Taming and Resocialising Feral Cats: Project Cats Part 3.

Before we begin, I would urge you to (re)read part one of this series,"The potential reward of heartbreak". There are no guarantees with this, and you may not get the happy ever after ending you are hoping for.

So that leads me onto the first order of business, when exactly should you attempt to tame or resocialise a feral cat? My first answer to that would be, "only if you are fully prepared to be in it for the potential long haul". If you are fortunate enough to be able to resocialise a feral cat to the point that they decide you are now their guardian, then that's usually it, they are not the sorts of cats that are rehomeable once they've bonded with their chosen humans. So in terms of length of time taken, you should be thinking in increments of years, not mere months. The other aspects that would affect my decision to attempt to tame a feral cat would be, "how often is this cat visiting your yard", and "will this cat benefit from resocialisation attempts". The latter is sometimes more difficult to answer, but generally if the cat doesn't look as if it's doing too well, or if it shows a glimmer of perhaps wanting to connect or reconnect with a home environment (aka semi and reverted ferals) then that would tend to sway my decision towards at least making an attempt - if, and only if, of course, I was set up and prepared to possibly take this cat on as a permanent member of the family: if this is something you cannot do, but you still want to help the kitty out, then see if there are any specific feral rescue groups in your area, or even feral cat sanctuaries, and contact them for advice.

At this point I will also just say that I am talking about this from an Australian point of view, and Australia is one of the very few places in the world that does not have rabies present in its animal population. If you are in an area where rabies is a potential consideration, then please, please seek advice on this before you proceed with trying to work with a feral cat whose medical history you don't have access to.

So you have a cat that is a regular visitor to your yard, and you've ascertained that the cat is most likely feral, what next? Regardless of what level of feralness the cat appears to be at (feral, semi feral or reverted feral), I follow the same step by step protocol for each one.

1) A reasonable distance away from the house, at set, and regular times in the day, start leaving a bowl of food and water out. Don't hang around to see if the cat appears (you can watch from the window, but at this stage be careful not to alert them to your presence), simply place the food out and go back inside. If the food is not consumed within an hour, or it appears to be attracting other neighbourhood cats, then fetch the bowl and leave a fresh lot of food out again at the same time the following day. You want to try and initiate some sort of feeding routine, or at least an expectation of feeding to start off with.

2) Once you've initiated a regular feeding routine, then gradually begin to move the food and water bowls closer to the house. I usually try for half a metre a day, but you have to also pay attention to how the cat responds and be prepared to work within their comfort level. You will probably find as well that the closer the bowl gets to the house, the more skittish and nervous the cat may appear, it may even be reluctant to come close enough to the house to eat - be patient.

3) When you can observe the cat eating comfortably near the house, say within 4-5 metres of the front or back door, then you can begin to allow the cat to sense your presence. Start off by simply sitting in front of an open door, with a screen, or curtain blocking the cat's full view of you, while the cat is eating. At this stage you don't want to spring some sort of, 'surprise, look, here I am' on the cat, you just want them to be aware that you are there.

4) Once the cat no longer appears to react to your presence, that is once it responds to your presence as if it is simply another part of its accepted environmental surrounds, then it's time for a visual - open the screen door, or curtain, or whatever barrier there is, and let the cat see you. Again simply sit in the doorway, don't make a big deal, or fuss, just let them see that you are there. Once they've accepted this new level of your being present, you can sit outside, just on the door step, or near to the door, but again don't make a song and dance about it, just sit quietly and let the cat come to accept your being there in its own time.

5) The next step is to add a vocal presence: start to talk to the cat as its eating, keeping a calming tone to your voice. Avoid sudden shifts in tone, or volume, and avoid bombarding the cat with two much voice stimulation at first.

6) Now comes the most exciting step, the one you've probably been waiting all this time for - first contact! Unless it is an emergency situation, and you have no other choice, the first physical contact should always be initiated by the cat. What I've typically found is that just after they've eaten, they will begin to gradually inch towards you, sniffing the air and ground as they do so. At this stage they might not even come within touching distance, but they're showing a genuine curiosity towards you. When you see them begin to do this, place one hand out to the side, keeping it near to the ground, and in a relaxed posture (don't look like you're reaching for the cat, or thrusting your hand towards it) and then let the cat approach and sniff your hand when it's ready. It may also sniff your arm, your clothing, your legs, feet, etc, but at this stage just let it get a scent read of you, do not attempt to pet it at this stage. At some point the cat will probably do one of two things, either give your hand a couple of licks, or nudge your hand with its head: now you can present your hand more directly. Slowly raise your hand to the level of the cats face, and offer it to them to inspect - at first they may just sniff it as before, and then rear away, but if they fur they side of their head on your hand, then you can give me a quick scratch on the side of the cheek or under the chin. But remember to always let them set the pace, and as soon as they have backed away, don't try and force further contact.

From here it's really just a matter of continuing to build trust, and letting the cat come to you in its own time. When the cat is tamed or socialised outdoors, then you can gradually begin to encourage it indoors as well, following much the same principals of patience and reassuring calm as you did before.

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