Finally Feral Piper Took Treat From My Hand!

[marmoset]

I'm just so excited because the female I took in a few months ago has not made any progress in socialization. I really worried over and over that she'd never come around and questioned keeping her in. Some days she acts brave and we end our session on good terms- meaning she doesn't act terrified and will slow blink or yawn and sometimes even stretch in my presence or act bored instead of panicked and then later in the day she reverts to hissing and hiding and like we had never met before.

Over the last few days she's started to come out of hiding for food finally! And tonight for the very first time I was able to hold out a treat and have her take it. It's been weeks and weeks and weeks (and weeks) since she lost her fear of my hands being anywhere near her but she just couldn't cross the boundary into moving towards me. Yesterday she got her first good sniff of my hand while I was holding the treat and today she actually risked it all to take the treat. I had to keep my composure so as not to scare her by being so visibly overjoyed. I certainly didn't expect her to do that.

Three days ago I was worried I made a bad choice keeping her in but her sibling was killed by a car about a month ago and I couldn't bring myself to set her back out after spaying knowing that my area is a bit urban and risky for community cats. But this step forward is giving me hope.

 

[verna davies]

Well done, no wonder you are pleased. Your time and patience are paying off. I hope you make great leaps of progress from now on. Keep us posted.

 

[rubysmama]

Oh... that's wonderful. Like an early Christmas gift for you.

Keep doing what you're doing. And remember, with ferals, it's one step forward, 2 steps back. But you, and she, will get there.

And now my usual next question - any pictures?

 

[flybear]

woohoo ...- Thank you for taking in the little feral! That is a huge step! I never dealt with feral cats but always fostered mill puppies ... For many years we always had some animal hiding under furniture somewhere and I found that ... they all come around eventually - and it is usually faster the less I try ... I feed them, talk to them gently without eye contact but ... leave them be. One of those scaredy dogs is currently warming my feet. There is no greater compliment than a wild or traumatized animal that chooses to become friends with you ...

 

[aliceneko]

Yay, I'm so happy for you! Toffee and Fudge were semi-ferals so I know the joy that comes with socialising!

 

[weebeasties]

Hooray! I know how incredible that moment must have felt!
Just to echo flybear , I had a lot of good results with sort of ignoring my ferals. I would speak softly and didn't make any rushed movements and just went about doing my daily activities. They watched me a long time but it's how they began to know me and realize I wasn't a threat.
I hope the new year brings lots more happy firsts for the two of you! (And pics for us!)

 

[marmoset]

Yesterday morning when I woke up and started to stir she ran into her carrier but then poked her head out and a moment later she was out looking up at me with curiosity. She has never done that!

She is the most feral feral I've dealt with as far as those that weren't released after spay/ neuter recovery. I don't think she had any contact with people before I trapped her but she was young. No kitten but not her adult size because she's grown into a full cat since I've had her in. So I'm guessing she's less than one year old and probably around 6 months when we brought her in.

I don't have pictures yet. Usually I snap a photo of the cats I TnR with their ear-tips before release so I have a visual record for the paperwork so I can try to know who is who for medical records. I never took her photo. I kept putting it off probably because I had the niggling doubt that I'd release her.

I'll try to post some pictures but we are leaving Tuesday for Maryland so I can spend the latter half of the holiday with my dad. I hope the time apart doesn't set her back. She'll have new people coming in.

 

[susanm9006]

My girl was a year old and semi feral when I got her more than seven years ago. While we have measure progress in years and hundreds of tiny steps she has continued to make progress. Clearly you have the right outlook and willingness to accept her as she is while you encourage her socialization so I am sure she will do wonderfully and be a great pet.

 

[danteshuman]

Yeah!!!

I know how hard and slow that progress can be.

If you have a tame housecat you may make more progress by ignoring her except for feeding her.... and letting her learn how to control the human from the housecat. I know you need to do the slow introductions first. I swear it worked wonders on our semi-feral that just showed up hungry at 5 months old. When I moved in with my 2 fat city counts he learned from them. Then I included him bit by bit. Once I learned to watch his tail tip for over stimulation, we were golden (& I joked I suddenly had 3 cats.)

On the show my cat from hell a family had a feral cat afraid of hands. So they got knit fingerless gloves that they soaked on the roast chicken that that cat apparently ate instead of cat food. Then they fed the cat with the gloves on. It worked.

She will get there.

 

[marmoset]

Piper did fine when we were away. The sitters said whenever they came into the room she just went to her carrier. When I got home she seemed happy to see me but then went back to normal the next day.

She hisses repeatedly whenever I walk into the room but she doesn't immediately run to hide in her carrier anymore. She is standing her ground, hisses for about a minute and then turns around stretches and goes in her carrier. She has started to eat her regular food (not just treats) in my presence. So now I sit with her twice a day when she gets her wet food.

She likes playing with the laser toy but she is still too timid to play with a wand toy. She just looks at my hand or the rod and hides in the carrier. I can get her to track the feather bauble with her eyes but she won't leave the carrier to investigate.

I have mixed feelings about how she's coming along. Again I have no expectations and all the patience in the world but I worry that she's living too sedentary and might become an unhealthy weight. Since she's long-haired and not touchable she can't get fat!

She did get to meet my youngest boy last night. He marched right up to her and they sniffed noses. There were no problems. It was a sniff, greeting and he walked away. I was holding back feelings of insult since I still can't get her to sniff my hand but some young pretty moustachio'd male was able to just saunter in no problem lol.

 

[marmoset]

I think Piper is getting ready to have more freedom. She will charge out for food now. This week she has sniffed my knee and my hand. She ran away afterwards at first but now she'll sniff and kind of stop- go motionless for a moment- to make sure I'm not going to attack and then she goes back to eating.

