Is It Possible And Roughly How Long It Takes For A Feral Cat To Adapt A New Home?

Lya

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
24
Purraise
25
Hi everyone, I hope you take time to read this, I’m desperate :(

I currently have 4 cats and a dog. They mostly get along, 2 of the cats are friends and the rest have preferences over members of the family, with the older one being the alpha of them all.

Around a month ago, I found a wounded cat bleeding on the street. After multiple vet visits, he fully recovered. We got him neutered and since he was around 3 y.o., no one seemed to be willing to adopt him, so we decided to keep him.

The thing is, he’s extremely shy. Once he was able to stand up, he runs away from anyone he sees, and meows constantly. We kept him in a separate room to keep him safe while he recovered and got used to the hoyse and progressively made supervised exists throughout the house. A few weeks ago he started harrasing on my cats, ending up in a huge fight with the alpha.

I was told that after this behaviour, it was best to catch and put him in a crate or something to teach him that attacking the other cats was a no go, but since he’s impossible to catch and super slippery and fast, this hardly every works.

Today he attacked the alpha again, poor guy even peed out of fear and lost tons of fur. My family is fed up, they say he will definitely not adapt and maybe we should leave him back where we found him.

Is it possible to do something? Is he utterly a feral cat and will never be ok here? Whenever he’s on our yard or he’s in a closed small room he acts like a domestic cat, rubbing agains our legs and such. Otherwise, completely different.

He’s been neutered for around 15 days now, but I’ve been told that since he’s aprox. 3 there won’t be much behavior changes after neutering :(

Thank you all for your time.
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,931
Location
Colorado US

HPeters

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 27, 2018
Messages
84
Purraise
70
Location
Southern Alberta, Canada
If hes truly feral, he will likely never adapt to living with humans. You can "test" him by offering him food with you in close proximity, this test should last minimum about 10 minutes and you can try a few times throughout the day but if he doesnt eat- take the food out with you (unless his health is at risk) If he eats- hes likely a stray and will adjust.
I know some cats take months to adjust- when we got our second cat (started out as a foster) she hid in my closet for 2 weeks and then she slunk around the house for the next few months, now (a couple years later) she runs around the house like she owns the place but wont allow being picked up.
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,764
Location
Canada
Lya Lya : thanks for taking him in, getting his injury patched up, and getting him neutered. A month isn't very long in cat terms, and as a feral, he is probably terrified now that's he's feeling better. And I'm sure your other cats, plus your dog, aren't helping him settle in.

But feral cats absolutely can be adapt to living with humans, and with other animals. @Jcatbird will attest to that as she has trapped and socialized many feral cats over the past little while. If you like, you can read her story here: My Feral And Rescued Cats

It's also possible he's not a true feral, but a semi-feral or stray/former housepet, which would explain why he's calm when away from the other animals.

Is he inside only now? Can you get him back in his own room, work on getting him comfortable around his new human family, and then slowly start re-introducing him to his feline and canine siblings.

Here's a few TCS articles that may be helpful:
A Feral Cat Or A Stray Cat? How To Tell The Difference
Handling Feral Cats
The Five Golden Rules To Bringing An Outdoor Cat Inside
 

duncanmac

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 22, 2017
Messages
559
Purraise
953
He's meowing? More likely than not he is not feral but a stray. It also takes a few weeks for the hormones to work their way out of his system after a neuter.

Follow the guides on this site for cat introductions and realize that this might go VERY slowly. Your first good supervised visit, with tired cats that have full bellies, might only last 5 minutes before tensions build. Split them up and end the encounter on as high a note as possible.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

Lya

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Jun 13, 2018
Messages
24
Purraise
25
Thanks. He will definitely not eat from my hand, I have to give him food and step back at a reasonable distance in order for him to eat.

We did the visits slowly since he recovered (incredibly he was well in around one week) and he acted docile and submissive. We were actually afraid he would be bullied by the other cats, given how jelous some of them are.

He meows a lot whenever he sees another cat, human or when he’s locked in a separate room. He sleeps alone in one room and he meows pretty much all night, but it’s hard for my grandmother to sleep. Still, it’s impossible to leave him out since he would definitely attack my alpha.

Is it better to kennel or keep him in another room?
 

Furballsmom

Cat Devotee
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
39,271
Purraise
53,931
Location
Colorado US
Hi! I don't know, but I'm thinking a room as opposed to a kennel, if I'm understanding the question but either way can you try some music for him?
Classical harp music, there's an app called Relax My Cat, and there is MusicForCats . com as a couple of sources that could help to calm him a little :).


white a degree since he's rubbing on your legs.
I meant quite a degree
 

molly92

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
1,689
Purraise
1,565
Location
Michigan
Definitely keep him in a different room for now! I would try to focus on adjusting to humans first and other cats later, but that is up to you. Do not try to do both at once. It's just too much for an overwhelmed cat.

This is my favorite resource for socializing cats: How to Socialize Very Shy or Fearful Cats

You can adapt it to the specific cat and your setup, but be sure to read through it and understand why they make certain choices.

For a semi-feral, the process takes months. He definitely does not sound fully feral since he rubs against humans and meows.
 

duncanmac

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 22, 2017
Messages
559
Purraise
953
This is how I introduced my former feral to our resident cat: When To Introduce New Kittens

It took about 3 months to get them comfortable with each other and able to be around each other without too many problems. Things that were different for me were that Duncan was not neutered yet and Barry was a "cat's cat" who wanted nothing more than to be BFF's with Duncan. This first integration took time and persistence.

At first, Barry did not like people and actively hid and avoided us. He finally started warming up to me after 6 months or a year but my wife, still, does not experience the same cat that I do with Barry.

Feral or not, your new guy is going to extra time to get used to people and used to his new cat family.
 
Top