Feral cat still afraid of my hands...

Hey there,

About 5 months ago I trapped a black, female kitty approximately two
years old. She was quite feral. I had been feeding her for many months
near my office and she never let me pet her. But every day she was
waiting for me to show up with food. Before she ate the food she'd make
sure I was at least 5 feet away. We started having trouble with kids in
the area mistreating animals so I decided to take her in and make her my
third house cat. "Princess" did not want my vets to mess with her, so
they had to gas the little gal just to give her a check up. Then they
spayed her. My vets think she was born in the wild because there are a
lot of feral cats in this particular area.

Anyway, she's been in my guest bedroom for the past several months. I
have a screen door that separates her from my other two cats. At first
"Princess" would just hunker down and try desperately not to move. She
was scared to death. I felt horrible for her. But over time she
loosened up a little. The good news is that she instinctively knew how
to use a litter box And now she follows me all over the room - as if
she's interested in everything I'm doing. And she finally learned to
play with toys - she especially likes it when I move a feather on a
string. And she jumps up on the bed with me now and lays down next to
me. Pretty cool. But I still can not touch her. LOL. As long as my
hand is under the covers, I can scratch her though. She loves getting
petted that way - she immediately starts purring and kneading her
claws. I can even pet her with my bare hand as long as her back is
turned to me and she doesn't see my hand. If she sees my hand, she will
try to claw it or bite it. And she bites hard - she really perceives my
hands as major threats. It's the strangest thing. She is blind in one
eye and the vet saw signs that she suffered a trauma to it. So perhaps
a human hand once hurt her or something. Or perhaps it's just an
instinct to be afraid of human hands. Anyway, I feel like I've made so
much progress with this little gal over the last few months, but I just
can't seem to get her to not want to hurt my hands. I've tried wearing
gloves to protect my hands - but that scared her even worse. I've tried
putting baby food on my finger but she refuses to come near my bare
hand, even if it has food on it. I love that she gets on the bed next
to me every night and I get a thrill from having her purr so much when I
pet her through the covers - but it's hard for me to always remember not
to let her see my hands. Any ideas??

Thanks,
Brad

Brad Stone wrote:

Hey there,

About 5 months ago I trapped a black, female kitty approximately two
years old. She was quite feral. I had been feeding her for many months
near my office and she never let me pet her. But every day she was
waiting for me to show up with food. Before she ate the food she'd make
sure I was at least 5 feet away. We started having trouble with kids in
the area mistreating animals so I decided to take her in and make her my
third house cat. "Princess" did not want my vets to mess with her, so
they had to gas the little gal just to give her a check up. Then they
spayed her. My vets think she was born in the wild because there are a
lot of feral cats in this particular area.

Anyway, she's been in my guest bedroom for the past several months. I
have a screen door that separates her from my other two cats. At first
"Princess" would just hunker down and try desperately not to move. She
was scared to death. I felt horrible for her. But over time she
loosened up a little. The good news is that she instinctively knew how
to use a litter box And now she follows me all over the room - as if
she's interested in everything I'm doing. And she finally learned to
play with toys - she especially likes it when I move a feather on a
string. And she jumps up on the bed with me now and lays down next to
me. Pretty cool. But I still can not touch her. LOL. As long as my
hand is under the covers, I can scratch her though. She loves getting
petted that way - she immediately starts purring and kneading her
claws. I can even pet her with my bare hand as long as her back is
turned to me and she doesn't see my hand. If she sees my hand, she will
try to claw it or bite it. And she bites hard - she really perceives my
hands as major threats. It's the strangest thing. She is blind in one
eye and the vet saw signs that she suffered a trauma to it. So perhaps
a human hand once hurt her or something. Or perhaps it's just an
instinct to be afraid of human hands. Anyway, I feel like I've made so
much progress with this little gal over the last few months, but I just
can't seem to get her to not want to hurt my hands. I've tried wearing
gloves to protect my hands - but that scared her even worse. I've tried
putting baby food on my finger but she refuses to come near my bare
hand, even if it has food on it. I love that she gets on the bed next
to me every night and I get a thrill from having her purr so much when I
pet her through the covers - but it's hard for me to always remember not
to let her see my hands. Any ideas??

