situation I get into

Hello home folks, sorry I haven't been posting, and replying to you.We have this other feral cat "Tigger"that has been using us as a meal ticket, well you grow attached to them, and anticipate having food out for him , and when he didn't show for a while we missed seeing him.He is a tough customer, and came hungry, and wounded to our back door.We couldn't get near him.I was told about the Athens cat shelter will rent the cat trap, so he being the sucker for sadiens that he is, was an easy catch.The vet said that he had been shot, and his R front leg was shattered, gave me the options, and I contacted DG pets, and ask for help, and advice, and they have been wonderful.So to bring you up to date we now have a three legged feral, that is going to be almost imposible to tame, although he shows good signs with DW, but I think he blames me with the other problems.When I trapped him he would scratch the cage, and bite through the wire.Up until this morning he would hiss, and spit, and a wild growl sound would come out of the box.DW said "I would be mad too in that dark box, and went to walmart, and bought him a nice kennel cage, and a "hide him " bed, and DW must be wright.Mike

Mike your a good man!!

Once they are feral, they will always be feral. A family member picked up two feral kittens from behind a dumpster and couldn't get the mother. For some reason I can't remember now, they lived with me and I didn't know any better and I tried to make them indoor cats.. For over 1 year!! UGH!!!! I'll spare you the details, but they hated me and I could no longer stand to feed something that ran away from me no matter how hard I tired, so I finally had to let them live outdoors where they were accustomed and one eventually ran off, even though they were both fixed and the other got hit by a car... sad..

We have coyotes now, so any outdoor cat will eventually become a snack.

Good luck with them..

Susan

Mike, it's not unusual that the cat will bond only with one of the humans so don't feel bad. We have 4 strays and they were all feral. They will all display feral behavior at some point, especially when pushed or stressed.
Baby Kitty is the passive aggressive feral. She has bonded deeply with my husband but always regards me with a suspicious eye. Now, she does show she likes me, occasionally I can pet her now, or she smells my hand. Sometimes she sleeps on me (when I am sleeping) or will brush by me but usually it's just lovey looks from a distance. All this took about 5 years to accomplish and she was 6 months when we finally caught her.
Ferals are always special. Boo is "my" cat (sleeping here on my knee) 2 when we got her, she is now as domesticated as she will get. But every single time we let her on the porch she will attempt to escape (cancer has made her a totally indoor cat now). She's had heartworm and cancer and a serious infection all bringing her close to death. Yet her she is. I can kiss her face, she now sits on my knee ... and you'd have never believed that 3 years ago!! Like your little guy, she was a snarling, cage chewing mess when we got her. But trained and loved with compassion and fiercely taught that I am the alpha cat, she's calmed down.

Good luck with yours. There is hope. You are so good to take this little creature in and give it a chance,

GGG

Oh gosh Glynis, your a saint.. I couldn't go 5 years!!

We took in an alley cat years ago but he has always been friendly (one reason we adopted him).

Our daughter rescued a kitten from a feral mother (the SPCA captured all the wild cats at her work place but they didn't know about the litter of kittens left behind) and while mischievious as cats are is very playful with people. She had to be bottle fed for a month or two after our daughter took her in because she was so young.

Here she is with our dog who let her run all over him a couple of years ago.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh Mike.... You and your wife big softies too. : ) Bles s your little hearts!

Isn't it amazing what we will do for hurt and hungry creatures. Poor thing sure has been tramatized by all that has happened to it and maybe by the time Tigger heals, he /she will be just a bit more domesticated. One thign about cats, they do rememebr who good to them and who ain't. And now with only having thre e legs, maybe a bit of the feral will go away since Tigger seeing ya taken such good care of it.

I don't know if Tigger will ever bond with us, but we are goping to give him the best chance he could get.DW says that he was nice just to watch him, when I first met Paxil they were hanging out together, and I managed to scratch the neck just behind her ears, and first she ran then came right back for a little more.Then Tigger would observe her from a distance, and wonder at this new found "person" hanging out with Paxil, then grew to resent her.He would do a rapid low crawl, and spring on her, and she would run for my lap.Tigger soon learned that wher Paxil is food wasn't far from her.One cool morning I had the house a little warm from the wood heat, and I opened the front door so the storm door would be enought to cool us down, and I could see a head looking in the window, I said "theres a cat looking in at me".I moved over for a better look, and he moved back so as to keep me from seeing him.He then learned that if you "peep" in the window, you'll get food, and thats what he thaught, and it must work, because he got fed.So there is a closer bond, than meets the eye.We didn't trap him just because he was a helpless victome of a neighbors shooting, thats the only we could get him to the vet.While at the vet I ask if we could down on his roaming, and fighting, and thats what I think he blames me for.Mike

Hahahahahah. Love that part, " down his roaming and fighting a bit." I get it now. : ) All things take time. Hopefully Tigger will get to be as friendly as Paxil.

