|
For whatever
reason, you suddenly find yourself with this wild, spitting,
hissing feral. She is trapped in a cage, or a trap, or a
box. Both of you are looking at each other from very
different eyes. You are looking at her thinking warm, fuzzy
thoughts about lap naps, purring kitties, rubbing a soft
tummy and having a companion and she is looking at you with
so much distrust in her eyes. Her thoughts are on dark
corners, field mice, robbing garbage cans for food and she
is wondering what in the world she did to deserve this
sudden confinement?
So what do you do now? First of all, you need to set up her
room. Find her a spot in your home where she can stay safe.
A quiet, dark, room away from any resident pets or small
children. You want to be sure she has other spots in this
room to go where she can feel safe a closet, some where if
she feels threatened she can flee to. And she will consider
you a threat. After all, she has lived her entire life on
her skills of survival. She has sadly learned that those
human feet coming towards her, though on rare occasions
might bring her food; they also have brought her pain or
trauma.
One of her most effective tools is how cleverly she can
hide. You will come to be surprised in the days ahead at how
small this kitty can make herself and where she can hide
from you in a room you swore you sealed up completely. So
you can provide her with alternate places, a big cardboard
box flipped over with holes cut in the sides big enough for
her to pass through. You weight down the top of the box so
she can’t move it. You give her a nice big litter box and
mix just a little bit of potting soil in with regular cat
litter. Don’t use regular garden soil, or you may have a bug
infestation. And don’t use clumping litter, not just yet.
Use regular clay litter. Give her a big pan of water, and if
you find in the days ahead she is not drinking, then go out
and get a big clear bowl, get some pebbles from your garden
or some aquarium rocks and wash them off really well. Place
them in the bottom of the bowl fill it up with water, and
give her something she can identify with to get water out
of. Give her a bowl for wet food and one for dry.
Instead of using your regular lights in the room, use
instead night-lites. If those are not available cut down the
wattage of the bulbs normally used in the room. Bring in a
CD player and put on a classical piece really low on endless
play Fetch up some old rags, or a blanket, something soft
that as soon as she figures out the hard ground isn’t that
comfortable she will seek out and use.
Now step back and survey the room. The first thing she is
going to do when you let her out is run. So check shelves
and counters if there are any and make sure she has a clear
landing pad should she decide to go ballistic and run amok.
If you want to give her air and open a window, you can go to
any hardware store and buy a piece of decorative trellis and
cut it down to fit the screen opening. Through the slits in
this decorative piece the air will come through, but she
will be unable to escape if she decides to press against the
window and push the screen out. You can also used chicken
wire, but the trellis looks better. Make sure the room is
completely sealed. Understand that this cat might be
scratching and clawing to get out, so if you have a route of
escape, make sure that it is sealed up well.
Okay, now you are ready for her arrival, so go and fetch
her, and take her into the room, shut the door behind you
and turn her loose. Don’t go after her, watch where she goes
though, then step out of the room and LEAVE HER BE.
Just let her get used to the room, don’t be going in to peek
in on her for at least a day. She has food, water, and a
safe place to stay and so leave her alone for 24 hrs at
least. Yes she might yowl, though it has been my experience
that most feral that first day are to shock to yowl. But
earplugs are a good investment!
Once that day is up, try going into the room at scheduled
times. Be careful opening the door as she will bolt if given
the chance. I usually announce my arrival by banging on the
door not very hard, but enough to back her off if she is
close.
If she comes out, great, then you haven’t got that much work
ahead of you. If you can’t find her, and you know you have
effectively sealed up the area and she cannot escape, don’t
go looking for her unless you are prepared for war. She will
come out of hiding, but usually only when it is dark and the
house is quiet.
For the really wild ones, the ones who like to launch at my
face, I take a flat piece of cardboard and fashion a shield
of sorts. If they start to come at me (and some of them do)
I just raise the cardboard up so they hit this soft landing
instead of my face or arm. If you have a really scared
kitty, she is going to try everything in her arsenal to get
out of this confinement, so wear long sleeves, gloves ( I
use heavy welding gloves) and extra layers of clothing.
Don’t be surprised to find out how small she can make
herself when she hides. I have found feral up underneath
armchairs, inside sofa arm rests and tucked back into
corners I didn’t think a mouse could hide in.
Try some of these exercises with her. Sit on the floor and
take out some treats and place them a good distance around
you. Bring a book and start reading to her out loud so she
can get used to your voice. Do this every day at scheduled
times. If she comes out do not look at her full in the face,
for this is considered a challenge. Just try to ignore her.
As the days go on, use a feather toy to engage her in play.
Another thing to do is to take an old tee shirt of yours and
put it on and do a workout to get it good and sweaty. Once
it is wringing wet with your sweat, take it into the room
and put her feed bowl on top of it. When she comes to eat
she will be surrounded by your smell and she will associate
your smell with pleasant things.
Remember that working with feral is sometimes frustrating.
At times it is two steps forward and three steps back. She
does not know you are one of the good guys and she will not
trust you for quite sometime…. BUT when you finally get that
first head bump from her, it is a thrill beyond measure. Not
everyone understands the value of having a cat’s complete
trust, but the day your feral kitty decides to jump on your
lap, you will understand that value and feel like you won
the lottery.
|
|
