Anyone have experience w/ taming a wild cat?

[JustMickey]

Hey, I posted about this situation a few months ago, and got a couple responses from people who had experience with this. Just looking for any advice ya'll have to offer!

We have a feral (or maybe stray, not quite sure) cat that's lived in our backyard since the beginning of summer. At first she was really scared of us but she's definitely gotten used to us over time. She still won't let us touch her, but she'll come right up to us if we call to her.

Anyway, it's getting colder and I can't stand the thought of her staying outside all winter. we've been talking about bringing her in, but don't really know how to go about it. We have four other cats, for one thing. Plus, she had kittens at the beginning of summer that we caught and gave to my sister, those kittens are still completely terrified of humans and tend to spend most of their days hiding under dressers, beds, etc. So, I don't want to bring her in if she's just going to be scared for the rest of her life.

My roommate has experience w/ cats and she says we should just catch her, bring her in, lock her in the bathroom for a while w/ food and a litter box, give her a bath once she calms down a bit to get rid of fleas, then just let her loose in the house. I'm thinking maybe we should keep her isolated from the other cats for a while longer, maybe a week?

So does anyone have any advice? I really would love to have her indoors, I've grown pretty attached to that silly little feral cat!

BTW, we've already taken her to get spayed and a rabies shot through a feral program in the area. So that's covered!

 

[kacaju]

I caught our stray with a fishing net!!
We moved into our home 13 years ago and she was a stray outside with kittens. I did what you did, caught the kittens and had her spayed and her rabies shot. Puzzle lived outside for years, she would snuggle up against our dog, she would come to me when I called her, I just was not allowed to touch her.

Our dog died and we got a puppy, of course the puppy chased her out of the yard, she moved to the front of our house. Then I noticed (as she would sit at the front door looking into the house) that her teeth were rotting. I caught her brought her to the Vet and they had to pull all of her teeth. she only had 6 left. We made her an inside cat after that. First I had her in a crate, then slowly I'd let her out. In time she came around and lived in my room. It was funny, she'd be on my bed and run under the dresser if she heard us come up the stairs. Then over time she would stay on the bed until I came into the room. Then she stopped running.
This took time, it was probably a good year or so, I really can't remember. I will tell you though it was so worth it. By the time we had to put her down she was the friendliest cat we had. Puzzle is still missed to this day. She lived on our bed with my DH after he had major surgery. He was depressed and I swear she helped him through his recovery by being there for him!! Good luck!

 

[kacaju]

I wanted to add, all of the above took place over a period of years, it was really slow going. Once she was in the house it was completely on her terms.

 

[JustMickey]

Aww I remember you telling me about Puzzle with my last post! Thank you for sharing. I guess I'm goign to have to be patient, and then even if she is terrified at first still give her plenty of time to get used to it.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Do you have a garage that you can leave open a little bit so she can get in there? Put some food and water and make her a bed with towels or blankets so you know she can be out of the weather and warm? (of course you may end up with other strays in there too!!) I wonder if even something like a dog house with blankets in it would work?

I have no experience with this but best of luck! My cats are on my bad list today, but I wouldn't trade them for the world!

 

[XTinabell]

Do you have a garage that you can leave open a little bit so she can get in there? Put some food and water and make her a bed with towels or blankets so you know she can be out of the weather and warm? (of course you may end up with other strays in there too!!) I wonder if even something like a dog house with blankets in it would work?

I have no experience with this but best of luck! My cats are on my bad list today, but I wouldn't trade them for the world!

I agree with this since she's a full grown cat already. Kittens adjust better than adult cats and I think this cat will be more comfortable being outside. If you can find her some shelter, a place to put her food I think she will like that.

If you really just want to bring her in I would suggest wrapping her in a blanket (cover up her sharp claws and the blanket will help her feel a little safer) and like a pp said put her in a bathroom (small space will again help her feel a little safer) and in time introduce her to the rest of the house.
If the cat has fleas don't waste time in giving her a bath. It will not be pleasant but best to just do it then wait for her to trust you because she's never going to like that bath. Cover up your arms with some towels so she doesn't carve your skin.

