A few months ago I adopted three feral cats, all litter mates, that had been hanging around my brother’s house. They were about ten months old when he captured them and brought them into his garage. They had never been touched by humans.
One of them, Thor, is a born housecat. Before being captured, he would stand by the sliding glass door and stare inside longingly, and my brother was able to pet him almost instantly. He’s now the friendliest, happiest, most playful cat I’ve ever seen.
His brother and sister, however, are another story. Raul and Bella, who have the exact same life experiences as Thor – the three of them have never been separated – still jump back whenever I reach for them. Bella will eat food out of my hand, but Raul won’t even do that – he tries to smack it away with his paw.
These two are much more comfortable around me then they used to be, and no longer hide when I come into the room. They’re very fond of lounging around like slugs, but they also play a lot, and are well-fed and well-cared for. However, they still distrust me immensely. I know most feral cats take a long time to get used to humans. Will I ever be able to pet them? If so, how? Is food the answer?
It’s not particularly vexing, since Thor the attention whore more than makes up for their lack of sociability, but I can’t imagine why they aren’t intrigued when they see him writhing around and purring every time I just so much as touch him.
We have 3 cats, 1 of them we rescued out of a barn. Sebastian came to us when he was 8 to 10 weeks old and quite feral. We have had him for six years now and he is still a bit on the freaky side.
When we first brought him home, we put him in the bathroom with food, water, literbox and bedding. We would go in every hour and pet him, talk to him etc. After about 4 days he finally started meowing to come join the rest of the family. So you might try something like that. Just isolate them one at a time so they don’t get comfort from anyone but you.
Sebastian still hisses and growls on occassion at my husband and I, or smack or attack the other two cats. I refer to him as the “psychokitty” just because he is so weird. Sometimes he can be a real doll, other times he can be such a grouch. He is scared to death of people and goes to hide if you open the front door. I don’t think he will ever grow out of being a pita, but he is a beautiful cat.
I managed to tame two feral kittens someone had given me. They were brought to me in a box, and when I opened the box, they shot out and disappeared. I eventually found that they were living under our bathtub. (We lived in a trailer, they had gotten under the bathtub by squirming through a hole under the cabinets.) I would put food out every day, then sit in the doorway of the bathroom and watch them eat. Usually they kept up a steady growling as they ate to let me know they didn’t appreciate having an audience. I never moved towards them and rarely spoke, and after a while, they got to where they would walk around the bathroom in my presence, and a while after that, they got to where they would come check me out, and a while after that, they got to where they decided to move out from under the bathtub and be my snuggly little lap kitties. Although I must say they never really warmed up to anyone else.
I’m kind of hesitant about locking them up at this point, since they’re full-grown and have settled into comfortable ruts. Raul and Thor also aren’t shy about chatting with each other. I can only imagine what it’d be like if there was a door between them.
Thanks for the replies. Maybe I’ll just cover myself with ham.
As you’ve read, cats have a pretty wide range of personalities. The longer they are out on their own the more independent I would expect them to be. If you get to the point that they will approach you they may still rear back when you reach to pet them. Both my cats act like this unless they are in the loving mode. You may still be able to pet them by reaching from behind and giving them a back-rub. Don’t know why but both my cats will allow this over a head petting (hey, who doesn’t want a back rub).
Some universal attributes with cats is their desire to “mouse”. you can take a thin rod and drag it quickly back and forth in front of them to chase. Laser pointers are the best entertainment.
One suggestion might be to put the cats on the bed when you go to sleep; most animals like a warm body to sleep against, and it gives them a way to get used to being close to you without them feeling like you’re specifically “touching” them.