Success Stories Taking In Ferals?

[toxicglowsticks]

I apologize if this has been done because I did search a few pages back, but I thought it would be fun to create a success story thread for those feral turned sweetheart kitties who were just looking for someone patient enough to work with them.

My feral is now almost three years old and the biggest lap cat in the world. We found him outside a trail with his litter. We were nervous because it was right next to a busy road and a river/dam on the other side.



We didn’t know what to do because it was just my husband and I who went for our weekly trail hike. So we called his mom up, explained the situation, and asked for her to bring food. She showed up with crackers and cheesecurds.

Well, like a true Wisconsin cat, he liked the cheese curds. So after 4 hours of luring him out, I was able to sneak behind him and grab him. That was by far the worst idea I’ve ever had not only for safety.. but he did bite me through the nail which ended up infected. But here he is after we swaddled him. He looks so happy, right?



So we ended up calling my niece who had experience catch feral cats, and she brought a carrier for him and a trap for the other members of the litter, which we did manage to catch all but one.

My niece ended up taking him home for quarantining purposes and to deworm him and socialize. We were basically making sure he didn’t have rabies after he bit me.. because clearly I was not trained nor smart in my first feral experience. But right away, she began socializing him. Although fearful, he loved cuddles once he could trust you. Here he is, cuddling on my lap after a bath.



Once he received a clear bill of health aside from a URI from my vet, he came home with us to stay. We did end up naming him Cheesecurd, an he’s definitely our success story of a feral kitten turned sweetheart.

 

[ondine]

Oh my, he's gorgeous! We have a cat named Gracie who looks a lot like him. She has Russian Blue and Korat in her lineage, so I would not be surprised if he does, too.

Our success is Chester - the cat in my avatar. He and his sister were brought to our doorstep by their mom, a really, really feral cat. She ended up being hit by a car, so we set up a crate and caught the kits. My husband was like you and picked Chester up. Chester immediately bit him. No real damage, except my husband reported the bite to the vet while we were having Chester vetted and the vet, by law, had to call the Health Dept. So Chester was quarantined for ten days. That was fun!

But he is now almost ten years old and a sweet, sweet cat. He does not care to be petted but will sleep on my husband's nightstand and follow him around.

 

[Max's Human]

I apologize if this has been done because I did search a few pages back, but I thought it would be fun to create a success story thread for those feral turned sweetheart kitties who were just looking for someone patient enough to work with them.

My feral is now almost three years old and the biggest lap cat in the world. We found him outside a trail with his litter. We were nervous because it was right next to a busy road and a river/dam on the other side.

View attachment 207036

We didn’t know what to do because it was just my husband and I who went for our weekly trail hike. So we called his mom up, explained the situation, and asked for her to bring food. She showed up with crackers and cheesecurds.

Well, like a true Wisconsin cat, he liked the cheese curds. So after 4 hours of luring him out, I was able to sneak behind him and grab him. That was by far the worst idea I’ve ever had not only for safety.. but he did bite me through the nail which ended up infected. But here he is after we swaddled him. He looks so happy, right?

View attachment 207037

So we ended up calling my niece who had experience catch feral cats, and she brought a carrier for him and a trap for the other members of the litter, which we did manage to catch all but one.

My niece ended up taking him home for quarantining purposes and to deworm him and socialize. We were basically making sure he didn’t have rabies after he bit me.. because clearly I was not trained nor smart in my first feral experience. But right away, she began socializing him. Although fearful, he loved cuddles once he could trust you. Here he is, cuddling on my lap after a bath.

View attachment 207038

Once he received a clear bill of health aside from a URI from my vet, he came home with us to stay. We did end up naming him Cheesecurd, an he’s definitely our success story of a feral kitten turned sweetheart.

View attachment 207039 View attachment 207040 View attachment 207041

 

[Max's Human]

Years ago I had a colony of 24 ferals! They were calm and trusting of me but I knew it was time to STOP the breeding cycle. We had a grant program that for $10 they would give shots and fix ferals. My ferals 20 of them were adopted by a cat rescue group and the 4 leftover I adopted. They were nervous around strangers but all 4 lived as housecats the remainders of their lives.

 

[orange&white]

Shortly after moving to my current home, a momma calico feral gave birth to 4 kittens behind the storage shed in the backyard. I used to go sit and watch, but momma cat never let me get very close. Still once the kittens became "toddlers" I tried to entice them to play with twigs. They were all well-taught by momma to be afraid of humans and stay away. Once they were weaned, I started tossing bits of kibble and continued to try to instigate play.

One day, one of the kittens became bold and started running across my lap to chase the twig. He was a white cat with large orange spots (papa feral was orange tabby). On the second day the kitten came out to play, I picked him up, fully expecting to be seriously injured by a 2 pound lump of fur. He completely relaxed, so I took him inside to meet my two domestic cats. He never stepped back outside again, even with the door wide open. My friendly male domestic cat became the feral kitten's role model. I named him Einstein, because he was the only kitten smart enough not to listen to mama when she said, "Be afraid of humans."

