Feral rescue

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Julest

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Food is really a great way to get " close" but as I mentioned about the aggressive ferals and free feeding before that doesn't take away that opportunity

Like you I also use Churu,it's just irresistible to cats and is an excellent tool to use for them to get used to your hand....I put Churu on the back of my hand at first for the kitties terrified of fingers( our claws,lol) before I put it on my fingers..... boy they love that stuff
I dont think I am ready to put the Churro on the back of my hand yet. I have a feeling I might get mauled if I did that. Hopefully in another month or so. I am taking such tiny baby steps but even then it seems fast for Billy. We are getting there though and I know I have said it before but I honestly don't think I could have done it without the support of the people on this site.
 
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Julest

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Hi again
I have no experience of dealing with a feral cat in a catio, but way back in my youth in the depth of the British countryside I was feeding a very unhappy feral cat outside who used to lunge at me when I put the food down.
I started wearing leather gloves and rubber boots and hissed at the cat when he lunged (This cat had previously inflicted some nasty bites on my cat (she subsequently refused to go out) and on me, sending me to the ER)) .
My hissing got the cats attention and he retreated and wellies and gloves allowed me to stand my ground. I did not put the food down until he had backed off for a second and was quiet.

This worked quickly, the cat backed off at feeding time, learned to wait, and we were consequently able to trap him easily (he was found to have health issues which obviously had made him feel very uncomfortable and thus more threatened) .

Of course Billy is in a confined environment in a catio which is a double edged sword depending on the situation. On the one hand it gives him security and a place to retreat on the other hand if you are in it with him he has nowhere to go.

It‘ll be interesting how he reacts when he‘s out of the crate, but I think now, if at all possible, is a time to start showing him what kind of behaviour is desirable in a reward oriented way.

Best of luck going forward. And I‘m sure some others here will have more suitable tips too!
I think when he is out of the crate he will be fine but I am not sure if he will come to me or just stay away. I really hope he is a little bit more socialized by the time he is released into the room. He has come on so much though from when I first got him.
 
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Julest

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Hi@Julest,
I have never socialized a cat in a catio before, but my outside colony used to swat at my hands and scratch me when I was trying to put food down for them.I got a long handled laddle and used that ,it worked really well and eventually got rid of the laddle and they stopped swatting at my hand and I could pet all of them over time.
I know W walli socialized her feral in a catio maybe she will have some advice in addition to the other great suggestions you received.Maybe you could toss a few treats away from where you are to keep him busy while you are putting his food down?
He will eventually realize that you're hands only bring him yummy food and are not a threat.
Thank you. Everyone is just so incredibly helpful with sharing their experiences - it really is appreciated hugely!
 
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Julest

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Please disregard my laddle suggestion as I realized afterwards that you most likely already have his dish of food ready before opening the door. That's what I get for trying to respond while I am still half asleep 😂😂😂
I do but its also a good suggestion if I am struggling
 

Kwik

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Thank you. Everyone is just so incredibly helpful with sharing their experiences - it really is appreciated hugely!
Support is sometimes all anyone really needs,especially here on TCS..mostly everyone here does speak CAT and has had at least some experience living with these amazing and wonderful creatures so everyone can relate in some way to one another and it helps so much to know your not talking to the average bear that's going to think you're crazy- we are all CRAZY,lol

Knowing people care and understand is often all we really need to find the strength within us to take on tremendous tasks throughout our lives- hearing " Of course you CAN" makes all the difference in the world and someone to give us a push when we need one

You have all it takes to be your own success story,it's a pleasure to be beside you along the way❤
 

Eurocat

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Yes it‘s interesting how much our body language snd energy field changes by knowing what we want and verbalising our thoughts/wishes in a calm, yet assertive way. Looks like Billy understood your „no“ immediately. Animals are amazing as they are mostly still so finely tuned to their environment at is enables survival.
No wonder many people offer leadership training courses with various species as they immediately mirror our energy.

