r/formerlyferal

Hello friends, I am preparing for vacation week soon. I have lined up a pet sitter for my former feral kitty, Buddy, however this will be my first time leaving him for so long. I'm having a lot of worry over this trip as he is absolutely terrified of strangers in the house. He runs and hides under the bed or in the back of the closet and often stays there for hours after the stranger has left. Im wondering if anyone has any tips that will ease our worries. So far plans include cameras in the house to ensure he does come out eventually, two new interactive toys he has never seen to be put out before I leave and a fresh feliway defuser to help his stress. Any suggestions from other forner feral parents would be welcomed. Buddy pic for tax.

Posting a little update of our girl Miss Honey! She’s in my room full time, and we just started having the door open with a full sized baby gate in front of it so she and our resident cat can meet. We’ve had some setbacks with hands, so I’m trying to get her used to my hands to see that they’re not going to hurt her. Lately if I hold my hand out, she’ll test it by tapping it with her paw and lightly biting it to see how I’ll react. I know playing with hands is not ideal, but I’ll take it over her getting scared every time I raise my hand within 2 feet of her!

Anyone else have this with their formerly feral baby?

these two goobers showed up at my house (separately). it took forever to catch either of them, took lots of wet food, talking, and building trust to get them to even consider getting in a trap. Gojo (white) was caught first and took over a year of living in the house with me to even let me get near him. he now lets me scoop him up and give him kisses, he gives me kisses, and will *occasionally* even come cuddle in bed with me🥹 a point i NEVER thought id reach with him. Kitten Little (black) was the most difficult trapping ive ever done. It all started with me playing mama cat calls from youtube to him when he was just a tiny little feral baby in the woods. he’d call back but never come. a couple of months of feeding him and trying to coax him with wet food and treats and mama cat calls, he finally went in a trap. HE THEN BROKE OUT OF THE ENCLOSURE HE WAS IN (kept him outside in a catio until we could combo test him). i was so heart broken. i thought he was gone forever. however, he didn’t go far. he stayed around but would NOT get close to us or our trap. a few months later i FINALLY got him and he did not escape!! but, i couldn’t even look at him without him freaking out. when i attempted to bring him into the house for the first time, he panicked and shredded me and ran into the woods. i looked for him for hours with no luck. i left the catio door open overnight in hopes he may return to familiar grounds. the next morning he had caught a mole for the family and was curled up in the catio. he let me wrap him in my arms and carry him inside. over the past 2 years we slowly built trust and he began letting me pet him for short periods of time. fast forward to now, he is my baby. he loves me so much and i love him so much. we have such a special bond and im so grateful that both of these beautiful boys decided to finally trust a human. they are both so healthy, beautiful, and sweet.🥹💛 i love them so much.

Hey all!

Been a few days since I posted an update and didn’t want anyone to worry.

My old lady is doing great! She is now about 5.6 pounds (she was 4.9 at the start of this adventure) and appears to be like… 98% flea/flea dirt free. She hasn’t had loose 💩 in a few days, and is eating like a horse.

When I come into the bathroom, she gives me her little smokers meow and starts prancing around and rubbing against the counter. We’ve also discovered that she isn’t a fan of coming over her head for pets (I can’t really blame her tbh) but loves scratches on her sides, booty and chin. She also lets me pick her up to weigh her and look her over with no issues.

Monday 07/06 is 2 weeks past her vet visit, which is the time period my vet said we should quarantine to ensure all the buggies have gone to buggy heck. My biiiig void Cosmo has been laying outside the bathroom door chatting to her (you can hear him in the video lol!) and I’m like “dude, you’re literally 4 times her size… please be gentle when she comes out”

Plan is, Monday, I’m going to take 10 minutes at a time and put her in the carrier and sit her next to the bed in the bedroom with me. That way, she and my residents can see and chat with each other with a safe barrier. My clowder (6 neutered boys) are in for a rude awakening of tortitude 🤣.

Thank you guys for sharing this journey with me! I have also created an instagram account for her, but haven’t done much with it yet. It is @queencalliewildheart for anyone wanting to follow along!!!

It’s been a 9 month journey from first seeing this little angel last fall, trying and failing to trap her for six months, and then FINALLY nabbing her (probably just) after getting herself knocked up. She was the most feral cat I’ve ever encountered. For 2.5 months she would lunge and swat and spit and hiss and growl and cower and attack. I was hoping it was just pregnancy hormones making her extra protective, but I wasn’t sure. Then all of a sudden about 2 weeks ago, she headbutted my hand when I opened the door to give her breakfast, and little by little she’s been transforming into the sweetest little girl. She and her babies all have a vet appointment on Wednesday to see if they are healthy enough to join gen pop, but I just wanted to come on here and share this furry little victory 🩷🐈‍⬛

ETA: check my other posts in this sub for more Simon content 😮‍💨

I’ve been feeding this cat for around two years now, and he’s slowly warmed up to me outside. Now he will follow me around the yard and sit in my lap.

