# Opinions on this semi-feral cat in our garage?



## Carmel

He's the semi-feral we've been feeding without much thought the whole summer, he looks a world better than when we first saw him this summer, probably because he's been eating Blacky's food. He would sneak in through the garage to get at it. 

We've seen him on and off the whole summer around here, sometimes every week, other times every few days. Once he was crouched down by the fence in the backyard like a statue, even though I was sitting about 10 feet away with the dog. So anyway, I figure the cat and Blacky get along well since there aren't any cat fights.

This last week we saw the cat twice, our garage doors are mostly closed this time of year and he doesn't seem willing or able to use the cat door (maybe he's slow, haha... even Blaze figured that thing out) the first time this week my father saw him sitting on our compost and went and brought out some kibble, he slid it right beside the cat without it running away. The cat at it all.

Then a few days ago my father found it again in our sun room (a glassed in room accessible from the steps leading into the backyard; this is one of Blacky's favourite spots) ... so my dad again got some food for it, he gave it 6 oz of wet food our cats won't touch and the cat ate it all immediately. The picture below was taken shortly before my dad put out the wet food, he'd slid some kibble right beside it on the chair and then thought about the wet food and got it as well, also putting it right beside the cat.

So last night my father _again_ saw this cat. This time, it was because he'd closed the cat in the garage by accident. It was pouring rain all day and night so we left the cat in there. We got it some kibble, wet food, water, a litter box and a bed.

Overnight the cat ate most of the wet food and all of the kibble. That was _a lot_. This morning I found a really soft patty of poop in the litter box, I thought it was a clump of cat pee at first. What do you make of that? Could the cat have worms? Or maybe just have problems due to living on the street that may resolve shortly if fed a proper diet? On the bright side, it also did a pee in the litter box, which is more than I can say for Blaze most of the time.

The cat didn't sleep in the bed (large low to the ground cardboard box with pillow and blanket), so probably didn't have a nice night on the concrete floor. Eariler today it was hiding under some stuff but didn't do any growling. Later on in the day the cat made its home in a higher up window, it feels safe up there so even while we were making crazy racket in there cleaning the garage for the cat today it didn't run and hide, lowly growled very little, didn't have its eyes glued to our movements, and once I even saw it with its eyes shut. I checked on it a few minutes ago and it's in a weird little hard to reach corner growling at me, I guess I'd have to block that area off.

So anyway... today I bought it a heating pad. But I don't really know if I should continue with this or not, to what end? All winter? Or what... the cat probably won't even use the bed if I give it a heating pad.

I've thought about contacting the local shelter (they run a massive 700+ cat sanctuary) ... but I don't know if that's much of a life for a cat, and as its semi-feral, they probably won't have time to tame it.

Can't leave food out for it. Wildlife will eat it, and Blacky (seriously, she doesn't eat the kibble in the house but scarfs it down outside?!)...

Opinions?

So here's the picture of it (highly likely 'him') a few days ago in the sun room:


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## lyle

I've had 4 feral cats living in my garage for 3 years now as well as a transit cat that we rarely see. We place food out for them twice a day and leave a bowl of kibble out during the day. Water always. Two litter boxes. Several beds and a couple of heating pads in the winter. We take the food in about 21:00 to discourage critters. There is a cat door in the side door of the garage. There doesn't seem to me to be much rhyme or reason to what they do. They come and go at irregular intervals. They sleep wherever, sometimes on the floor, beds, pads, rafters, my car. The garage is spotlessly clean as far as their presence is concerned. I've come to the conclusion that they will generally do what is right for them and I've learned to not be too concerned. They have food, shelter, security, med care and complete freedom. Not a bad life I suspect for a cat. I've learned to relate to the garage cats on their terms which was a good thing for me. That's my similar situation.
As to your issue. You can care for "the cat" as if it was "yours", your responsibility. It may never be quite tame. If you are able to put in a cat door, that helps. If you want to put in the time to try to tame it, go for it. You'll have to come to terms with the fact that he/she could disappear tomorrow. Needless to say it should be neutered/checked out and given the shots. I don't recommend this generally, but if your cats are coming into contact, you might also want to consider the FeLV/FHiv test as well. Don't be concerned about the details such as where it may choose to sleep. They know what to do and will make the right choice. If you want to do it and are able to provide then go ahead.


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## Ritzpg

First, thanks for caring about him (yeah, most orange cats are male). He looks kind of young. I agree with Lyle. Trap the cat, neuter (will get along better with Blacky if that's an issue), definitely get tested for FIV/FELK. Provide shelter, food, a door flap is great. The cat will sleep where he wants to, inside or outside as the weather and mood permits. Cats definitely know the safe places to sleep. (Ritz slept *somewhere* during a 20 inch snow storm. And I trust the 8 cats in my colony are safe during Hurricane Sandy.) There are microwavable disks you can buy that will heat a small sleeping area if you're concerned about the cold (I note you live in BC). If there are wildlife (foxes?) around, make sure they can't enter the garage through the door flap (not sure how they work, sojust putting it out there).


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## Arianwen

Now winter is coming, my semi feral (I've had her for over 8 years but it still applies) is coming into the house to sleep with her beloved youngsters (she's a patsy with kittens and thinks they're hers) but has spent much of the summer sleeping in the garage. She's orange (ginger as we say over here) and her sister (also orange) was fertile which is even more unusual.


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## Carmel

Thanks for the replies! 

I've been thinking on it a little more (today it's pouring outside so I'm still glad he's inside) and I'm just going to take it a day at a time for now. 

We're going to leave him inside for now, he's too feral to take to the vet at the moment, we haven't touched him yet, so that's not something I'm going to consider yet. As my vet said of Blacky (the one I tamed from the outdoors) the test for FeLV/FIV could be false, as she probably used to be owned by someone and may have been vaccinated against it in the past. He recommenced not bothering with it, as she's always been healthy.

The problem with the idea of a cat flap is, we already have one, one room over from the garage that's built into the wall. This cat doesn't seem to know how to use it. We've had a totally feral cat use the cat flap before, yet this one doesn't pick up on it. We aren't going to be installing another one... the one we have already brings in enough strange things (smart rats, feral cats, mice... those could be from Blacky). 

Leaving food outside will result in most of it going to other animals, I imagine. See that food in the picture? The cat didn't eat most of that, it ate all the wet food, but we forgot to bring the food in the house and the next morning it was all gone. We don't have foxes but we have raccoons and rats in the area.

We often come and go through the garage, it's the way we get into the backyard usually, so the cat could door dash at any time. It would likely return though since it wants food.

I agree he looks fairly young. I don't know how long he's been on the streets (at least ~6 months) but he definitely isn't a total feral as there's no way he'd allow us to walk right up to him outdoors otherwise - not even Blacky allowed anything like that for ages and she was a semi-feral as well. I'm going to take that as a positive sign, even though when confined he of course is not as accepting of us walking up to him.

He may also be neutered. Our city is very proactive about this, shelters don't give cats to people without them being neutered first, and recently laws were put in place about mandatory spaying and neutering of cats, and other low-cost programs.

I think I'll at least give a shot at taming this cat, he's using the litter box (a deal breaker), and we put a radio in the room yesterday with lots of talk shows on it. He seems pretty good all things considered. Last night I sat 5 feet from him on the ground and he looked like he was going to go to sleep. He growled when I got up/move around, but that's pretty amazing for the first 24 hours, I'd think. This morning he was in the same stupid corner that's hard to get at, he was growling at me when I looked at him so I stopped, I know they think it's a threat... but I threw some Temptations to him and he ate the ones closest to him. Half of his poop seemed normal too, so fingers crossed it was bad because of what he'd been eating (likely our garbage).

