I got my 7 month old cat neutered and I brought him back in to the vet to have him stay there tell he is good to go. Cuz I brought him home and hated the cone and just started messing with the incision rubbing his butt on the ground. Have u guys left your cars there tell he was ready to come home and be normal? And am I a bad parent for taking him back to be taken care off?

Pic is of the cats in question chilling yesterday. Cheesy (M) and Peri Peri (F) are 6 month old ex ferals who went in for neuters today.

It was their first ever vet visit (they also got bloods etc while under) and they were terrified, understandably. We took them to a cat friendly vet so it was the least terrifying it could be but they were still frozen and shaking.

We asked the vet to fit hard cones because they are difficult for us to handle when uncomfortable and they are fabric eaters under stress (so no soft fabric cones etc).

Not sure if that did it, the anaesthetic, or simply the stressful experience, but both were flying off the walls as soon as they left their carriers. They stuffed themselves behind a couch under a radiator which we can't unblock fully.

They are skittish of us but come for pets when in the mood, purr, climb on or near us, etc. So they are minimally scared of us day to day but that obviously isn't the main driver.

I managed to get Cheesy out (poor guy froze up) and just took off his cone since his neuter is less complicated. He would sprint and thrash around in it and the vet agreed it would likely be best for now.

Peri Peri has a plaster over her stitches and the vet said she can't have the cone removed without some other form of protection. They suggested a recovery onesie, which we will have to get tomorrow.

Wondering if anyone has been through this with their ex ferals and has any advice?

Do you think they will settle down? We are concerned about them eating and drinking mainly, as well as damage to the wounds.

If Peri Peri doesn't, any suggestions to get her out and into a recovery suit? She is not food motivated at all.

They also need pain meds - Cheesy once tomorrow, Peri every day for 5 days. Not sure how we will get the syringe into their mouths at all.

We recently adopted a 1.5-year-old female cat who was previously feral and recently spayed. The people we adopted her had trapped and gotten her spayed. Right before she came home with us, they had been able to pet her and she was even making biscuits on them. She is absolutely adorable, but since bringing her home a week ago, she has barely left the little dark corner under our bed.

She comes out when we aren’t around to eat, use the litter box, and walk around the bedroom for a few minutes, but she has never done any of those things with us in the room or not sleeping at night. She has only recently started feeling comfortable enough to eat during the day.

We’ve kept her confined to the bedroom with her food, water, and litter box so she has a quiet, mostly private space to acclimate.

We feed wet food twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. About 85% of the time, she eats all of what we leave out, although she has skipped a few meals. When that happens, we try leaving a third meal out so she has another opportunity to get enough calories.

No amount of treats or Churu seems to tempt her out, even though she loves Churu and licked the Churu from my hand before we adopted her.

I know feral/shy cats can take a long time to adjust, and I’m trying to be patient, but I guess I expected to see some progress by now even if it was just her peeking her head out from under the bed while we’re in the room.

I’m grateful that she’s eating most of her food and using the litter box, but I’m feeling a little discouraged. For anyone who has adopted a very fearful/feral cat, howb long did it take before you started seeing noticeable progress? Was it a mistake to keep her in a room with a hiding place that we can’t access very easily? Any advice or encouragement would be appreciated!

The precious little tabby girl (Viola) from this post

https://www.reddit.com/r/formerlyferal/s/sXHFk0DYuP

has more or less moved into the house of her own accord. I had reason to believe she wanted to be able to sleep near me, so last night I lied down on the little guest mattress I had set up in the upstairs room for her.

First she came over against my butt; when I reached back and started petting her, she started grooming my hand and herself. Eventually she curled up in the crook of my legs and went to sleep 🥰

Meanwhile, her feral friend we think is her brother, Oboé, who has been wayyyyyy more cautious and skittish, has been getting more comfortable making forays into the house, and even played with me a little for the first time! Then last night he came up to me for churu for the first time ever—only for Viola to whap him good and push him away so she could have it 😅

He decided to start making his first batch of biscuits! He’s never done it before!! I’ve known him almost a year, and he’s been in with us since May so this is huge!!

