Quote:
Originally posted by Karen
There IS hope. With a lot of patience, my sister-in-law fed, caught, had to keep in quarantine, and then socialize a very feral adult male cat. She finally got herself a Have-a-Heart trap from her then-fiance (now husband) one Christmas, and not long afterwards, they noticed Gizmo (the feral) had been in a fight and had a badly infected wound. So they suceeded in trapping him, and she now says she knows that if she hadn;t been the one to bring him in, and stay with him, at the vet's, they would have declared him too wild and unadoptable. Fast-forward to now, and he is a happy, healthy indoor-only cat. He's not a lap-cat by any means, but is otherwise tame as could be.
I have several ferals here that couldn't be TNR as the places they came from were awful! They were part way between being social, but not quite adoptable. Lola (in my siggy) couldn't be released for obvious reasons...vision impaired, and most likely blind. I've had her for a year and a half, and she's finally letting me pat her some. She must see my shadow, and has always run from me. Ferals can be tamed, but it takes time, and patience. Also they do tend to bond to one person in many cases. ;) Usually I keep ferals caged until they let me hold them, and purr. Once they get a clean bill of health, then providing they don't go into hiding, I let them out on a trial basis. No hiding=freedom! Hiding=cage time again. The smaller the area they have when first released inside, the better too. ;)