Feral Domestic Cats

Feral Domesticated cats, most people say these animals are too wild to make good pets, I however, tend to disagree.  Since I was little I’ve always tamed these animals for pets rather than adopting from a shelter.  It might not have been easy, and it WAS time consuming but it ALWAYS paid off in the end.

Let’s go back to where the feral problem REALLY starts, Humans, we tend to not want to pay to have our cats fixed.  That’s the number one problem, breeding with other cats, however there’s another problem, some breeders and owners will simply abandon a sick animal on the side of the road rather than paying its medical expenses.  My uncle who works as a vet, was told by a woman who had given her Persian a painkiller because it was in heat, that rather than paying several hundred for treatment or to put the cat to sleep she would just ‘dump it on the side of the road somewhere’ and understandably my uncle took the cat from her paid for the medical care himself and gave her to his mom.

 There are more cases of abuse and neglect than anyone cares to admit, but ignoring the problem only makes it worse, How can we expect animals that were abused, neglected, abandoned and mistreated to trust us right off the bat? Are we REALLY that arrogant? 

With any kind of abuse case you’ve got to start by showing them you mean no harm and that you care about them, I’ve done this buy putting food in a specific place where the cats show up again and again for as much as a month or so, at first you won’t see the cat when it comes to feed but little by little they’ll learn to trust you and allow you to see them, be patient.  The next step is to stay a little closer to the food each day, don’t get any closer than 3 feet though, just let them get used to seeing you close up and knowing your scent, this step may take a while be warned, but eventually they will get curious and come to say hi, rubbing up against you.  This third step is important!! DO NOT MOVE QUICKLY the way a cats vision works they pick up movement very quickly, your fast movements could send you back to square one, so move slowly and hold out your fist for  the cat to sniff if the animal rubs up against it then he’s allowing you to touch him so move slowly and gently.  Give the cats up to a year to REALLY trust you before caging them and then take them to be fixed, get their shots and take care of them until they recover fully.       

There was one cat that I tamed when I was small, a black and white female my sister and I called pretty spots, she was a sweet heart who put up with the unintended abuse little kids give animals, and not only did she put up with more than she needed to, she also protected us from wasps and bees and any other stinging bugs that tried to come after us.  Years have passed since then and I’m not 6 anymore I’m 19 and out where I live we’ve got 6 strays that show up at odd times and 1 outdoor cat named Miss. Cocoa as well as the cat my aunt gave me when she moved Skeeter.   I’ve seen 6 cats that I tamed live and die as happy loving pets so please I’m begging you, try my method before you start trapping them!!