We're going to move a medium-sized dog kennel to the corner he's hiding, it's just the right size to block off that area, and put the heating pad in it instead of the cardboard box. Hopefully he'll go in it...

I'll let you guys know if there's any changes worth mentioning.


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## Arianwen

Pure aside - don't worry about rats - all of my cats can take them!!


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## Carmel

Haha, I wish that was the case here. Blacky is useless. She only goes after mice. She doesn't even care about birds... which I'm grateful for, I guess.


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## Carmel

Well, an update!

We've been trying to cat proof the garage/workshop and made a bit of progress but I was discouraged because I knew there would be no way to force the cat on ground level - there's 50 years worth of random stuff plus shelving and rafters.

He ended up on top of the fridge for most of the last few days, my father put the cardboard box up there so the cat has been in it most of the time. I was sort of annoyed that I couldn't see him...

Last night he came down to the table saw to eat some beef which was great since he hadn't been willing to come down for anything else while I was in the room, and then jumped back up.

Today was overall as discouraging as the other days, hardly seeing the cat, getting growled at in a very menacing way if I came around him (even when he'd simply suspect I was about to approach)... until almost a total 180.

I walked in with the Temptation treats like I have before, and shook the the bag and had planned to walk over to the cats location and hold up my hand with the treats like I had before, then place a few on the fridge and a few on the table saw... except before that happened, the cat popped its head up and meowed a few times (very sweet soft meow!) and then jumped down to the table saw before I'd even put the treats out.

I was able to walk over to him and place a few treats on the table. He growled at me a little (very menacing...) but then ate them, and sniffed my hand. I walked back 15 feet (causing more growling) and threw some more treats on the ground, and the cat jumped down and wandered around looking for the treats with a nervous slinky low to the ground walk, and then ate some of his wet food I'd put out as well and drank some water... 

Sure, I was a ways away, but he also had his back to me (trusting gesture). He walked almost right up to me after he ate and I ignored him, continuing to read my book aloud ... I glanced at him and by the time he was walking back over to the table saw to jump on the fridge, he was in a normal walking position. At one point he even stretched his front paws out on the ground.

He hadn't done a single one of those things when I was around, and then he does a bunch at once. Cats...

He still had really soft poops, though, and today it was a massive one... don't know how long this should go on for before suspecting parasites/IBD issues...


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## lyle

Based on my experience I believe that your cat will prefer somewhere high particularly early on. After 3 years, none of my 4/5 garage cats sleep anywhere near the ground even though there is stuff to hide behind. They prefer the top of my car or the rafters, junk and all. It'll just take time before he's comfortable with you around. It's probably pretty stressful from his point of view just being confined in the garage without some giant looming over them. You've done good so far.


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## Saly

I don't have alot of experience at this, but it sounds like you are doing a great job!!!
Sally


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## Carmel

lyle said:


> Based on my experience I believe that your cat will prefer somewhere high particularly early on. After 3 years, none of my 4/5 garage cats sleep anywhere near the ground even though there is stuff to hide behind. They prefer the top of my car or the rafters, junk and all. It'll just take time before he's comfortable with you around. It's probably pretty stressful from his point of view just being confined in the garage without some giant looming over them. You've done good so far.


This is true, I know. But when I was seeing zero progress for a few days on end I was discouraged, since he'd been a fair bit better outdoors. At leat it's been horrid weather (rain, rain, raiiiiiiiiin) so I don't feel badly in the slightest about him being in there.

Today he was up in the rafters when I walked in, perched on a beam of wood! I didn't know where he was until he growled at me when I was below him, haha. But he came down right away for the wet food and treats. I think he plans on mauling me when I'm not looking and running away with that treat bag!! He took treats out of my hand but it wasn't a wise move as he tried taking my fingers with them... I put one on my lap and he even put his front paws on me to get it.



Saly said:


> I don't have alot of experience at this, but it sounds like you are doing a great job!!!
> Sally


Thanks!  I think he just needs a stable environment for a bit. It hasn't even been a week, he's doing great.

The heating pad shuts off after an hour. I didn't know they were all built with auto shut-off features these days. The only ones that aren't appear to certain Sunbeam models. I'll have to get one.

Oh! And his poop was 100% normal today. Hopefully that's the last I'll mention of it.


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## lyle

Carmel: Don't use a "people" heating pad! There's plenty of people here who can tell you why exactly, but they aren't good for cats. A typical cat heating pad might be a few watts and barely feel warm to your touch.
As for treats, some cats seem to have more precision than others. Squiggy, the meanest cat I know, would take treats like he was using tweezers. Hero, the nicest cat I know tries to take the tip of my finger.
Yeah, the "mountain lion" thing in the rafters can be unnerving.


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## Carmel

Huh, I didn't know that! The people heating pads have been used for pets before (that's what most of the Amazon review are for on the ones that don't shut off)... I know there's fire hazards, but the same can be said for anything, including another option I was looking at; heating lamps... which are what the cat sanctuary uses outdoors. Gotta use something! Where would I find a pet version? Only online? I haven't seen them in pet stores or anything.

I guess it comes down to the cat for how they take treats. But after that he growled at me like it was _my_ fault he'd grabbed my fingers. :lol:


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## lyle

There are people here more knowledgeable than me who can say why. I don't want to misspeak to the issue. I did the same thing early on, no biggie.
You can get a pet heating pad (for a cat or a dog it doesn't make any difference that I know of) at just about any pet store, but they can be pretty expensive, especially now. Not sure what you have available up in the GWN. I've gotten probably a half a dozen different kinds over the years from Amazon. Some seem to be better/more durable than others. Expect to pay $30-60. They even have some that look like people heating pads. Again, I'm sure that there are plenty of opinions here on which one would be best.


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## Saly

For less than a week, I think he is doing really good!


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## jadis

I'm dealing with pretty much the exact same thing. I've been feeding a small black feral since summer in my garage. I managed to trap him in there a couple of months ago, and the first week he would come within a few feet of me and watch me, but he quickly regressed and after four weeks in the garage he seemed more feral than before. I literally never saw him except a couple times when he was in the rafters. I finally let him out after he started tearing up the door frame trying to get out.

The good news is, he still comes around and eats, I put food and water out daily and he sometimes uses the litterbox, and since the weather has gotten cold I actually see him more. He sleeps in the garage, I have an old armchair out there and I caught him yesterday sleeping _under_ the cushion.

A friend who tames ferals told me to start putting the food out at a certain time every day and take it back up after an hour or two. She said it helps in getting them to come near you and eventually they will wait for you at that time. You could also slip a wormer pill into the food if you think he may have parasites.

Eta: If he is putting a foot in your lap that's great! I think you are on the right track.


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## Arianwen

Goimng well in my opinion - it is never a totally easy road (although my late mother had an incredible knack with semi-ferals) but it is well worth following!


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## Carmel

lyle said:


> You can get a pet heating pad (for a cat or a dog it doesn't make any difference that I know of) at just about any pet store, but they can be pretty expensive, especially now. Not sure what you have available up in the GWN.



Hmm, I'm not sure what's around here either. I like I said, haven't seen them in pet stores, but I also haven't really looked. I'll have to make a pet store run in the next week for cat food and I'll see what's there when I do. It's fairly mild in winter here, just really wet... but in the garage he'll definitely need some warmth at night in December/January/February.

jadis, that's great you're feeding the feral! It's too bad it didn't become any more tame but I know indoor life isn't for all of them.

