Cat: stray or feral

lynski

Hi, we have a cat who visits us and i am trying to figure out what to do with it. Basically it comes to our all-glass back door and if we dont look at it it will sit there but as soon as someone moves or looks it will move. It does not seem to be afraid of the children individually but more then one it is off again.
If i left the back door open and left the room it would come in.
We are putting out small amounts of food each day as i like to have it around.
I dont know how to figure out if it is a stray or feral, as I know little about cats, but if it is a stray i will persevere in trying to 'tame'.
Also, i am slightly concerned it is pregnant, again not an expert, but it looks 'round' of tummy.
Can anyone give me some hints on how to figure out if it is a stray or feral? also what can i do to provide a shelter for it if it is preggers?

igetalong

It can be a lot harder to tell stray and tamed cats apart compared to other creatures such as dogs, mainly cause they clean themselves and will rarely look scruffy! Does it seem well fed and other in good health?
I live on a farm but only a few minutes from a large town, my family have had cats around since we moved here-they were originally strays, but bearing it mind its been 20 years, a lot of them are pretty tame and will happy sit on your lap.
Do you live in a rural or urban area? I would be worried that in an urban area and by putting out food, you may unintentionally take this cat away from his owners!
I would suggest you see how it reacts to plates of food-it you leave your door open will it run in and demolish it like its hungry or be more relaxed in the process?
With the pregnancy, keep an eye on its tummy,the gestation periods is around 9 weeks and it can be often difficult to tell until you actually see kittens!
They are clever and private creatures who have a great survival instinct so I would suggest leaving cardboard box with maybe some old rags in it as an option in your garden/ideally somewhere you may have noticed the cat hanging out.
If you do see kittens, increase her intake of food and try not and handle or interfere with the kittens for the first few weeks .Don't get your hopes up about taming her though, she may move on as quick as she appears!

Pumpkinseeds

It can be a very slow process getting cats to trust you. One of my cats was a feral kitten when he started visiting us. We put out food for him and I used to sit on the ground without shoes, and talk to him in a soothing voice from a distance.

He seemed less stressed with me than my husband. I also got a dangly pole toy from the pet shop. The long cord on it got him gradually more used to coming closer to me and most cats love to play. I've found play the best way to build a relationship with cats.

If she is pregnant I'd recommend putting something weatheproof with some newspaper and an old warm jumper or something soft and snug in to keep them warm. If you do put an old jumper in I wouldn't wash it if it isn't grubby, something with your scent on it might help her get used to you.

Solair

One other tip if you are putting out bedding and you want the cat to use it.

Cats can be quite put off by the strong chemically scents of washing powder/liquid and even more so by fabric softeners/conditioners and dryer sheet smells. They're even more freaked out by them if they're not used to them i.e a domestic cat's used to the kinds of scents you'd find in a house, where as a wild one might find some of those perfumes absolutely repugnant.

Cats also dislike citrus scents and a lot of human-oriented perfumes are packed with citrus tones.

If you do have to wash cat bedding, use a product that has a mild scent and turn on plenty of rinses. Also, do not add fabric softener as the washing machine flushes this through in the last rinse and it remains on the clothes when they're dry.

Manach

As happened to me two weeks ago, if the cat heads straight for you and starts purring tis likely not feral. Currently it has made itself quite at home

Solair

Yeah, I think if it's heading over to you purring and rubbing up against you, it's much more likely to be a stray.

Feral cats tend to behave much more like wild animals and are usually very cautious about approaching any human. They also tend to be rather defensive if you get anywhere near them you'll get hissed at.

lynski

thanks everyone! you are so helpful.
The other cat that visits us stops at the door and calls to us if we come inthe kitchen - so i think that one is tame and just chancing its arm.(i tend to keep the door closed as the kids are young and i dont want them scratched or scared)
The lovely ging i will keep feeding - seemed very hungry last night and defo is curious to come in.
thanks for all the help and advice

Solair

Also, if you've other cats, just be careful of fleas etc
Strays can be absolutely walking with them.

If he / she's friendly enough you could drop on some Stronghold spot-on flea treatment (available from vets).

DO NOT use the cheap stuff in the supermarkets / pet shops, I've seen cats react badly to it and it's a repellant not a treatment.

lynski

thanks, no pets at the mo, but cant get near this one, runs off as soon as we open the door, sits happily and watches us otherwise as long as we dont look at it.

OldNotWIse

Its hard to tame them unless they are very young. Some cats are semi feral too. I would say the most important thing is to keep her fed and if possible, look into getting her neutered. You could try Cats Aid based in Dublin 4, who will come out, trap the cat, neuter and then re-home. Or some vets will actually neuter free if its a feral cat and you are just neutering and re-releasing (they often clip the top of the ear to let other charities know they have been neutered). Hope it all works out.

excaliburhc

ah tis playing the cute act , wait for him / her to start rolling around all the while staring up at you.

we have a lot to learn about manipulation when compared to cats


going through the same as you at the moment - with a feral - taken 2 months and still not there yet .

can take time depending on the cat -

Irish Stones

Check with the veterinarians in the area if they know the cat. Try to shot a picture of her (how do you know it's a she?) and show it to the vets. They could recognize her and tell you if anybody lost her and is still looking for her.
You could also post some prints of the photo you have taken into shops, post offices, garda stations and so on. Her owner could see the photo and call you.
Keep in mind that if she's lost some family or kid could be desperate for her loss.

If nobody calls you and the cat gains trust upon you, you will enjoy the fascinating love of a feline

Heroditas

lynski wrote: »

thanks, no pets at the mo, but cant get near this one, runs off as soon as we open the door, sits happily and watches us otherwise as long as we dont look at it.

