Pet Lovers

[violann]

We have two pampered inside cats, and also a treasured, VERY shy feral.

Our feral has lived outside our house for two years. JUST TODAY, FOR THE FIRST TIME, he started to say "meow". He has never allowed us to touch him, but I am allowed to come about a foot away when I feed him.

He was trapped once, and SO TERRIFIED that I was afraid he'd literally kill himself by running at the door of the humane trap, so the decision was made to let him go.

We THINK, by observation, that he is probably an intact male.

DH and I have found a home we are interested in, and are quite enthused about it, but I could never leave the little cat. If I could find a vet service to tranquilize him and examine him for disease, I'd take a chance on trying to tame him, since we'd be glad to have him join our pampered indoor pets.

QUESTION- has anyone ever had any success with a cat who has been feral this long (well over 2 years)?

Is there any chance that neutering would have a MAJOR effect on his behavior?

I'd rather have him humanely euthenized than abandon him. Can anyone offer any other alternatives that have worked for them??

Thank you for your thoughts.

[KBear]

     I feel that we in many ways have a similar situation.  We also have 2 very pampered male inside cats.  For the last 6 months we have a  neutered female cat on our deck and we feed her 2x's a day.  She loves our cats but will only come about 8-10 feet from us.  We would love her to come inside(after a vet visit) but I don't see that happening.  Our vet has said that he could give us pills to calm her down so that we could catch her and take her to the vet.

     The pills would have to be crushed and put in her food. Do you think that would work for you cat?

Good LucK!

[cotto22]

That is a hard one. We have had several outside cats, three feral and two we were able to tame sufficiently so that they could come in. One (Pumpkin) we took to be spayed, and the other (Stuart) had already been, so in reality maybe he was dumped and not really feral. The female feral was very timid, and it took several months before she came to me and then eventually we could pick her up. She eventually was an inside outside cat. We would have preferred her to be totally inside, but she was "born on the street' and insisted on going out.

  Our most recent feral  (Arthur) eventually let us pet him, after about a year. He did not want to get picked up, and we took him to the vet three times, the last when he was euthannized due to a huge inoperable tumor on his leg.

  Your kitty does not seem tameable. If, after two years, he won't even let you touch him, I don't see how you could have him neutered and turn him into an inside cat. First off, neutering him won't stop him from spraying if he has been doing it outside for years. Second, if he felt trapped in a box when trapped, he will not react well to a trip to the vet and the recuperation period from his operation, where he will need to be in a clean environment.

   Is there any way you could have the new owners of your house, or a neighbor, take care of him after you leave? We took over feeding Stuart from a neighbor who had been feeding him for about a year when they were transferred. The new owners were supposed to feed him, but apparently he liked our food better. 

  My husband and I plan on retiring and moving in about 3 years, and we, too, were worried about Arthur, the outside feral cat. Since he got sick and has passed, that is no longer an issue, but I do understand your dilemma. I just don't know how he would adapt to being inside since he has been hesitant to be touched and have you close to him.

  My son is a vet; I will see if his ideas are any different, and if so, will post later.

[Havarti]

Try contacting a local pet rescue or even your local police animal control department to see if you can borrow a humane trap. Havahart is the brand I have used, Here is some information and a picture so you can see it: http://www.havahart.com/feral-cat-trap-rescue-kit

You put some smelly tasty food in the back of the trap to tempt theme animals into the cage and it snaps shut while they are eating – without hurting them. Then you can transport the cat to a vet to be neutered and get shots, etc. You do not need a cat trap, if they have a dog trap or raccoon trap that is the same thing. Just cover the cage (after you trap the animal) with a large beach towel, so it is less stressed not seeing people and changing environment.

Bless your heart for being so caring, this is a lucky little cat to have found your home. Many people are able to successfully domesticate a feral cat, it just takes more time and patience and lower expectations to start.

Best of luck to both you and your new furry friend.

If you need to buy a trap, you can usually find them at a big bix hardware store.

[candys mine]

It will be hard but I would leave him be.  The advice of recruiting a neighbor to take over feeding him is good.  If I may play devils advocate let me ask does cat live his whole life on your poarch or does he roam?  are you his absolute only source of food or can he fend for himself?  Was cat an adult when you first met him and had he survived for himself before he found you to befriend?  Are you in an area that has harsh weather that he has survived outside in for the past two years?  Is he sickly or elderly so euthanization would end his suffering?  Consider that he IS a feral cat.  He HAS survived without you.  More comfortable  with your feedings but to his mind, he is his own cat not your pet.  and lastly do you truely think he wants to be dead rather than live without you? PLEASE consider him first and find a way to let him stay on his home territory.

