Hello! I am new to this site and I would love your advice. My husband and I have been fostering with a rescue for 3 years but my experience has mostly been with litters of kittens or adult cats that need a new placement for whatever reason. However, we recently took in two adult cats who were found together living outside. I am wondering if they are semi-feral or just really scared. Our rescue was told that the cats were found on the side of the road huddled together and that the person who found them was able to just pick them up and bring them in so they assumed they were friendly.
These two cats are not aggressive at all, but they are also not friendly. I have had them in rescue for about 3 weeks (which I know isn't a long time). When they first came to me they would not even sniff me or respond to me in any way. They do not meow, hiss, or growl. All of that behavior suggests that they are possibly feral, however, if you scratch their backs they will start to knead and purr and if your hand is close, they will butt their head into it. If you move away, they will not seek any more attention. They will not come to me for food, even chicken baby food, but they will lick it off a spoon if put close by.
They are extremely tense and keep their tails wrapped tightly around themselves. They have the most extreme flight response I have ever seen in a cat and will do anything they can to get away if you try to pick them up, like when trying to get them in a carrier to go to the vet.
I think we are making a little progress because of the purring, kneading, and head-butting, but I want to make sure we are doing the right thing for them. On the advice of another foster, we separated them to different rooms in the hope that they would come to depend on us for comfort not each other, but I want to check with you all and see if you think that is the best way or not. Is there anything else that we should be doing or avoid doing? I wonder if they will ever be relaxed enough to be adoptable. Should we stop petting them at all till they are more comfortable? Should we just sit in the room with them so they get used to our presence? Or should we be looking to release them to be barn cats or something like that? Thanks for any advice!
These two cats are not aggressive at all, but they are also not friendly. I have had them in rescue for about 3 weeks (which I know isn't a long time). When they first came to me they would not even sniff me or respond to me in any way. They do not meow, hiss, or growl. All of that behavior suggests that they are possibly feral, however, if you scratch their backs they will start to knead and purr and if your hand is close, they will butt their head into it. If you move away, they will not seek any more attention. They will not come to me for food, even chicken baby food, but they will lick it off a spoon if put close by.
They are extremely tense and keep their tails wrapped tightly around themselves. They have the most extreme flight response I have ever seen in a cat and will do anything they can to get away if you try to pick them up, like when trying to get them in a carrier to go to the vet.
I think we are making a little progress because of the purring, kneading, and head-butting, but I want to make sure we are doing the right thing for them. On the advice of another foster, we separated them to different rooms in the hope that they would come to depend on us for comfort not each other, but I want to check with you all and see if you think that is the best way or not. Is there anything else that we should be doing or avoid doing? I wonder if they will ever be relaxed enough to be adoptable. Should we stop petting them at all till they are more comfortable? Should we just sit in the room with them so they get used to our presence? Or should we be looking to release them to be barn cats or something like that? Thanks for any advice!