In honor of Feral Cat day October 16, I thought sharing Rico’s story would be appropriate.
A few years ago I came home from work and found an orange tabby cat curled up on the front porch with my cat. I thought, “How nice, Pewter has a friend of her own species.” It wasn’t long before the new fellow revealed himself as less than friendly. I trapped him and took him to be neutered. The vet assured me he wasn’t just a stray, but was a feral cat, one who had never been socialized to humans. They guessed his age at about three years old, and cautioned me that an adult feral cat could not be tamed. The gauntlet was thrown and the game was on.
Little did I guess that day that the Mad Catter would not only become a content, friendly family member, but that I was embarking on a six year project!
The first year, Rico remained outdoors, and twice a day I set a bowl of food out for him, then sat 30 feet away and talked softly to him while he ate. Each day I pulled the bowl a few inches closer. After he began to recognize his name I made up a song, using his name every few words, and sang to him for his dinner. Oh wait, wasn’t it Rico who was supposed to sing for his dinner?
Fall turned to winter, then to spring, and summer, and by this time the bowl had crept all the way up the sidewalk and lodged beneath my bent knees. Rico accepted this new dinner hideaway as long as I didn’t touch him. He had learned to trust a human, sort of.
Our big breakthrough happened when he got ear mites. I trapped him again, and off we went to the vet. I explained that I had never touched him and asked if I could pet him while they anesthetized him to treat his ears. I stroked him and spoke to him, using his name often for the few minutes he was out. That night when I let him out of his crate he walked over and rubbed against my leg.
For a couple of years he came and went through the cat door, bringing me lovely gifts — or so he thought – big fat roof rats. When I could not stomach one more rat tail on the living room floor, he became an indoor cat. That did not go smoothly. For a year he would get out his megaphone at night and stand at the bottom of the stairs yowling, “Let me outa here!“ I considered finding him a home with a hearing impaired person, but he finally agreed to make do with the covered pen I built for him on the other side of the cat door.
Rico is now head of the household, ruling the two dogs and the human. He enjoys company, interacts happily with anyone who will give him attention, is compelled to lick something, anything, when being petted. He sleeps in my bed and wakes me with a nibble on the tip of my nose. The naysayers were wrong, it is possible to tame a feral cat. Here is Rico today at 12 years old. 
Technorati Tags: taming a feral cat, Feral Cat Day
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Vicki:
What a great story! Rico looks like a loved and happy cat. His story is very similar to what my husband and I are going through with Dexter.
Dexter is a ginger-cat who appeared in our woods last July. We are suckers for cats and began feeding him. At first he would only come to the edge of the woods and the slightest movement from us would send him running. But he caught on pretty quickly that we brought the food and he began tolerating us being nearby (say 6-8 feet away) while he ate – as long as there was a boundary (trees, a fence, a car) between us. After a month or so, he would let me get as close as a couple of feet away, but still would dart away if I so much as moved.
Over the summer, he started hanging around more and more and would appear from the woods whenever we went outside. He is the most vocal cat I’ve ever met and will meow back and forth with us in conversation (our neighbors must think we are batty!). He would occasionally play (especially after eating), chasing a string or stick – but we have never been able to touch him.
As summer ended and we realized we were growing more and more attached, we decided to try and trap him. Borrowed a hav-a-heart trap, baited and waited. The trap was near the house and we were able to watch through the windows. He entered the trap but did not trip the switch immediately. It must have made a noise however and he raced out just as the door closed. Of course, after that, he would not go anywhere near the trap – even after we withheld food for 3 days (very difficult to do!). Luckily, we didn’t seem to have any real loss of trust with him.
