About six weeks ago I took in a feral female cat after she'd been spayed and checked out by a vet. Before this she'd likely had no human contact and was understandably very timid in her new home. We've made good progress and she's gotten more used to me. I play with her every night and she has a lot of fun chasing the wand toys, mice and balls etc. She seems to have gathered that I'm a food source since I always let her smell the food and talk to her when I put it out. Sometimes she licks baby food off my finger and overall doesn't seem too scared of my presence anymore.
However, hands are still scary to her and I'm wondering whether I should even try to touch her. In the very beginning I gently petted her cheeks a bit but she was clearly very nervous and just stared at the ground. I felt bad for making her anxious and stopped touching her, which made her a lot calmer around me. Now she'll slap/bite me and hiss if I get too close to her with my hand. I tried petting her with a stick but she gets terrified of it even being close to her and would probably flee/attack it if I pushed on.
An old lady from the organization that traps and neuters ferals here told me to keep touching the cat every day but another local organisation's view was that forcefully petting a cat is not good even if it seemingly gets used to it. Should I just let her be and maybe keep hand feeding her to get her more used to my hands?
However, hands are still scary to her and I'm wondering whether I should even try to touch her. In the very beginning I gently petted her cheeks a bit but she was clearly very nervous and just stared at the ground. I felt bad for making her anxious and stopped touching her, which made her a lot calmer around me. Now she'll slap/bite me and hiss if I get too close to her with my hand. I tried petting her with a stick but she gets terrified of it even being close to her and would probably flee/attack it if I pushed on.
An old lady from the organization that traps and neuters ferals here told me to keep touching the cat every day but another local organisation's view was that forcefully petting a cat is not good even if it seemingly gets used to it. Should I just let her be and maybe keep hand feeding her to get her more used to my hands?