Question On Rehoming Ferals

[Liz]

Here in the Clan Cats Family we have 20 ferals ranging from really nice to severely nasty long with 15 domestics and a rescue Ragdoll and like Dawn we love our ferals and treat them the same as the others in all respects.  We are down to 12 indoor only cats all ferals that don't go out as we had to trap most of them after the great escape last year after they broke a window and 30 of the mon feral and domestic decided to do a runner and it took 6 long months to get 29 back and Rio one year on is still sitting on top of the trap so he is still work in progress!

Since moving we have picked up a couple of feral strays Tyson and Cooper and are getting them neutered although have to catch the sods first although Tyson does come every day but not at convenient vet times!

All ours are loved and wanted all injected, id chipped and neutered except Ace as there is no bloddy way he comes near us unless we are chopping meat and then he will launch at you all claws flying and he means war but get out the laser pen and he loves us!  Ace came in at 2.5 years old and his Mother Gracie to us at 15 and she has now decided we are okay and is a rather large tortie dribble chops as long as she can't see the brush!

I have domestics for all age groups of the ferals and they all live in harmony and are safe and also love the dogs their biggest complaint is the humans!

[Hippykitty]

Polly was a feral. She wasn't vicious, but incredibly frightened of people. Samantha had spent some time as a stray, but has a more fiesty personality. They grew close at the cat rescue when Samantha defended Polly against other cats (who picked on her) and Polly helped Sam raise her kittens (she'd had a C section because she was so young, and had little idea how to mother, whereas Polly had spent her life till then bearing and raising kittens).

It took about six months of quiet care to tame Polly to the point where she would sit on my lap. Sam helped by purring while being fussed while Polly peeped out from behind furniture and realised that for some odd reason, Sam enjoyed being touched by a human!

You need lots of patience to tame a feral, and not expect too much too soon. You won't even see them for a while - they'll be hiding.

Now Polly is a soppy fur rug who drapes across my lap. She's still timid with strangers.

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

This is a good subject.  I just lurve feral cats! 


I was speaking recently, to a lady who heads the London branch of Cat Action Trust 1977, which you may or may not know, specialise in work with ferals. She said she has just rehomed a young cat which took a year to tame down. But the cat in question was about 18 months when caught and very, very wild. She wanted to keep it and tame it rather than re-release it because it was an exceptional character. Apparently it would hang out near a church yard used by office workers for the lunch breaks. When people put their sandwiches down on the bench whilst they poured their coffee, puss would do a snatch and grab. Puss was so fast, it took some folks months to figure out where their lunches went

There's no genetic difference between domestics and ferals, so it's down to environment. A stray domestic queen who gives birth in the wild can have kittens that'll take you fingers off. Similarly, if you catch a feral kitten at the right age, with some work and dedication, it'll be a great big cuddle bum.


The single biggest factor to bear in mind with ferals cats is that they are, on the whole, petrified of mankind and live a lot of their lives in fear. This is why when they are rehomed into a farm type environment, they really need a pal for support. But teaming a feral with a domestic won't make it tame. Ferals need to regain their trust in people and the only way that can happen is when a person like Dawn makes it happen. 

[Dawn (DiddyDawn)]

All my ferals are rehomed in pairs.  In the wild they are used to colonies and all mine would go to pieces without a buddy.  I do rehome into home environments where possible.......this is ideally what I would love for all mine but it isn't always possible.   Most ferals get on with other cats, I have a few of my own domestic cats and all dote on each other and are fine with my dogs as well.   They even get on well with the parrots although the parrots do chase the odd one    So in answer to your question, yes    When I say I rehome ferals in pairs, they don't have to go with another feral, but a cat they are close to here which can either be a feral or a domestic.

Some peeps reckon ferals can't be homed in a home environment, this is absolute and utter rubbish........all mine are indoor, they use the trays most of the time  but treat the house like a domestic would, they snuggle up on the settee and the beds, play with the toys, can be total mither bums so basically don't really act much different to a domestic.

[MBll]

Right I know some rescues deal in ferals & either return them to the place they  came from after neutering or rehome to other places like farms, stables etc...but do the rescues well the ones on here ever rehome ferals into a home even with a  non feral ( house cat whatever want to call it) cat already there or goes with a non feral  so like dogs the normal so to speak cat can 'show the way' to the other one?


Hope ya get the gist of what im  trying to say as Im no puting it across properly?