We had been feeding a feral cat for about 6 months at our previous apartment. We moved into a house and continued to go back to our old place to feed him, but he was attacked by a neighborhood bully cat multiple times over the past few weeks. No one in the neighborhood continued to feed him. The apartment complex wouldn’t let us at least place a catio there for warmth. We decided to trap him and bring him to our new house today. He has a cat room in our home with multiple hiding boxes, cat hotel, filtered water, food, litter box with soil, toys. We installed a camera and have been trying to give him his space, only going into the room to provide food. I have two questions to those of you who have done this before- how do you encourage them to at a minimum at least drink when they’re under stress? He has eaten a small amount of wet food today and two to three little treats. He has not touched his water. He also has spent most of today (day 2) in his litter box that I filled with soil. I know we must be patient as he acclimates, but is there anything else you would do to make him more comfortable and to encourage him to leave the litter box, so I can clean it out? Thanks for the help!
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Feral acclimating to inside environment
- Thread starter Mrbizz
- Start Date
Hello and welcome to TCS. 
And thank you for bringing this feral cat into your home. 
The fact that he's already eaten some wet food and some treats is really great !!! Sometimes even non-feral cats take days before they'll eat in their new home. So you, and he, are doing great, so far.
About him staying in the litter box, if he's used it, then he can smell his scent in it, and that is probably comforting to him.
And about drinking water, since he has wet food, that's not a big concern, as wet food has a high water content, and he's already eaten some wet food.
One suggestion is to maybe put a 2nd litter box in there for him, as some cats don't like to pee and poop in the same one. Soil is good, as that is probably what he used outside. You can also try Cat Attract litter. Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract® Cat Litter - the litter cats love™
How old is he?
Has he ever been to the vet?
And is he neutered?
And thank you for bringing this feral cat into your home. The fact that he's already eaten some wet food and some treats is really great !!! Sometimes even non-feral cats take days before they'll eat in their new home. So you, and he, are doing great, so far.
About him staying in the litter box, if he's used it, then he can smell his scent in it, and that is probably comforting to him.
And about drinking water, since he has wet food, that's not a big concern, as wet food has a high water content, and he's already eaten some wet food.
One suggestion is to maybe put a 2nd litter box in there for him, as some cats don't like to pee and poop in the same one. Soil is good, as that is probably what he used outside. You can also try Cat Attract litter. Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract® Cat Litter - the litter cats love™
How old is he?
Has he ever been to the vet?
And is he neutered?
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My new cat is a former TNR who was fostered for a few months before I adopted him. He’s a bad drinker too. If he can tolerate it, I would suggest adding a tablespoon of water to his wet food, but you may want to slowly work up to it. I tried a teaspoon initially and worked up to a whole tablespoon. This works best in pates though (I feed a whole can of Fancy Feast Classic which is on the dry side anyway). I have been slowly introducing my new cat to my resident and do notice he enjoys drinking out of her fountain rather than a bowl of water. Since he was an outside cat, maybe running water is more appealing to him? I have the Pioneer Raindrop fountain which I think is a little less intimidating (my resident cat was afraid of the Catit Flower fountain and I had to return).
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
I believe he is neutered because his left ear appears to be tipped. Our plan was to take him to the vet right after we trapped him, but the vet had to close early that day due to short staffing, and I didn’t want to keep him in the trap any longer. I would guess he is about 7-8 months old. When we first met him, he looked just a bit bigger than a kitten. We are buying a carrier and are hoping to get him to the vet this week.
Oh, that's great that's he's neutered, so you won't have to worry about stinky tom cat pee. Or him trying to get out of the house to look for a girlfriend.
How friendly is he? Can you touch him, or even get near him.
I meant to post this before, but here's a TCS article that might be helpful:
The Five Golden Rules To Bringing An Outdoor Cat Inside – TheCatSite Articles
How friendly is he? Can you touch him, or even get near him.
I meant to post this before, but here's a TCS article that might be helpful:
The Five Golden Rules To Bringing An Outdoor Cat Inside – TheCatSite Articles
Can you tempt him to get out of the litter box long enough for you to switch it out with a clean one? That way you can take the used one out of the room to clean it without disturbing him by too much.
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Sounds like you are doing a great job. Try some catnip and a pheromone spray. Read to him everyday, music and purrli. The two boxes sounds like a good idea. I would not use soil for litter though because it could have parasites etc. maybe try slowly adding another one. Thanks for saving him
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #9
Actually well! He is exploring his room more now, and he is hiding in different boxes and has been more curious about his cat tower. He is eating one to two can food a day and eating some Dry food as well. I have a free flowing water dispenser, so it’s a bit hard to tell if he is drinking much, but we have moved his camera towards the water dispenser so we can tell. He is not coming up to us yet, but he will stay still pretty close when I go in to change his litter box or give him food. We just bought him a carrier so that he can get used to it, so we can take him to the vet. Any tips on how to do that? Thanks so much for asking!
Oh, that's great to hear he's doing so well. 
About the water, since he's eating mostly canned food, he probably won't need much water, as canned (aka wet food) has a high water content.. Not sure what to suggest about the carrier, though. I will search the site for some threads on the topic, and post them, if I find anything that looks like it might be helpful.
About the water, since he's eating mostly canned food, he probably won't need much water, as canned (aka wet food) has a high water content.. Not sure what to suggest about the carrier, though. I will search the site for some threads on the topic, and post them, if I find anything that looks like it might be helpful.
