Feral cats

Hi out there,

I am wondering if anyone has had experience with Feral cats.  Can they be tamed, how hard is it and should it be done.

Thank you

[heatherlynn22]

my family has a farm. my brother, his wife and their 2 yr old son live on the farm. people have a tendency to drop off their unwanted cats/kittens and they end up becoming feral. now...we have had issues with some of them attacking people. and others...if you leave them be they leave you be. the ones we have up there now (there's probably 10 cats and kittens running around up there now) are feral but don't bother anybody. we do feed them but they also do a lot of mousing. (which is why we don't mind them being there) as far as taming them....i thinks it's near impossible. i've never heard of a feral cat being tamed. if one has kittens and you play with the babies until they're weaned they won't be feral but the older cats....i think there is no hope for them. if you do call aspca or the local shelter to catch them they will only destroy the cats. we learned that when we called them which is why we've never had them removed from the property. what we did was we got a kitty tranquilizer from the vet and fed it to the cats one by one. taking them in, getting their shots and fixed. of course they had to remain in their cages and only taken out after they were put under. (these cats are vicious) once they were put back with their little "pack" they were fine and it's cut down on our kittens being born.

[PrettyKitty1]

Marilee,

If I may ask, what are you trying to do? Whatever it is, please be careful. Feral cats can potentially carry diseases, so be careful when you handle them. If you already have cats at home, bear in mind that it isn't uncommon for feral cats to carry the distemper virus which can be passed on to other cats. That's the least of your problems, if you know what I man.

Yes, SOME feral cats can be "tamed". They will keep a wild side to them, always!! But in terms of affection, yes, they can get to that point with the rescuers although some will rather keep their distance as they're not used to trusting people.

But, I will second heather. Most of these feral cats are vicious and extremely difficult to handle. They are not used to human care and can therefore bite and claw your skin, and this is why you need to be very careful when handling them.

In many cases where the feral cat becomes a house cat, the cat has chosen, not the human.

I know a lady who rescues feral cats to fix them. She has been doing it for years. I adopted my older cat from her rescue group. Up until this day she still goes to the hospital for vaccines and stuff because she always gets bitten by at least one feral....and the wounds do not look pretty!!!

[Savas]

Feral cats can usually be "tamed" by one human/family only. They tend not to adopt out easily for this reason. It takes lots of time and work (months, even).

Even then, some of them never take to humans. I've had some that after months of work the best we could get is a co-existent relationship.
(Feeding, petting, but NO picking up!)

If you decide to "go for it", I'll give you some pointers on how to establish and build on the relationship.

Just keep in mind the above people are right; you should go through the "oh so fun experience" of getting the cat checked by a vet for illnesses (...which will set back the development of your relationship by weeks, possibly. *sigh*. We do our best, eh?)

[marilee176]

Thank you.  Have you had this experience yourself?  I kind of thought that it would be a big setback if I tried to take her in for blood testing and I am a little afraid she might bite me.  I tried and almost thought I would keep her as a pet but it is so much work and maybe will never be able to hold her.  What kind of a life will that be for her or me.

I think I have to bring her back and set her free.  At least she won't have kittens.