By early fall, Dexter had become more relaxed about being in our yard (as opposed to the woods) and we moved his eating area up to our front steps. He now lets me sit next to him (about 12-18 inches away) while he eats – but still I can not touch him. (I’ve snuck in a few pats when he wasn’t looking, and of course he jumps away. But only a few feet and he always comes right back.) Like you did with Rico, I sing to him while he eats (learned that trick from one of my other cats). He also likes when I make a purring noise (luckily, the neighbors probably can not hear that!). Dexter looks me directly in the eye and will hold my gaze, he is also big on eye-squeezes and we do that back and forth to one-another. He rolls over and shows me his tummy, stretches, scratches and plays in front of us – but sometimes he will catch himself letting his guard down – and then off to the woods he goes to re-feralize!
We have realized that we are neither going to be able to trap him nor tame him before the cold New Hampshire winter sets in so we built a winter shelter after finding instructions on the internet (2 plastic tubs with insulation and hay inside). (See my husband’s blog entry for his account: http://mikelynchcartoons.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-i-did-for-feral-cat-day-2009.html) All comfy, cozy and warm; and of course, being a cat, Dexter wouldn’t go near it. When that didn’t work, we stacked a few hay bales on our front porch and made a little tunnel for him. Go figure, he sleeps in there every night and realizes it is his “home”.
Sadly, we can’t just open the doors and let him in. We have 3 indoor cats and cannot expose them to any diseases he might have. So it’s trap or tame and get him to the vets – but eventually we do hope to integrate him into our household.
We’ve grown to love this little guy and are terribly worried about the coming winter. Any advice you might have would be welcome. In the meantime, we’ll just keep enjoying our breakfasts and dinners with him and keep trying to push the envelope just the right amount. We are confident he can be tamed – it’s only a matter of time!
Stacy, thanks for sharing your wonderful story about taming a feral cat. It is very similar to the slow but steady progress Rico and I made. You’re making great headway with Dexter. Isn’t it a special process to win over such a scaredy cat!
Your baled hay tunnel might be enough to keep him safe through the winter. You might add a pillow wrapped in plastic to keep it dry, then cover with a thick bed of straw so that it feels natural to him but keeps him off the cold ground. Another possibility might be to put a heating pad set on low in his cubby hole. You’d need to cover it with some kind of non-flammable material so that there’s no risk of the hay igniting. At a feed store and at some pet stores you can get heated water bowls to keep his water from freezing.
He’s a lucky boy to have mentors like you two looking after him. Maybe as the winter comes on he’ll be more motivated to come closer.
One trick with the Have-a-heart traps is to cover them with a blanket, leaving just the open end uncovered. Sometimes cats will go in when they can’t see the trap.
Please keep us informed about your progress. I’ll be cheering for Dexter this winter.
Hi Vicki:
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement! I will definitely try disguising the trap.
We had what I think was a little breakthrough with Dexter last night. After he ate he was in a playful mood so I dragged a stick along the ground for him to chase. He was having fun and I started sneaking in a few paw rubs with the stick. Then, I began blatently caressing his feet and legs and then his chest with the stick. He looked at up at me as if to ask, “Is this part of the game?” (answer: “Yes, get used to it!”) – but he didn’t stop me or run away.
Later that evening he appeared right outside our kitchen door (the main door we use) – a place he’s never been before. Again, he didn’t run away so we herded the other cats into the bedroom and opened that door and the door to our basement, hoping he’d come inside. I could see him considering it – he took a few steps forward, then scared himself and went back down into the yard. Still, it was a big step for him.
And then something even bigger – he began to purr!! I have never heard him purr before and nearly cried! I’m sure that sounds silly, but I know you know what it is like to have had this cat, basically ours, for four months now and never have been able to touch him!
So we are making some progress here and will keep inviting him inside. I think maybe he’s deciding that we are his people! Wish us luck!
Oh, that boy is so ready to become a house cat! It took a few years for Rico to find his purr, and even today it still gives me a thrill to hear it.
Here’s an idea for next time he comes to the kitchen door. Put some yummy food down a foot inside the door. (I’ve learned as a pet sitter that many cats don’t like canned food, so if he prefers kibble, that will do). Then leave the door open and move away from the door slowly. Turn away so that you can still see him from peripheral vision, but he doesn’t know you’re looking at him. Then busy yourself calmly in the kitchen and start humming to him. He might just step in next time. Each time he’ll inch in a little further.