I've been putting out food on a schedule (morning and at 8 PM) since about day three. The first few days I wanted him to know there was food, he was so stressed and hungry. Until he started coming down and eating when I was there I'd simply show him the food and then place it on the ground and sit around for 30 minutes or so, but now that he comes down to eat I wait for him to finish and then take the food back when I leave.



Arianwen said:


> Goimng well in my opinion - it is never a totally easy road (although my late mother had an incredible knack with semi-ferals) but it is well worth following!


 I agree! I actually can't remember owning a cat that I haven't tamed to some degree so I know it's very rewarding. I'm just not sure what's going to happen with this one. It will likely hinge on his relationship with Blacky, if he becomes tame. If he can't get along with her, we'll have to figure something else out.

Last night when I fed him I moved some cushions closer to his food (~7 feet away) and sat on the ground, he came down and ate then walked over to a chair cushion that's spread on the ground in a corner and was hunched there for about an hour while I read. Then he went and ate some more, then used the litter box (a first around me), and then I pulled out a treat I'd been hiding and placed it beside me on the cushions I'd been sitting on (two chair cushions placed in an "L" shape so I have my legs stretched out and the extra space on the side was where I placed the treat) .. anyway he meowed about it and growled about it and then came right up and took it. THEN HE SAT RIGHT BESIDE ME AND WAS GROOMING.

I should've had a look-see to make sure he's male, but I didn't move too much. He sat there for a few minutes then walked back over to the cushion in the corner.

I was there for over and hour and he was on the ground by his own choice the whole time.


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## Carmel

I bought him a mouse and a ball today... he started batting around the mouse a little right away, at first I thought he was considering eating it, haha. All I've brought him before is food so he was looking around for treats but I'd only brought him one to lure him down so I could show him the toys. That he was playful at all given that he's nervous is pretty weird, but very cute.


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## Carmel

And he ain't looking neutered. :| Fantastic. I was worried about that since he looks quite male, the sign of a male cat not neutered before puberty.


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## Greenport ferals

Cats, especially ferals, like to be up high. They feel safer. 
You have made a lot of progress. I think this guy is a keeper. He has an adorable face and he wants to trust you.


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## Catmamma

I think you are making good progress. Old Mommacat (my first feral) wouldn't come to me for nearly 4 weeks. (This was 15 years ago.) Then something made her decide I was ok. She still won't stay closed in for any length of time. I suspect she was accidently locked in somewhere and she still remembers it. But she lets me pet her and will jump in my lap if I am sitting down. Just be patient. Mommacat is a tortoise/calico who has never, to my knowledge, carried kittens to term. She absolutely will not go into a carrier so she has never been to the vet. But she is living a good life for at least 15 years--probably longer as she was pretty big when I first started feeding her. She prefers to stay under the porch unless it rains. Then she heads for the garage. Have fun.


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## Carmel

Greenport ferals said:


> Cats, especially ferals, like to be up high. They feel safer.
> You have made a lot of progress. I think this guy is a keeper. He has an adorable face and he wants to trust you.


He seems to do a lot on ground level now, and goes up to sleep. 

This morning when I walked in he was on the chair cushions I sit on with some catnip and meowed at me as I walked in. He was meowing a lot while I was in there, though... don't know what he wanted. I hope not outside... I can't let him out unneutered.



Catmamma said:


> I think you are making good progress. Old Mommacat (my first feral) wouldn't come to me for nearly 4 weeks. (This was 15 years ago.) Then something made her decide I was ok. She still won't stay closed in for any length of time. I suspect she was accidently locked in somewhere and she still remembers it. But she lets me pet her and will jump in my lap if I am sitting down. Just be patient. Mommacat is a tortoise/calico who has never, to my knowledge, carried kittens to term. She absolutely will not go into a carrier so she has never been to the vet. But she is living a good life for at least 15 years--probably longer as she was pretty big when I first started feeding her. She prefers to stay under the porch unless it rains. Then she heads for the garage. Have fun.


Thanks for sharing your experience!  This guy seems alright around me if I'm sitting on the floor but he leans away from touch outside of sniffing my hand. He also can growl and hiss at me sometimes in that way that sounds like he wants to rip my face off if I'm standing up and slowly walking around.

I don't have a picture of it on the computer (it's on my phone), but when I walked in last night he was laying in the corner with his mouse right beside him tucked beside a paw. Super cute! He really likes that mouse.

Here he is sitting beside me on the ground after eating, he comes over checking for treats and then has got into the habit of grooming beside me for a minute or so, last night for a very short time he lay down:










And then he walked over top of my legs and found a piece of a catnip plant, which I didn't even know was there. He lay down right beside me and rolled over (the black part in the picture are my legs under a blanket):










Then sense probably kicked in and he wondered what the heck he was doing... after this he got up and wondered around the room:










Anyway, on Tuesday I do volunteer work at the cat sanctuary, I'll see what some of the paid staff have to suggest about his likely unneutered status, at the very least we'd have to borrow a trap to do it at this stage, but maybe they'd cover it under TNR, as he's still more feral than not.


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## LadyK

What a beautiful cat!


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## 3furbabies

Wow he is making great progress. What are you planning on doing with him? I would say at the very least try and get him neutered. If he is unadoptable maybe you could continue feeding him in the garage and let him in when its cold?


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## Carmel

LadyK said:


> What a beautiful cat!


He is pretty handsome, I think so too! 



3furbabies said:


> Wow he is making great progress. What are you planning on doing with him? I would say at the very least try and get him neutered. If he is unadoptable maybe you could continue feeding him in the garage and let him in when its cold?


I've had this question a lot, for now, I'm planning to try and tame him at that's the extent. I don't know how he'll interact with Blacky, or if he'll become a cat that could be adoptable by anyone. He seems happy in the garage, he doesn't have to spend his entire day looking for food. He eats like he'll never see another meal.

I've spoken with some people at the cat sanctuary and got mixed opinions. 

A few of them just wanted me to care for him all winter and keep him in the garage and try taming him more - I was planning to do all of this anyway, and _then_ taking him in to be checked by a vet once he's tamer. 

They suspected he is neutered due to him not spraying, despite his testicles looking pretty big and that _I_ know some unneutered males don't spray unless a female in heat is around.

Meanwhile, another person that works there was all for trapping him and neutering + FeLV and FIV testing ASAP, since it's good to get out of the way, and to know one way or the other sooner rather than later. I tend to agree with her. It will be stressful for him to do now, and more work for the vets, but in either a now or later situation it's still going to be stressful. There's no telling if he'll be all that tame in a few months, either.

What do you guys think? Wait or do it now (within a week or so)? 

If I go through their organization the one lady said we'd be charged about 50 dollars for the whole thing and they'd cover the rest as he's a stray from this city. I wouldn't be considering it right now otherwise, as neutering and FeLV and FIV testing would not be cheap; at least 200 hundred dollars.


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## Carmel

Today he thought it'd be cool to lay between my legs for over 30 minutes. He would've continued if someone hadn't walked in the room. Just as well as I wasn't sure how to get up with him there. He doesn't want me to touch him.

His problem with me standing/moving around is pretty serious though, I'm considering asking about it in the behavior section. Last night he was actively aggressive and bite me (didn't break skin) when picking up his empty dish. He actually came _down_ from the fridge to do this. :neutral: I'll be wearing gloves from now on when going around his food. 

