Feral cat in 5er

n7bsn wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:
I've seen kittens born in the wild from a feral and domestic parents that never were tame enough to let anyone touch them even after they reached adulthood. Oh sure they will take food just like a bird/coon or park deer/etc......but they make poor cuddly pets. Were not talking about a poor alley cat having kittens.

IMO some of the folks replying don't understand what a feral animal is. Hell we have a very serious feral hog problem in my area. Most folks know where feral hogs came from and how/why they stay feral. It takes several cycles of breeding with domestic hogs to get rid of the wildness/aggression.

Cats are no different.

As long as we could catch the kittens by four or so weeks, they would completely tame and become lap fungus.
Happened every litter we caught, well over a dozen.

Sitting here typing with my 6 year old FERAL cat. He was born in a feral colony I managed and lived as a feral for 4 years. I finally brought him in during a brutal winter after most of the colony had either passed away or moved on. He is the most loving cat you could have. I have also rehomed over a dozen true ferals(adults) that with patience and animal understanding have become wonderful pets.

JIMNLIN wrote:
I've seen kittens born in the wild from a feral and domestic parents that never were tame enough to let anyone touch them even after they reached adulthood. Oh sure they will take food just like a bird/coon or park deer/etc......but they make poor cuddly pets. Were not talking about a poor alley cat having kittens.

IMO some of the folks replying don't understand what a feral animal is. Hell we have a very serious feral hog problem in my area. Most folks know where feral hogs came from and how/why they stay feral. It takes several cycles of breeding with domestic hogs to get rid of the wildness/aggression.

Cats are no different.

As long as we could catch the kittens by four or so weeks, they would completely tame and become lap fungus.
Happened every litter we caught, well over a dozen.

JIMNLIN wrote:
I've seen kittens born in the wild from a feral and domestic parents that never were tame enough to let anyone touch them even after they reached adulthood. Oh sure they will take food just like a bird/coon or park deer/etc......but they make poor cuddly pets. Were not talking about a poor alley cat having kittens.

IMO some of the folks replying don't understand what a feral animal is. Hell we have a very serious feral hog problem in my area. Most folks know where feral hogs came from and how/why they stay feral. It takes several cycles of breeding with domestic hogs to get rid of the wildness/aggression.

Cats are no different.

We rescued the one feral kitten that would allow human touch. A friend was feeding them. He wasn't cuddly at first, but made a fine pet with time.

I've seen kittens born in the wild from a feral and domestic parents that never were tame enough to let anyone touch them even after they reached adulthood. Oh sure they will take food just like a bird/coon or park deer/etc......but they make poor cuddly pets. Were not talking about a poor alley cat having kittens.

IMO some of the folks replying don't understand what a feral animal is. Hell we have a very serious feral hog problem in my area. Most folks know where feral hogs came from and how/why they stay feral. It takes several cycles of breeding with domestic hogs to get rid of the wildness/aggression.

Cats are no different.

JIMNLIN wrote:

lots2seeinmyrv wrote:
Turn on a radio and blast some annoying music see if that will get it to leave.

This is what I done for cats and skunks around my trailer shed and barns. A light at nite can also helps.

A skunk just showed up on our back deck yesterday morning. Stinks to high heaven. We put the radio on all night and so far it's gone. Getting the chicken wire installed around the deck today so it doesn't crawl back under there.

The radio works. Friends had a boat dock and the left the radio on to keep the beavers away.

My mom has been working on a colony of 7 in her neighborhood.

It's taken about a year of daily feeding, but they now all allow her to touch them, and a couple come up to her for petting even when she does not have food. She already got them all spayed/neutered and found homes for the existing kittens.

It looks like at least most of them will become pets. But she has a lot of time to put into them :)

Naio wrote:

2oldman wrote:
How is a kitten 'born' wild?

Its parents are wild -- either feral or abandoned.

Such kittens, in my experience, take about 30 minutes to tame :).

Food is all it takes

Back before we found a group that would TNR (Trap-Neuter-Release) the local colony we would trap the kittens (real easy), then trap the mother(easy, once you have the kittens). We could never tame the mother, but the kittens were plain easy.

The kittens we found good homes for.

Most animal groups do NOT want to come and clean out a feral colony, because what will happen is another colony will form, in the same area, within months.
Since all colonies are made up of related females, it doesn't take long for the colony to start growing... All it takes is one male.

What they suggest is to have the colony TNRed and released back in the same area. That way they form a stable colony, for years to come.
We had our local colony (made up of the daughters and grand-daughters of a tossed "tame" cat) TNRed about 10 years ago.
Nesting boxes and a little food and they have made our yard their base.
The years have taken their toll, and a colony once made up of 9 cats is down to two. Once they are gone we will certainly contact our local "Barn Cats" group and have another two or three out-door girls.

2oldman wrote:
How is a kitten 'born' wild?

Its parents are wild -- either feral or abandoned.

Such kittens, in my experience, take about 30 minutes to tame :).

I have found feral kittens easy to tame. Adults, maybe not.

But I don't know whether the OP knows if the cat in question is feral or an abandoned pet. It's hard to imagine a true feral cat wanting to nest in a place that smells like humans.

How is a kitten 'born' wild?