 

[puffkin]

My Aunt had a cat like this that she was never able to bring into the house. They had a shed that they put a small cat door in and put blankets and food/water in for her and the cat came and went as she pleased. The few times it got really really cold she lured the cat into the garage and locked her in there with a litterbox for a few days til it warmed up a bit. She was able to pet that cat a little bit, but never able to get it into the house. The cat loved her though and would follow my Aunt around outside and left them plenty of "presents" at their front door.

My understanding is that it is extremely hard to break a cat of being feral, and it even will pass down to kittens. That is why I will never bring in a cat to my house unless I know where it came from (and why I always go through foster groups). However, in a situation like yours I would make every possible accomodation to keep the cat safe and happy outside!!! Hopefully you can find something that works!

 

[JustMickey]

Thanks for all the advice! I think some of you are right, maybe she would do better outside than inside. I'm not sure exactly what we'd do, we have a shed (she hides under it when it's raining) and a garage but we never see her in front of the house, just in the backyard. We'll figure it out, I suppose TX winters aren't TOO bad lol!

 

[PatsMom]

If the cat is truly feral, it is a wild animal, not a domestic house pet. I used to work at a power plant on a sea marsh. It was populated with a lot of feral cats. No one I knew had any luck domesticating them. There was a local animal rescue group that would take them and care for them, but they basically remained wild. They also had to be segregated from other cats as most of them had various parasites that needed to be treated. If you try to take a feral cat into your house, I would suggest taking it to a vet first to be checked out.

Good luck. I know it must be heartbreaking to watch the poor little thing be out in the cold.

 

[Pakey]

We "adopted" 2 feral cats at one point when we lived in the country. After going through quite the process to catch them to get them spayed, we opted to put a "doggie" door on the backside of our garage and kept bedding and food/water in the garage for them. They were more than happy to hang out in the garage (we did not park in there) but as soon as we walked out there, they'd zip out the doggie door.

We were never able to catch them or hold them (except for what our family calls the "cat scratch incident" when they were spayed). There would be long periods of time when they were not around, food remained untouched. Then they'd show up again. Several years later when we sold that house to move into the city, the new owners were animal lovers and promised to keep providing for them.

 

[mamacatnv]

We have a feral kitty - Deck'Ster
We fed her outside for about 6 months, then we had a huge storm headed our way and we were worried. We opened the back door and placed the food inside the door (we used smelly canned food) it took us several tries but we finally got her in. She hid under our china hutch for 4 days. We placed a kitty box right there for the duration. When the storm was over we just left the door open and she bolted. From that point we no longer left food outside, she comes into the house to eat and she has a spot on the couch she likes.

That was 2 winters ago. She now comes in and out regularly. She does not allow us to touch her and runs if we get to close. She cuddles with Simon the Fat Cat, they are buddies.

A little over a year ago we trapped her in our bedroom and literally trapped her (took 2 days and tuna to get her into that trap). We took her to the Humane Society to get fixed, that is when we learned she was a she. The Humane Society has a free spay/neuter program for feral kitties. They also innoculated her against who knows what at the same time.

My Aunt had a deck cat for years and they had a little insulated box with a heating pad in the winter for the kitty

 

[JustMickey]

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. This cat is so funny, she comes meowing, running up to the door when she hears us start to come outside, but if we dare reach down to touch her she'll just glare at us. She has no problem just walking right into the house, but one time I closed the door behind her and she kind of freaked out about that. The only reason we don't let her come in more is b/c of our other cats. Sometimes I'll sit in front of the sliding glass door when she's out on the patio eating her food. She'll see me through the door and come right up, rubbing all over the door and basically snuggling up through the glass!

She's so silly.

 

[pixiewings71]

I caught our stray with a fishing net!!
We moved into our home 13 years ago and she was a stray outside with kittens. I did what you did, caught the kittens and had her spayed and her rabies shot. Puzzle lived outside for years, she would snuggle up against our dog, she would come to me when I called her, I just was not allowed to touch her.