"PUT THE FOOD DOWN AND BACK OFF" is pretty much the attitude... can't he just wait at a distance politely, not crowd my space? I take his distraction eating to clean the litter box, otherwise he'd be growling at me the whole time I do that as well.

He takes serious issue with me standing or walking around, food related endeavors or not. He doesn't want to hide on the fridge or rafters or windows when I'm walking around, he wants to snarl at me at ground level. It's freaky, since I'm used to feral cats running away when threatened by the "big towering giant", not the opposite. 

I got fed up last night with it and tossed him a piece of catnip plant. That kept him quiet even when I walked around him, he was rolling around quietly instead.

Anyway, because of this I'll be trapping him. If he isn't neutered, I want it done. It could be related to his aggression, and if it isn't, I still want to make sure he's neutered and that he doesn't have worms/parasites or FIV/FeLV.


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## Saly

I think it is probably a good idea to trap him, get him neutered, dewormed and check out, then bring him back to the garage. That's what I did with my little feral (you can read my posts about Ben!), only I brought her into a room we had set up for her - with a screen door on it. She's doing pretty good, when we brought her in, couldn't even touch her. Now I can pather when I am sitting down, and even scratch her under the chin, she continuely rubs against me also, - but this took 3 month of interacting with her. She is slowly coming along, but it is progress!!!
Sally


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## Carmel

Saly said:


> I think it is probably a good idea to trap him, get him neutered, dewormed and check out, then bring him back to the garage. That's what I did with my little feral (you can read my posts about Ben!), only I brought her into a room we had set up for her - with a screen door on it. She's doing pretty good, when we brought her in, couldn't even touch her. Now I can pather when I am sitting down, and even scratch her under the chin, she continuely rubs against me also, - but this took 3 month of interacting with her. She is slowly coming along, but it is progress!!!
> Sally


Thanks! I'll be taking a trap home next Tuesday. It's good to be reminded by your story that things take time. You're making great progress too!

Today I bought a 9 dollar wand toy. Took the cat 30 seconds to break it. He came down and pounced on it. Grabbed the feather bits and _would not let go_. Must've thought it was a bird for him to drag off and eat. He was very upset with me trying to pull on the other end... :dis Eventually the string snapped.

I'll be getting him a wire-based wand toy next time.

I'm seriously considering leaving out a large bowl of kibble instead of scheduled feeding times; he isn't getting through his head that he doesn't need to fight for every bit of food anymore. It's really putting a damper on taming him since every time I walk in with food he practically mauls me.


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## Carmel

AdoptAnAngel said:


> !!
> This is another reason I'm glad Ares has no interest in going outdoors again. I don't want him killing for fun. Rodents are such cute animals!


Actually, I really like mice, too. I had... uh, a lot of them at one time. We had a mouse condo. It got sort of crazy. I also had a hamster once. Blaze and that hamster got along really well. 

Blacky doesn't go after mice often, maybe a few times a year. She brings them in alive, most we've been able to catch and release.

Considering the rat and mouse and bird population around here, she hardly has killed anything at all in over 10 years outdoors (we know when she catches something, she merroooows like she needs the whole neighborhood to come running).



AdoptAnAngel said:


> Sorry for going so off-topic! I think it's fantastic that you are caring for this cat. In your situation, I would deworm the cat ASAP. Is there absolutely nothing you can do to get Blacky to eat indoors? It sounds like that would be the best solution. I would definitely take him in for neutering and and vaccinations ASAP, especially if he is still accessing the outdoors and congregating with other strays.


Blacky does eat indoors... I'm not sure why you think she eats outdoors? She has a cat door and can come and go outdoors as she likes 24/7; she used to be semi-feral, and allowing her indoors at her choosing was the smoothest way of taming her. 

What I meant when I said Blacky would get at his food if I put it outdoors was that when we placed some kibble outside for this orange cat we found Blacky eating it despite having the exact same food options inside for her. 

Right now the orange cat can't get outdoors, he's in the garage and seems content in there. We won't be letting him out without knowing that he's neutered, and unless something drastic changes (like him going... more... insane by being stuck in a single room), we won't be intentionally letting him out for the next ~4 months, even after getting him neutered. It's cold out there.


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## lyle

Carmel: Does your garage have a window(s)? There's confinement and there's confinement. Although each cat is different I can attest that I know of one cat who went a little crazy after being shut up in a windowless garage for just a short time (not by me). He never really got over it. If you're just keeping him confined till he's neutered then never mind. 
As I've mentioned, I have 4 fixed feral cats living in my garage. With a cat door, they're free to come and go. One or two of them wander a bit (within a block), but mostly they stay within one house away. Given food, shelter and security it's very likely (but of course not guaranteed) that a neutered cat will stick around even if given the opportunity to leave.


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## Carmel

Yes, it has windows. One small one is built into the garage door at a height where it overlooks from the top of the fridge, another larger one is over the work bench (the cat spent a day or two up there but doesn't seem interested in it now) and another large window in the door leading outside -- not that the cat can look out that one, but it gives lots of light.

The general opinion from the cat sanctuary staff was to leave him in the garage all winter, so I'm not too concerned about that unless he starts acting out, like scratching at doors or meowing a lot. So far he's content.

I'm also uneasy about letting any cat outdoors here, Blacky is an exception, as I have always known she wants nothing to do with cars and does not go farther than our neighbors front yard 99% of the time. We live with only one row of homes (and a small lane between us and those homes) separating us from one of the main streets of the city. My family has lived in this home for over 50 years and have lost more than one cat to that street over the years, back in the 50's, 60's and 70's... the street has only become busier since then.


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## Saly

In my opinion you are doing the right thing!!
Sally


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## Carmel

So today I got the trap, it's a fancy one, with a transfer ability in the back... so they'll neuter, tattoo, give flea and dewormer, test for FeLV and FIV (nervous about that, because aren't there false positives? If he is, I won't be keeping him around, he'll go to the cat sanctuary... ) and clean his ears. They'd also do vaccinations but if so he'd need boosters, and I'm not getting him back there in a few weeks for that so I'll pass on those.

I don't know when I'll do it, some time this week.

Today was a break through.  Last night I _almost_ could've sworn he arched and rubbed slightly against my gloved hand before hissing... today, it was obvious he was. Not only did he press against my gloved hand, he didn't hiss and let me do it gain a few minutes later, and all on his own he approached my gloved hand and gave it headbutts. He also rubbed his face against a drawer handle, I haven't seen him rub against anything in the room before. He still bites the glove though, so those aren't coming off.

It sort of makes me feel bad that I'll be trapping him the way I plan... :| I hope he doesn't hate me after, but he probably will. However, he's still super food aggressive so if that's even remotely related to him not being neutered I want to have it done ASAP.


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## Saly

I did exactly what you are doing, got the trap and so on. I thought Ben might hate me too after trapping, but she did not! She also started off by gently rubbing up against anything she could find when she saw me, then over time she was rubbing her head all over me when I was sitting down. This is what she still does, only now I can pet her. I think he is coming along great!
Sally


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## Leazie

Good luck with the trapping/vet visit. You are doing a really great job with this kitty, and I am sure he knows it. Btw, have you given him a name?


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## Carmel

Saly said:


> I did exactly what you are doing, got the trap and so on. I thought Ben might hate me too after trapping, but she did not! She also started off by gently rubbing up against anything she could find when she saw me, then over time she was rubbing her head all over me when I was sitting down. This is what she still does, only now I can pet her. I think he is coming along great!
> Sally


I hope he doesn't either, I'm glad to hear Ben didn't take it too badly. 

