Taming Ferals
By Linda Boumarafi

Taming feral cats and kittens is not hard, but does take the right environment and plenty of patience and TLC. The belief that feral kittens beyond a certain age cannot be tamed (a mythical age that seems to vary between 6 and 16 weeks) is unfounded. My experience has shown that taming feral kittens can be as easy or as difficult as taming feral adults. Each feral is different and will progress at its own pace as it begins to feel safe and secure and develops trust in the person taming it.

Generally speaking, taming is a two-part process. First, you need to establish a bond of trust between you and the feral. On average, establishing trust takes 2-6 weeks, though some ferals are ready to trust much sooner, while others take much longer. Socialization then follows. The socialization process can take months, but it's very much worth the effort and the new owner can expect to have a very loving pet the feral has made the complete adjustment. If you are taming and adopting out, you need to successfully complete the first step so that the new owners can work through the second step with your help.

The procedures for taming cats and kittens is essentially the same, though with young kittens you need to determine whether or not they are weaned and can urinate/defecate without assistance. A vet can help you determine this if you are unsure. The bonding and socialization will come in little steps and I find each step to be a wondrous event!

ESTABLISHING TRUST

The first thing you need to do is get the veterinary care over as quickly as possible. After trapping a feral, I transfer the cat into a large wire crate with room enough for a small cat carrier with door, food and water, and a small litterbox. Keep the crate covered, for being trapped in a cage is very terrifying to a wild animal, and at this point that is what you're dealing with. I leave the crate in the garage until I have had my feral to the vet for testing, shots and spay/neuter. If you don't have other animals in the house, you can skip the garage step. I try to get the cat to the vet within a day or two tops. Be sure to let your vet know he/she is dealing with a feral cat so appropriate precautions can be taken to avoid a bite or the cat escaping. My vet usually anesthetizes before doing either testing or surgery, but it really depends on how manageable the cat is.

To get the cat to the vet, I simply remove the cover from the crate; the cat will run for cover into the cat carrier. I then open the crate door and shut the carrier door. Thus, I'm off to the vet without having to handle my wildie. Once in a while, I have to poke a broom handle into the crate to coax the wildie from behind the carrier, but that's really more the exception than the rule.

After the trip to the vet, I move my feral into a quiet room that can be closed off from the rest of the house. This should be a room without ceiling tiles, duct work or any other inaccessible hiding places, because once freed these are exactly where your feral will head once it is freed from the cage.

I leave my wildie in the cage until I am comfortable that there aren't any complications from surgery and until it is litterbox trained. Litterbox training actually begins when you bring your wildie home and is sometimes accomplished before you get the cat to the vet (obtaining a stool sample for a fecal check in the process).

To begin box training, pour some litter in the bottom of the litterbox. Put a little cat waste from your own cats' box in there (if you have cats) and cover the litter and waste with potting soil. Feral cats cover their feces with dirt, so the potting soil will make this seem somewhat natural. As the cat begins to use the box, you can taper off on the amount of potting soil until the cat is using litter. I usually find that box training takes 2-3 days and during that time you may want to avoid putting soft bedding in the cage, as some cats may use that instead of the litter. Your goal is to get kitty out of the cage as soon as possible.

While the feral is caged, clean the cage daily. Cats, even feral ones, are clean animals and do not like to be around filth. You'll actually score a few points with your wildie when it sees you taking care of the environment. When you need to clean, remove the cover from the crate and close the cat carrier with your feral inside.

Once kitty has the litterbox concept mastered and appears to be bouncing back from surgery, you need to release the wildie into the quiet room that has hiding places that are accessible to you. You may be able to begin establishing a bond in the cage with some ferals, but others are not receptive as long as they feel trapped. You'll have to play it by ear, but realize that once the feral has been released into the room the real bonding can begin.

To start, let the cat get settled into a hiding place. Set out the food and water and litterbox in the room and then locate your feral friend. Talk to the kitty softly and slowly blink your eyes at the same time. At some point, kitty will probably start blinking back at you and you can cautiously proceed to the next step, which is touching. Be prepared to back off as often as necessary. Your goal is to scratch your wildie's head without getting scratched or bitten yourself. Watch kitty's eyes and if they begin to dilate, you should back off. If kitty loses bowel or bladder control, definitely back off, because if your wildie is scared enough to lose control, it definitely will be on the defensive.

I had a dilute calico that took six months to establish trust, and I was about ready to give up and re-release her when she finally came around. My calico lost bowel and bladder control frequently in the beginning when I approached her. I didn't make a big deal out of this except to tell her softly I was sorry for scaring her so and then I cleaned the area well with an enzymatic cleaner, so as to not undo the litterbox training. In general, wild cats are very particular about litter habits, since good habits are a must for survival in the wild. Feral cats do not like to urinate or defecate near their home base, since this may alert predators. To date, I have not had inappropriate elimination problems with my ferals other than this particular situation.

