Do you have any experience with feral cats?

November 2, 2023 4:43 PM

I'm wondering if there's any hope of winning over this cat and also would appreciate any advice.

I've successfully gotten skittish strays used to me before, but this cat seems truly feral, she is absolutely terrified of humans and runs away immediately if she sees one. She's young, probably about 6 months.

I've fed her in a spot I can see out of the window I work next to every day, so I have her coming back daily to check for food. Right now I wait for her to show up, take some food out while not looking at her, make a clicking "here kitty" noise and put the food down and walk away. She bolts like her life depends on it every time and generally doesn't come back for a couple hours, so waiting her out isn't happening. It's been 3 weeks so far. I'm going to keep feeding her either way, but I'm curious if any of you have had experience with this level of feral or any tips.

posted by Eyelash to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

My current cat (now 5 years old) was from a feral litter that a domesticated cat had in the woods. He tamed down quickly and is a great hunter and companion - with the bonus that he refuses to use a litter box and does his business outside, even in winter. In your situation, if you're interested in taming the cat as a pet, I'd borrow or rent a live trap and use the food you've been feeding it as bait. Then you can confine it to a room in your house until it settles down and begins to see you aren't threatening. Good luck!
posted by summerstorm at 4:53 PM on November 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Past the young kitten stage, 3 weeks is a very short time in terms of socializing such a fearful cat, and socializing will be much easier in a small room indoors. Some cats warm up in as little as a few days once you bribe them with a warm bed and reliable food, but it can literally take months for others, and some cats may never really acclimate.

Are there any TNR organizations that could help you trap her or at least loan you a trap to use? Most likely they could also advise you on how hard that taking might be. Even if you determine she is really too feral to socialize, getting her spayed and vaccinated will help her quality of life so much.
posted by ktkt at 5:19 PM on November 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Garius took 9 months to turn a feral black cat into a duvet dragon. There were definite challenges along the way.
posted by maudlin at 5:24 PM on November 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

Response by poster: We do have a TNR program nearby, thanks for the reminder to call them! I'm unfortunately not able to being her inside (I have 2 other cats who will not be receptive to a newbie and no way to keep them separated), but I know local shelters would probably consider her a barn cat rather than adoptable and I do have a barn...:)
posted by Eyelash at 5:33 PM on November 2, 2023

Best answer: Some friends of mine added a little cat house with a self-heating pad to their feral friend’s food. He was a very friendly and happy barn cat for many years.
posted by meowmeowdream at 6:47 PM on November 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

(Mastodon weirdness may have clipped off the last two posts in that thread -- sorry!)
posted by maudlin at 8:18 PM on November 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

My lot were 4 months old at the start and it took me 4 weeks to entice them into the house at all, never mind touching them (which took three more months for the most skittish one). Providing food and warmth helped a lot, as well as predictable feeding and contact. Three years later, the most skittish one yells loudly and flops into bed the moment I open my eyes in the morning.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:16 AM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maudlin, that is entirely worthy (and demanding) of a front page post.

To the original point, our current cat was rescued (with litter) from the woods. She has domesticated us by now. My dad brought one in from near his workplace, similar to you, and he did just fine too. Took a while for both. Worth it.
posted by Dashy at 4:25 AM on November 3, 2023 [2 favorites]

We got a 7 month old feral a week after she'd been trapped and neutered and it took several months of treats and patience, but she is now a dedicated and implacable lap fungus. (It was probably slowed down by having to spend the first couple weeks catching her and squirting goop into her eye, but I did that part and my wife was the good guy and that worked fine.)
posted by restless_nomad at 4:30 AM on November 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: We took in Kruimel when she was a little over one year old, trapped and been in a shelter for about three months where she preferred to stay out of sight. Made her a place in the attic of the workshop/garage where she could remain undisturbed by the other two; the initial encounter suggested that that too would take time. After a while she started getting curious and would start looking down at us from a ledge when one of us was in the workshop, and I decided to go sit there and introduce myself. Just sitting and doing nothing at first, then offering morsels of tuna: on the tip of a finger, then on the palm of my hand, flat at first then gradually cupping it and finally holding my other hand over it so she had to stick her head in between. Every time the tuna won out over the fear of having to touch a human, but I took weeks between those steps so she could really get accustomed to the change and get imprinted that nothing bad would be happening. Discovering laps was after one and a half year, and now they're the Best Thing Ever (for the next few minutes, half an hour or however long I can sit at the computer at a stretch).
posted by Stoneshop at 12:50 AM on November 4, 2023 [2 favorites]