He's just made good progress the last day, rolls around on my lap and headbutts and purrs. Mood swings are not to be messed with though, he was sitting on my lap and when I slowly tried moving my legs to shift him off of me he attacked my hand so viciously that his teeth sunk _through_ the oven mitt and broke a bit of skin. :???:



Leazie said:


> Good luck with the trapping/vet visit. You are doing a really great job with this kitty, and I am sure he knows it. Btw, have you given him a name?


Thanks, I hope it goes well too. I'm calling him Jasper. That, and "Crazy Cat" because of his personality shifts.

But now I need to take him in for another reason... he has puncture marks on his left arm. I never got close enough to really notice before, a few days ago I saw him jump down from the fridge and hold that paw up, but I didn't know why, and hadn't noticed any other problems so didn't try losing an arm to investigating.










Bad picture, but I couldn't get a clearer one, even with him right on my lap. So now the trapping has moved from "this week" to as soon as I can...


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## Saly

Good idea to take him in, keep up posted !
Sally


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## Arianwen

Just a slight aside (going back quite a lot of posts) - just because he is not spraying doesn't mean he is neutered. My old Shadow couldn't be neutered because of his asthma making the vet reluctant to anaesthetise him for the op (he was already an adult when we took him in). He never sprayed inside the house at all although I can't be sure what he did outside!


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## librarychick

However you trap him you can expect him to be pretty upset for a few days after you re-release him to the garage...but you might be able to minimize that if you put the trap in there (unset) ASAP.

Leave it in there with him, alone, for a few hours to give him a chance to explore it and sniff around. Then when you go in to feed him put the food in it and he may be less likely to connect it with you and more likely to go into it. Be SURE you can get him on the first shot though, you likely won't get a second try. :/

Poor little kit, that wound does look sore. I hope you can get him in ASAP to get him tested, treated, and neutered.

I think that once he's had that all done you have a good chance of fully taming him. The food aggression you can pretty much chalk up to him having to fend for himself for a while, IMO, and it'll likely go away with time. He's warming up to you pretty quick...he sounds a LOT like Jitzu when I first got her.

The thing to remember is that when he reacts negatively to you it's not because he 'hates you' or is 'angry' ect. It's either because he feels you're a threat (with the food or when you're standing) or because he's scared. You moving is scarey to him and he's still getting used to you sitting still!

One thing that helped me tame feral kittens, and also helps with nervous animals of all kinds is reading out loud. I know it sounds silly, but there are reasons that I believe this works.

You sit on the floor, get out your book (or magazine, ect) and just read out loud to him. Your eyes are focused on something, that isn't him. Your body is mostly still, and turning pages is repetitive and over time becomes non threatening. Your voice naturally modulates itself when you read, making you seem calmer. Plus it will help him get used to a human voice, one of the toughest things for nervous animals IME.

He looks absolutely adorable, and I bet he'll tame down just fine...and I know you've got the patience for it 'cause you already have Blacky


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## Carmel

Saly said:


> Good idea to take him in, keep up posted !
> Sally


Will do! 



Arianwen said:


> Just a slight aside (going back quite a lot of posts) - just because he is not spraying doesn't mean he is neutered.


I know, I've heard from various people that male cats that aren't neutered don't always spray. And look at my cat... neutered as a kitten and sprays.

The people that work at the cat sanctuary aren't the total experts, just cat lovers, so I wasn't about to take their word on it.



librarychick said:


> However you trap him you can expect him to be pretty upset for a few days after you re-release him to the garage...but you might be able to minimize that if you put the trap in there (unset) ASAP.


Yeah, I just hope it isn't back to square one or a case of never trusting me after he's trapped. I read somewhere that the person that traps the cat should pass the cat along to another person to tame if at all possible.

Maybe I'll send a family member in to set the trap...

I put the trap in the garage last night (not opened, as when it's opened it's set to go off... no middle ground) ... the plan is to set it tonight or very early tomorrow morning.



librarychick said:


> Poor little kit, that wound does look sore. I hope you can get him in ASAP to get him tested, treated, and neutered.


I don't know how long he's had it. I don't imagine he could have got anything like that from the garage, so he's had it over two weeks and it still looks like that. Probably got a bite from a wild animal while fighting over food.



librarychick said:


> The food aggression you can pretty much chalk up to him having to fend for himself for a while, IMO, and it'll likely go away with time. He's warming up to you pretty quick...he sounds a LOT like Jitzu when I first got her.
> 
> The thing to remember is that when he reacts negatively to you it's not because he 'hates you' or is 'angry' ect. It's either because he feels you're a threat (with the food or when you're standing) or because he's scared. You moving is scarey to him and he's still getting used to you sitting still!


If he doesn't get over it in the next few months I'm not sure what I'll do, I can't walk around wearing thick gloves forever, his bites aren't warning bites, they're out to draw serious blood... last night he came over and tried biting my hand/the litter scooper while I was cleaning the litter box. Today he tried biting me... again... while picking up an empty food dish. He pretty much tries this _every time_ I pick up the food dish, just sometimes he's not at a good angle to attack. He would likely try biting my hand as I put the food down as well but he's too intent on eating the food to attack... usually. 

He makes these huffing noises too and is puffed up like a balloon, along with hissing and low growling and lunging at my hands -- thankfully never at my legs yet.

I really wonder on leaving out dry food 24/7 and giving a little wet food as a treat once a day... except I worry he'd explode from trying to eat it all.

I crouched down while he was in an aggressive stance today and it was about a 50/50 chance, he'd either lunge at my out stretched hand biting like he intended on dragging it off to eat, or start rubbing against it. At one point he even rolled around on the ground while I was crouched down... as soon as I started standing up it was back to allout warfare. 



librarychick said:


> One thing that helped me tame feral kittens, and also helps with nervous animals of all kinds is reading out loud. I know it sounds silly, but there are reasons that I believe this works.


I've been doing this for an hour or two daily since day one.  Using a Kindle, so not as much hand movement, but I think today he stopped seeing my hand as only a food dispenser. Usually whenever I moved my hand he was ready to lunge in its direction for treats but today he would just watched it move instead.



librarychick said:


> He looks absolutely adorable, and I bet he'll tame down just fine...and I know you've got the patience for it 'cause you already have Blacky


I hope he does, but I'm a little at a loss with him. Blacky was never aggressive without a cause (me pushing her boundries too far) ... fight or flight, she took off.


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## Carmel

Well, he's home from the big day. I got up at 5:30 am to get ready to trap him and he walked right in immediately, eating the food - then walked back out.  Put more food in and it was a success. Took less than 10 minutes to trap him. If I'd known it'd be quite that fast I would've just set it at 7:50 before heading to the vet office when it opens at 8. Our neighbour drove him to the vets (I was in the car too) and picked him up, community effort, yay.

He's been neutered, and they sutured his leg... so he's got a cone on. I have _no idea_ how that's going to stay on for two weeks. Or how it's going to get off, either.

He weights in at 11.14 pounds and the vet suggested when I asked that that's a little _more_ than he needs to weigh. But with the way he eats food that won't be changing any time soon. He doesn't look overweight to me... must be a very weight conservative vet.

They guess his age at 6-7, but that could be way off of course. That means he's older than I was expecting, I have to wonder how long he's been on the streets considering he's never been neutered, pretty odd.

I have to give him liquid pain medication of some sort for the next four days in his food. They suggest at first squirting it in his mouth. Umm... not happening.

