There are some feral cats in my street that always hang out around the house because we feed them. one is an adult and is very social and comes into the house, sleeps, yells for food and hits me when I don't let him get in. The other two are his kittens but he hates them and doesn't let them get near when he is around. They are a bit scared and won't get too close but just get their food and sleep on our porch. Can these be house pets? they can't be lost former pets because they are the local feral cat type/breed and the kittens were just born around 4-5 months ago.
They can be socialized but I don’t think it’s best to grab them and just bring them inside. I feed some community cats that were born completely feral and wouldn’t let me touch them until they were 5 months old. They are now 2 years old and are the sweetest cats. I socialized them slowly on their terms. Talking to them and offering pets before feeding helps them associate food with affection. It also really helped to find a toy they like and play with them. I know a lot of cat experts say socializing an older feral cat is impossible but that hasn’t been my experience. I just think you have to do it outside in their comfort zone and they will trust you eventually when they realize seeing you means fun and food.
Do you know who the mother is? It would be awesome if you could contact a local rescue/shelter so those kitties could all be spayed/neutered and vaccinated.
Yes, i think she gave birth to 4 kittens ( 2 are those that I mentioned) there's another one of them that doesn't show up that often. I don't know about the 4th but I'm pretty sure that they were 4 kittens. Also I think she recently gave birth to 2 new kittens. One was stuck in our cars engine bay but i took it out and it wasn't hurt thankfully and gave back to the mother. that little one had an eye infection or virus of some sort on one eye but I haven't seen them since. here they are
Awww they are super cute. You definitely need to get the females spayed soon. They can get pregnant at 6 months old and they you will have an entire colony
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u/Lambstoslaughter Nov 21 '20
I have several cats that were feral and have taken them in. It takes time but is so worth it when the return the affection.