Wild Cat

Grandeeod

I started feeding a fairly young wild cat about 6 months ago. Its a female. She has settled into my garden and a routine of feeding. Recently she has started to feel comfortable coming into the house to eat. She will ramble around downstairs afterwards if there isn't too much activity.

She seems comfortable around me, but under no circumstances will she let me touch her apart from approaching my hand to have a little sniff. If I attempt to pet her, the paw is up and she lashes out. I have a few scrapes already.

Is there any hope that she can be tamed in any way?

aonb

you have already made great progress with her! Shes coming to you for food, shes coming into the house, she is letting you approach her.

You can slowly build up the trust between you, just take it slow and have lots of patience. I have what was a feral kitten - it took weeks before I even saw her - when I found her (half dead) I brought her indoors - she was in a workshop hiding behind furniture etc the second I entered the room. I only knew she was still alive because she used a litter tray, and the food was eaten several times/day. Slowly slowly slowly she began to trust and a little progress was made every week. Now, 1 year later, Im a total cat slave (my first cat) she leads me a merry dance, this morning she got into bed and slept on my chest under the duvet for an hour. So you see, it can be done.

Get some cat treats (Dreamies = crap food but excellent bribery!) and play with her a little - a ball of scrunched up paper, throw it about. A bit of string with a knot on the end - swish it about. A little treat here and there. Touch her tail with your finger, or stroke down her side if she passes near you. Talk to her!!

Kovu

You have done so well with her so far, well done! I go through reams of feral cats here, at the moment we have two toms, Jess and Wailey. Jess is around about 2 years at this stage and he's only just gotten to the picking up stage. But considering that we couldn't get within 20 foot of him at the start he's come a long way. Slow and steady!
I also found that if he was really hungry he'd come barging up for food and whinging round my ankles, hunger overrode his fear. Now I didn't starve him but as he's a tom cat he'd go away rambling for days.

Shivi111

You e done so well, and the fact she will come to your house is brilliant. Try getting a toy (like a feather on a stick) and playing with her to build trust.

Also, if you haven't done so already, please do organize to trap her and get her neutered, you'll dramatically improve her quality of life if there's no kittens coming twice a year!

intheclouds

The best thing is to encourage her to hand feed from you and slowly make it that she has to brush under your arm for the food or rest a paw on you to get to it.

A feather waggled toy is good for showing that touching isn't bad.

kathleen37

Yes, well done! We've had lots of ferals over the years - currently only have 3 that are fed twice a day. One we can stroke, the other two, not at all and that's ok. (I only spent the time with the first - the other two are late comers and I've not had the time to put in with them...)

I've found that getting to handle them, as has been mentioned, whilst feeding is the way to go. Either by offering food for them to take (to be honest, this has never worked very well for me as the cat tends to have way more patience that I do...) or, by feeding them and then making contact with them that way, ie, gentle stroking - starting off by getting them used to you being near them - then raising hand as if to stroke but not actually touching, then leading to actually touching them.

It takes time, but the fact that your kitty is coming in doors, means that they are happy enough with you. You just have to keep proving to kitty that you are trust worthy and won't hurt them. Like I said, that will take time but should be achievable

Good luck!

intheclouds

I had one years ago that I fed and I couldnt touch her at all for 4 or 5 months. Then one day she allowed me to pet her head and from that moment on I could always touch her.

Grandeeod

Thanks for all the great advice guys. Its really appreciated.

Had lots of domesticated cats over the years, but this is my first feral. Every week brings something new with her. While she still won't let met touch her, she takes food from my hand and if I'm standing at the patio door, she will happily slip past me into the house. Yesterday I closed the patio door to see her reaction. Thankfully she didn't panic. She just strolled around downstairs exploring. I opened the door again and she took her time heading out, so it didn't affect her trust.

Another poster mentioned trapping her and getting her neutered. Would this affect her growing level of trust with me?

intheclouds

If you trap and neuter her she will need to stay in and be taken care of by you for at least 10 days. She will be vulnerable and weak. It's a good time to provide care and gain trust.

kathleen37

When our ferals are neutered, they use dissolvable stitches and they are released as they have gone postal when at the vets and the vet said they would probably do the same if we attempted to keep them in. It is a risk, but we've not yet (!) had any issues with the 30 odd ferals we've trapped and released at our place.

Would you have a small room she could be kept in? It would help to keep her contained, but you would need to be prepared as a cat going postal is not a good thing...

intheclouds

Yes, it does depend on the level of feral alright.

kathleen37

So for example, if she's ok in the carrier, then she could be ok if you had a porch/loo/somewhere smallish you could keep her. That way, you could put her in the carrier, in the loo - open the door of the carrier and then shut her in the room on her own (with food/water/litter tray) to let her have a look round etc on her own. I'd leave the carrier too as they generally feel safe if they are covered. If she feels safe, all could be ok and in that situation, it would defo help taming her quicker.

Like I said - you'll know pretty quick once she's in the trap (if needed) and the vets will be able to give you a better idea re how she is when she's with them.

And I know this is NOT GOOD - but that first girl feral we trapped and had planned on keeping in, and her plans turned out to be contrary to ours, actually had regular stitches which never came out. Could never get her in the trap after that first time and vet said it wasn't ideal, but lucky for us she never got infected or anything and never had those stitches taken out... (by us)

scream

One of our cats was a feral kitten when he first started showing up. The sight of a human and he'd run for his life, it took a full year before he'd allow me to touch him, then one day something just clicked and he decided to move in. He loves a good cuddle on my lap and will sometimes sleep on my head in bed, especially if he's been rambling during the early hours in the rain, the joys of a cat flap hee hee. He's 6 now and really affectionate, loves being brushed and having a snuggle. With cats you get back what you put into the relationship.

Grandeeod

She has a boyfriend! He's a Tom that lives down the road and he seems to follow her everywhere. I've taken it very slowly to date. I thought she was in heat when I originally started this thread because the Tom was following her everywhere and still does. I'm waiting to see if she is pregnant, before I trap her and bring her to the vet

Tonight she has been asleep on a cushion in my kitchen. I've left the patio door open just to reassure her. I think its too early to enclose her completely. But I'm so chuffed that she is sleeping indoors. Gotta put her out soon. Can't stay awake!

Any advice still appreciated.

taytobreath

Grandeeod wrote: »

She has a boyfriend! He's a Tom that lives down the road and he seems to follow her everywhere. I've taken it very slowly to date. I thought she was in heat when I originally started this thread because the Tom was following her everywhere and still does. I'm waiting to see if she is pregnant, before I trap her and bring her to the vet

Tonight she has been asleep on a cushion in my kitchen. I've left the patio door open just to reassure her. I think its too early to enclose her completely. But I'm so chuffed that she is sleeping indoors. Gotta put her out soon. Can't stay awake!

Any advice still appreciated.

how do u plan on trapping the cat? if u ring ure local animal charity and explain your situation they might give u a loan of a cat trap.


edit, sorry i was reading the rest of the posts there. she will be pregnant. if u get a cat trap and transfer cage off your vets or local spca and put some canned tuna in the back of the trap.
There's no point in trying to handle her or you'll end up in the hospital and please don't enclose her or she'll completely panic and could latch on to your leg or somewhere else and you'll probably never see her again!! If u do manage to put her in a normal cat carrier, you'll be making the vets job very hard for him because he'll have to try sedate a feral cat in a normal pet carrier. cat trap is the best way. look up you tube on how u go about it, there's loads of good videos there.

good luck, your doing a good thing