So that's that. Right now he's still in the kennel, and pretty sedated still.


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## Carmel

Cone? What cone?

That thing is off. *sigh* It was in the kennel when we let him out, as I figured he didn't even wear it a few hours. I hope it doesn't cause problems off. I'll have to phone the vets tomorrow.

At least he came over for pets after he ate - and I was crouched down too, not sitting right on the ground. No hard feelings from him.


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## Saly

Wow, you did great getting him to the vet's,! and he went right in the cage!!! Hopefully he will come along ok now!!
Sally


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## Leazie

I wonder if he will be more affectionate now that his foot is treated and will be feeling better? If nothing else the pain meds should make him feel happy.

Poor man though, I can't imagine what 6 years on the streets must have been like.


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## Carmel

He seems to be making progress. Maybe it's too soon to tell, but yesterday he growled and hissed at me but then came over even if I only had my knees bent down a little with my arm stretched out, so I was basically standing. I was actually a little more worried about being attacked for walking away rather than petting him, he almost followed me to the door. He's attention starved but unfortunately also unpredictable. 

He didn't growl when I cleaned his litter box last night -- just hissed, and this morning when I put his food down there was no growling (thank GOD; that growling with ears back and set to lunge is scary stuff), just a hiss or two when I crouched down with it and he was a little fluffed up. He meowed like crazy for the food like usual, but I didn't sense it was a threatening meow so much, and actually came closer to me than ever before while I was getting it ready.

I don't think he was on the street for 6-7 years, he'd be way more feral. Unless he's had people coming and feeding him somewhere for a long time and is used to people that way. It just seems very strange that he wasn't neutered, this isn't an area where house cats are left intact. I know obviously not every cat out there living in homes in neutered, but it isn't the norm around here. He was obviously never from a shelter.

I haven't looked at his leg today but I got a good look at it yesterday. All I saw of it were two or three puncture wounds, but I guess it was more extensive damage than that because the vet has stitched up at least two inches on his leg. I really hope he doesn't pull them out, I already saw him licking/biting it a bit yesterday while I was petting him and I had to use my gloved hand to push his head away.


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## Leazie

Any sign pf progress is a good thing!


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## Carmel

It has been almost exactly a month since we first trapped him in the garage. There's been a small bit of progress since my last post, along with a few setbacks, aggressive wise. 

The setback was the total random bite tonight that broke the top layer of skin... good thing I'm wearing oven mitts. I got up right away and left the room, that's the only way I can think to punish him. I've had a lot of deal breaker bites if I'd not been wearing them. Didn't see it coming at all though, which is a first for such a hard bite. He'd seemed very relaxed and happy and I was just sitting on the ground not doing anything. :| Very frustrating. He also seemed interested in biting my phone tonight and managed to lazily scratch his claws along my Kindle screen! The Kindle screen luckily just needed to be buffered to fix or I'd have been extremely upset. A few days ago he also launched himself at my leg and bit me, bruised through the jeans I was wearing above the knee where he bit. Although it's the first he'd tried that, I can't say it came at an unexpected time, as I was trying to pick up his dish.

The progress is he'll come down for other people if they're bringing food (he'll come down to see me with or without food), and when my father was in there fixing something the cat sat with me even though my dad was standing at the work bench right beside us. Also, I was unable to spend any time with him yesterday so today when I pet him in the morning as he ate his food he didn't seem upset by it at all really, and tonight when I fed him wet food he came over to me twice before he'd finished scarfing it down for quick pets - never done that before, he's always 100% focused on eating the food until none is left.

The issues with picking up his entirely licked clean bowl still persists however, it's not a fun time of anyone when I'm trying to pick it up without being attacked. It's weird, since he doesn't (much) mind me sitting by him or petting him as he eats, he is just focused on the food, but I would have thought that would be more of an issue, not empty bowls.


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## Ottismommy

I am enjoying reading your story!! I am
A new kitten owner and am learning lots from this site!! I will be watching for updates on Jasper!! Lots of luck to you!! 


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## Zephyriddle

Have you tried tossing him some treats when you pick up the bowl? Then it's more of a trade rather then him thinking that you're stealing his food source. 


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## Carmel

Sometimes I throw him treats, I have to throw them across the room or he'll rush over, eat it, then rush right beside me before I can pick the bowl up. I don't really like giving him treats when he's so aggressive though... feels counter productive to positive reinforcement. I've also left the bowl until I'm switching with new food later in the day, which works sort of as he's very focused on the new food. He still looks at me like I'm stealing his empty bowl though, and isn't happy about it.


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## Jazzy

Just read through this thread. Kudos to you for getting him neutered and fixed up at the vet.

As for his aggression issues, you are wise to take extra precaution. I have a permanent scar on my right hand from a feral I was working with. She got me good.

Keep up with the daily interaction. Don't ever reward the aggression with attention of any sort. In my opinion, the behavior he is displaying is showing that he isn't comprehending that the food is coming from you rather than the bowl. I would try feeding him off the floor mixed with switching out different bowls and plates to make him think about where it is all coming from. 

I'd also forgo the treats if the vet said he didn't need anymore weight. There is really no reason to give treats at this point.


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## librarychick

Carmel said:


> Sometimes I throw him treats, I have to throw them across the room or he'll rush over, eat it, then rush right beside me before I can pick the bowl up. I don't really like giving him treats when he's so aggressive though... feels counter productive to positive reinforcement. I've also left the bowl until I'm switching with new food later in the day, which works sort of as he's very focused on the new food. He still looks at me like I'm stealing his empty bowl though, and isn't happy about it.


I think he's scared of your movements, and that you'll take the food away. Do you have two bowls you could use??? You could alternate them. So, take one bowl with 1/2 a portion of food in and put it on one end of the garage. Next time you go in put down the second 1/2 portion bowl as far away from the first as possible, then when he's eating the new food go and remove the old bowl. That way you're distracting him from your movement and you won't have to confront him which could make things worse.

TBH I think that the more good things you give him the better. I know it seems counter-productive to feed him when he's aggressive, but the reason he's aggressive is fear...so if you can reduce the fear (by offering treats) that's the best option.


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## Carmel

Thanks so much for the response Jazzy, that would be really good idea, feeding on the ground. However he's in general aggressive with the _area_ his food is placed as well. 

Since he's in the garage we give him his food on a slightly raised piece of wood instead of the cement, if I'm near the wood or trying to clean it even if there's no food or bowl there he tries swatting at me. I've sat there sometimes and just ignored his aggressive behavior until he gives up and sits a little farther away watching me. I've also sat there until he stops being nasty and would rather have me pet him instead, but since I'm right by his feeding area there's a pretty good chance in between the pets he'll occasionally try and bite me.

Should we just feed him directly on the floor in different locations around the room, at least for the kibble?

As for the treats, there's only ever two or three Temptations, some days I don't give him any. I'm slowly cutting back on his food, it's hard since I'm almost convinced he'd eat everything in front of him no matter the amount.

I do have two bowls, one for kibble and one for wet food... I give the kibble in the morning and wet food at night.

The thing about placing any food far away and doing a bait and switch is he catches on that I'm taking the bowl and will charge over... he's _very_ fast. Scary fast. He's moved fast on me when I'm on the ground and it's like blink and you miss it. Luckily most of those fast moves he either isn't meaning to hurt me, or stops before he does. Not sure which.

I don't think he's all that afraid of my movements though, he doesn't really act like it.


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## Ottismommy

I miss your updates!! How is he doing?


