Well, it has been just 5 weeks since we took in the 3 feral cats. Two are in one cage and we are calling them Tabby and Franny. They are doing very well. No more cowering in the corners or hiding in the covered bed. They sit calmly and watch us work around the tack room, they don't cower backwards when we tend inside their cat playpen, and they let us put treats right in front of them, smell our hands, roll on their backs, and seem genuinely relaxed and happy. Especially Franny. Often we find their cage in disarray, and watching thru the tack room door window, we've learned it's because they like to play with their catnip toys, batting them like crazy all over. I have high hopes for them!
The cat in the single cage that we were strongly warned about, Big Meow, aka Missy, however, is a bit of a puzzle. When it was just her in the cage with a litter box, food, water and a bed, she would watch us, ears not flat, but not up, but would occasionally offer a blink back and forth. We put a perch in to give her an alternative to just the bed, more places to move around on and under, and she proceeded to pull the towel on it over so that she was completely hidden. She seems to have been more nasty since she went into hiding.
So, we pulled the towel out the rungs of the cage, as she hiss and spat and struck, and tied it so she couldn't "really" pull it back in. She has tried to pull the placemat under her food and water over the perch, we pull it back, she strongly protests with the hissing etc.
She seemed to be acclimating better being forced to be in the open. She has taken to being under cover most of the time. I don't want to stress her, so I guess we'll just take one more step to ensure she can't pull anything over the perch and will at least be able to see us and us her. As long as we don't get near her that way, she is fine.
I feel very, very strongly that taking on ferals requires a minimum of 6 weeks in the cage. The difference in the two's demeanor is amazing from when we first got them. You can tell that they *mostly* trust us, and given the right time and timing, I really think they will feel that us and our barn are their safe haven and home.
We got a rabbit hutch that we are going to cover with insulation and a layer of barn board, cut the legs so it's not 5 feet high but more like 3 feet high, and put it just outside the door from the tack room to the barn aisle. We'll line it with some straw, make a ramp that has a wind proof entrance, and leave it in the barn for a couple months as we start to let them acclimate outside their cages.
In another week or two we'll start letting the two out at night, and see how that goes for a week or so. Our hope is they run back into their cages when we enter the tack room so we can close them in for the daylight hours to keep them from running out of the opening and closing door to the outside. The cat door that goes into the barn is duct taped shut for now. Once we see that they are comfy in their tack room, we'll open the cat door and let them explore the barn at night. The barn aisle doors will be kept shut. The horses have in/out stalls, but the cats would have to jump over their aisle doors into their stalls. I'm thinking that where they've never seen a horse before, they will be too intimidated to do that. The rabbit hutch remodeled to a cat hutch will be right where they go thru the cat door, and I'll put food in there at night also. That way, they'll become familiar with the hutch in the barn. Once I see them venturing outside, I'll put that hutch outside as a shelter for them. But, I plan to lock them in during the day for as long as I can, let them play in the barn at night until they seem ready to venture to the outdoors on their own.
Not sure when we'll let Missy out of her cage. I suppose a couple weeks after the other two seem to get in a routine. I think she will probably hide in a corner, and scoot out a door as soon as she can.
Sad to see her so distrustful. You know that it was a fellow human that instilled that fear. We will do all we can to try to do right by her. Food and water in the tack room, covered boxes in the barn to escape to and a shelter outside will hopefully keep them safe and happy.
It's gratifying to be part of a positive transformation. I have the opportunity to know a handful of young adults, kids, who have had unfortunate upbringings. They are distrustful, fearful, uncertain, and remind me of these cats, or rather, the cats of them. So many people feel that animals, pets, feral cats, have no meaning, no place, no purpose, no right to share our earth. I'm sure there are many humans who are also thought of in that way. To take the time to use love and caring as a foundation to try and help another being, be it a cat or a human, can have such amazing impact. If only it were as simple with the humans as it can be with these feral felines.
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