Please keep the stories coming. I feel like I know Dexter!
DEXTER UPDATE
Hi Vicki:
We’ve made some amazing progress with Dexter the last couple of weeks. Since my last update, he has become a regular at our kitchen door, purrs constantly and has even been inside the house a couple of times – only a few feet and only with his escape route open, but it’s a start. We have moved his little hay house to an area underneath our side porch. He’s pretty sheltered on all sides now but still has a couple of escape routes (very important to him).
The big news is that Dexter has become quite a pat hound!!!! He lets me pat him with a stick regulary now and loves cheek rubs and head rubs – leeaaaanns his whole body into the pats. Long back rubs seem pretty OK too. He’s even rolled over and shown me his tummy a few times (but I’m not falling for that old trick!!). Most importantly, he has started letting me touch him every now and then. He doesn’t seem to mind as long as I start with the stick and then work up to the “live” hand pats. He’ll usually let me get about a dozen in and then suddenly “realize” what’s going on and jump away. But my little sweetheart is just as soft and fleecy as I knew he would be and I am so thrilled that we have gotten this far.
Dexter is not quite ready yet to completely let his guard down and become a house cat but we are getting closer every day. Problem is, the more progress we make and the more attached we get to him, the more I worry. Obviously, he’s not going to stay under our porch 24 hours a day – and I worry that he’ll be off in the woods or under some structure when a snow storm comes and will be trapped (that’s in addition to the constant worry over cars and other animals! – if these little critters knew what they put us through!). Hopefully, he’ll soon come into the kitchen far enough that we can close the door behind him – and won’t that be a whole different story!!
This just warms my heart, Stacy. You’ll have him protected in the house in no time. For now it sounds like you’ve rigged up a nice warm, safe space for him. He’s going to be a real lover-boy if he’s already letting you touch him and showing you his tummy. I wish you could include a picture of him but I don’t know if that’s possible in a blog comment. If you want to send me a photo to vicki@animalsreign.com, I’ll add a note about him with his picture in the original post on this subject.
WE GOT HIM!!!
Dexter ventured down the basement stairs last night and we closed the door behind him. He had a bit of a panic when he realized he was trapped and I felt so guilty and wondered if this was for the best. I nearly let him out, but realized this might be my only chance. He howled for a while and then settled down. I sang to him and talked softly to him and that seemed to calm him somewhat.
Oddly, he didn’t seem really scared; i.e., he wasn’t cowering or hiding. In fact, he was more in the open than he usually was outside. He meowed constantly, but often sat curled up in a relaxed position. No hissing; no swishing tail. I decided to try and brush him – he took to that in no time and now LOVES being brushed, though he still meowed the whole time. He liked the brush so much I decided to risk petting him – and he let me. Since last night, I can come right up to him and pet him using my hands. He doesn’t jump away, but purrs and meows at the same time. He has always been very vocal – maybe he’s not really angry, just trying to understand it all. He has several times approached me for pats – I guess the pats are reassuring, but it is odd how different his behavior is outside vs. inside. He’s had a couple of little “fits” where he frantically tried to climb the glass doors to get out, but in general he’s been really, surprisingly good.
So now…we have to tame/calm him enough to get him in a carrier and make the trip to the vets – hopefully within the next few days. He has 3 furry companions upstairs who are very anxious to meet him.
Anyway, I am so in love with this little guy!!! He is the sweetie I suspected he was. Though I think he’s been on his own for a while, I wonder now if he knew people at some point in his life. There is a barn about half a mile up the street where cats are often dumped and I suspect he may have wandered down from there.
Thanks for all your advice and good wishes Vicki. A whole new chapter begins now. My husband is writing up his version of the story for his blog. I’ll send you a link (pictures too).
Stacy, I must be almost as excited as you are. I’m going to post a quick recap of your experience as an update to my original blog so that others can benefit from it. Thanks for sharing your success story!