My hat is off to you for the ability to save and rescue so many cats. I currently have a cat, Dexter, who was feral and was captured by my daughter and given to me. He was about 9-10 weeks old at the time. He has come a long way from his wild life and it has been a slow process in taming him these last 9 months. He will come to me and get loves and petted, he will sleep on my bed, he will play with the other cat, he will most times go to my daughter, but the grandkids can't get close to him as yet. He comes out of his hiding places and lies around on the floor but bolts for safety when the little ones get close. I think he knows he 'has it good' now and appreciates his new family. To this day, months later, Dexter still has that ready alertness about him as if he were still out fending for himself. His 'wild eyed' look as my daughter refers to him.
I think the secret to taming a feral cat as a pet is to confine them to an area and let that be their safe haven as they become more tame and always, always, at their pace.
If you continue to allow them to be feral outdoor cats and you watch over them and care for them, you may not ever be able to pet them and show them what 'loves' are all about but I am sure they appreciate what you do for them. Just show up every day and they will too.
I think that depends on the feral cat. I do have a bunch of strays I am feeding and trapping to get spay/neutered then released. They are too old and wild to ever make house pets. But Patches and ShadowKat were both ferals, and both tamed down. Patches now allows anyone to pet her and rubs up against our legs for loves and food. Patches was raped a year ago, a month after her spay, and she waiting on the front porch, bleeding out her her female parts, asking for help. We rushed her to the vet and they patched her up. ShadowKat never got as friendly as Patches, I was the only one allowed near her, and even then only on her terms. But when she got sick, she came to me meowing for help. Unfortunately, she could not be saved, the vet could only find 1 kidney and that had a large cancerous mass on it. I had her euthanized to end her suffering a couple weeks ago. I still miss our morning breakfast calls, I'd sit and feed her and she would rub against me for loves. I buried her in my rose garden, this was her home before it became mine and it seemed fitting that she be buried here.
Anyway, I didn't trap them in a small room. The only time I confined them was when I had both spayed. I simply sat at their feed bowls, talked to them and showed them that I was no threat. They both decided I could be trusted enough that they came to me for help when they needed it. When we get storm warnings, we lock Patches in the garage for her safety, she is always waiting on the porch when storms are coming. That cat is smarter than most people give them credit for being.
My 2 biggest issues with taming feral/stray cats has been dogs and litter box. I have had success with young cats learning to live with dogs, but a cat that s a couple years old won't do it. Maybe they were chased by dogs or it's instinct, but they are terrified of dogs. Since I have 4 Siberian Huskies, a rottwieller, and a Belgain malinois, that makes things difficult. ShadowKat, and Mittens were older cats who simply could not tolerate dogs. And if the cats hisses, my dogs would start barking and making the cat even more frightened, which leads to bad things. The other is some feral cats pee where ever they want. I have tried and tried to teach Patches to use a box, but she pees on furniture and carpet, anything she can. It's a shame realy, she actually can get along with my Belgain malinois, they have some strange understanding between them. But if she won't use her litter then she has to stay outside. I have tried every litter available and it's a no go with her, but as she pretty much stays in our property we are able to monitor her. I keep having to medicate her for tape worms as she is an excellent mouser (but she won't even look at the chickens, ducks, and geese). And as I previously stated we lock her up in the garage for bad weather and she is always waiting for us to do so. We even made her a little bed in the corner of our patio, it's a dog crate with a pillow, in winter we cover it with blankets, so she is as well care for as we can manage. People just don't believe me that she is feral, they didn't believe that of ShadowKat either.
He passed a year ago. Yes, they lived long lives and used up a few along their journey in life. They were the best companions.
