Reintroducing feral (now tamed) cats to my feral colony

[Julesandtheferals]

Hi there!

I tamed my two feral boys from 6 weeks old and they are now about 5 months old, fully tamed and have been neutered. I am wanting to allow them out of the house to explore during the day however I am conscious that they will be interacting with the feral colony (from which they came! all of whom are now spayed/neutered) which lives on the farm. If anyone has any advice on best practice to do this - massively appreciated. Also if there is anything I should be particularly wary off, anything which just needs to be accepted as 'normal' behaviours.

Thank you!!!

 

[fionasmom]

You have done a great job with these cats! This may not be a problem because, if I am reading this correctly, it has not been that long a time that they have been gone and they were former colony members. I have done the reverse, rescuing one colony member and bringing them inside, but not rescuing the next one until a couple of months later. They did seem to remember each other and, in fact, one very shy female was greatly relieved to find that her brother was in the house.

If you were dropping brand new ferals into your colony, that might be a problem and the newcomers might be run off. Since everyone is fixed, you should not get into the fighting and breeding issues that you would otherwise. Territory may or may not be an issue, it just depends on how the cats see it. The soon to be released cats know the area, so they should not go off looking for new homes.

Can you bring the two feral boys out personally and see how the others react? I don't think that bringing them out in a carrier will work, as it will put everyone on high alert, but if they are calm enough to be carried, you might try walking toward the colony area and wait for reactions from either side. I would watch for signs of any aggression and would not release the boys if they seem as if they will run or be chased or attacked.

 

[Julesandtheferals]

Hi there! Thank you so much for your response - it totally put me at ease and I am pleased to say we have had 2 very good 'play sessions' so far with the ferals and my boys. They are all very calm with each other and lots of head bopping! It has gone so, so well.

Thank you again!!!