Paxil!!?? Hilarious!! Great and perfect name for a Feral!! :)

Susan

Susan, this is the most intertaining cat I have ever seen.I use to scare squrriels out of my pots, and beds, but now no need.Paxil will chase them up the tree, and almost get them.Paxil loves to jump in the back of my four wheeler trailer, and ride.When I walk Heather,(weimarranier) to the mail box mornings, Paxil will join us, and we look like a family.At first Heather hated cats, and was dangerious for them.Paxil started out getting under the car, and extended the hand of friendship, until Heather gave up, and Paxil marked her face to face.They really like each other, and act like old friends.I laughed myself silly last Wed. when Heather was selecting "the perfect" spot to go to the bathroom, Paxil watched carefully, like early stage development kids, and went to the spot to show her how to cover it up.Heather couldn't figure it out, and you could tell there was something missing in comunacation with them. Mike

Not meaning to bore anyone, but we are very proud of our Heather, and her doings.Heather could be the best hunting dog a man could want.I grew up in the yadkin valley of NC, and we had what is called "field trials"I don't believe I ever saw a single over power a racoon to the death, but a pair of good dogs could.Its been around four years ago when we let Heather out to answer natures call, and some one was on the phone with me, and DW was doing her regular signals that Heather wasn't comming back in.Finally got free from the phone, and Heather was on her way in, and you could tell she was panting hard.I didn't make any thing of it, until I mowed the next morning.When I did the back portion of the yard(last), I saw a dead racoon, and it was huge.An old boar, that could whip two ordanary dogs.I took it to make sure it didn't have rabbies, and weight it.Twenty six pounds, and the guy at the health dept said, "no one dog could have killed that one, it had to have been a pack". I can't prove my dog did it alone, but she does every thing herself, and is not a packer.Heather will turn fourteen Yrs.old march 22.This pic is us on her thirteenth BD. Mike

Mike Thats my B-day too! :) .. I'm not as good a hunter though...

She's beautiful.. Here's my Georgia Pearl..

Larkie

Aren't they the most ?My Heather has to own both of us, and actually smarter than we are, if your are not completly on your toes.Mike

They are for sure , the most...Their smartness is at times, very scary.. I can easily forget she is not a person..My Georgia is only 2 1/2 years old, but she is my second Weimaraner..Our first, we lost at 12 years to cancer.

Larkie

I know I'm not young enough to go through another,because I had to prove I meant what I ment, and got pretty dirty demonstrating what I ment, but she really has me in the # 1 position.She, as a puppy, would over power DW, and take away the gentle leader leash and run play keep away.She knew where the fence was weak, and went for it.My first little battle was to just hold her down, and no way I could do that now, she would be running with the gentle leader leash passing me.When it gets like that you have no control over them.Heather will do most every thing I tell her, and this past week I had to giver her some antibiotics, and she was so opposed to having her mouth forced open, so I told her that daddy could open heathers mouth, but its easier for heather to open her mouth, and said"open your mouth", and that was so cute.So now pills are for her to open the mouth.Mike

How's it going with the cat, Mike?!

GGG

Thanks for asking GGG.Today, being a pretty day, we took Tigger on a "field trip".I traped Tigger and took him to the vet, and really, Tigger didn't know where he is, so we moved him out on the back patio, witch he is very familier with.I was so cute to see him stand on his back feet, and really take it in.This is also the first time we have seen his operation, and really didn't know how much leg they took.This outing was good for all of us, but Paxil, who is so jealious of anything between she and I that she got out in the yard, and gave me the old cold sholdier.When Tigger gets his hair back we will let him go back out, if thats what he wants.Mike

Hey Mike:
You are so awesome at letting Tigger have the quality of life he wants.
When we rescued Boo Boo we let her out. Then she got heart worm and it cost us a bundle to get rid of that. Still, she wanted out so I let her out. Then she gets cancer a few years later. This type of cancer is only transmitted through Feline AIDS infected cats (her boyfriend at the time, and yes, she was fixed!!) - even though she was innoculated, the cats can still get cancer (but rarely) from it. So then after thousands of dollars in chemo she's doing awesome but I can't let her out ever again. It is so sad as she wants that freedom. I tried hard to give her the quality of life she wanted but now I can't risk her getting any kind of illness, infection or anything ever again. She LOVED her garden. That's what she wants, to go out and sit on her rock in the herb garden, the day after a nice warm rain when the herbs are so scented. It is her delight. Sometimes I feel really guilty about keeping her inside. But after all the tears I can't bear to have her sick again...and she can't probably handle getting sick of any kind again, so I have to keep her in. Not that Boo doesn't enjoy her life, it's just not the same to her.
I hope Tigger does well and can keep his quality of life as long as he can.

GGG

GGG, it hurts me to keep him up, but until he gets his fur back, I would feel that he would freeze.He has had all the shots the vet could think of, and I understand that when I give him his freedom, that I may not see him again.I have really grown close to him, and he is a very good cat, and never makes a sound, just sneeks a peek at us until we look at him, and he dissapears in the hidey hole bed.Thank you for carring for Boo Boo, and who knows we might have a cat that trust, and loves us.That would make every thing worth while.Mike