So it's the right direction. I still haven't touched her except for the "incidental" finger touch on the ear or cheek while she eats. It'd be great if she'd turn around and get all lovey but I just want her happy and safe and eating. She still hisses at me but some hisses turn into yawns mid-hiss I've found that to be a turning point in the cats I've taken in before.

...and I need my room available again. This week I'm sitting for a hospice cat and there's a kitten at the shelter that could use a couple of weeks of intense socialization, then of course spring is coming. I need that room back lol. I definitely need it when kitten season blows up. So over the next few months she's going to be getting introduced to other rooms and integrated more with the resident cats.

 

[danteshuman]

Ummmm won't bringing in a new cat set her back and stress her out? Plus it would make her loose her territory.

 

[danteshuman]

...... I'm glad she isn't really serious about her hissing any more. I hope she can learn that people are ok from your other cats.

 

[marmoset]

Ummmm won't bringing in a new cat set her back and stress her out? Plus it would make her loose her territory.

Hopefully not if we do it right with thought and planning. We have to transition her out of the safe room and into the general population. It'll be gradual and not overnight or in a matter of a few short weeks. I'm hoping to have her out and fully integrated sometime in April. I will resist the temptation to work with the shelter kitten in the hope that a different fosterer will take up the charge but I do need to be ready for kitten season. That's very important.

Every consideration will be taken for Piper. That room is only kept open when we are transitioning a cat out of the room. And the timeline of that is on a case by case basis but Piper has been typical to ex-colony cats. She knows cat manners. She's much better with our cats than with people. She has met our residents in controlled meetings and has been fine.

If she's anything like past cats she will transition herself out and into the main home in her own time on her own terms eventually only going back to the safe room if company comes over or if there is new stimuli and then that room will start to loose it's appeal to her naturally as our whole house is organized in a way be a cat paradise with many spots for lounging and claiming. She will find new safe spots- either up high or behind things for when the doorbell rings. Only once she is fully integrated and not going into the safe room would we bring in other fosters or rescues to the safe room but it's a goal we actively will work towards as again kitten season is coming.

Of course I don't even attempt integration until months after spay/ neutering so there is no hormonal response from the new or resident cats.

I'm far less concerned about how she will be with our resident 5 cats than I am with how she will be with me and my husband once she gets the run of the place. She'll have hiding spots and would be able to live day to day without any interaction with us which makes it harder as she ages and needs medications, vet handling etc.

 

[marmoset]

...... I'm glad she isn't really serious about her hissing any more. I hope she can learn that people are ok from your other cats.

I hope so too. It was an amazing transformation with the last cat we took in. That cat now runs across the house to answer my call and just wants pets and head butts. This is the cat that wanted to kill me at one point. I'm still working with getting her used to having my hands on her underside as a precursor to being picked up. It's important because she was breeding for years and had so many litters and her chances of cancer are increased so being able to feel her underside is important. Sight won't help since she's long-haired.

 

[marmoset]

Last night was another first with Piper. I went into her room and 4 of the other 5 cats followed me and I was able to get them into a group play session with the laser pointer. This was the first time she seemed at ease around multiple other cats. She's only ever had 3 cats in the room with her before. Thanks to one cat who can open doors. She even came up to me to sniff my knee- which she's never done in the presence of another cat and only really started doing 3 weeks ago.

There were some snafu's. She got herself by the door and my Matty wanted to exit the room so she did the ready to fight- lying on the floor with ears down and belly partially exposed stance- which basically means she's ready to fight/ defend and Matty is brazen so he approached to sniff and she smacked him but he just left without making a fuss. No big deal. He came back in a few minutes later and there was no issue.

I'm leaving the door open more now. I hope she ventures out soon. She's close, hovering by the door but not guarding it- kind of looking out and being tempted. But she is a timid cat when it comes to new things/ areas. She is good with the other cats though. She knows her cat manners and I think she likes them more than she likes me. I'm ok with that.

 

[rubysmama]

Sounds like things are progressing in the right direction.

 

[marmoset]

Sounds like things are progressing in the right direction.

The right direction is all I hope for. Of course I get the whole one step forward two steps back thing. That's alright though. I just am so eager to have her fully integrated. She is getting heavy and needs more exercise and if she can learn more about playtime from the other cats or even engage in play with them she'll be better off. I still haven't gotten her to play with a wand toy but she will now chase the laser pointer. Two weeks ago she'd come out for the laser pointer but she did not run across the room for it. This is something I have to actively work on- getting her fit.

 

[marmoset]

Last night Piper let me pet her while she ate and she also came over to me and laid down only 2 feet away. She rolled and showed her belly. She is also stretching while she's near me and chasing things right by me- though she is still intimidated by wand toys. 8/10 times she will sniff my hand when I enter the room. 1/10 times she hisses and moves away an 1/10 times she turns her head and ignores me.

The only thing I did differently this week was walk backwards when I was passing her hiding spot. I read somewhere online earlier in the week that it is less intimidating and good to try on cats during socialization. I guess I'll keep doing it if I sense she's not feeling brave.

I feel like another milestone has been reached maybe even two

 

[duncanmac]

Great progress - its is baby steps with a feral, but the bond you build will be very strong. Does she follow you from room to room? Maybe not immediately, but does she often end up in the same room with you? All good signs that she like you - the rest is building up trust.

My former feral took a long time to really warm up, although he was friendly after a month or so. He did this after about two months - and once he did, I know I was "in" but didn't expect that I would have to wait almost a year to have it happen again:

Barry Belly Rub.jpg

• duncanmac
• Mar 17, 2017