I have a few cats of my own but one day a big Feral Tom Cat started to visit the garden,..i tried chasing him off to no avail,..he would stand his ground,..i decided the best option was to make friends with him,..it took three months before he would allow me to hand feed him or stroke him.

As time passed he sired a litter of kittens and surprise surprise he would lie down with them while the mother cat was away,..apart from some pictures of him there is a short video,..if you turn up your sound you will hear him.

The second last picture is one of his offspring.

Philip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4gwnzHV4B0

Hi Philip! It's great that you were able to make friends with this scary cat, and he turned out to be a real sweetie. I have no luck taming the feral ones here.

I admire your dedication. It's difficult to feel love for the feral Tom cats but you have succeeded and will be rewarded.
Continued good luck.

Hi June,..as i mentioned it took all of three months working on him every day before i could hand feed him,..it was a great feeling getting that close to him though i was always wary of him suddenly attacking,..so be careful of your ferals,..but feed them.

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Hi Greene,..thank you!,..yes when they hang about in the garden they can be a terror in particular to our domestic cats.

Philip
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Now for the big question. How will you manage to get that cat to the veterinarian to get shots? worming? and hopefully neutered?

Handsome cat. Did you use the Sony for that video, Philip?

Have a feral that I feed every day. The neighbors before last sort of tamed it, then left it when they moved. Took some weeks before I could pet it, but food is a great motivator. Was picked up at some time by the Feral society and neutered/spayed (has the ear notch), then released back here. It keeps the other neighborhood cats out of my mulch.

greene said:Now for the big question. How will you manage to get that cat to the veterinarian to get shots? worming? and hopefully neutered?

After he had sired the litter of three kittens it was possible to entice him into a cage three foot long then take him to the Vet,..i did warn the Vet that he was not friendly with anyone bar me,..he was well doctored on leaving the surgery though i did feel bad about some of his treatment though it was necessary,..at the same time i had all my other cats doctored,..all eight at that time,..we have a group that will cover the expenses by way of donations.

Philip

lovemyhouse said:Handsome cat. Did you use the Sony for that video, Philip?

Have a feral that I feed every day. The neighbors before last sort of tamed it, then left it when they moved. Took some weeks before I could pet it, but food is a great motivator. Was picked up at some time by the Feral society and neutered/spayed (has the ear notch), then released back here. It keeps the other neighborhood cats out of my mulch.

Hi Debra,..yes i used the Sony for the video so you will well understand how close i was to him ,..risky and foolish as they do an attack in 12 seconds,..i was thinking the camera is between him and me.

The longest video i made with the Sony was half an hour though you can make a longer one.

Your Feral is a stunner,..and rolling over is a good sign,..yes i bet the neighbors cats are kept at bay,..well done to you for looking after it.

Philip

I was sorta sucked into it, Philip. His mama was semi-tame and he was born in a cage along side the house next door about seven(?) years back; he is the only one of the litter still alive. So he knew this area as home and always made himself quite at home in my flower beds. I used to chase him off, not the least reason being he liked/likes to stroll back and forth in front of my door to aggravate the dogs. But, when these neighbors were moving, they presented me with a bag of food, swore they would come get him when they were settled, and, in a devious ploy to ensure I would say yes, they oh-so-casually offered me their small greenhouse. One morning a few weeks later, I found a bag of cat food hanging from my mailbox, but--as I knew from the initial, "We'll come back"--haven't seen hide nor hair of them since. So he is mine, now. Once you start feeding, it becomes an ongoing responsibility, I think. Used to have cats, then developed an allergy to them in my 20s. This fella means I get to sort of have a cat around without having gravelly eyes and a stuffy nose to go with it.

lovemyhouse said:I was sorta sucked into it, Philip. His mama was semi-tame and he was born in a cage along side the house next door about seven(?) years back; he is the only one of the litter still alive. So he knew this area as home and always made himself quite at home in my flower beds. I used to chase him off, not the least reason being he liked/likes to stroll back and forth in front of my door to aggravate the dogs. But, when these neighbors were moving, they presented me with a bag of food, swore they would come get him when they were settled, and, in a devious ploy to ensure I would say yes, they oh-so-casually offered me their small greenhouse. One morning a few weeks later, I found a bag of cat food hanging from my mailbox, but--as I knew from the initial, "We'll come back"--haven't seen hide nor hair of them since. So he is mine, now. Once you start feeding, it becomes an ongoing responsibility, I think. Used to have cats, then developed an allergy to them in my 20s. This fella means I get to sort of have a cat around without having gravelly eyes and a stuffy nose to go with it.