I’m moving at the end of July and wanted to take him with me. I took him to the vet and set him up in his own room, and he does mostly well until dawn/dusk when he starts freaking out, trying to climb up the windows and scratching the glass. I’ve tried redirecting with playtime, but he just ignores it. I’m afraid he’s going to hurt himself (or damage the windows, one pane where he climbs has been cracked since we moved in). I’ve gotten very little sleep the past week except on nights where I let him stay outside.

He also won’t go to the bathroom at all indoors. I have a litter box with regular clay litter, and one with some sand from outside. He thinks they are fun to play in, but won’t actually use them. Sometimes when he’s freaking out, I think it’s because he needs to use the bathroom but doesn’t want to go indoors. The longest I’ve kept him inside is around 36 hours before I got worried he would get a UTI or something. Any advice on how I can encourage him to use the box?

I work 8-9 hours a day away from home so it’s also been a challenge balancing that with having a cat who needs more attention, on very little sleep. I feel overwhelmed and rethinking bringing him in, but I don’t want to give up too soon. There are other people in the neighborhood who feed him, but he spends so much time in my yard that I feel bad leaving him. Would he just be happier staying outside in his neighborhood?

I can’t imagine my life without her. I am so happy to be able to provide her safety and comfort for all the rest of her years.

Noodle was in a very busy road next to railroad tracks trying to eat something near the curb. We were passing by and my husband somehow spotted them against the grey pavement. We stopped and my husband tried to catch them but they ran under a metal structure where he couldn't reach. We went home quickly (maybe 5-10min) and grabbed some pate treats and a ribbon toy and Noodle was already in the road again! We cornered and caught them safely, thankfully. There wasn't any sign of other kittens or mom that we could see. Vet appt this morning, they are very scared but bathed themself in front of me after a small breakfast (very thin, so I didn't want to make them sick with too much food). We have two adult cats (10 years that we've had since they were young) but never found a feral kitten before so this will be a new adventure. I'm happy I found this community and the super comprehensive kitten season post!

I’ve been sitting on this for a few days cause I’m still processing. Technically this development makes sense but it’s still SO unexpected.

Rufs has been half blind and hard of hearing ever since he moved in ~2.5 months ago. He could hear toy bells, crinkly bags and my voice if I was right by him, but was unaware of most noise. Couldn’t hear the vacuum or electric toothbrush, neighbour kids outside, nothing. His ears never twitched or moved.

A couple of weeks ago he started antibiotics for a hip infection. About halfway through I started noticing signs of him reacting to sound, but I figured it was just a coincidence…

Then it kept happening, and a few days ago I had my aha 💡 moment and the antibiotics connection clicked for me.

I’ve since tested him numerous times. GUYS. HIS HEARING IS RESTORED. HE HAS NORMAL HEARING.

I don’t know if his hearing issues were due to systemic inflammation, whether bacteria from the hip wound had travelled through the blood stream to his ears or what (both of them??)… but holy crap, the issues are no more.

The first sign was him looking at the kitty cam when I moved it remotely, which makes a buzzing sound. It’s always been right by him and he’s not even noticed it’s there.

Then he got scared of the handheld vacuum I used to clean up some sand the other day. This gave me a big “huh??” moment cause previously he didn’t even wake up or react when I used the BIG vacuum.

What finally made it click: I was on the couch in the other room, and the door to his room was open (but it’s out in the hallway so not super close). I was watching him nap on the kitty cam and, as one does, started talking to him but not really to him, just saying he’s a pretty boy and whatnot. He opened one eye. I waited and then tries a few more times. Each time he opened an eye. At first I thought the microphone function was turned on but when I went to turn it off… it wasn’t even enabled.

His ears now move a little more, he is easy to wake up and he even reacted to the neighbour kids outside our front door.

It also explains why he’s had a bigger reaction to my singing lately. He can finally hear mama properly and he loves it 😭🩷🩷

I’m so happy for him!!

TLDR: Rufs has been hard of hearing ever since he got here 2.5. months ago, and we’ve adapted accordingly. Then he went on a course of antibiotics for his infected hip and now his hearing is restored. Idk if it was systemic inflammation or bacteria travelled there from his hip or what’s going on, but he can definitely hear much better.