That's how our third cat started life with us.
She was fully "adopted" and living indoors less than 3 months later!

lynski

Irish Stones wrote: »

Check with the veterinarians in the area if they know the cat. Try to shot a picture of her (how do you know it's a she?) and show it to the vets. They could recognize her and tell you if anybody lost her and is still looking for her.
You could also post some prints of the photo you have taken into shops, post offices, garda stations and so on. Her owner could see the photo and call you.
Keep in mind that if she's lost some family or kid could be desperate for her loss.

If nobody calls you and the cat gains trust upon you, you will enjoy the fascinating love of a feline

thanks for that. the cat has been visiting for over a month now, so i dont think it is lost. it comes more or less all day now and is outside at the moment looking in at me.
can they carry off a little dish? kind of weird i left a dish outside earlier with some actual cat food (i know i know) and it was gone 15 mins later.
door open and it is now edging its way closer everytime my back is turned. afradi to move from computer in casei scare it off again. freezing tho

lynski

there it is. any thoughts on preggers or not?

Heroditas

Very hard to say.
Quite a few cats have a little "pouch" that hangs from their stomach and makes them look like they're pregnant.
Two of our three had them - we put them in a diet!

OldNotWIse

lynski wrote: »

there it is. any thoughts on preggers or not?

Um... hazarding a guess at yes. Is it just flabby though or more "rounded"? Might be easier if you had a pic of it standing. Very cute

OldNotWIse

Heroditas wrote: »

Very hard to say.
Quite a few cats have a little "pouch" that hangs from their stomach and makes them look like they're pregnant.
Two of our three had them - we put them in a diet!

tis true - one of mine, you can actually only see about 2 inches of legs under her belly when she stands. When we put her on a diet, we judge the success by how "long" her legs become lol

Irish Stones

lynski wrote: »

thanks for that. the cat has been visiting for over a month now, so i dont think it is lost. it comes more or less all day now and is outside at the moment looking in at me.
can they carry off a little dish? kind of weird i left a dish outside earlier with some actual cat food (i know i know) and it was gone 15 mins later.
door open and it is now edging its way closer everytime my back is turned. afradi to move from computer in casei scare it off again. freezing tho

A lost cat is lost until it finds his or her home again. So the fact that she's been visiting your garden for 30 or 40 days doesn't mean that nobody is looking for her
Sometimes they are able to grab a small dish or bowl with their claws and drag it towards them or to a different position. I have also known cats who pick the food from the bowl with their paws and then put the food into their mouth, they're amazing!

Irish Stones

lynski wrote: »

there it is. any thoughts on preggers or not?

I don't think, it seems to me that she's just a bit rounder than others
One of my cats has just the same shape. I cannot tell from the photo, but it seems that she has one ear (the one on our left) with a cut-off tip. If this is the case this could be a marker that some veterinarians use to tell neutered cats from others, especially when these stray cats live in large groups. Here in Italy it's a common procedure.
Do you know it's a she-cat for sure? What hints do you have to say it?
Orange or ginger cats are rarely female.

OldNotWIse

Irish Stones wrote: »

I don't think, it seems to me that she's just a bit rounder than others
One of my cats has just the same shape. I cannot tell from the photo, but it seems that she has one ear (the one on our left) with a cut-off tip. If this is the case this could be a marker that some veterinarians use to tell neutered cats from others, especially when these stray cats live in large groups. Here in Italy it's a common procedure.
Do you know it's a she-cat for sure? What hints do you have to say it?
Orange or ginger cats are rarely female.

Really??!!! I never knew that!!!

Agree re the clipped ear, a lot of Irish organisations do this now if they do the trap-neuter-release method.

Solair

I think the stats for ginger cats are something like 75% male and 25% female.
It's not THAT unusual to find a fully-ginger female cat, but it's just less common.

okedoke

In my very limited experience you could struggle to tame them. Myself and my girlfriend put enourmous work into trying to tame a feral mother and a daughter last year (and ongoing). We neutered both and they will happily eat from outside the door and allow themselves to be rubbed and the daughter cat will wander around the house warily but no real progress beyond that in two years. Two kittens were born under our shed last October to a feral cat and they are now fully tame, affectionate housecats - I think you need to tame them when they are just weaned.

OldNotWIse

Solair wrote: »

I think the stats for ginger cats are something like 75% male and 25% female.
It's not THAT unusual to find a fully-ginger female cat, but it's just less common.

Thats mad, I never knew that (and I'm a ginger lol). I always joke that a ginger cat would complete the "set" I have - I pretty much seem to have one in nearly every colour so far

Solair

OldNotWIse wrote: »

Thats mad, I never knew that (and I'm a ginger lol). I always joke that a ginger cat would complete the "set" I have - I pretty much seem to have one in nearly every colour so far

I don't think it applies to ginger humans, just cats

Pumpkinseeds

Its so hard to tell with cats whether or not they're being fed elsewhere. Dieting doesn't work with my 7 kilo chap. He was definitely a stray and a sick one at that when he arrived at the back door. He hates to be brushed and yet at least once a week he arrives home groomed to a sheen and licking his paws.

I know of 2 houses he was visiting, one was giving him sausages and mash:eek:. I then have to hang my head in embarrassment at his annual check up, when the vet checks his weight. We have him on a controlled diet, that only works when he's not eating elsewhere. I think once they've been strays they almost always have a fear of going hungry again and eat wherever they can.

OldNotWIse

Solair wrote: »

I don't think it applies to ginger humans, just cats

chance'd be a fine thing...oh wait...cue onslaught

lynski

well the cat is settled into a box with a blanket out the back since before lunch today, it is raining all day. has not even come looking for food so far either, just snoozing and looking out.

Sunday: pretty sure we have been adopted, the cat is sleeping in a box i put out the back for it for the last 2 nights and most of the days. still very timid, but nice to have around.