Anyone have experience w/ taming a wild cat?

[Imzadi]

She does look really sweet. She obviously likes companionship even if she's feral & scared. Maybe you can somehow train her that she can go in and out as she pleases. I don't know if you can really take out the wildness completely from a kitty that has been feral for that long.

Make sure you take her in again for blood testing, to make sure she hasn't caught feline leukemia or other diseases since the last time you took her to the vet. It's those easily transmitable diseases that can take ALL your cats down.

 

[JustMickey]

Make sure you take her in again for blood testing, to make sure she hasn't caught feline leukemia or other diseases since the last time you took her to the vet. It's those easily transmitable diseases that can take ALL your cats down.

Thank you for the advice, I hadn't thought about that.

 

[JustMickey]

Well, we finally took the plunge and brought her inside. It's been so cold here the past week and I couldn't stand seeing her outside. So on Friday night, we let her in through the laundry room door, then just shut it behind her. We took her to the vet on Saturday and we're just waiting to hear back about her bloodwork before we let her roam around the rest of the house.

I think she will adjust very quickly. She's still relatively scared of us, but I think she knows that we aren't hurting her. She's even rubbed up against our legs a few times, she's never come that close to us (willingly) before! I'm so happy to have her inside, I'm so attached to her now! I hope she'll get even more used to us in the coming weeks.

 

[DMRick]

I've never had a feral rub up against my leg until I had them for a much longer time, so I hope you are dealing with a scared cat that hasn't been around humans much. A lot easier to get to trust you than a feral. One thing I suggest, if she lets you, is as much human contact as possible. Pick her up every time you pass her, cuddle her once she lets you. You'll be building some trust.

Same with the kittens (I hope they were able to go through a rescue group and them fixed). We find if we catch them before 10 or so weeks, it's a piece of cake. Even a little older is doable, but after that, it takes a lot of holding. We use a room that doesn' thave any place to hide in it, other than their condo, so I can easily get them and hold them.

Good luck with your new kitten, and thanks for taking this on. It's so nice of you!

Well, we finally took the plunge and brought her inside. It's been so cold here the past week and I couldn't stand seeing her outside. So on Friday night, we let her in through the laundry room door, then just shut it behind her. We took her to the vet on Saturday and we're just waiting to hear back about her bloodwork before we let her roam around the rest of the house.

I think she will adjust very quickly. She's still relatively scared of us, but I think she knows that we aren't hurting her. She's even rubbed up against our legs a few times, she's never come that close to us (willingly) before! I'm so happy to have her inside, I'm so attached to her now! I hope she'll get even more used to us in the coming weeks.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

anytime you get a new animal it can take a while for them to get used to the surroundings, reguarding your sister and the kittens.

i've got 3 cats and 2 of them i got as kittens. one boy, and one girl and while the boy was fine and dandy with people and the house, the girl hid upstairs under the bed for a few months. we'd only occationally see her if she came down to eat or use the litter box. but after a while she got used to the house and to us and she came down.

then we got another cat when ours turned a year old, and luckily she was the same age, and it took her even longer to get used to the house and to us. it took her about 6 months to get used to the house and to us, and about 2-3 weeks to get used to the other two cats(and even then our boy cat was fine and dandy with her being here, he was just happy to have someone else to play with. our other girl cat took a bit longer to get used to her).


a friend of mine has 2 indoor cats and she had another one hanging around her backyard over the summer and she told me she tried to bring him in, but i guess he was very territorial and didn't like being inside. so she said that she's going to get a dog house to put on her porch and put in some newspapers and fleece blankets and food and water inside of it so if he gets cold, he can sleep in there and get food and things.

i know it's hard to see animals out in the cold like that, but sometimes they just don't want to come inside. they're used to being outside. and i'm a HUGE animal lover but if the animal doesn't want to come inside, i won't force it.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

Well, we finally took the plunge and brought her inside. It's been so cold here the past week and I couldn't stand seeing her outside. So on Friday night, we let her in through the laundry room door, then just shut it behind her. We took her to the vet on Saturday and we're just waiting to hear back about her bloodwork before we let her roam around the rest of the house.