I have these 2 feral cats that are living in a house next door that no one lives in. They are living in the crawl space under the house and when they come out they don’t venture very far. My wife and I have provided food and water for them which they are eating. The food is in the cat carrier in the picture. Someone has given us some live traps to catch them but they won’t go near them. This morning I gave them a little bit of plain cooked fish which they gobbled up eagerly. My intentions are to gain there trust and hopefully catch them. I have a place to take them but this has been going on for 2 weeks. Does anyone have any ideas about how to catch them? The crawl space is locked and we have been trying to find out who owns the house so we can gain access under the house.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Well, the overwhelming advice that I got was to go ahead and give Callie a bath if she would tolerate it.

I waited a few days after her vet visit because the dewormer they gave her was a topical (it was called Profender, I had actually never heard of it) and I wanted to give it a chance to fully soak in.

Warm water, used a cup to rinse her and dawn for soap. She did sooo well. Shockingly, she didn’t struggle a ton, and didn’t try to bite or scratch, I think at one point she did “fate accepted” and just went with it. That or the warm water and massage felt good lol.

Used gloves, as she’s a little bit of a poopy monster… so glad I did. As soon as I got her good and lathered, the soap and water coming off of her turned red and brown, and the whole bathroom just reeked of copper. I realized at that point just HOW MUCH flea dirt and dried blood she was coated in. Probably 15 minute of lather and rinse and she was running clear, but still had a bunch stuck up in her neck area. At that point I didn’t wanna keep moving her around tho so I called it and dried her off.

After seeing all that red come off, it is literally NO WONDER the poor thing is so anemic. Goodness gracious.

She’s definitely cleaner, but tomorrow I’ll be running to PetSmart to get a flea comb and will sit with her and comb out the remaining dirt and dead fleas. I did see a few live ones running around, so I think I’m going to give her a capstar tomorrow when I’m off as well. Hopefully that will get her right as rain.

Plus side… after the last few days, the antibiotics, the fluids, and the wormies starting to expel (good lord the work diarrhea) she is so much more alert. She was rubbing the counter and walls in the bathroom last night and meowing at me. We’ve also discovered that she loves scratches on her sides and booty, even though you can feel every dang rib and her hips.

Will give another update this weekend after the comb out and capstar. Vet said 2 weeks from the 22nd for introductions to my other cats, just to give a chance for the parasites to all get 💀.

Thank you guys for the support through this adventure - this is my first time rehabbing a senior street cat. I’ve worked with lots of kittens, but this is my first emaciated skrunkly bag of bones old lady lol.

My husband rescued Jim from the feral colony in our backyard alley. He was really sick when he came to us with a bad URI. He was so matted and greasy, having been outside in a terrible rainstorm. The guy who lives in an RV in the alley told us he’d heard meowing from a trashcan just a couple days before, and had rescued poor little Jim Jr. from it. Anyways, after 4 baths, multiple vet visits, antibiotics, and LOTS of grooming sessions- Jim Jr. will be adopted by my sister on Saturday. Before and after pics

Hi all, I posted not long ago on r/feralcats seeking advice on trapping some feral kittens that the mama (who I have been feeding for some time and suspected was nursing) brought to our garage several weeks ago (pictured here). I'm not seeking TNR advice. As of Sunday, all of the kittens have been trapped and are safely inside acclimating in our spare bedroom (currently in dog crates).

Mama (we call her Tux) has been calling and searching for her babies every night since we took in the last of them. (We shut the garage door to trap them and she immediately bolted as I worked to close it. So she never actually saw us take them.) It's breaking my heart. I am planning to trap her and take her for spaying on Monday. She's really warmed up to us since she brought us the kittens, she rubs our legs and shows us her belly, though she's still wary if we try to pet her. She's shown some interest in coming inside, and I'd like to attempt it after her spay to see how she does. We live in Texas and the heat has already become unbearable.

So, my question is, has anyone here successfully done this? If so, how did you do it? I know we will need to have her crated at first too. And I plan to keep her in a separate room at first so that she doesn't panic about the kittens being contained. But at what point could I reintroduce them? And how do I reintroduce them? Does she need to be totally calm in her separate space, first? And after a few days of being isolated in her own crate, will it be ok for me to work from the same room? I'm a therapist so I'm on meetings and calls all day and I wonder if my presence will help her acclimate more quickly or stress her out.

Clearly I have a million questions. I'm trying to do some research but figured the best option would be to go straight to the source. I'm open to any and all suggestions/advice. TIA!

Sweet Stevie was dumped when he was just a baby. After a couple of months of taking it slow, he finally warmed up to me. I was able to get him fixed and found him a very loving home. Just received this update 🥹

That's Biscuits, cleaning himself, too busy to be bothered with a mouse