FERAL ?

[Terner]

We received ELLIE - a feral (wild) Tortoiseshell kitten from my adult son who rescue her. We have had her 3 years, she trusts us completely, she comes inside the house to hang out with the family, but does not like to be held at all.
She will come up and visit let you pet her, but holding her makes her feel skirmish.

Our Ellie has come a long way, she is still very independent, but the other half (her domestic side) appreciates the security family offers.

She can climb trees as fast as a squirrel. She is very street smart. She is very curious. She is very pretty. We know that with age she may become more comfortable with domestic life. She no longer gets in to the trash to search for food, because she has learned the bowl of food is there for her and she doesn't have to search for food, that took many months for her to understand.

We don't HAVE to hold her to appreciate what a special kitty she is.

Give love and understanding, domestic life takes time to get use to.

Our method of helping her adjust: Offer the warmth, security, understanding and love and slowly they become more comfortable with their new settings

Our youngest cat, a 9mos old bengal is the type of cat who wants to be held, he is just a big baby that wants everyones full attention...

what is my point???

Just like people, each cat has their own personality, enjoy them for who they are.



Do you have a story about a feral adapting to domestic life?

HERE'S AN PHOTO OF ELLIE:

l

[Terner]

My feral female was fixed and adopted at an early age, it has been 3 years and in the last 6 month she has really come around... almost domestic now (90%) and she's a tortishell (they often have "tortitude"- or fussy tortishell attitude). She actually wants a moment here and there of attention ("...pet me, I am a good kitty").
Being around domestic cats has shown her that kitties at out home get love and attention, so she wants her share now. I always greet her, pet her and offer her a treat or open a can of cat food, while I talk to her, positive attention has domesticated her - alot.

She is soooo low maint. (immunization, flea collar, food and wormer and TLC now and then), is all is required, she is an easy cat to own, she has a great immune system so illness has never been a problem.

My town (in rural California) offers fix and release programs, it keeps the rat population down.

As far as domestication process, it takes time, TLC and some patience -- they usually come around.

[pistons58]

I just have to add------cats and rats can co-habitate very nicely. I have too many of both and do not have a problem.....once the curiosity passed.

[Crystal]

I leased a horse barn about 10 yrs ago where the previous tenents had abandoned some unspayed cats. Needless to say their where like 30 kittens running around from about 4wks old to 10 or 12 weeks old. A 12 week old feral kitten can be a handfull! We caught all of them and some went to the local shelter. We were able to find homes for all but one of the others. Needless to say my Mother ended up keeping one very wild little kitty! Snowball really should have been named ghost. I lived there for 6 months and I only saw the cat a couple times. He doesn't like to be pet but he will sit in my Moms lap if nobody else is in the house. When I go for a visit I sometimes wake in the middle of the night and he is sitting on my feet but as soon as he opens his eyes and sees I'm awake he runs away! Nobody in the family has a very close relationship w/ Snowball, definately nothing like the carefree lovemister Sam(now 18 yrs old) who everyone loves, but he is a good cat and my entire family enjoys him. There is hope for ferals too.

[Erin Brown]

This is my first time posting, and I just made my home page yesterday. A lot of it is about my feral kitty, and our story is very different from what others have written: he is the most affectionate of all four of our animal babies!

I bet the difference is that he came to us at only a couple days old, so all the love and milk and learning grooming, etc., came to him from humans with the help of our very loving older cat and dog. That was nearly six years ago, and he's the only one still alive out of that group.

I wrote on my home page that he is the happiest cat I have ever known. He would die of a broken heart if he were left without affection. Of course, having rescued other feral cats, I'm aware that's not really the norm for them. I guess he maybe thinks he's a person or something like that, because we were his parents from almost Day One...?

We used to parent two other cats we snatched from feral communities, but they were both pretty little and barely weaned. They were never as affectionate as Mowgli, our little guy we have now, but they didn't act much different from how a typical domestic kitty acts. Again let me say that they were just babies when they moved in with us, and I'm sure that makes a big difference.

I accidentally caught an older feral kitten in a "Have a Heart" or however that's spelled when I was trying to catch and relocate a raccoon. That kitten was like a mini cougar. I wouldn't even consider trying to bring her home with me, because I was worried she'd really hurt one of us. So spaying and relocating to the woods is all I offered the poor girl.

It's an interesting line between "stray" and "feral," isn't it? I'm so glad to have read you guys's posts and learned your stories of giving some of these wild kids a safer and happier life.

[Laura H]

With my baby girls and their littermates, three of whom I can keep up with easily (so that's five of the 10) I know that they are all becoming affectionate in their own ways. They are all almost a year old now but each of us also know that the feral in them comes out at the funniest times and that it's not like any other dog any of us have ever had. We each have learned a lot of patience, understanding, and love from these little ones and I guess that's why they were put on this earth.

You are right, there is a line between stray and feral, and unless you have been on that line, you cannot distinguish it, but if you have been on that line, you know exactly where the line is. The hardest thing to try to do is explain it to someone. The best thing to do then would be to throw your hands up in the air, say never mind, go home, give your little one a hug or a kiss, and count your lucky stars you have them for the time that you do.

