trapping ferals

Good work! Another homeless animal brought to safety.

I am a little concerned that he is already mixing with your other cats,
but all will most likely be fine. I am assuming the vet combo-tested this
guy for possible FIV/FeLV.

I am so glad you took a chance and trapped him. Those abandoned pets can
fool you into assuming they are feral-born or otherwise "wild." And just
as often, those feral-born cats can quickly (or eventually) prove
themselves to be lapcats.

Keep us posted.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus (feral) Cats
www.campuscats.org

Unless the cat is really a kitten under 1 year old, I would suggest you leave it alone. Once cats
have grown up being feral/wild, you really can't domesticate them to anywhere near the way a normal
housecat is. Best thing to do is just check on the cat and make sure it's not injured or sick or
anything, and let him be.

You could trap him and have him/her spayed or neutered so he/she doesn't reproduce, but there's no
reason to remove him/her from his home.

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 23:41:30 GMT, Ed Christie wrote:



There is a feral cat at the local waste disposal site that I use.
I have been feeding it in the hope that I will be able to bring it
home. Progress has been slow but steady until another person decided
to feed it. He just dumps kibble on the ground 2lbs at a time.
Needless to say the cat is no longer hungry and my progress has halted
completely. I think that I may be able to trap the cat by cleaning up
the kible before the cat can get to it. Assuming that I can trap this
cat what is the best way to domesticate it. We currently have a
neutered male that is approching 2 years. I realize that no cat is
ever really domesticated but I would like to get it as close as
possible. As iI see it there are three problems. Training to use the
litter box, Having each cat tolerate each other and last geting the
new cat to at least tolerate my wife and I Any and all ideas and
suggestions will be carefully considered.

Ed Christie

To reply via email change junk1 to ed

Unless the cat is really a kitten under 1 year old, I would suggest you leave it alone. Once cats
have grown up being feral/wild, you really can't domesticate them to anywhere near the way a normal
housecat is. Best thing to do is just check on the cat and make sure it's not injured or sick or
anything, and let him be.

You could trap him and have him/her spayed or neutered so he/she doesn't reproduce, but there's no
reason to remove him/her from his home.

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 23:41:30 GMT, Ed Christie wrote:



There is a feral cat at the local waste disposal site that I use.
I have been feeding it in the hope that I will be able to bring it
home. Progress has been slow but steady until another person decided
to feed it. He just dumps kibble on the ground 2lbs at a time.
Needless to say the cat is no longer hungry and my progress has halted
completely. I think that I may be able to trap the cat by cleaning up
the kible before the cat can get to it. Assuming that I can trap this
cat what is the best way to domesticate it. We currently have a
neutered male that is approching 2 years. I realize that no cat is
ever really domesticated but I would like to get it as close as
possible. As iI see it there are three problems. Training to use the
litter box, Having each cat tolerate each other and last geting the
new cat to at least tolerate my wife and I Any and all ideas and
suggestions will be carefully considered.

Ed Christie

To reply via email change junk1 to ed

"Mr B" wrote in message
...
Unless the cat is really a kitten under 1 year old, I would suggest you
leave it alone. Once cats
have grown up being feral/wild, you really can't domesticate them to
anywhere near the way a normal
housecat is. ...
Hello,
This is not necessarily so. First, the cat may appear to be feral, but is
really a stray who has learned, out of necessity, how to live on its own.
Once back in a home environment, the cat could turn around.
I'm no expert on cats who are born and grow up homeless, but I can speak
from experience about Rosie, who was born and lived the first seven months
of her life wild and untouchable until I trapped her. It took some doing to
tame her, but now she is a sweet, loving purr machine. I will concede that
she was younger than your 1 year old cut-off taming age, but I think she
would have turned out the same even if I had not gotten her until her first
birthday.
I wish the original poster success in getting this cat off the street and
tamed. It sounds like progress already has been made.
Annie

"Mr B" wrote in message
...
Unless the cat is really a kitten under 1 year old, I would suggest you
leave it alone. Once cats
have grown up being feral/wild, you really can't domesticate them to
anywhere near the way a normal
housecat is. ...
Hello,
This is not necessarily so. First, the cat may appear to be feral, but is
really a stray who has learned, out of necessity, how to live on its own.
Once back in a home environment, the cat could turn around.
I'm no expert on cats who are born and grow up homeless, but I can speak
from experience about Rosie, who was born and lived the first seven months
of her life wild and untouchable until I trapped her. It took some doing to
tame her, but now she is a sweet, loving purr machine. I will concede that
she was younger than your 1 year old cut-off taming age, but I think she
would have turned out the same even if I had not gotten her until her first
birthday.
I wish the original poster success in getting this cat off the street and
tamed. It sounds like progress already has been made.
Annie