Patience. Patience. You've made wonderful progress, but some things
take a long time. Seriously! "Several months" can be the blink of an
eye in terms of socialization time for a real feral. This is very
difficult for her, and her need to move slow needs to be respected.

In the meantime, I encourage you to maximize your pleasure in the
progress that has been made. You're doing great!

Priscilla

"Brad Stone" wrote in message
...
Hey there,

About 5 months ago I trapped a black, female kitty approximately two
years old. She was quite feral. I had been feeding her for many months
near my office and she never let me pet her. But every day she was
waiting for me to show up with food. Before she ate the food she'd make
sure I was at least 5 feet away. We started having trouble with kids in
the area mistreating animals so I decided to take her in and make her my
third house cat. "Princess" did not want my vets to mess with her, so
they had to gas the little gal just to give her a check up. Then they
spayed her. My vets think she was born in the wild because there are a
lot of feral cats in this particular area.

snip

You are making great progress! Is she still in the separate room? You
might want to start letting her out with the other cats. Feral cats usually
feel much more comfortable when they are with others. One foster I had
would only let me pet her if I was petting one of the other cats at the same
time. Princess sounds a lot like my Antonio. I also can't pet him with a
front-on approach, only from the side or the back. She may never fully
accept petting, but just be patient.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

"Priscilla H. Ballou" wrote in
:

Patience. Patience. You've made wonderful progress, but some things
take a long time. Seriously! "Several months" can be the blink of an
eye in terms of socialization time for a real feral. This is very
difficult for her, and her need to move slow needs to be respected.


I recommend the excellent article "CONGRATULATIONS!
YOU’RE THE PROUD OWNER OF A (FORMERLY) FERAL CAT –
AND SHE’S HIDING UNDER THE BED" which is found he

http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/Congratulations.pdf

--Catherine
& Rosalie the calicohead

KellyH wrote:


You are making great progress! Is she still in the separate room? You
might want to start letting her out with the other cats. Feral cats usually
feel much more comfortable when they are with others.

Hi Kelly,

Yeah, "Princess" is still in my guest bedroom - she also has access to the
guest bathroom for a little more space. Sometimes I keep my other two cats in
the front of the house and let Princess have the entire back half of my house
(i.e. the guest bedroom/bathroom and my master bedroom/bathroom). But usually
she is in the guest bedroom/bathroom.

Once a day or so I let my 14 year old male cat, Tiger, in the room with
Princess. Princess adores him! When she sees him on the other side of the
screen door she runs to the door and starts rubbing her entire body across the
screen. Pretty cute. "Tiger" is a gentle old soul, but he doesn't know quite
what to make of Princess. So when he's in the room with her, he sometimes
hisses at her to get some space from her. When that happens, she normally gives
him space by laying down and writhing around a bit on the floor. LOL. So Tiger
doesn't exactly want intimate contact with Princess, but the two generally get
along okay.

I'm mostly worried about my 10 year old female "Linda". She is very
territorial and has been known to get so upset at just seeing another cat
through my living room window that she sprays the window sill - at which time
she even becomes temporarily hostile toward her dear old friend Tiger. Usually
this projected anger for Tiger only lasts a couple of hours and then they are
back to grooming eachother. Linda tries to avoid even looking at the new feral
kitty (Princess) through the screen door but when she does she usually hisses at
Princess. Hmmm. But I guess it's time that the two meet face to face - with
supervision of course. I was hoping that Princess would let me pet her before I
try letting Linda and her meet, but it looks like it may be awhile before I can
pet Princess, so I should probably go ahead and see how she and Linda do face to
face. I'm a little afraid that Princess' feral insticts will kick in if Linda
(my housecat) picks a fight with her and that Princess will end up injuring
Linda. I can't even pet Princess, much less pick her up, so breaking up a fight
may be tough. But I'll be ready to grab Linda if things get ugly!

