Hi Everyone,
I'm new here and looking for some feral cat advice!
A friendly feral began visiting our yard over the past two months. We are guessing he is about 6-9 months old. At first he was very afraid when we would feed him, and would only eat if we went back into the house. Now he comes onto the back porch faithfully when we whistle, or when he sees one of our cars pull into our driveway. At this point he has gotten more comfortable with us and lets us get very close. When he feels like it, he will eat out of my hand, but that is as close as we get and he hasn't let us pet him yet. This past weekend, he did play with a feather on a string stick.
He also enjoys looking into our house through our back door. He spends quite a good amount of time looking in at us.
Last night we were able to trap him and this morning I brought him to the vet to be neutered/spayed (although I am referring to the cat as "he", we really don't know if it is a boy of a girl. It was a traumatic experience (probably more so for me) but he did okay over night, but he did make some "gremlin like" noises this morning during transport.
Although he is feral, my husband and I really want to try to adopt him. I can't imagine he is living a great life on the streets, and with winter approaching I want to give him a warm home to live in and lots of love!
A friend lent me a very large dog crate that I am going to set up for him tonight. I plan to put his carrier in it, as well as a litter box, food, water, and some blankets and towels. I am hopeful that after the initial shock of all of this he will be at a point where he can start exploring the house room by room. I am a little worried about him terrorizing the house (especially because both my husband and I work full time) and we don't have a particular room that he could start out in during the transition.
Any advice or tips out there? Although last night was traumatic, I keep telling myself it was the right thing to do. I know that ferals are best socialized when they are very young, so I am hoping that we haven't missed our opportunity. I am also hopeful that he will begin to trust us again, because I really felt like I was getting somewhere with him outside.
I'm new here and looking for some feral cat advice!
A friendly feral began visiting our yard over the past two months. We are guessing he is about 6-9 months old. At first he was very afraid when we would feed him, and would only eat if we went back into the house. Now he comes onto the back porch faithfully when we whistle, or when he sees one of our cars pull into our driveway. At this point he has gotten more comfortable with us and lets us get very close. When he feels like it, he will eat out of my hand, but that is as close as we get and he hasn't let us pet him yet. This past weekend, he did play with a feather on a string stick.
He also enjoys looking into our house through our back door. He spends quite a good amount of time looking in at us.
Last night we were able to trap him and this morning I brought him to the vet to be neutered/spayed (although I am referring to the cat as "he", we really don't know if it is a boy of a girl. It was a traumatic experience (probably more so for me) but he did okay over night, but he did make some "gremlin like" noises this morning during transport.
Although he is feral, my husband and I really want to try to adopt him. I can't imagine he is living a great life on the streets, and with winter approaching I want to give him a warm home to live in and lots of love!
A friend lent me a very large dog crate that I am going to set up for him tonight. I plan to put his carrier in it, as well as a litter box, food, water, and some blankets and towels. I am hopeful that after the initial shock of all of this he will be at a point where he can start exploring the house room by room. I am a little worried about him terrorizing the house (especially because both my husband and I work full time) and we don't have a particular room that he could start out in during the transition.
Any advice or tips out there? Although last night was traumatic, I keep telling myself it was the right thing to do. I know that ferals are best socialized when they are very young, so I am hoping that we haven't missed our opportunity. I am also hopeful that he will begin to trust us again, because I really felt like I was getting somewhere with him outside.