Extra efforts were needed to bond with her. I left my sweaters and bath towels in her hiding places for her to sit on and get used to my scent Wearing gloves, I picked the feral calico up about once a week and tried to love her up. Once she was in my hands, I could take the gloves off without fear of attack. Initially, this was very stressful for her and not very enjoyable, but I wanted her to get used to handling. I also licked my fingers and rubbed them on her face, as if to give her a finger bath. Sometimes feeding little meat treats will help, but in this kitty's case she turned her nose up at every single one, even if I put it near her and left the room. Rubbing the cat down with your bath towel to mark it with your scent may helps, might leaving fleece-lined kitty beds or soft blankets in the room.

In one of my talk sessions with her I told her she would be free to go when spring came and I wouldn't keep her any longer since she didn't seem to be able to adapt to this life. Somehow she seemed to understand and decided life indoors wasn't so bad. She is still with us and is absolutely devoted to my husband.

If you've got a biter on your hands, you'll need to progress at a slower pace and wear thick gloves to protect your hands. When possible, I try to proceed without gloves because they seem to scare the cats, but sometimes they are necessary. If you do get bit, clean the would immediately and thoroughly; if the wound begins to show signs of infection you need to seek medical attention. Inflamed cat bite wounds can become serious without medical attention. You'll also need to watch your feral closely for the next 10 days for signs of rabies. In my state, law requires unowned, stray animals to be euthanized and checked for rabies if a bite is reported. I usually say I own the animal since I have the animal in my home and can monitor it.

Once you've got kitty accepting head scratches, the next step is to move to chin scratches and finally back scratches. I stay at this step until I can get a purr out of my wildie, which tells me I'm making progress and scoring points! A purr is like music to my ears, and I know I'll be able to go the rest of the way. From this point, you'll try to coax your kitty from hiding and to accept being handled.

I try to coax kitty to the edge of the hiding place first while I am petting it. Once this is accomplished, I work at trying to pick kitty up and carry it to a chair with me for a love session. This is another big step and you have to be prepared to back off a little when necessary. The backing off re-affirms the bond of trust because it communicates to the cat that it is in control and that you're not going to harm or force it to do anything uncomfortable. You may have to start loving the cat on the floor outside of the hiding place before you progress to the chair, but by this time you and your wildie should be communicating enough for you to know how quickly you can progress. Once I've got the cat so it will sit next to me in a chair or on the couch and accept lots of loving, the bond of trust is pretty much established. This is a good point to begin getting kitty to accept another person's touch and to introduce kitty to the other cats in the house. Socialization now begins.

SOCIALIZATION

Once you've bonded, kitty is ready to learn about life indoors. As mentioned above, this is a good place to begin introducing other people, maybe one or two since you don't want to overwhelm your wildie. It's also a time to begin playing. String games are always a favorite. You might try introducing your wildie to catnip, though usually the first few times I have to put the catnip in the room and then leave. Once your kitty figures out catnip, catnip toys can become a real source of amusement, too! Remember every experience is new to these cats and they have to warm up to it.

At this point, I also begin introducing my cats to the wildie. At first I open the door and let mine in to sniff around for 15-20 minutes. Gradually, I allow lengthen the access until I leave the door open all the time. Watching indoor cats interact in the environment will help your wildie learn a lot about indoor life. After a few days (or weeks) of leaving the door to your feral kitty's room open all the time, you can move the litterbox and food and water dishes out, forcing your wildie to explore the environment. Often this will only happen at night while you're in bed. I have my wildies share food and water dishes and litterboxes with my cats to speed up the socialization process, but this requires some free feeding.
While this is happening, continue strengthening the trust bond with your kitty. Keep pulling him/her out of hiding for love and/or play sessions and try to introduce kitty to the other cats. Pet the other cats and then let feral kitty sniff your hands. Rub your hands on feral kitty and let your own cats sniff your hands before rubbing feral kitty's scent on them.

Your feral kitty will begin coming out to sit at night on the furniture or wherever the other cats sit. At first the feral will run when you appear, but eventually your feral will let you walk up and pet it. Finally, your feral will begin showing up during daylight hours, especially if you feed in the morning. Allow your feral time to get used to the hubbub of the house and to stop being a nocturnal creature. Cats are nocturnal by nature, so coming out during the day is an alien experience to most feral cats, who strictly abide by the laws of nature to ensure survival. The amount of time it takes to fully adjust varies with each cat.

If you are planning on placing the feral cat, be sure to let your new owners know they're getting a shy kitty as most of them need to be resocialized once they are placed. They will go back into hiding and will need to be coaxed out and made to feel comfortable by their new owners. The adjustment process can take a while, but usually goes much quicker the second time around. Most feral cats are not real people cats and tend to bond closely with one or a select few individuals, though one of my own cats, a former feral, is an exception to that rule. The affection they develop for the people that provide them with a safe, secure life free of danger and hunger is usually very deep. They really do best with older or single adults looking for a companion.

Feral cats require much time and effort to acclimate them to life as a housecat, but the results more than make up for the work involved in taming them. The next time your path crosses that of a feral cat, consider taking it under your care and preparing it for a life free of stress, whether with you or with another.

Linda Boumarafi