I think she will adjust very quickly. She's still relatively scared of us, but I think she knows that we aren't hurting her. She's even rubbed up against our legs a few times, she's never come that close to us (willingly) before! I'm so happy to have her inside, I'm so attached to her now! I hope she'll get even more used to us in the coming weeks.

awww i wish i would have read this before i post lol. but i'm glad she's doing well!!

give her a few months, she'll probably be used to you guys after then. even the cat we got back in May is still a little hesitant around us. she's never jumped up on our laps or anything, but she comes around a lot more often and will sleep in the same room we're in now.

 

[kacaju]

awww.. she is so sweet!! DH always called our house Puzzle's *retirement home* hopefully your kitty will learn to love retirement as much as Puzzle did!!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We too have an outdoor cat that has adopted us and here is what we have done. This is a pretty siamese and I have tryed to get him to come inside but when we carry him in he just cries and paces by the door.

We decided to built a house for him. We took a good size rubbermaid box and another one that was slightly smaller in size. We took the smaller one and wrapped double bubble insulation - which we got at Home Depot-around the outside of the smaller box. Then placed that box inside the bigger box. We cut a hole in the end of it for the cat to come and go.

I took some left over carpet padding and cut it to fit the bottom of the box. Before putting it in the box I put it inside a waterproof pillow protector case and then in a flannel pillow case. We looked online for a heating pad and found an outdoor heating pad. This pad only turns on when the cat lays/on it. I put a piece of fleece fabric I got at JoAnn on the clearance table in the box and laid it in a circle on top of the heating pad so the cat could snuggle.
When we first introduced this to "Java" we left the lid off the box. Then a few days later we put Java in the box and put the lid on it. It took him about a day to warm up to the box with the lid.

We got the idea by googling for an outdoor cat house.

 

[JustMickey]

I've never had a feral rub up against my leg until I had them for a much longer time, so I hope you are dealing with a scared cat that hasn't been around humans much. A lot easier to get to trust you than a feral. One thing I suggest, if she lets you, is as much human contact as possible. Pick her up every time you pass her, cuddle her once she lets you. You'll be building some trust.

We've definitely been trying to do that. She's in a crate right now, but we go in several times a day and wrap her up in a towel and hold her. As soon as she gets wrapped up, she starts purring like a motor boat. She still gets scared when we put our hands toward her to pet her, but hopefully she'll get used to being pet soon.

anytime you get a new animal it can take a while for them to get used to the surroundings, reguarding your sister and the kittens.

Yeah, I hope they do eventually get comfortable. My sister's had them since June, and yet they still run and hide whenever they see anyone coming.

give her a few months, she'll probably be used to you guys after then. even the cat we got back in May is still a little hesitant around us. she's never jumped up on our laps or anything, but she comes around a lot more often and will sleep in the same room we're in now.

Yesterday I put her down in the laundry room to let her walk around and stretch her legs. After a few minutes she headed back to her crate, then stopped short and came over to me, rubbing all around my legs. I hope that means that she is indeed getting adjusted!

awww.. she is so sweet!! DH always called our house Puzzle's *retirement home* hopefully your kitty will learn to love retirement as much as Puzzle did!!

REally, your story about Puzzle is my inspiration with our cat. I had never thought you could really bring a feral cat inside, but when you told me about that, I started giving more thought to it. Thanks!

We too have an outdoor cat that has adopted us and here is what we have done. This is a pretty siamese and I have tryed to get him to come inside but when we carry him in he just cries and paces by the door.

Wow, what a great idea! good for you for going to all that trouble just to keep him warm outside! If it turns out that our Mama cat absolutely hates being inside, we'll have to let her back out and definitely try to make her a shelter like this.



Thanks everyone for all the stories and advice!

 

[JustMickey]

Hey, that was my 500th post! I'm a DIS vet now

 

[pigletgirl]

Oh what a sweet kitty!

I hope she continues to adjust well in her new environment.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Hey, that was my 500th post! I'm a DIS vet now

They need to rename it. Veteran just makes us sound so old.