[Erin Brown]

Oh, Laura! Yes, it is so hard to explain that difference between "stray" and "feral!" Whew, do I feel validated right now!

I have a question for you: Do you think it's a harder life for feral dogs than feral cats?

I've not had experience with feral dogs, but because I've always been a "dog person," the thought of them being without human love is disturbing to me, much more so than for cats. So many centuries of people specifically breeding dogs to be attached to humans has to make it harder for them than for cats to be on their own. Well, I'm willing to be wrong on that one, but I'd like to know your opinion.

[Terner]

A ferel cat, in my definition, a cat that was born and weaned in the wild learning how to survive using the wild tactics taught by the mother cat.
They have little to no human interaction and often resort to a "fight or flee" action to avoid being capture. If stressed out or captured they will behave like a wild Tasmanian devil, shreeking and clawing its way to freedom.


Our Ellie, was a wild lil' creature, when my son took her in. The little kitten was noted for her reputed bad-temper - fur standing up, 20 claws in "ready to be use" mode, growling- she was a tiny very scarey animal, but this act, is what wild little animals "need" to survive in the world, just in case they encounter someone or something that they feel may harm them. The feral kitten (I am uncertain if there was more) was living in a large field next to some apts and my son was concerned that the children were chasing her and scaring her (she was cornered in a garbage enclosure, when he took his garbage out). I am uncertain how large Ellie's family was, she may of been in a situation where she became seperated from the litter, as the others ran away. She was adopted by humans and learned to adjust to domestic life. She is a good kitty, but very different from our other cats that were born domestic. They all watch and learn from each other, but she by far is the most street smart and resourceful.

Even now if held, the Ellie will do an alligator roll to escape being held, though she will come up and sit down and let you pet her - in other words, it has to be on HER terms, but it took 3 years for her to adjust from being totally wild to semi-domestic.
About a month ago, it was time for her shots, trying to put her in a cat carrier was difficult because she resists any situation she considers confinment. It started off calm, offering her treats to lure her gently her in the carrier, as we eased her into the carrier opening, she became frantic and after several alligator rolls we finally wrestled her in the carrier, for I knew if she didn't go in she would flee and we would miss the rabies clinic day.

Final note: Ellie was spayed as a kitten. All feral kitties should be spayed and immunized to protect them from overpopulation and disease. They provide an important role - they are great mouse catchers and keep the rat and disease population down.

[Nan Demers]

Until last year I had only one cat until a feral female (Belle) and her litter arrived in my yard. They were terrified of people for quite awhile, but I kept leaving food out for them. They had shelter since I have several buildings on the property and put crates and blankets in one of them. They started going into the crates to sleep and after spending a lot of time with them, they've come to trust me. Two of them don't like to be held, one is still fearful of people but is very sweet, and the calico is a lap cat. Whether or not a feral cat can be tamed depends on the cat and the person. It takes some of them a long time to learn to trust people, but well worth it. To read more about my cats, see this link:

http://network.bestfriends.org/texas/news/24575.html (4/15/2008)

[frances]

do I have a story? YES I do.
I am just now going back to work after 4 years off with an on the job injury. It could have been very stressfull for me, but, God felt he needed to give me something to take my mind off of the situation. So far 13 dogs, 3 goats,2 horses,and to top it off..............
I have 8 feral cats, all I have managed to trap and get fixed ,but this one Tommy has out smarted the live trap for a year now.
This guy is huge,huge,huge. One of his sons I caught in January and he is just now allowing me to pick him up, Before he would run through the house screamin like crazy, until one day I brought his mom in after her visit to the vet and she started running through the house screamin,he just sat back and looked at her like she was nuts, watching her every move ,with this look of " Get a Grip Mom" LOL.... Now he will rub all over you and purr like crazy,but he still doesn't like to be held much.............Mom is outside she never did cope inside, it was to stressfull on her so I let her out. The wild ones will come to you for supplemental feedings but you can smell them and they smell like wild rabbits.I know they are eating at my house , but not as much as the house cat eats.

[Megan]

Your cat Ellie is very pretty. There's a feral cat that roams around the neighborhood (my guess is he's searching for food) and always comes into my yard. I try to coax him over, try to pet him... he always runs off. It's a rather large cat and it doesn't look like it's been treated badly or anything. I think he's just afraid of people.

[Erin Brown]

I like Terner's definition of "feral," which honestly means my little Mowgli doesn't qualify! His mama certainly did, but she died when he was so little that she never was the one to feed and then wean him, or teach him how to be wild.

[Linda]

I started a TNR group for one of the universities where I teach, and one of the "feral" cats eventually warmed up to me--after a year and a half. He doesn't really like for me to pet him, but loves to rub up against my leg at feeding time. He comes running when I call him, or even when he hears me cough. When I baby-talk to him, he rolls on his back and acts like a real ham. Although I don't think he could ever adapt to life inside, he has definitely socialized and seeks out my attention.