothers growl at me. The only times that I got near them was when I trapped them for TNR. I feed them twice a day yet they all keep their distance, even after 6 years! Their group includes a leader who showed up after he was trapped at a horse ranch, neutered, and then released at a neighbor's barn - my dad retrapped the cat and took him back to the neighbor but the cat returned to our house.My dad would talk to the cat so the cat liked it here and stayed. All the cats in his group follow him, both males and females.
My second group of cats are the kittens that I captured from different colonies,different years, raised inside and tamed, but were not adopted. Our county shelter is small and to make room for kittens, they have to kill the older cats looking for homes - they do this because the kittens get adopted before the grownups; it is so sad so I keep the kittens outside (i am blessed with a large yard in a rural area). All these cats have friends, and they mix up the genders and age groups. I keep lots of toys in the yard and that helps them to play together - just like schoolchildren at recess!
Again, welcome to TCS and blessings on you and your family for helping Bas!

 

[rob19]

Welcome to TCS! Bas has found her guardian angel! I am so glad that she knows it,too. I have had young cats return to being more like kittens again, after they get spayed. You are now like a dad to her. I suggest that you try giving her some play time -feathers or a "cloth mouse" on a string are inexpensive yet very popular with cats.She wants your attention more than food.Thank you for giving us the updates - other people on the internet will read them and learn from your experiences.
I have 2 mixed colonies in my yard and they both have unique social groups. One group is very wild and even though they were born in my yard, they fear me because they heard their mothers growl at me. The only times that I got near them was when I trapped them for TNR. I feed them twice a day yet they all keep their distance, even after 6 years! Their group includes a leader who showed up after he was trapped at a horse ranch, neutered, and then released at a neighbor's barn - my dad retrapped the cat and took him back to the neighbor but the cat returned to our house.My dad would talk to the cat so the cat liked it here and stayed. All the cats in his group follow him, both males and females.
My second group of cats are the kittens that I captured from different colonies,different years, raised inside and tamed, but were not adopted. Our county shelter is small and to make room for kittens, they have to kill the older cats looking for homes - they do this because the kittens get adopted before the grownups; it is so sad so I keep the kittens outside (i am blessed with a large yard in a rural area). All these cats have friends, and they mix up the genders and age groups. I keep lots of toys in the yard and that helps them to play together - just like schoolchildren at recess!
Again, welcome to TCS and blessings on you and your family for helping Bas!

Thank you for your kind words. 

Bas is back to being a monster in eating lol. After she finishes eating . she rubs herself on me and asks for petting. Her behavior is very funny

The only thing that has changed is that she no longer sleeps in my garage. She goes absent for couple of hours and returns at night for food then leaves again. I wonder where does she go. 

 

[rob19]

looks like Bas has found a new friend. I saw her lying down with an orange ( I think male) cat in a sunny spot, they were licking each others heads. I think this is a sign of "friendship" in cats, right ? 

I felt sad for her because her older friend never interacted with her after spaying, I always felt that she was lonely. I hope she spends more time with her new friend.