For all you cat lovers out there..

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I don't think I need a pic of this, but I just found a dried cat pile, It was a foot outside his cat box on the rug here in our bedroom.
I can't fault the baby, cuz he just learned how to use the box about 2 months ago @ 4 years old.

He is our converted Outdoor/ Indoor feral. I was just proud of him when he got the hang of going IN the box, and covering it up instead of eating the litter like when I first tried him with the clay kind.

I switched to the pellet type litter and he got used to it after a few tries of me putting him in the box. Not bad for a 4 year old who has just gotten used to coming indoors not in a terrified, super cautious feral way over the past year.

He had his first Winter where 90% of his COLD nights were not spent outdoors and he didn't protest too badly.
 
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We took in a feral cat… indoor/outdoor, but we kept him in at night. Took about six months before he would walk in to be fed. Real sweet older cat. Jet black. We named him Papa (after Papa Midnite, the owner of the supernatural nightclub in Constantine). We took care of him for a few years, and then the poor old guy got really sick and we put him down. I still miss him, even with Gus around. Here’s a pic of Papa lounging in my studio.

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eclecticsynergy said:
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I realize this post is about a year old, but I'm just now seeing it. But, the pic actually is rather true. Domestic dogs are generally regarded as being more domesticated that domestic cats. The reason is that dogs have undergone more selective breeding than cats. Dogs were bred to develop some particular trait which took them further from their wild origin. Cats, on the other hand, have generally undergone less selective breeding; though, there are some exceptions. Cats were essentially domesticated to continue doing what they did in their wild form: kill things! So, they are generally less removed from their wild origin.
 
smitty_p said:
I realize this post is about a year old, but I'm just now seeing it. But, the pic actually is rather true. Domestic dogs are generally regarded as being more domesticated that domestic cats. The reason is that dogs have undergone more selective breeding than cats. Dogs were bred to develop some particular trait which took them further from their wild origin. Cats, on the other hand, have generally undergone less selective breeding; though, there are some exceptions. Cats were essentially domesticated to continue doing what they did in their wild form: kill things! So, they are generally less removed from their wild origin.
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smitty_p

THIS ^^^^ about the cats is what makes me thrilled and even in awe of my lone surviving feral that we captured and got spayed/neutered, ear tipped, vaxed and chipped back in the early Spring 2022. It was our approx. 7 yr old momma, and 2- roughly 10 month old little ones at the time. Sadly, before the year's end, Orangie the short haired tabby ventured too far through our neighbors' yards and got hit by a car in 2022. Then the momma seemed to have disappeared at some point in the Winter of 2023. She was fully feral except to come eat and be with her offspring. Having noticed and begun to feed and play with cat toys etc with the kittens at maybe 6 month to 1 year+ they eventually gained enough trust to eat the food I would put down for them 2x a day on our back 4x4 landing by the side door.

The part that astounded me was how our long haired Tux that I call Blackie went from this level of trust, to my relocating the feed bowls to our driveway entryway. You've come in that door. As time went on from year 1 to year 2, I would work with him on me picking him up, sitting with him near me on a wood piles I had across 2 work benches, and eventually short stints of coaxing him to my lap. As time went by, I would sit on our brick steps with him, feed him there, and more attempts to getting him less fearful of my lap.
As I worked with him gradually, I began to try to get him unafraid to come INSIDE for feeding. His caution persisted as 2022 into 2023 progressed. Needless to say, he made headway to take less time deciding and thus faster entry time to get fed. Once in, and happy tummy, with me watching from the 2nd or 3rd step to our upstairs. This would lead to him climbing up next to me to sniff me out. I'd nudge him to my lap as my instinct could read his comfort level. As time passed, his length of stays and petting time would grow from 1 minute or so to the huge jump of like 15 minutes and even going limp and off to sleep.

After conquering this, we worked on him heading upstairs to the bedroom by Summer of 2024 where he got super affectionate and hopped into my lap in my easy chair, and even the first time he got up in our bed, slept all night with me once when my sweetheart was out of town, and has now even learned how to purr and meow. For the longest time, if he attempted to meow, it came out as a hissy type air sound, not a real meow. His purr is really quite sweet too, he truly is the most affectionate cat I ever experienced, although in true feral fashion, he can make a lightning fast jeckyll n hyde, grab me with all 4 sets of claws and bite the heck out of my hand/ arm. Although here lately, he is less powerful at it, and seems to go 1/2-1/4 power. His bite seems as if I don't move at all, he just lets go.

My other favorite behavior of his has been the first times he jumped up into the trunk or tailgates of my cars as I work on the engine of my truck. Now he jumps up under the truck hood too as I wrench on it. Next to following me to take the trash out to the curb, or lying and watching me pull weeds, or waiting for us to pull in the driveway after running the roads, It is no wonder he makes me happy and is almost a dog like cat.

How he went from a wild animal to a sweet baby truly amazes me every day.
 
Seamus OReally said:
We took in a feral cat… indoor/outdoor, but we kept him in at night. Took about six months before he would walk in to be fed. Real sweet older cat. Jet black. We named him Papa (after Papa Midnite, the owner of the supernatural nightclub in Constantine). We took care of him for a few years, and then the poor old guy got really sick and we put him down. I still miss him, even with Gus around. Here’s a pic of Papa lounging in my studio.

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Thanks for sharing, Seamus. Sorry to hear about Papa's downturn.
 
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