The Royal Princess Kitty Katt was feral and lived with my parents as a house
cat for about 10 years. Then she had to live with me. She had known me all
the time she lived with my parents. She moved to a home with natural gas
forced air he/ac from one with electric everything. From the country to the
city where the mailman came to the door every day. So many different sights
and sounds and such trauma. I slept on the floor in the room she hid in for
about 3 months until she decided to come out. Feliway helped a lot and I
went thru several bottles. I put it on myself and everywhere she was. I
made sure she knew who was bringing her food etc. I had an animal
communicator talk to her several times too. The objective was to make me
smaller to her--we are giants you know. You might try leaving something
with your odor near where she is too. Just so she will get used to it. Try
fried chicken for special food for her...leave off the skins. The ferals I
know have to learn to like fish. It is not a natural food for them but BIRD
sure is. And small pieces not hunks. She'll have to come out a bit more.
Put a litter box near the hole too and keep it very clean with unscented
litter. Ferals are very clean animals. Try a Rubbermaid box (cheaper,
bigger) but don't spray it with Feliway. (Feliway is used with
spray/accident problems too--not on litter boxes where you want them to go).
Make sure there is water (try bottled, tap water with the chemicals in it
may smell bad to your new friend). Look at everything from her point of
view. Especially size, noise, and smell. Provide a good hiding place
outside the wall too. Leave something with the odor of the other cat near
her hiding place too. Let the other one near the wall a lot. They may
appear at odds but I have watched one cat encourage another to come for
food, water and shelter. One feral at my mother's is named Trouble's Angel
because she helps the cats that are dumped find the necessities of life.
Let the two cats work this out.
I know this is rambling but maybe you can find something in it you can use.
There are sites for ferals on the web. You might try contacting Ally Cat
Advocates for information too. They are TNR but some of the volunteers get
hooked on an animal. It doesn't hurt to ask.
The friendship of a feral is earned and is so rewarding. I could write
books about the wonderful experiences with Ebony Thomas Katt and The Royal
Princess Kitty Katt.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of
compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with
their fellow man.
St.
Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diane Rosenfeldt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2006 12:13 AM
Subject: RE: just need to vent about my feral feluk
Just s further word of encouragement: our (Wini)Fred, to whom I refer as
our former quasi-feral, took months to tame down. She had been abandoned
at
a few months of age in a trailer park, and foraged all summer until a
tender-hearted coworker of mine worried about her in the approaching cold
weather, and trapped her. I was brand new at feral -- or "hard stray" as
they say on the ferals list -- handling and did a lot of things wrong.
But
we finally got her in a small room by herself, where, as it happened, the
doorknob was missing and there was a wide crack at the bottom of the door,
so that she and the other cats could hear each other and even interact
under
the door. At first she kept crawling up into the framework of the
decrepit
50s overstuffed chair we had in there, but we sat down in the room and
read
to her every night (100 Greatest Science Fiction Stories) or watched DVDs
and talked. Eventually she would walk over us as we sat on the floor, or
come up on the chair arm for treats or pets. It's been a few years and we
still can't pick her up properly (though last night I quickly picked her
up
and set her down and she didn't freak) but she's very loving and leans
against your neck with her solid little body from the back of the sofa, or
sometimes if you're laying down she'll flop on your face. So once the two
of you get past this hard bit and she's out of the wall, be patient and
persevere, bribe her with food and do the slow blink thing. It's very
gratifying when they bond with you, and you've saved another starfish. ;-)
Diane R.
bless you for giving this little one a home, even if she's not quite
ready to accept it!
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