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## Carmel

He's pretty much the same as before... but I'll update.

The day after I posted in here last he bit through my oven mitt so hard that he punctured my hand and it bled all over for like five minutes. :? It was my fault, I tried picking him up. I haven't tried since then. Hah. BUT! The reason I tried picking him up was that while sitting on the ground I'd tried picking him up earlier that same day twice and simply moving him from sitting beside me to placing him on my lap, he'd seem fine with that (never stopped purring). When he bit me later that day, I'd been standing up and tried moving him... mistake!

Since a few days ago he's started also jumping on my lap when I'm sitting in a chair.

He's very relaxed while on my lap in the chair or if I'm sitting on the ground, rolling around and rubbing his head against stuff and being super sweet. Usually no chance of hard bites, more like love bites... sorta.

But if I'm crouching down or reaching down from a standing position he might bite about 25-50% of the time, sometimes _really_ hard. It's bizarre since one second he'll be jumping up into my hard for a pet, the next... bite!

He comes right up to me now when I'm getting his food ready. A little freaky, since he's very food obsessed still.

From the last time I posted onwards I've been placing his kibble portion of meals directly on the ground, different locations every day. As a result I think he's less location obsessed; he doesn't care if I walk around the previous "food" area. He crowds my space as I'm walking with the food though, meowing and meowing and trying to block my way. The first few days after putting the food on the ground and walking away he was so confused that he'd continue following me, and was mad that I was moving around the room, I had to point out that his food was already on the ground. He's stopped angrily following me after placing the food now, at least and ignores me walking about the room while he eats even if I've place his food in the center of the room.

He still is very upset about me picking up his wet food dish at night. I've mostly been able to avoid him lunging since after he walks away I swoop in when his back is turned. Sometimes he takes a swap at my foot though, and he'll follow me right to the door now as I walk out with the dish. I usually lower the dish to his face after I've picked it up (risky move!) to show him it's empty, but he's still not impressed that I have it.

He hasn't growled on hissed in a long time (besides when you open the door, he pretty much always hisses once as the door opens if he's on the ground), just _a lot_ of meowing and following me around right at my feet. It's like a toss up between if he wants to attack me or be pet...


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## OSCARSMOM

Have you thought about using a gripper tool to pick up his bowl? Something like this:









I'm not sure if it would scare him, but it might save you from another bite...


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## Carmel

That might be something to look into if he doesn't stop, I think we have one of those somewhere in the house. Thanks for the suggestion! For now I'm going to keep picking up the dish... he might, slightly, be getting less food obsessed. Just very very slightly. Nothing really worth mentioning, he still takes swats at my feet and tries blocking my way when I have the empty dish, but I have a bit of success with distracting him by petting with one hand while picking up the dish with another.

Yesterday my father was fixing something in the garage and had to call me in to stop the cat from bugging him, he thought the cat was starving and asking for food. Maybe he sort of was asking for food, but asking from someone he didn't trust as well; my dad has fed him before. Jasper was sitting at my dad's legs meowing a lot and hissing at him too and my dad said he wasn't sure if the cat wanted to attack him. I walked in and sat in a chair and Jasper came over right away and just sat on my lap purring the whole time, even with my dad wandering around the whole garage or walking right beside us. He started using the table saw at one point (blocking access to the fridge!) but Jasper didn't appear to care, just kept half an eye on what he was doing. So as my dad noted: "you definitely have a calming effect on him."


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## Carmel

I'll probably totally jinx it, but when I picked up his dish tonight he was standing right there and didn't care.  He was much more interested in being pet.

My dad also figures he must have been around a lot of construction work or something, he doesn't care in the slightest about hammers or saws or drills or table saws or grinders when they're in use. I don't know, maybe some cats are just really easy going that way, but that stuff makes a lot of noise to act so calmly when they're never heard anything like it before.


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## Carmel

Thought I'd give another update on Jasper.

I didn't jinx it and I don't have a problem picking up his dish any longer. When feeding him he also is nearly as interested in being pet, walking over top of his food on the floor as I pet him, no vibes that he thinks I'm going to take his food, but he still eats everything in minutes. 

I tried bring that feather toy back in and it was a mistake, he still wanted to drag it off and broke it again immediately and I had to carefully extract it from him. When I came back after a few minutes he bit me pretty hard out of the blue; he hadn't tried biting me like that in a while, so I won't be bring in any feathered toys again.

The main problem is leaving the room. He's become a lap cat that doesn't want me to leave. He swats at my feet and may fly - and bite - at my leg or block my way. I have to get him to back off, so he might even hiss at me. Not every time I leave, but often enough that I find I'm more fleeing the room to avoid him getting any ideas. A few times ([-pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp ...thank Blacky for that contribution) he's running after me anyway and I'm slamming the door in his face since I just don't know what he's thinking as he charges at me like that.

He has a long way to go to a properly domesticated cat, I haven't tried picking him up and carrying him yet, but when he's on my lap he lets me pet his tummy briefly while he's rolling around (I know a lot of regular cats don't allow this!) and will allow me to essentially do the pick up motion of being held in my arms against my chest while sitting on my lap. I think standing and doing this wouldn't end so well.

He seems better with accepting pets when I'm in a crouched or standing position. He doesn't as often bite. I wouldn't say there's no fear of it happening still. I pretty much have lowered my guard around him when he's on my lap but I still can't trust him enough without gloves.

He's not as accepting of anyone else. He'll run up to them (with some hissing and meowing and growling) but he doesn't trust them, that's where the danger is, it's the type of attitude that I used to see where I'd usually resulted in bites out of the blue.

Here's a picture of him from today on my lap:


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## cinderflower

you named him! he's so cute. i was going to say get a da bird because they're pretty hard to break but it doesn't sound like he's ready for any toys like that. maybe throw some of those jingle balls in there. i don't think they can be eaten, and he might like having something to play with. 

i won't even pretend to understand any of his behavior because i pretty much don't understand why cats act the way they do. i mean, anything overt you would be able to figure out by yourself probably.

it will just take some time for him to be a "nice" kitty and not bite or growl, but he might not ever like anyone but you.


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## Saly

He is a beautiful cat!!!!


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## Mitts & Tess

Ive really enjoyed reading your posts also. Ohhhh my, another orange kitty. They are special. 

I know the leg issue is resolved but for future reference you may want to try this. Esp since cats outdoors tend to get injured. Recently one of my cats (which was a feral cat several years ago but is now totally socialized) was bit by a rattle snake on the foot. Luckily it was a dry bite with a smaller amount of poison in it. I cleaned it with peroxide and then put triple antibiotic ointment on it till I could get him into the vet. The vet gave him an antibiotic shot that lasts a week. Maybe in the future if you encounter having to give him meds ask for that shot instead.


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## Carmel

Saly said:


> He is a beautiful cat!!!!


I agree! I've always loved orange kitties.



Mitts & Tess said:


> Ive really enjoyed reading your posts also. Ohhhh my, another orange kitty. They are special.


Glad you're enjoy my updates! Thank you for the advice too, I believe they did give him some sort of shot like that, but it's definitely important they get one to prevent infections. I don't know the details, but the vet tech mentioned a 2 week supply of antibiotics in his system.

But yes, he's all healed up now.



cinderflower said:


> you named him! he's so cute. i was going to say get a da bird because they're pretty hard to break but it doesn't sound like he's ready for any toys like that. maybe throw some of those jingle balls in there. i don't think they can be eaten, and he might like having something to play with.
> 
> i won't even pretend to understand any of his behavior because i pretty much don't understand why cats act the way they do. i mean, anything overt you would be able to figure out by yourself probably.
> 
> it will just take some time for him to be a "nice" kitty and not bite or growl, but he might not ever like anyone but you.


