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Old October 2nd 04, 06:54 PM
formerly known as 'cat arranger'
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"Sharon Talbert" wrote in message
. washington.edu...
:
: Mom would be best contained in a small space, even a cage. She is in the
: closet now; you might just close the door to that room (the room, not the
: closet) and let her get comfortable there before she ventures out into the
: rest of the house/apartment.
:
: Be careful with your love-offerings. Her teeth or claws could do you
: serious harm. (Bite wounds are the more serious.) Your story reminds me
: of our old girl, Kaspurr, who hid behind the toilet and hissed the air
: blue for a solid month. I would offer her baby food on a plastic spoon
: and the spoon and contents would be sent flying. Kaspurr was a kitten at
: the time, by the way; I've had better luck with a few adults I've taken
: in. We have only once given up on a feral and released her (into our
: backyard, not back to the street where she had been run down). Wild
: Ginger, as far as I know, is still living in the neighborhood and comes to
: our feeder on a regular basis. Other adult ferals live with us in various
: stages of socialization, some coming along better than others. Only one
: still takes swings at me if I get too familiar. (In fact, I have a goodly
: bruise on the heel of my hand, thanks to his quick claws.)
:
: Good luck to you. Your little cat may take a long time to settle down.
: That's part of the joy in the socialization of a feral cat, watching them
: bloom. Be patient, be careful, and most of all be patient. I have a
: blurb in the Campus Cats website that might help you, "Taming the Tiger."
: Thank you for taking the cat in.
:
: Sharon Talbert
: Friends of Campus Cats
: www.campuscats.org

Get some leather gloves. It was a big step forward when our ferals
quit biting and just hissed and scratched. I didn't realize it at the time.
Letting them be near you, like over nights under the bed, seems to
help... like the more time they are around realizing that you aren't
actively hunting them, in their minds... And if you walk near them and
do something unrelated to them, ignore them sometimes, seems to
help too. Don't look them in the eyes, I would guess now thinking
back. If you have other cats that seem to get along with them, it helps
and the one big thing that I'm remembering now was that I would
pet another cat where the ferals could see, before trying to pet them,
and when you get to a point where you can pick them up, put them
near each other. It's a motherly thing to do.

Our two ferals are named Snobol and Killer. One of them bit me, but
I couldn't tell which one because they look alike. So one is Killer but
we don't know which. They are the friendliest cats I've ever had or
even known that belonged to other people. I'm not sure why. They
both will let people approach without flinching and like to get petted
by everyone. I could go on for 10 minutes.