Our dog died and we got a puppy, of course the puppy chased her out of the yard, she moved to the front of our house. Then I noticed (as she would sit at the front door looking into the house) that her teeth were rotting. I caught her brought her to the Vet and they had to pull all of her teeth. she only had 6 left. We made her an inside cat after that. First I had her in a crate, then slowly I'd let her out. In time she came around and lived in my room. It was funny, she'd be on my bed and run under the dresser if she heard us come up the stairs. Then over time she would stay on the bed until I came into the room. Then she stopped running.
This took time, it was probably a good year or so, I really can't remember. I will tell you though it was so worth it. By the time we had to put her down she was the friendliest cat we had. Puzzle is still missed to this day. She lived on our bed with my DH after he had major surgery. He was depressed and I swear she helped him through his recovery by being there for him!! Good luck!

Oh I remember Puzzle.....

My Aunt had a cat like this that she was never able to bring into the house. They had a shed that they put a small cat door in and put blankets and food/water in for her and the cat came and went as she pleased. The few times it got really really cold she lured the cat into the garage and locked her in there with a litterbox for a few days til it warmed up a bit. She was able to pet that cat a little bit, but never able to get it into the house. The cat loved her though and would follow my Aunt around outside and left them plenty of "presents" at their front door.

My understanding is that it is extremely hard to break a cat of being feral, and it even will pass down to kittens. That is why I will never bring in a cat to my house unless I know where it came from (and why I always go through foster groups). However, in a situation like yours I would make every possible accomodation to keep the cat safe and happy outside!!! Hopefully you can find something that works!

I had a cat like your Aunt. I called him Oreo because he was black and white like an Oreo. He would come to the backyard, would let me pet him, would eat from my hand but would not come inside or purr for me. His purr was broken. This was while we lived in an apt, well townhouse actually, so we had a small fenced backyard area. He would jump the fence to get in so I kept a small box out there with some old towels. He would sleep there in the winter when it got cold or froze and I would wash them every so often. He actually seemed to know when I did the laundry, almost every time I put clean towels out for him he'd show up in minutes. He never did come in, I never could pick him up, but he was still mine and I cried when he died.

I'm such a dork, I forgot to give you my advice. I would see about putting a cat door somewhere she can go and be warm and safe. In the garage would work, or in the shed out back might be better. Of course at first you'll need to leave the door open for her until she figured out the cat door thing.

 

[curious3069]

I've gotten friendly with several stray cats, but have never moved one inside. I do have several outdoor cats and if you can find one, look for an igloo shaped dog/cat house. They are fantastic for the winter and really trap heat....even on the coldest days I can stick my hand in there and it's amazing how warm it is in there after the cats have curled up together. I sometimes put a blanket in there, but have found that they tend to push it out more than anything. Just make sure whatever you put in there is dry and they should stay warm and toasty.

I've heard of people rigging up a plain light bulb in a dog house for warmth, but I've never actually tried that.

 

[Cheloconnell]

Within the past few months we brought our stray cat into our house.

We have two cats already - one female (Sasha) and one male (Bailey). We had noticed Obie about 2 years ago hanging around in our yard near the shed or on the rocks. He would just sit there, but never come close to the house. This summer it started with a bird's nest that was in one of my hanging plants. The parent birds were going nuts, so I went outside to see what was going on and Obie ran out from under the plants. I saw him watch me as I watched him. I had walked along the porch and noticed white cat fur on one of our wicker couches. It appeared Obie was sneaking up at night to sleep. I decided to put some cat food out by the couch on the front porch and he started religiously coming every night. He would sit on the couch or table and stare into the window at us eating. I would try to open the door and he would just run away. As time went on he grew more comfortable with our comings and goings. He then transferred himself to the back porch, sleeping on the chairs or staring in through the sliding door.