After being MIA for a few days, my buddy TabbyTom stopped by for some food and cuddles. Last time he visited there was a failed trap attempt, and he must have either forced his way out of the trap or it may have closed prematurely. I was worried that his trust in me would be shaken, and perhaps it was, but ehen he returned he was very cuddly and spent some time hanging out on the porch. I'm hoping that after TNR he stays more permanently in my yard and roams less; the last time I saw him he was spooked by a loud car and very nearly ran into traffic. So if he stays in my and neighbors' backyards he'll be much safer.

Guest appearance by my void kitten, Nyx, who in this clip is just a shapeless mass of darkness and a pair of eyes 👀

Plumpie was a "working cat" when we adopted him June 3. We really did think he would be an outside cat. He decided to be a teddybear instead. When we adopted him I could see his ribs, he was so skinny, and he couldn't lift his tail at all (he dragged it through his food, water, litter box). Now he is living up to his name (he eats like it's his J.O.B.), has learned how to hustle for Greenies from our 2 pre-existing inside cats, and he can lift his tail about half mast. He's so healthy and he's thriving, and we love him so much. #glowup #nebelung

I am utterly stunned right now.

June 12, 2026 to October 3, 2026.

She has been out and about so much that I mistook her for one of my other cats earlier, and had to double take.

Thank you guys so much for all of your support 💜

Jimmy is one of the community cats I care for.

A few months ago, he was terrified of both people and the other cats. Whenever I fed this colony, he would wait off to the side until the other cats had finished eating. He always made sure I was no longer around before he finally approached the food.

But over the past month, Jimmy has transformed into a sweet, gentle boy who loves lounging on the grass and enjoying peaceful naps.

His journey is a reminder that with food, patience, time, and love, even the most fearful feral cat can learn to trust.

Not everyone appreciates community cats like Jimmy, but to us, every cat matters... and every cat is special!

If you're someone who loves and cares about cats, we’d love to have you join our Reddit community, r/StrayCatHeroes. Feel free to share your rescue stories, post photos of your beloved cats, or simply show us how adorable they are. We look forward to meeting you and your feline friends!

You can also follow my rescue journey on Instagram: instagram.com/catsofmagdalena

Raymond is a sweet cat, but I have never had a feral cat, and his stealing food, scratching my furniture, not listening to anything is hard on me because I'm OCD about my home. I didn't experience this type behavior with my previous cats, but they weren't feral.
Help!!

Hello! Looking for others prior experience and some tips. We’ve been feeding a stray cat outside for 7 months. He comes morning and night, sleeps on our deck furniture, plays with one of my indoor cats nightly at the sliding glass door (my cat pounces at him, while he rubs and rolls around on the deck). He does not let me or my husband pet him, but doesn’t run far when we come out, maybe 3 ft. He is also vocal, meows at us nonstop, and will come up and smell my hand when the screen door is open.

I have a standard trap I plan on setting, but I’m worried he won’t go in and won’t come around for a while if I set it out on our deck.

This cat does not act like the ferals in the neighborhood, nor does he look like them.

Once trapped I plan on taking him directly to vet for microchip check, testing, vaccines, etc. it appears he is a neutered male but I could be wrong.

Now inside, we have a dog, 2 cats (one of which he knows well And plays with nightly)… and a toddler. He seems used to my toddler banging on the glass sliding door though. I’m planning on locking him
On our guest room for quarantine and waiting for test results, then I guess letting him out? My other cat is not the most friendly, my dog will chase the cat, but not hurt. She will also stop immediately if the cat swats and never do it again. My toddler is gonna be a different story..

Is this a bad idea? I don’t want this sweet guy dying this winter. We live where it weather can be severe and snow a lot… any advice for this process much appreciated!

UPDATE: I trapped the cat, got him to the vet to get checked out. He is a neutered male (no ear tip interestingly enough), healthy otherwise, but tested postive for FIV. First night in guest room was extremely rough. He tore up carpet trying to get out, knocked over practically everything that could be knocked over, and banged and yowled all night. Hoping tonight is better, If all goes well down the line i am open to keeping him, even though i have FIV - cats.

Well, it looks like my tiny furry friend has decided to move in! I let him crash at my place during a downpour that could drown a fish, and now, even though he occasionally steps outside for a "nature break," he zooms back faster than a cat on a hot tin roof! I've already hooked him up with his flea meds, and soon he'll be taking a trip to the vet. On another note, he makes great biscuits!