Thanks!
Brad

I, too, am impressed at the progress you've made with this adult feral.

We've had (have) our share of "retired" ferals, adults who have no good
place to be. Only one absolutely wanted to have nothing to do with us,
and we finally oriented her to our backyard and continue to support her
from there.

Patience is the only trick. And in the case of an adult, time. You might
try offering Princess babyfood (hold the onions) on a long-handled plastic
spoon, to help her begin to associate the Dreaded Hand as a bringer of
good, not evil.

Allowing her more time with your other cats may also help. Sometimes what
works even better is solitude, so you are the only company she has. You
are doing so well on you own, however, you don't really need my advice. I
should be consulting you!

Good luck with Princess, and keep us posted.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats
Seattle

"Brad Stone" wrote in message
...
Once a day or so I let my 14 year old male cat, Tiger, in the room with
Princess. Princess adores him!

This is good! Keep up the interactions with Tiger.

I'm mostly worried about my 10 year old female "Linda". She is very
territorial and has been known to get so upset at just seeing another cat
snip
I'm a little afraid that Princess' feral insticts will kick in if Linda
(my housecat) picks a fight with her and that Princess will end up
injuring
Linda.

In light of this, I would give it a bit before introducing Linda and
Princess. You can try some scent exchanges, like taking a blanket that
Princess sleeps on and putting it in Linda's favorite napping spot and vice
versa. You may want to try some Feliway diffusers around the house before
Princess's "release". What will probably happen, if Linda hisses and
attacks Princess, is that Princess will run off and hide. The
semi-ferals/ferals I've had normally are the ones to back down and seem
confused at the welcome they were given. You also might want to put Tiger
in a room for the first Linda/Princess intro so he doesn't get caught in the
crossfire.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

in article , Brad Stone at
wrote on 12/10/04 2:14 PM:

KellyH wrote:


You are making great progress! Is she still in the separate room? You
might want to start letting her out with the other cats. Feral cats usually
feel much more comfortable when they are with others.

Hi Kelly,

Yeah, "Princess" is still in my guest bedroom - she also has access to the
guest bathroom for a little more space. Sometimes I keep my other two cats in
the front of the house and let Princess have the entire back half of my house
(i.e. the guest bedroom/bathroom and my master bedroom/bathroom). But usually
she is in the guest bedroom/bathroom.

Once a day or so I let my 14 year old male cat, Tiger, in the room with
Princess. Princess adores him! When she sees him on the other side of the
screen door she runs to the door and starts rubbing her entire body across the
screen. Pretty cute. "Tiger" is a gentle old soul, but he doesn't know quite
what to make of Princess. So when he's in the room with her, he sometimes
hisses at her to get some space from her. When that happens, she normally
gives
him space by laying down and writhing around a bit on the floor. LOL. So
Tiger
doesn't exactly want intimate contact with Princess, but the two generally get
along okay.

I'm mostly worried about my 10 year old female "Linda". She is very
territorial and has been known to get so upset at just seeing another cat
through my living room window that she sprays the window sill - at which time
she even becomes temporarily hostile toward her dear old friend Tiger.
Usually
this projected anger for Tiger only lasts a couple of hours and then they are
back to grooming eachother. Linda tries to avoid even looking at the new
feral
kitty (Princess) through the screen door but when she does she usually hisses
at
Princess. Hmmm. But I guess it's time that the two meet face to face - with
supervision of course. I was hoping that Princess would let me pet her before
I
try letting Linda and her meet, but it looks like it may be awhile before I
can
pet Princess, so I should probably go ahead and see how she and Linda do face
to
face. I'm a little afraid that Princess' feral insticts will kick in if Linda
(my housecat) picks a fight with her and that Princess will end up injuring
Linda. I can't even pet Princess, much less pick her up, so breaking up a
fight
may be tough. But I'll be ready to grab Linda if things get ugly!

Thanks!
Brad


You might consider a couple of Feliway diffusers. THey are available at
petstores and vets. It seems to help in these situations.