MaryL wrote in rec.pets.cats.anecdotes:

On 10/19/2016 11:23 AM, jmcquown wrote:
On 10/19/2016 2:14 AM, MaryL wrote:
On 10/18/2016 10:31 AM, jmcquown wrote:
Feral cats are apparently very resourceful little creatures!

DIFF (Dataw Island Feline Foundation) volunteers made sure
there was plenty of food and water at the feeding stations
before the evacuation order due to Hurricane Matthew locked
down the island.

I inquired last night on the Dataw Net, any word on the ferals?

All the cats have been accounted for except one shy little guy
named Mini-Peanut. By all accounts he never wanted to feed
with the other cats, preferring to eat by the tennis courts.
Some county [shelter] workers tried to check on him before the
resident volunteers came back.
I'm told they couldn't get to the tennis courts due to storm
debris.
Yeah, it's a big mess out there, folks.

It could be he Mini-Peanut is still being his usual reticent
self and simply hasn't been spotted yet. I hope!

Purrs that Mini-Peanut is okay.

Jill

Great news! Thanks for letting us know. Sending purrs for
Mini-Peanut.

MaryL

It is good news! 43 feral cats. They've all had their ears
notched so they can be identified as having been trapped,
neutered/released.

Buffy has a notched ear. She was one of the ferals until her former
owner scooped her up as a kitten. Who says you can't turn a feral
into a completely spoiled love bug? Introduce them to a life of
luxury when they're young, of course you can.

snip

Jill

My very first cat, many years ago, was feral. He was about 8 months
old when I adopted him. My neighbor was planning to trap the cats
that were running loose in that area and take them to a shelter. I
was leaving for my first semester in graduate school and would be
about 1100 miles from home. I wanted a cat for companionship, and
the neighbor offered to trap one of the cats for me. I was told
later that 8 months was too old to become a companion cat. Well,
that is wrong! It took a lot of time and work, but he became one of
the most loving cats I have ever seen. Within about 2 years, we were
bonded and he was a lovebug. He lived to be 20 years old, and those
were 20 years with a most remarkable cat. I trained him to walk on a
harness and leash so he could still go outdoors--although it was more
like he took me for a walk than me taking him for a walk.

MaryL

Correct MaryL. While the chances of success go down with age of the
cat, they probably have no end date. Just less likely to adapt.

The level of skill of the person is critical. I took in my first foster
cats before graduating from HS. I worked my way up to the more
difficult cats and semi-ferals (raised as kittens by humans but left
for a 6mo or more to make it on their own) then to true feral kittens
and so on.

I do not suggest attempting a true feral age 8+ without a LOT of
background experience. By then, I had close to 30 years worth and it
was TOUGH, yet easy (with experience) to make that first attachment of
trust as I knew to let her guide the timeline, not me. It was more us
letting her be until she wanted to do something. Frankly, most that age
can not become house cats. Daisy-chan was the 1 in a million who could.
She has issues still, but with experience, they can be workable in a
home.



--