Lol,..sorta suckered into it!,..with the offer of a small greenhouse and the food you were half way there as i would be,..with the history of that cat alone i would have given it a home,..so he is yours now and i love how he has filled out to be a beauty,..lovely picture of him on the roof using the leaves as a bed,..interesting about your allergy to cats and having one,..i suppose not touching him does not affect you but only touching?,..oh some my tribe of cats pictured below,..

Philip

As long as I stay out away from the dander (don't hold one, wash hands after petting, etc.), I don't have any problems.

Like that tribe, especially the one with the russet tones.

The cats I have are former ferals but have sad stories.

The small gray cat was born to a feral mom and trapped and neutered and kept in a house in a cage for a few months a rescue was supposed to take him. They ended up declining to take him and re dumped him back in my yard. The rest of his siblings and mom died.

The big cat is a male who was dumped in front of my house with his sister. He was skin and bones and his fur really matted. At first he was feral and only came at night. Eventually I trapped him and got him neutered and medical care. Within a few months he became like a pet and his health improved fast, he is not feral anymore! He's 25 pounds and vets say he could be a Maine coon mix. His sister got adopted but they didn't take him saying he is scary :blinking:

The two cats bonded with one another and sleep together and eat together, which is unusual for male cats not related. I'm still trying to find them homes after 8 years the shelters and rescues are too full to take them, I know how dangerous outside can be since my neighbors despise cats and how it's hard to stay healthy without vet care.

Hi Keith,
Sad indeed how some of the cats ended up but well done with the change over of the present cats from feral to domestic,..the longer you have a cat of course its harder to part with it or them and you having the two cats for 8 years would be very hard,..the one nearly 25 pounds is some cat!,..i have never had one of that size,..big yes!.

Like in your case some of my neighbors do not like cats and did away with some of mine in 2009,..however it stopped after i issued a warning,..apart from neighbors cat flu is rampant here and kills many cats so i often have to take mine to the vet,..costly but worth saving them in my opinion.

Hi Debra,..he is a lovely boy!,..nice to see him again.

He is getting me well trained.

,..they are very expert at training us,..mine just about let me live with them.

Well, Feral seems to have had a tussle with something. Slice on his shoulder about two inches long and, when I first saw it, looked like almost 1/4 inch at the deepest point. He had been gone for a few days and the cut was about half healed when I saw him. No signs of infection that I could tell, but I figured he needed extra protein, so I thawed a raw fish filet and cut up about half of it to take out. Not interested. Brought it back in and microwaved it for about 30 seconds and took it back out after cooling. STILL not interested. Who ever heard of a cat that wouldn't eat fish? Unless maybe because it was a filet of...catfish? Okay, I hear the groans, but I didn't even try to resist that one. It was a Swai filet, but that is a form of catfish, right? Even the German Shepherd next door wouldn't eat the stuff and she eats EVERYTHING (because the jackknob over there doesn't feed her enough )

Feral was feeling hungry this morning and, after eating the scoop I already gave him, he started exercising his considerable charm (which he has an abundance of when he tries) to get me to bring more. It worked. I am not posting the more detailed images of his cut, but it looks to be almost completely closed up, now.

I swear that cats attend college courses in How To Be Cute.

Groan,.....Filet of catfish,.. ,..poor boy he probably got into a hissing and clawing session with a neighbor cat,..wonder what the other cat looked like ,..your cat is a handsome fellow.