Domesticating

All kitties at the Feral Rescue Project are outdoors only, so far. Two of the kitties have been socialized to the point where they are quite friendly to me, and have been in the house for up to 3 hours, but none have been domesticated or kitty litter trained.

Yes, feral cats can be domesticated, but…

SOX on February 19, 2020. This is day 2 of staying in the house for a couple of hours. Day 1 was just a few days ago, for two hours on Valentines Day. She had to be carried in, and meows constantly for the first 20 or 30 minutes. She’s almost as comfy in the house as a non-feral domesticated house cat, but was very happy to go back outdoors to hunt and play with her feline family.

From what I have found out, experts say the best age to domesticate feral kittens so that they can be house cats is when they are about 5 weeks old – if you can catch them before they are too feral and too scared to come close to humans. I have been able to work with one of the kitties, Sox, to the point where she is almost domesticated. She loves her feline family and the outdoors so much I only bring her into the house for an hour or two at a time. I started off slowly, getting her accustomed to lifting her up just a couple of inches and lettering her down gently, just a few times daily, then lifting her onto a chair or deck railing, or onto the roof of Feral Mansion. The toughest part was petting her the first couple of times and she was soon hooked. On her own, she still doesn’t come into the house more than a few feet, and only when there is good smelling food within range. Sox is a playful, affectionate sweetie and could easily become an indoors cat that can go to a forever family but she is happy to be an outdoors cat with her “furever” family, … so we’ll see if she wants to be adopted.
Note: I shouldn’t have house cats due to slight allergies.

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