As a rather strange side note - it sounds crazy - (and it probably is ;)) - but I even started talking to wasps in my kitchen a couple of years ago, assertively telling them to please leave. With quite some success😂. Before I had the fly screen balcony door finally installed this year I had a major wasp problem every year. Kala is now usually wasp savvy, thank goodness, but drowsy, tired, hungry or dying wasps somehow just don‘t make good companions. I regularly used to open all the windows or door and gently try to wave them out without much avail so I ended up mainly having to do trap and release (decided to leave out the neuter;)). With my new approach I open the door, assertively ask them to leave and 9 out of 10 times just accompany them out🐝. It‘s weird. I had a couple of friends cracking up as they didn‘t believe it until they saw it.
(Maybe this could be a new leadership training concept too? „Working with wild wasps“. The human fallout could offer some kind of poetic justice😎😉)

I‘m sure Billy‘s behaviour will be conflicted for a while. His beliefs run deep and they kept him alive, but he is definitely starting to realize now what life with you can offer compared with isolation in his crate or outside on the street. As many have mentioned, the amount of socialization possible is totally dependent on the individual cat and the circumstances.

I’m now 3 years in with Kala and although with me now she’s totally relaxed and you’d think she was a normally socialized cat, she is by nature a very sensitive and shy cat, and still shows her feralish, distrusting, wary and very skittish side when other people (except my partner) are around. Here she‘s directly on wild cat high alert. If left to her own devices she would disappear off behind the sofa or under the bed until darkness has fallen. But we have managed to get into a routine where, if the visitor(s) is/are calm and quiet and stay in the kitchen for about 45 mins, I can sometimes coax her out and she will come and take a tiny distant peek (but never ever any food ;)).

But if I‘m not around it‘s another story. Going away requires a lot of planning and forethought as I know she just won‘t show up for others. A dear and very sensitive friend of mine who „cat sat“ for me for a week reported that in all her vast experience with skittish cats she had never experienced such a shy cat… She said it was like dealing with a wild cat in a house - which pretty much hits the nail on the head🐯. Saying that, I came back to a very relaxed looking Kala, so everything went as well as it could have.

I’m at the point now with Kala that the more matter of fact I try to be about certain things, the more secure she feels. At the beginning I was mentally not in a good place and often felt extremely guilty about having put her through so much stress, which was counterproductive as she felt my stress and anxiety too. Of course I now still always take her background and character into consideration, but I try to see where we are now and enourage her to move forward from here. Her resilience, trust and willingness to try new things never fails to surprise me, even if she sometimes needs some coaxing. 😸

So glad things are falling into place with you! 😊
 

walli

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I have Feral Cats and My First Feral Walli is very Feral I just recently am able to pet her.
Life was very crazy and I made a lot of mistakes, I remember years ago someone saying use a stick with
a sock on the end to start petting, She is a hisser too, I'm now understanding it doesn't mean what we think it means.
So 7 years later after a huge cat adventure, I brought Sammy into her Cat room that goes into a large catio
I was playing with him with a wand toy and I touched her back with it, she had a huge hair mat on her back
that I did not notice as I was trying to get Blacky through his illness, I had never touched Walli ever!
But when I touched her with the wand toy, she liked it! I then started scrubbing her back with it
OMG she was in heaven, Then I got a wooden dowel and taped a brush on it and started brushing her!
It took 3 weeks to get that Hair mat out, then I moved to a regular brush, this is huge!
and one day I replaced my hand with the brush, This all took awhile but now she comes to me for pets and brushes!
She is still not totally trusting in me but what a huge difference, this just happened in July.
I told her I knew she would love me someday!
So my point I guess is, Don't worry about the Hissing, Walli still hisses once in awhile, and it's weird
it's usually when I'm feeling anxious, she can sense it and wants me to stay away.
I'm sorry I couldn't read the thread in it's entirety, so I don't know if you got past some of these things.
but If you are afraid of feeding I would get cat bite proof gloves so you can approach with confidence
Cats pickup and our anxiety so much.
It sounds like you are doing really well tho, your a special person, and If you are interested in a catio still
they are great, I started with a small catio and now have a large one.
Sometimes just one step forward changes everything!!!
 
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