try force-fondling when you first get ferals in--while still caged/crated/in confined area, get out your welding or teflon or elkskin gloves, and let them hiss and growl and bite to their little hearts' content, petting those special places (base of tail, behind the ears, etc) all the while.... after a bit, you'll see that while they may keep on hissing, they start to bend into the pets, and arch up to meet your hand--they realize how GOOD being petted feels, even when they don't want to admit it. while most will never become lap cats, a surprising number will ultimately turn into velcro kitties (mostly males, it seems, and girls who never had kittens to protect--ferals who were moms seem to be the least likely to ever come around totally). at the sanctuary, we HAD to be able to handle the ferals when they needed medicating, so this was how we got them to at least tolerate our touch. and it IS such an incredible gift when a feral learns to trust you!
an interesting thing we saw often, even with the most recalcitrantly feral, was that when they were sick and needed fluids/meds, they would allow it as if they realized that they needed help, and that we would NOT hurt them.... of course, they returned to ferality once the course of treatment was done--i mean, one does have to maintain the balance of power, after all.... -- MaryChristine AIM / YAHOO: TenHouseCats MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ICQ: 289856892