It's officially been one week since we brought Kali inside. She seems to be getting more comfy inside the room when she's alone -- she particularly enjoys the Ripple Rug, she naps and rolls around on it. Shes using the litter box like a champ every day, and she is eating well but for whatever reason will never eat wet food, even though she got it every morning outside and enjoyed it. Maybe it seems sus still because Churu was used to trap her.

I'm still sus to her though, she still freezes when I am in there, altho maybe a little less terrified. I sat in there a couple hours the other day and she didn't move but she did sleep (or pretend to sleep). Will try to spend more time in there for her to generally get used to me, hopefully can get back to the progress we made outside (eating treats from my lap).

Initially the first few days we blocked access to the rooms door from our cats, but since she seemed so scared, I was hoping letting the cats sniff the door might make her realize it's not so scary, her friends are here (she used to run up to our patio door and rub on it any time she saw the other cats when she was outside). She sniffs at the door sometimes when they aren't there but I don't think she has been on one side of door while one of them was on the other yet. I definitely don't want to rush introductions but wonder if I should move to the visual stage (tall pet gate where they can see but not really touch). It might stress my oldest cat tho (she will take the most convincing that this is a good idea)

Cheesy & Peri Peri! 6 month olds, the more feral two out of their litter.

Peri Peri especially had been very adverse to touch for a long time. Over the last couple of days, she started purring and rubbing on us more when we brought food, and today she allowed me to pet her (even scritch her head). Same with Cheesy, who tends to copy the nearest cat lol

They are so sweet!! I'm so happy they let me pet them now. I hope they'll eventually let me pick them up.

Excuse my gnarly hands, just TNRd another feral and had to search for kittens in thorns and nettles...

I posted about a month ago when I first took in these two cats. They were rescues from a huge feral colony that got way out of control And they were given to me to be outside barn cats. But I decided it would be better for all of us that they be inside cats. So I made the mega cage inside and I put them in the dining room which is a high traffic area of our house to try to get them accustomed to us.

Every night I go to give treats and try to get them used to us and the girl is coming along nicely. She will take treats from my hand and almost get close enough to pet her, I can see it in the future with her. I'm very pleased with how she's come along in a month.

But the boy has not moved one iota. He still hisses when I get near. He has never taken a treat from me. Neither of them will play with any toys. The boy does occasionally eat in my presence but not often.

I started taking away the hiding caves + only providing boxes that are open to the front with the hopes that increased exposure might help the boy to get friendly, but what happens is the two pile on top of each other and because the girl doesn't mind as us as much she's always in the front and she's kind of the door and blocker so he doesn't have to be around us. And in fact she's always trying to get the treats so I can't get it to him.

I'm thinking about pretty soon. Maybe removing her from the cage and letting just him stay in the cage. Several people have come in my house and said it seems cruel and unusual to make them stay in the cage all winter and not get any exercise, but if I put them in a spare room I know we won't think to go in there very much. I don't know. Is this the right thing?? I might be able to still put them out for the winter in the barn and make them barn cats.

But the truth is when I said I would take two ferals I thought I was going to get old cats and not young cats. I don't know that I'm prepared to take on outside cats that might live 20 years. I don't know that I'm going to be here 20 years. Picture of mega cage attached.

Any advice? Or have you had a cat that you spent now 5 weeks around who hasn't made any move towards friendliness that eventually got friendly? I don't need a lap cat but if he's going to be indoors I want him to have some kind of quality of life and not live hiding under the bed all the time.

Yesterday I made a post about our former feral, Tonka Bean, who yesterday for the first time in the four months we’ve had him inside jumped on the couch with me and climbed briefly on my chest, well today he made just a couple biscuits in my lap! He quickly got back down but it’s progress and he was purring like a little motorboat!

So for context I have 3 dogs and 4 cats at the moment, along with some mice a hamster and two snakes. Just info to keep in mind.

The first two cats Marble and ViVi I got about 9 years ago when they were around 6 months old. They are my precious girls.

I intended only for the two and my boyfriend was adamant about "no more pets". Fair enough. We have a lot.

