Would anyone ever adopt a semi-feral?

[Weezil]

I just lost my cat of 18 years in September (Weezy) and I decided I needed another cat. I was looking online and saw a picture of Mama, a long-haired tortoiseshell at a nearby shelter. When they interviewed me and I told them which cat I wanted, first thing they asked was do I have kids, (no) and did I have any other pets (again, no), so they were very excited that I wanted to meet Mama. A friend of mine took me to the shelter, and I spotted her right away. (This shelter has a cat room where the cats can roam freely and meet the visitors). She was so cute--with her markings, she looked like a furry owl! Well, Mama wanted no part of this. Every time I tried to approach her, she ran away or hid. She was 3 years old, and they didn't know how long she had been outside, but she had been at the shelter for 6 months. I decided I wasn't leaving without her. The volunteers got her in the carrier, and we took her home. She ran under the bed and I didn't see her for a full 2 weeks, but she ate all her food and used the litter box.

Finally, after the two weeks, one day I was working on the computer and she came up to me and kept head butting my leg until I petted her. And she never stopped! She will sit beside me and watch TV, she will sit in the same room with company, but she will not approach people yet. They told me at the shelter that she didn't like to play, but I do catch her playing with catnip mice sometimes! So she is getting there. I'm glad I got her, it will take a little time, but she is coming along nicely!

 

[Tobermory]

I just lost my cat of 18 years in September (Weezy) and I decided I needed another cat. I was looking online and saw a picture of Mama, a long-haired tortoiseshell at a nearby shelter. When they interviewed me and I told them which cat I wanted, first thing they asked was do I have kids, (no) and did I have any other pets (again, no), so they were very excited that I wanted to meet Mama. A friend of mine took me to the shelter, and I spotted her right away. (This shelter has a cat room where the cats can roam freely and meet the visitors). She was so cute--with her markings, she looked like a furry owl! Well, Mama wanted no part of this. Every time I tried to approach her, she ran away or hid. She was 3 years old, and they didn't know how long she had been outside, but she had been at the shelter for 6 months. I decided I wasn't leaving without her. The volunteers got her in the carrier, and we took her home. She ran under the bed and I didn't see her for a full 2 weeks, but she ate all her food and used the litter box.

Finally, after the two weeks, one day I was working on the computer and she came up to me and kept head butting my leg until I petted her. And she never stopped! She will sit beside me and watch TV, she will sit in the same room with company, but she will not approach people yet. They told me at the shelter that she didn't like to play, but I do catch her playing with catnip mice sometimes! So she is getting there. I'm glad I got her, it will take a little time, but she is coming along nicely!

I’ve had my semi-feral Mocha for three years. She was three years old when I brought her home, and I couldn’t touch her for weeks. She has gradually become more and more loving, especially in the last six months or so. But there are certain companion cat behaviors she has never really picked up on. She’ll play by herself, chasing and batting toys all over the house. But if I try to play with her, she seems confused. I’ll toss one of her toys, and it will plop down next to her or fly by her, and she just looks at it and then looks at me. “I don’t understand,” she seems to be saying. (Or she’s saying, “You fool,” but I don’t think so. She’s very sweet.) Gaining the trust and affection of a former feral is an absolutely heart-warming experience!

 

[fionasmom]

Thank you so much for giving these cats a chance. I only ever adopt semi ferals, ferals, and strays and yes, they do come around and understand that they have a great home finally.

 

[CatladyJan]

Linus was completely wild when I got him. He was so wild he was scared of hands. I think he was about 2 and a half to three months old when I got him. After a year he was still rather wild. I called him my wild man and he would wake me up every 20-30 minutes for at least the first year I had him chewing on my feet and head. He turned into the biggest mush-head in the world after I learned how to communicate with him. He was too smart to think I knew what I was talking about until I taught him tricks. He learned sit before my dog even did.

At the end, Linus could officially do on command:

* Fetch
* Beg
* Give paw - although you had to put the treat into the center of his paw so that way he could pop it into his mouth like a piece of candy
* Chuff - a noise that a lot of the big cats do when they are happy, he would make on command.
* the “F” game - when we would deliberately say an F word, like “Food” or “Frisbee”, etc.,. he would go Fff… He had his own “F” word.
* Speak - although when he spoke it would be in strange dolphin-like cries. He would make dolphin-like chattering noises when he was overly excited.
* Jump
* Beg
* Dance/Snake charm - he would sway back in forth in the beg position, in a dance move. My husband called it snake charm, because he looked like a snake being charmed, but I called it dance.
* The Bear - walk around like a circus bear, with his arms tucked in.

So yes, I would take a cat who was semi-feral. He turned out to be the best cat I've ever had. Not to say that I haven't loved my other cats, but Linus was my wunderkind.

After I was able to teach him to sit - he was about a year old then - I was within 6 months able to finally teach him the word no. Eventually he realized that whatever I was saying no was important about and that I was protecting him.

Whenever I was sick, he would perch on my shoulder.

Whenever I would cry - until he stopped being such a wildman - he would chew on my feet and bounce around until I started laughing. He lived for my joy.

He never really opened up to new people. He was always jumpy around new people, reluctant. He would watch them, but never really open up.
Except for repair people.
For some reason he was overcome by an absolute irrepressible joy when someone would come over to:
Work on the computer
Work on the toilet
Fix cabinets
Hook up cable
Etc.,.
He absolutely adored the fact that they were going to ignore him for the most part and he could throw his body against them, nearly violent for attention, and try to fit his 14.6 pound furry butt into their tool belt, and be a general adorable nuisance. Their lack of interest meant that he really was given a chance to shine, in all his glory. He really needed to have them love him. He must have thought they were trying to play hard to get! And even if they didn’t even put a hand on him, to stroke his back, since he was so generous, he was never insulted. He just tried harder. In a sense, he loved those the most who came to help me. It’s a good thing he didn’t come with me to get my car fixed, or there would have been cat fur in all the parts on my cars!

I hope this gives you a little bit of hope. Linus was a ray of sunshine, even if he started out as the terror of all terrors. And yes, I would adopt someone definitely who started out feral. They seem more grateful - the rescued ones - sometimes than the ones who've always had it good.

I think your dog is wearing a cat costume and really got you fooled