Caring for Feral/Stray cats - Have you gained their trust?

[Nicole B-R]

Hello all,

I currently have 3 feral cats living in my garden and had a total of 5 in the last 10 years. Its take years to gain their trust and now one of them even comes into the living room for some shelter and allows me to stroke him. The siblings remain in the garden but rely on my family to feed, water and shelter them.
Just wondering if anyone else cares for feral cats? If so, what do you do? have you got any stories to share. I have so many!
We have built various different shelters in the garden so they are protected from all weathers, they love it bless them.

When sharing your stories, I would love to know what you do for them, how much they trust you, what do you feed them ect.

Look forward to your responses.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I do care for ferals. Although, since the TNR program is working so well, their numbers are way down. Over the years, I have managed to get 7-8 of them "home-ready." Mostly the kittens, including one, Scamper, who when first brought to eat by his mama, RAN into the house, ready to stay! His mama was appalled, ran in after him, and dragged him back out, kicking and squalling. EVERY time, it started with sitting outside with them as they ate, allowing them to get accustomed to my quiet, still presence, slow-blinking them, then slowly presenting my closed fist to them. A closed fist works better than an open hand, as it less resembles a paw with claws out, I think. The first touch ALWAYS involved moving my hand very slowly, and very low...do NOT come in over their head, approach from the side. LOL, as I have gotten older, it has gotten harder to get down to that level, but I still manage it.

 

[Kwik]

Welcome to TCS

 

[maggie101]

The top middle is the mom. Rest is her family(sons,daughters,and grandma. I had no money and found a rescue to take them. Coco(bottom far left nursing is now mine inside. She was taken 5 weeks old then came back a year old. A friend had helped me get her fixed. Second pic is her moms boyfriend and cocos boyfriend. Last pic Coco as a kitten. Very loving friendly mom,never hissed or growled

And welcome to the site!

 

[FriendofFerals]

I have a "former feral" I fed under my car for 7 years...ear tipped TNR. Captured him injured with an abscessed leg from a fight and when the vet said they estimated he was 12-15 yrs old (that was 5 yrs ago), I just kept him on the catio, then in/out of the house and he slowly learned to be domesticated. He had parasites, stomatitis, asthma, allergies, and a bad inner ear infection and I think he was just at the point where he was OK with accepting help.

Another case...recently...I feed several cats at the farm down the street where I used to have a horse, and there is an old, black, (faded to brown from the sun) male TNR ear-tipped cat that I suspect was the daddy cat for some of the tortie females there years ago. He has one eye that's normal and the other is strange like it's had some damage in a fight. I call him "Grandpa."

He's figured out that around 5-6 pm is food time and started coming closer. He would wait until the others were finished and I moved away, then he would clean up the rest. In the past 6 months, he's gotten closer and now sits in the distance when I drive up and keeps away while I'm putting food down, then eats up when I move away. Yesterday, he saw me getting the food container and cans and I saw him arch his back with his tail high and rub on the chair with his bowl underneath. Never saw him do that before. He was happy about the food routine! Then today, I filled everyone's bowls with dry food first and pushed him under the chairs where he felt safe and out of view of me. Then I opened the wet food cans and gave everyone some. He didn't run when I gave him some next to the dry food he was eating! I had a little left at the end and gave him more and again he didn't run.

That's how slow it goes. Will I ever get to pet Grandpa? Unlikely. Will he ever meet me at my car with the barn cats? Not likely--at least not right there with them--maybe several yards away. But once he wouldn't come close unless all the other cats were gone completely so this is huge progress. I was maybe 8 inches from him today while giving him the last juicy chunks of wet food and he flinched but didn't run.

 

[Kwik]

Ive never fed ferals or supported any TNR groups because I just did my own thing rescuing any outside cat( many times entire colonies) from an unsafe place to a safe forever place - so 3 decades ago I started a feral socialization program( now retired,when everyone lets me stay retired! Lol)

Where I live there's very few places that are safe for cat colonies -in a busy city I don't see a McDonalds parking lot as a safe place for feeding- that's where it all began for me- it was about 4 or 5 am ,I went through the drive through & parked to eat- a lady showed up and in an instant there were dozens of cats showing up to eat in the middle of the back lot- my heart was in my mouth with the cars starting to form a line and people and cars frightening the cats.....