 

[DMRick]

We've definitely been trying to do that. She's in a crate right now, but we go in several times a day and wrap her up in a towel and hold her. As soon as she gets wrapped up, she starts purring like a motor boat. She still gets scared when we put our hands toward her to pet her, but hopefully she'll get used to being pet soon.

Unfortunately cats purr when they are scared/hurt too. I did start with ferals with a towel, but soon learned that being wrapped was frigtening. However, if that's the only way you can hold her, you have no choice. Holding is good. We always seemed to find our ferals in the same position in the morning. We put a towel over the cage at night, and put toys in with them. By morning, the ferals were sitting on the towel and the toys (pulled it through the cage). They were 'gathering'. If they didn't gather, it was usually just a scared cat, and not a feral. A crate is good..it enables you to pick her up, without dragging her out from under a bed.

Be sure those kittens are handled over and over..you just have so much time to get them to become domesticated easily. This may be helpful for the kittens:
http://www.cathobbyist.com/articles/Ferals2.html

Keep up the good work.

 

[kacaju]

REally, your story about Puzzle is my inspiration with our cat. I had never thought you could really bring a feral cat inside, but when you told me about that, I started giving more thought to it. Thanks!

How nice!! Here is a picture of Puzzle, so you can put a face to her name!!

 

[JustMickey]

Unfortunately cats purr when they are scared/hurt too.

Hmm, I didn't know that. HOpefully she's not too scared.

How nice!! Here is a picture of Puzzle, so you can put a face to her name!!

How adorable! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Muushka]

OP, I just clicked on this thread, probably too late, sounds like you and your kitty are doing great!

My story: I had a feral cat on my back deck for several years. I thought she belonged to someone until one day I decided to see if she was hungry. Yup, she was hungry. So I put the food down and left and she eventually ate.

Then about a week later, I stayed while she ate. Then I moved the bowl a little closer. About a month after that I had the bowl at my feet and lightly rubbed her head while she ate. Then one day I just picked her up. I have a lot of experience with cats (know when to hold them, know when to fold them!) and I held her tight until she relaxed and she seemed to trust me. Then she ran away!

Repeated that for about a month.

Winter was approaching and I wanted to get her in. The only saving grace is that we have a pet door, so she always knew she could escape, otherwise, no way she would come in.

Fast forward to today, 5 years later. She is laying on the couch next to me. And she will be in the house all night during the winter.

Honestly, she is the best cat I have ever had. She seems to understand that she missed out on a lot of affection for many years so she is making up for it now. And she goes outside to go to the bathroom! As long as that pet door is there, she is fine.

My vet explained why her ear tip is gone. When they spay ferals they do that so they can tell by looking at them that it is already done (so they don't have to examine them).
Yup, she is a true feral, but mostly a house cat now.

Good luck with your beautiful kitty!

 

[DMRick]

I love the name, and I plan on stealing it for my next calico Puzzle looking foster kitten

How nice!! Here is a picture of Puzzle, so you can put a face to her name!!

 

[kacaju]

Thanks!! My now 16 year old DD was a two year old when she named her!!

 

[JustMickey]

I thought I would update with how my cat's doing, one week after being locked inside.

She's doing terrific! I am just amazed at how she's adjusting. I brought her up to the bedroom on Tuesday night, making sure to block any clever hiding spaces. Since then, she has become just the sweetest little kitty you could imagine. She has her "spot" in the windowsill, but even when I take her out, she'll hang out with me and just soak up all the attention. She stayed curled up next to me as I was sleeping the other day. She absolutely LOVES being pet now.

I am just floored at how painless this process was!! I can't believe that just one week ago, she was terrified of us coming within a few feet of her. Here's a picture of her (I've never seen a cat so fluffy!)

Thank you EVERYONE for your advice!

 

[Imzadi]

Awww! Congratulations!

She's probably had enough of being on her own. Once she really realized she could relax & trust all of you, she probably realized she can be living the high life that your other indoor kitties are.

I am so glad this worked out for all of you.