Rescuing and Taming a Feral Cat

A true feral cat wants no interaction with people. They won't go near a person for any reason. You can't coax feral cats close enough with food to catch them by hand and even in you could; you'd discover a frantic wild cat in your arms. Feral cats can make great house pets once they've been tamed, but depending on the cat's personality, it can take a couple of months up to a year or longer for some cats to become socialized. If you have the patience and time, you can rescue and tame a feral cat.

The first time I saw, Babe, she was hiding in weeds growing around a dumpster located behind the building I worked in. It was break time and several of my co workers and I were standing outside talking and enjoying a spring sun. I started to walk towards her, but she ran off into the high grass behind the dumpster and was gone. But that wasn't the last time I saw her. I soon discovered she lived in a hole that had been dug under an old run down and abandoned building next door to my workplace.

As the cool winds of spring began to warm into summer, my work schedule went to 12 hours or more a day as we hit our busy season, which gave me plenty of opportunities to keep an eye on Babe. I knew by her body language she was a feral cat, but she was just as curious about me as I was about her. She kept her distance and rarely showed herself if anyone else was with me, but when I was alone, I could find her in the same patch of weeds watching what I was doing and I became determined to rescue her.

Rescuing a feral cat has to be done carefully and slowly. Before I knew about Babe, we had found dead kittens off and on around our building for several years. We suspected someone had dumped them in the area since we were on the outskirts of town. But once Babe showed herself, we realized she must have been living under the abandoned building for awhile and the kittens belonged to her.

I started taking breaks alone so I could sit on a slab of cement in the area where she liked to keep watch. I kept a bag of cat food in my car so I could feed her on my breaks in hopes of gaining her trust. She stared at the food on the cement slab, but refused to move towards it until I moved away to a comfortable distance she would accept. I established a routine with her, leaving small servings of food on the slab in the morning as soon as I got to work, at morning break, afternoon break and just before I left for the day and on weekends and holidays. It didn't take her long to learn the routine and she began waiting for me. If I took a break earlier or later, she would soon show up after I called her. I wasn't sure if she had learned her name or was responding to my voice, but I stayed with the name, just in case.

After four years of patience and hours of sitting on the cement slab talking to her and trying to coax her to come to me, I wasn't any closer to catching her than I had been on that first day. She had gotten comfortable enough with me that she would come just close enough to stay out of my reach. I knew I couldn't risk lunging at her because all of my efforts and the small amount of trust I had gained would have all been lost. So, I continued to sit and talk to her and she sat and listen, but as soon as I stood up, she'd retreat to her safe refuge in the weeds by the dumpster.

Babe had three to four litters of kittens each year. Few of them survived and the ones we were able to catch went to a co-worker's farm. Cats can do strange things at times. Babe delivered one litter of kittens to the door I always used in the back of the building. It was almost as if she was asking me to take care of her kittens for her. She quietly sat on the cement slab as I picked each one up and checked them out and then she moved the closest she'd ever come to me and meowed as if saying, "Please, take them." It was the one and only time she ever meowed. And, yes, I did take them home after having them checked out by my vet.

Later that fall, I had decided to move on to a new job and knew the time had come to catch Babe one way or the other. When I left the company, she would be on her own again and she deserved to be rescued and not abandoned. So, I borrowed a live trap and finally caught her 2 days before I left the company.

I knew Babe was in for a traumatic turn of events and she would have to be confined in my basement away from the other cats and dogs to give her time to adjust to a real home and learn how to trust me. She was now showing her wild side and was a spitting, angry cat after a trip to the vet and being confined in a small cat carrier and wasn't a bit happy with her new surroundings. You can't rush taming a feral cat. It takes lots of time and patience. Every night after work, I sat in the basement with Babe. Eye contact is intimidating for cats and the best way I have found to tame a feral cat is to just ignore the cat. I had on a roll away bed in the basement and it became like the cement slab for Babe. She sat on the other side of the basement and watched as I sat on the bed and read a book. I talked to her and she listened. And then it finally happened. A year after moving into my basement, Babe finally hopped up on the far end of the roll away and sat down. After another four months of sitting at the far end of the bed, Babe hopped up on her usual spot one night and instead of sitting on her corner, she walked over and laid down beside me and rubbed her head against my arm. It was the first time I was able to touch her. It had taken almost five and a half years to get to this one moment. I had finally won her trust and happy tears fell as I slowly ran my hand over her body.

Feral cats aren't mean, but they are wary of humans for good reason. These forgotten cats live on the streets of every city, trying to survive the best they can. Life is hard on the streets and food is scarce. It's humans who have created the feral cat overpopulation problem, but it's the cats who are punished. Babe lived a long and full life and never wanted to go back outside. She remained an inside cat until the day she died of old age. I never knew her exact age, but I had her for almost 12 years. She was one of the most lovable cats I have ever had the pleasure of sharing my home with. It takes time and patience to tame a feral cat, but the effort is well worth it when you know you made a difference in the life of a cat.