One night, my husband and I decided to try and leave the slider open with some food inside for him. We managed to have him come inside and close the door behind him. This took a few times before he was willing to explore the house. He made himself comfortable one night on a blanket under our table. We had to almost push him out. All this time, our male cat (who looks exactly like the stray except for some facial coloring) followed him around hissing. Obie would sit there and stare at him. Some bad storms came into the area and we decided we could not bare to see him outside in the pouring rain and wind. It started with an overnight sleep under our bed which turned into longer periods over several days. We had hoped he was at least using the litter box. Well, we figured out that he was when my husband found blood and worms in the litter box - oh no We brought Obie to the vet and had him dewormed and got him his rabies shot. We also found out he had been fixed, so he was obviously a lost former house cat. We looked and looked for posters of Obie to no avail. He is now part of our family. It took a while, but he lets us pet him, just not pick him up. He sleeps on our bed during the day and has his favorite spots around the house. It is so funny - he waits for us to eat his dinner. We had separated his food bowl from the other cats in the kitchen next to the dinner table. He patiently waits in the kitchen for us to put the food on the table and then sits down to eat himself. He does this almost every meal.

The other cats have gotten used to him for the most part. The female, Sasha just tries to avoid him and they sometimes play around running through the house. The male, Bailey will still meow, hiss or bat at him on occasion, but he definitely has gotten better. They even sometimes sleep on the same bed.

I know this post is long, but I hope my story helps you make a decision. I wouldn't change anything except maybe bringing him to the vet sooner. Good luck

 

[maelstrom]

We used to have a feral cat at our lumber yard. As a kitten and young cat, she mostly stayed outdoors and was a real hassle to wrangle up when it was time to take her to the vet. As she got older, she mellowed, and wanted to come inside a lot more. By the end, we could pick her up and snuggle her without a fight (when she was younger, you'd come out of that covered in scratches). Her "taming" came from old age. And our Kitten (that was her name) lived until the ripe old age of 20.

 

[Calliaz]

I would make sure the stray was disease free before exposing to my current cat population. You can rent cat traps at local feed stores (at least around here). I have found that the easiest way to get them into the vet for spay/neuter and testing. After that, it's mostly about getting acclimated. Some feral cats can never be tamed. It has a lot to do with the mother, actually.

http://muttcats.com/articles/taming_ferals.htm#adults

 

[mackeysmom]

Just about a year ago, I trapped a kitten I'd been feeding for months.

According to the vet, Blackie was five months old at the time. They told me I'd have a 50/50 chance of "domesticating" him due to his age. He was terrified of human contact - very aggressive, a biter (I have the scars, the tetanus shot and the ER visit as proof ).

After doing a ton of Internet research - I wound up cage training him. It took almost three months before I was able to introduce him (slowly) to the whole house (and my 13 year old cat Mackey).

Fast-forward to today, and I can happily say that Blackie is about 95% domesticated. He is still terrified of strangers (hides under the bed), won't let me pick him up (he gets nervous and urinates on himself) - but his is the sweetest, most loving little kitty there is.

Good luck and feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

-- Laura

 

[JustMickey]

Wow there was a lot of great advice here! Thanks everyone!

I think we might try to get her inside. If she doesn't like it I guess we can just let her go back out again. I feel confident that she will get used to us. When we first found her in the backyard several months ago, we trapped her and kept her in a crate in our laundry room until we could get her spayed and vaccinated. She was absolutely hysterical the first day or two, we didn't dare go near the crate without gloves. After a few days though she would even let us touch her. Of course she wasn't happy about it but I think she knew we weren't going to hurt her. Now that she's very familiar with us, I just have a feeling that eventually she'll warm up to us and become a loveable little cat.

I uploaded this video of her http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE1_MZXF9PM
Sorry for the poor quality, I was shooting it on my cell phone. But that's pretty much what she does any time she sees us out back! She's so adorable!

I really enjoyed reading about all of your kitty stories. If anyone has more, keep 'em coming!

 

[XTinabell]

Awwe she looks like a really sweet cat.