Yes I did name him Jasper. As a friend jokes "don't name him Orangey..." ... I had to prevent that ASAP. 

We do have some toys in there for him, I got two a few days after he was first trapped in the garage, he took to them immediately, there was a jingle ball and a little mouse (that he has carted off somewhere I can't find) and eventually followed by a catnip pillow and a larger realistic looking hamster type toy with a bell inside it. Every now and then I walk in there and realise the toys have moved around. I couldn't find the jingle ball for a few weeks but then one day I saw him peering under something and I went to check it out, and there it was... so I got it back for him. :lol:

Regarding him only being nice to me, last night proved that wrong! Very happy about that!

I wasn't home so got my father to feed him, and when I came home was exhausted and asked him to pick up his dish as well as I was heading to bed, so about 10 minutes later my father came upstairs all excited, telling me he'd been sitting in the chair with the blue blanket I use on his lap and the cat and came over to him and put his paws on him - stretching - and then jumped up. 

That's the way he first approached me about jumping on my lap as well (now he just flies up on my lap without any inhibitions). So my dad had been scratching him for several minutes, he wasn't being gentle in petting him either, he was giving him a really good scratching all over. He wasn't wearing gloves either, something he was a little worried about, but the cat didn't bite him. My dad was so pleased, saying "he likes me!"... it's awesome having an animal-loving family.


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## Arianwen

This is actually brilliant!

Earlier I posted that my semi feral is at least 8 - since then I've worked it out (I'm not good with numbers) and she is at least 10. She is still more than wary about most people - you have done wonders in such a short period of time.

Although I've paid the price at times, I don't normally use gloves so the cat gets used to the smells.


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## Carmel

It probably comes down to how long they've been a semi-feral, Jasper is estimated at 6 or 7 but he only showed up around here in June (I believe I saw him once in June and was shocked at the appearance of a cat in the front yard, and then almost forgot about it as I didn't see him again for at least a month) ... do you think your kitty may have been on her own a lot longer? Blacky took a year to start coming around and wasn't a kitten at the time; we've had her 10 years now, but she may have been on the street a long time. She could potentially be extremely old.

I wish I could trust him without gloves, but I can't. If I hadn't been wearing gloves the first month my hands would have looked like a war zone with serious deep bites all over, they were extremely ferocious and frequent but usually he would only be biting the tip of the oven mitt and my hand wasn't even there. 

He still does bit too hard sometimes, and I'm not risking it - the time I was bleeding for 5 or 10 minutes with a bite through the oven mitt was upsetting enough. I also don't want to worry about blood poisoning; something my father had from a cat bite a few years back - very serious. As it is, I still have two red spots on my hand from two separate bites and I'm wonder if they're going to turn into scars, one feels like it has scar tissue underneath the skin.

What I did with the oven mitts was put them in my bed and sleep by them for a few days before I started wearing them. 

Sometimes I just wear a regular fingered glove on one hand with an oven mitt on the other while sitting down, he's very loving when on my lap, so my guard is pretty lowered there. I don't trust him as much if I'm not sitting in my usual spot on the ground or my usual spot in the chair.


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## Arianwen

That's an absolutely brilliant idea with getting the smell on the oven glove!


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## Whaler

sounds like he is doing great. sitting on your fathers lap is such a huge deal trust wise.

i love happy stories like this. in so cruel a world this kind of thing is what allows me to have any faith in humanity.

btw, he is one handsome guy!


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## Carmel

It seems like he's turned into an attention hog from anyone. Haha. The only problem is the total unpredictability of him. 

Last night my dad sat with him again and Jasper bit my dad, not like he was trying to be super vicious (my dad pulled him off by the scruff and Jasper wasn't mad or anything) but it did result in a puncture on his hand. Not a bad one, my dad didn't mind. I don't think Jasper understands his own strength or how to be gentle with his teeth.

Today my aunt and my dad and I were in there for a little while and Jasper was walking between all of us, rubbing against my dad's legs, jumping on the chair behind my aunt (she wasn't sitting all the way back in it) and wandering over to me as well.

However, unlike with just me in the room, his tail was ENTIRELY fluffed up. He seemed happy otherwise, but you can tell by that he was on edge.

It's been... 2 months? I'm very happy with his progress but I'm not looking forward to trying to introduce him to Blacky, I don't want to be negative, as they must have got along during the summer when he was about, but the odds of them getting along in the house probably aren't that great as it's a different dynamic. We'll definitely try our best to make it work when the time comes.


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## Saly

We put a screen door on Ben's room so she can interact with my 16 yr. old himalayan cat. They both come right to the door and sit and watch, the older one cries, but that's about it. I still want them to be very comfortable with each other, before I do it face to face, and actually Ben still has a long way to go before this happens. But they seem to tolerate each other this way for now. I think I might wait until the spring, because the older cat gets really frustrated in the winter, he is used to going outside on his leash in the warm weather, and when he can't all winter long he kind of gets bored, and frustrated. When he does get to go outside, he loves it, it tires him out and he is alot happier! So this would probably be the time for me to let her investigate the house. Plus it gives me a lot more time to work with her!!!
Sally


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## Carmel

It's been another month, three in total now, so I'll give another update.

Jasper is still in the garage, surrounded by toys, haha. Today I brought him a new mouse toy and he went crazy for it. He also fetched it back to me a few times which he's never done before. It was adorable, he was meowing with it in his mouth and dropping it at my feet.

Overall, I notice he's less likely to bite. In the first week of January he sank all four of his teeth into my dad's palm, spanning across either side of it. That was pretty bad, but since then I can't recall any other incidents. He hasn't tried to attack seriously in awhile but I'm still bringing the oven mitts and leather gloves in with me. Usually only on one hand though. When we leave the room he still may take a swat at our clothing, but the last few weeks it has not involved going as far as biting us.

He's not a fan of being carried around, but I've seen_ far _worse reactions. He doesn't turn around and bit us when we put him down anymore at least. He also seems to like tummy rubs and he lets me clean the gunk out of his eyes! Hah. Now _that's_ progress.

Someone he didn't know was in the garage yesterday and he growled and hissed quite a few times at them and got all fluffed up, he went up to hide in his bed twice because they were in the room. I was able to call him back down to sit on my lap but I don't think it would have been pretty if the stranger had crowded his space.

We're also trying scent exchanges. Jasper acts like he might as well not even have a sense of smell as far as Blacky scented stuff goes, which I hope is a good sign...? I have no idea. He's oblivious. Blacky on the other hand has been extremely difficult. This is probably the third week, maybe more, and she's still not impressed with any of his scent. The first time she smelled him on her chair she hissed and left the room, she hasn't slept on the chair since. We've probably made some headway from that point, once I even got her to sit beside me for a few minutes on the chair, but it is _really_ slow going. Every day we're rubbing a t-shirt on her when we feed her that smells like Jasper.

Jasper has also briefly met each of the dogs and gone nose to nose with them, he seems curious, although at least for one of them got all fluffed up.

When it gets a little warmer (March) we'll install a screen door. I can only hope Blacky has improved some by then.

I guess I won't be updating this again since he probably isn't as feral, at least around us, as he was back when I created this. Now it's more an issue of introduction which is still serious... I might make another thread for that in a month or so.

On another note: I hope everything is going smoothly for you, Saly.


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