Anybody tamed a feral?

About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy

--
Joy Unlimited
Colorful Crocheted Critters
Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9

On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.

--
Cheryl

On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on
Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.


Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have
another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend
him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.

Joy

--
Joy Unlimited
Colorful Crocheted Critters
Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9

On 8/2/2014 2:38 PM, Joy wrote:
On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on
Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.


Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have
another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend
him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.



Samwise was close to being feral when we trapped him , 2 litter mates
and the mother.

Spend time in the room with him. Take a book or other quite thing to
do and just sit there.Try talking softy to him. Let him get use to you.
Give him treats. Let him come to you.
After 9 years life is still on Samwise's terms. He will let us pet and
brush him. He will come and lay against me or sit on my lap.He does not
like to be picked up.

If it were me I would keep him separated a little longer. Let him settle
in more.

Ann

On 2014-08-02 4:08 PM, Joy wrote:
On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on
Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.


Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have
another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend
him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.

Joy


I had another cat when I adopted Betsy. In retrospect, that may have
been a mistake, because the resident cat was quite territorial, and
there were some battles. A vet advised me that I should let them settle
their dominance squabbles themselves, and they did.

--
Cheryl

On Saturday, August 2, 2014 1:38:08 PM UTC-5, Joy wrote:
On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:

On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:

About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a

four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him

isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on

Monday.



He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I

find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.



Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop

shutting him up?



Joy





I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly

close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure

she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at

the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled

in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,

not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,

she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever

they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I

was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place

looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.





Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have

another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend

him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.



Joy



--

Joy Unlimited

Colorful Crocheted Critters

Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9

Felix wasn't a feral, but he was definitely an outdoor cat at 6(?) months. Nadia, whom we got at the same time, was almost a feral. She was run over and killed and we think Felix may have seen this. Anyway, he has increasingly been more and more an indoor cat, especially since the morning he came home with an unexplained scratch on his nose. Toci

On 8/2/2014 12:34 PM, ann791 wrote:
On 8/2/2014 2:38 PM, Joy wrote:
On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on
Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.


Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have
another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend
him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.



Samwise was close to being feral when we trapped him , 2 litter mates
and the mother.

Spend time in the room with him. Take a book or other quite thing to
do and just sit there.Try talking softy to him. Let him get use to you.
Give him treats. Let him come to you.
After 9 years life is still on Samwise's terms. He will let us pet and
brush him. He will come and lay against me or sit on my lap.He does not
like to be picked up.

If it were me I would keep him separated a little longer. Let him settle
in more.

Ann

Thank you.

I go in and talk to him frequently, and put down some treats for him.

Monday will be ten days since I brought him home. His settling in
consists of moving to a new hiding place every time I see him where he's
currently hiding. He can continue to do that with the door open. The
only concern will be how Pickles decides to treat him. She's the reason
I got him. She's obviously very lonely since here littermate, Waffles,
went to the Bridge.

Joy

--
Joy Unlimited
Colorful Crocheted Critters
Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9

On 8/2/2014 1:23 PM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 4:08 PM, Joy wrote:
On 8/2/2014 11:16 AM, Cheryl wrote:
On 2014-08-02 3:10 PM, Joy wrote:
About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on
Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy


I haven't dealt with a real feral, but one of my RB cats was fairly
close to feral. All I did was let her do what she wanted, making sure
she had some safe place to hide in whenever she felt in danger, which at
the beginning was pretty much all the time. Very gradually, she settled
in, and became much more friendly with me - but I let her approach me,
not the other way around. Throughout a long and mostly contented life,
she never cared much for other humans, and went into hiding whenever
they were around. Even the good friend who kept an eye on things when I
was out of town rarely saw her - once the friend ransacked the place
looking for her because she thought she must have slipped out.


Okay, thanks. That gives me an idea of what to expect. Did you have
another cat when you got her? My hope is that Pickles might befriend
him and eventually convince him that I'm safe.

Joy


I had another cat when I adopted Betsy. In retrospect, that may have
been a mistake, because the resident cat was quite territorial, and
there were some battles. A vet advised me that I should let them settle
their dominance squabbles themselves, and they did.


Thanks. I'll do that unless it gets physical.

--
Joy Unlimited
Colorful Crocheted Critters
Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9

On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 10:40:44 -0700, Joy wrote:

About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy

I have domesticated several feral / near feral cats and the thing is
to let them do it on their time schedule!!! DO NOT try to rush or
force them to do anything or be friendly!! Eventually they will come
around. The longest one I worked with took me several month and turned
out to be the lovingest cat I ever had. She went to the bridge a
couple years ago and I miss her very much!!! If it is eating and using
litter box that is a good part of domesticating it even if she only
uses it at night. Good luck and bless you!!

http://lestark.webs.com/

On 8/3/2014 5:38 PM, Larry Stark wrote:
On Sat, 02 Aug 2014 10:40:44 -0700, Joy wrote:

About a week ago I adopted a cat from the shelter. He's a
four-month-old neutered male. He's also feral. I've been keeping him
isolated for the time being, but I'll be trying an introduction on Monday.

He spends all of his time hiding, changing his hiding place whenever I
find him. He is eating and using the litter box, but that's it.

Any suggestions for making him feel more comfortable when I stop
shutting him up?

Joy

I have domesticated several feral / near feral cats and the thing is
to let them do it on their time schedule!!! DO NOT try to rush or
force them to do anything or be friendly!! Eventually they will come
around. The longest one I worked with took me several month and turned
out to be the lovingest cat I ever had. She went to the bridge a
couple years ago and I miss her very much!!! If it is eating and using
litter box that is a good part of domesticating it even if she only
uses it at night. Good luck and bless you!!

http://lestark.webs.com/

Thank you. That's encouraging.

Joy

--
Joy Unlimited
Colorful Crocheted Critters
Photos at http://www.PictureTrail.com/joy9