Einstein lived 19.75 years. He was a wonderful cat thanks to Maslow, his grey tabby role model.

Second feral story:

This year, a four month old feral kitten got into our warehouse at work and I trapped her. Instead of releasing her after TNR, I decided to bring her home to socialize and find a adoptive home for her. She was very frightening, but not at all aggressive so I just couldn't turn her back outside. After working with her for a few weeks, and thinking about what type of home and people she needed, I ended up decided that the best home and "people" for her was me. Farrell just turned one year on October 1st. She's a combination of little fireball when she's playing and total sweetheart when she's sleeping . She's already brought so much joy into my life.

My third feral is living in the backyard, also trapped this year. I love Misfit, too, though I wouldn't call her a feral success story. Yet. Give me a few more months.

 

[bigbadbass]

I won't bore you here with the long story but my adopted, now retired ferals Bug and Princess are certainly successes, both saved from certain, eventual doom.

link to our long forum thread here meet Buggy

(now indoor only, they are never found far apart from one another)

 

[toxicglowsticks]

Oh my, he's gorgeous! We have a cat named Gracie who looks a lot like him. She has Russian Blue and Korat in her lineage, so I would not be surprised if he does, too.

Our success is Chester - the cat in my avatar. He and his sister were brought to our doorstep by their mom, a really, really feral cat. She ended up being hit by a car, so we set up a crate and caught the kits. My husband was like you and picked Chester up. Chester immediately bit him. No real damage, except my husband reported the bite to the vet while we were having Chester vetted and the vet, by law, had to call the Health Dept. So Chester was quarantined for ten days. That was fun!

But he is now almost ten years old and a sweet, sweet cat. He does not care to be petted but will sleep on my husband's nightstand and follow him around.

I definitely do think he has some Korat in him. He’s got the real lanky build but is heavy as heck.

But oh, Chester is such a beauty.

It was actually kind of funny because when I reported the bite to the urgent care doctor, he of course had to call the police, but they didn’t do anything. Instead the doctor told me that welding gloves work really nicely catching feral cats. Maybe he had experience?

It’s almost like they chose their person by biting them ahah.

 

[toxicglowsticks]

Years ago I had a colony of 24 ferals! They were calm and trusting of me but I knew it was time to STOP the breeding cycle. We had a grant program that for $10 they would give shots and fix ferals. My ferals 20 of them were adopted by a cat rescue group and the 4 leftover I adopted. They were nervous around strangers but all 4 lived as housecats the remainders of their lives.

Oh my! Props to you for taking care of a 24 cat colony and the TNR too!

Shortly after moving to my current home, a momma calico feral gave birth to 4 kittens behind the storage shed in the backyard. I used to go sit and watch, but momma cat never let me get very close. Still once the kittens became "toddlers" I tried to entice them to play with twigs. They were all well-taught by momma to be afraid of humans and stay away. Once they were weaned, I started tossing bits of kibble and continued to try to instigate play.

One day, one of the kittens became bold and started running across my lap to chase the twig. He was a white cat with large orange spots (papa feral was orange tabby). On the second day the kitten came out to play, I picked him up, fully expecting to be seriously injured by a 2 pound lump of fur. He completely relaxed, so I took him inside to meet my two domestic cats. He never stepped back outside again, even with the door wide open. My friendly male domestic cat became the feral kitten's role model. I named him Einstein, because he was the only kitten smart enough not to listen to mama when she said, "Be afraid of humans."

Einstein lived 19.75 years. He was a wonderful cat thanks to Maslow, his grey tabby role model.

Second feral story:

This year, a four month old feral kitten got into our warehouse at work and I trapped her. Instead of releasing her after TNR, I decided to bring her home to socialize and find a adoptive home for her. She was very frightening, but not at all aggressive so I just couldn't turn her back outside. After working with her for a few weeks, and thinking about what type of home and people she needed, I ended up decided that the best home and "people" for her was me. Farrell just turned one year on October 1st. She's a combination of little fireball when she's playing and total sweetheart when she's sleeping . She's already brought so much joy into my life.

My third feral is living in the backyard, also trapped this year. I love Misfit, too, though I wouldn't call her a feral success story. Yet. Give me a few more months.

That is the cutest story! It’s funny how cats take on that mentor role though. My feral is currently doing that with our new kitten (before she was isolated for a ringworm scare), and of course he was teaching her all the naughty things. But good luck to you with Misfit. I’m sure it’ll be a success story in no time.

 

[Father of furbabies]

I love those stories and glad I let my son tame the feral kitten that he found in our shed. He was just a small black furball of spit and fierceness at first but now is a loving kitten growing up into a beautiful kat.

It is heartening to hear other people's stories.

 

[shadowsrescue]

I have brought 2 inside. They were both 3 year old males. The first one took a full year to adjust to inside living. The second moved along much quicker.

I care for 3 feral cats that live on my deck. I have had one for 7 years, one for 5 years and one for 2.5 years. I am moving in a few months and they will all be moving inside our new home. It will be quite an undertaking. I currently have 3 other cats inside.

What a wonderful story of your rescue!