It weighed heavy on my heart,I got out to talk to the woman who showed up to feed and she explained the Snip mobile truck doesn't capture plus they wouldn't come there even if she had them trapped -she couldn't afford spay or neuter or medical attention and no one would help her financially

I got busy the next day,long story short but in my profession I do know folks with no kill shelters,sanctuaries and working cat programs ....before I began my own program I immediately started trapping to spay,neuter,vaccinate and figure who went where but not back to McDonalds parking lot ....the ' woman' was my first volunteer and a socialization for adoption program began with much help and support from many good folks.... my first "haul' was 32 cats in just under a week- cost me a small fortune until I figured out how to get Veterinary clinics involved in donating services, facility to house and many volunteers- that first year was very difficult as there was only one me and 1 hands on volunteer
.... But as we grew & after training volunteers ,hiring and training staff things were better but getting donations is the hardest thing of all- thank God for my dear friend who owns the no kill shelter and a very nice Sanctuary -she provided me with space

It's not easy to convince people that ferals of any age can be reconditioned into wonderful housecats,especially because it takes a controlled environment with many handlers to socialize for adoption- the cost and time it takes for just one cat means it's like a losing proposition in most people's eyes,they want cats they can turn out quickly because there's not enough space or workers to accommodate the intake.....it's easy to transition a feral to indoor life,get used to one person and live as a great companion - socializing for adoption to a stranger is another story and takes a long time ..... It's been an interesting journey and very gratifying ,my program continues in a very small way for lack of funds ,most cats are relocated as working cats but the days of colony hauls are over unless another crazy person like I was wants to give it a go

So yes,to the question in the Title of this Thread- I gain their trust but my hearts desire was always to help the cat to trust ' people'- it's a catch 22 because it's actually the people that need to be trained how to gain the trust of a feral cat.....

 

[NY cat man]

We are down to only one feral that we provide with food, water, and shelter. He has been coming around for at least 5 years now, and while he sometimes allows us to get close, like when he is lying on our deck and I walk past him, and he just looks up, then goes back to sleep, he is still quite the feral
On the other hand, we currently have 5 former ferals that are now inside only, and have been for years; 12 in the case of the oldest one. None of them were trapped, but rather we gained their trust by just sitting quietly while they came up to feed. That, and more than a few treats. They would get to the point where they would climb up on the bench where I was seated, then climb up on my lap, and at that point, the battle was won, and we just allowed them in, where they have stayed ever since.
The method we used isn't practical in all situations, as it requires sometimes 2 or 3 months, and in Prancer's case, almost 4 months to get her ready to come in, but it has worked.

 

[Kwik]

We are down to only one feral that we provide with food, water, and shelter. He has been coming around for at least 5 years now, and while he sometimes allows us to get close, like when he is lying on our deck and I walk past him, and he just looks up, then goes back to sleep, he is still quite the feral
On the other hand, we currently have 5 former ferals that are now inside only, and have been for years; 12 in the case of the oldest one. None of them were trapped, but rather we gained their trust by just sitting quietly while they came up to feed. That, and more than a few treats. They would get to the point where they would climb up on the bench where I was seated, then climb up on my lap, and at that point, the battle was won, and we just allowed them in, where they have stayed ever since.
The method we used isn't practical in all situations, as it requires sometimes 2 or 3 months, and in Prancer's case, almost 4 months to get her ready to come in, but it has worked.

Its certainly the least stressful method to transition a cat to indoors if you can afford the luxury of " time"- it's really great yours is a safe environment and there's no rush

40 yrs ago,even 20yrs ago there were many safe places for strays & semi ferals in neighborhoods down here but not anymore,there's so many people now,traffic and you can't even ride down A1A anymore and see the beach becsusd they've built Condos in front of it- ridiculously over populated..poor kitties

 

[tarasgirl06]

Hello all,

I currently have 3 feral cats living in my garden and had a total of 5 in the last 10 years. Its take years to gain their trust and now one of them even comes into the living room for some shelter and allows me to stroke him. The siblings remain in the garden but rely on my family to feed, water and shelter them.
Just wondering if anyone else cares for feral cats? If so, what do you do? have you got any stories to share. I have so many!
We have built various different shelters in the garden so they are protected from all weathers, they love it bless them.

When sharing your stories, I would love to know what you do for them, how much they trust you, what do you feed them ect.

Look forward to your responses.

Hello N Nicole B-R and furmily, and welcome to TCS! Though ferals don't inhabit this part of my city, my ex and I did care for many 2 locations ago, where there were a lot of "community cats" who were randomly fed by some, but not spayed/neutered/innoculated. We took it upon ourselves to do this and to adopt every one who needed us into our large fenced and gated yard (not ideal, but we had indoor cats already). It did take around 2 years to earn any trust of the matriarch. We fed and watered outside, and I'd spend time outside talking to them and just making my presence a normal occurrence. Slowly, most of them did trust us to some degree. When we moved, of course they all moved with us. We had a cat-fenced barn compound with 2 12x12 barn stalls for them, and our indoor cats had a beautiful catio accessible in all weather except during snowstorms and sandstorms. Time, love, and patience are the three most important things when dealing with any cat *or anyone else, actually!* and fresh water, good food, and spay/neuter/innoculations are also essential. We built and/or bought cat trees, cat beds, etc. and they had lots of toys. At the second location, a tiny feral kitten appeared, all alone, and we were able to bring her in and socialize her. She only bonded to me, and we were together all her life.