[sandraskates]

I'm going to say YES, I think you can take him with you.

There were 3 feral cats that lived outside the building where I work. A few volunteers from a feral rescue caught them, "fixed" them and tipped their ears so it was known they were fixed. They were returned to the outdoors after that and the volunteers fed them too.

Two of them passed away of natural causes over several years. There was the one male cat left, age of about 5 - 7 years old. He was humanely trapped and ended up in a rather cushy home. At first he mostly hid in a closet or hung out on a high shelf. But eventually he figured it out and became more of a housecat - the kind that takes up the best space in the bed!

Bear in mind that his change happened very slowly, over the course of 1 - 2 years. I hear he is doing very well. Also, he is not the only cat in that household.

Good luck @violann . It is awesome of you to care about him so much. Perhaps his little meow is just the start of the next step in your relationship. :-)

[glamorgirl]

Hi,

I had a female feral cat in our neighborhood for the past 5 years. She had kiitens  behind our shed. I got traps, got all of them fixed, and unfortunantly my neighbor was not very understanding so I had to find the kittens a home. Mama Cat continued to come outside our pourch, finally got her to come in to eat, by leaving the door open. Then got her to stay in side at nite, and now she is a indoor cat. She is the sweetist thing!

I would recommend a trap, get her fixed and while she is still sedated bring her inside. Is there a room that she can have to herself? It can be done, it just takes time. And no I would not leave her, she knows you, and she woul be better off being an indoor cat.

Mama Cat has been an indoor cat for two years now, but it took alot of patients.....

                   Good Luck

[Sooner]

You may not like what I'm saying, so please take it as intended, as simply another perspective on this. OK?  I hope you will.  

I believe that each of us has a life that is ours and decisions that we need to make for ourselves. I believe that God takes care of us and all the animals, the little birds and such. 

I am an older person, and growing up and well into adulthood I thought I could fix or take care of everyone and every living thing I came in contact with.  What I discovered through painful experience was that believe it or not, some living things were better off without my even well-intentioned help.  That is especially true for feral or wild animals.

I've seen two misguided friends hold feral dogs and cats hostage.  One of the poor cats would never come out from under the bed.  One of the dogs was desperate to escape the house where he was held hostage.

So my thought here is that you have a new path to take and a new part of your life to go to in a new house.   Go and be happy.  If you can get the cat someone to feed it, wonderful, but if not, don't worry about the cat.  The cat has a right to live his life and make decisions also, and God will take care of both of you--although God may do something different than YOU would do.  

Lay aside the guilt.  It took me a long time to figure out that I don't run the world.  LOL!!!  Now I'm not saying that to be mean, I'm just saying you can't fix everything.  You know?  You really can't!  And nobody expects you to.

[luvmyteddy4]

I don't know if you ever read my thread about feeding feral cats but I documented the lives of catching and keeping the 3 ferals I found outside. One was a feral male 1 yr old and the other 2 were 10 months old at the time.

A year later Papa is two and the babies are a year old now.

All three have settled in now but it took a long time to train them. Two are going great, very friendly and the third baby sibling took me 10 months just to pet him and only when given food.

A year later and I can pet the baby and he will come to me in the middle of the night and let me pet him but only in the dark. This was a miracle for me because I have waited so long to do this. Just this week he let me pet him during the day but he might never let me pick him up like the other two. That's okay I can live with that.

If it were me I would get him fixed because mine are all males and it made a big difference in the older one. I would take him with you when you move and hope for the best, I don't believe in giving up ever. If he doesn't come around after you move then keep him as your feral. I could never leave mine behind and I shutter that my three could still be out there instead of inside with me.

[GingerPeach]

Hi @violann  I think you would be doing a kindness to the cat world if, at minimum, you had him neutered and vaccinated.  That way, no matter where he lived, he wouldn't be able to father more homeless cats.

Plan for him to recover somewhere in your home, perhaps a spare room if you have one.  After recovery time, you'd be able to assess his new personality a bit better.  Perhaps he'd be more comfortable with you, perhaps not.  In any event, you would have followed the principles of TNR (trap,neuter,return).

Or contact any of the TNR organizations for help.  One close to you might even recommend a vet if your own vet doesn't work with ferals.

Good luck to you, and all the cats (inside and outside).