Has anyone ever tamed a truly feral cat and how did you do it?
Sunday, September 5th, 2010 at
3:52 am
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Filed under: Cat Behavior
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In my country (Indonesia), it is common for a family to adopt a cat from the streets rather from an animal shelter or by purchasing.
I have successfully raised two feral cats; one which I collected when his mother abandoned him (around 2 days old) from a traditional market and another from my mother’s friend’s house (around a month old).
The first one turned 3 this March and the other one will be around 1 and 3 quarters years old.
But I have no experience in taming a feral adult cat, since most feral cats (at least here) are naturally afraid of humans, unless they are particularly close to one.
But I have influenced some feral cats to be friendly with me, but I don’t think that would be considered as taming.
My husband had to be off work for a year back in the early 60s. He spent a lot of time sitting in the back yard by the fish pond. We had several feral cats.which hid in the shrubbery when he was around. He started setting out food for them near the shrubbery but stayed in the backyard as they gradually started slipping out to eat. He started to move the dish nearer to his sitting place, slowly letting the cats get used to having him there. Over a period of a couple of months the cats finally became used to him and would even come out to eat within easy each of my husband. Only one got to the point to actually let hubby pet her as she ate but not pick her up. The others ran as soon as he made a move. She was a short haired calico. I don’t know what happened to her. One day she stopped showing up for dinner and we never saw her again. There are so many perils out there for feral cats.
Of course, you just have to give them time and move very slowly. When they are eating sit nearby quietly and don’t make a sound. You could try putting treats on the ground in front of you. We had a stray for years that ran when we came out, now he sleeps on my couch! It just takes two things-time and patience. Good Luck.