But then I was at work, and a resident came to me and told me there was a cat out by the dump. And that someone must've dumped it.

Sure enough I go out to the trash area and boom, I see mister gray boy (no, not yet Bagel), and he runs from me obviously terrified.

Well who just so happens to be off the day after I saw him? And who also owns a cat trap?

You betcha, so I make my way down the next day and have myself a steak out until I finally catch him! He comes home and lives in our spare bedroom.

My bf says no more pets and I need to find him a home.

First I search for lost and found pages and so on to make sure no one was missing him

He didn't immediately warm up to me though. Well after weeks and no one reaching out it was time to find him a home, which I did. Found a lovely lady who said she would work with him and take care of him. Brought him to her and that was that. Until 4 days later when I get the text that he has been attacking her boyfriend viciously and peeing and pooping outside the litter box and I need to come pick him up. So I do. And my bf and I devote more time to making sure he's good with males. But when he comes home...he warms uro my bf super well and then to me and now has becomey BIGGEST cuddler.

Cute to now. It's been a few months since we were driving home and I see a black cat dart acrossg neighborhood.

What do I, a lady with unfathomable amounts of time and a spare cat trap do? Well I catch the poor creature of course. At this point the gray boy now lives with us permanently as he clearly chose us. So that makes 3. But what's a 4th right?

So cut to Bagel. I catch him rather easily of course. I being him inside. In the same spare room Simon once lived in before given free roam of the house. And of course he's petrified. Tried all means to get as far from me as possible. Climbs the tall bookshelves. All sorts of tricks. We keep him in there for a while. I did notice that he had his ear chipped which means he was tnr once before. Which is great. Except he wasn't attacking me like a feral should. He was just freezing up or springing away from me. So I keep him inside and put up a few posts. Only to get a message saying they believed this was the cat they had tnred before. That they wanted to keep him indoors cause he showed potential but they just couldn't at the time.

We live near desert areas where coyotes and mountain lions are constantly in our backyards. I couldn't fathom letting him back outside.... So we kept him in the room for a few months and tried to get him to warm up

It never really worked and finally we said he's miserable locked up in here let's set him free. At this point all the other cats ignored the room and him all together.

Once we let him out though things started to change. He started howling. Over and over again at night. He also started following Simon around constantly only at night though. During the day he hides. But night time he's roaming about. Especially when I go to bed and the dogs are locked up in kennels. He's out prowling. I once saw him push his head under Simon's primordial pouch and lift him up a bit to walk underneath him just to be close to him. He's obsessed with Simon. And now months later and I have one cat who is the most cuddly, who literally little spoons me at night every night, and his brother Bagel who couldn't be farther away from me.

Today marks the first day that he got on the bed while I was sitting up and the light was on and he made eye contact with me and didn't immediately jump off the bed. Normally he makes eye contact with me and bolts. But today he felt a little safer and snuggled Simon in front of me.

I feel like there's hope. But at the same time I wonder if someone else would be better equiped to handle him. I care very deeply for him and I just want him to finally feel safe enough to accept love.

1. 4 former ferals. 3 passed out, 1 that will be asleep soon. L to R- trouble (void), abacus, Ambien, goblin (void)
2. Goblin on her back, leg in the air
3. Ambien dreaming
4. 4 and 5. Abacus using a concrete step as a pillow and Trouble temporarily awake
5. Goblin getting pets after coming in
6. winking. She never blinks. It’s kinda creepy actually lol
7. 8 looking at my husband
8. just being cute.

I forgot Reddit is weird with lists. You can figure it out I’m sure 😄

Today was the first time she lay down on my lap!

I rescued this sweet boy when I noticed he had a broken arm. He had an amputation 4 weeks ago, which is how long we’ve had him.

So far he stays to his bed/tree but is doing a lot better allowing me to let him.

The big issue is he has been ignoring the litter box and pooping under the table, middle of the living room, even right next to the litter box on the bath mat.

He has two litter boxes. One with kitten attract litter and one with the soft bedding used for small animals. He was using the litter box when I had him in an enclosure text during his recovery. I’ve blocked off the living room where he’s been staying this whole time in hopes he’ll use one of the two litter boxes in there. This morning there was poop in the middle of the living room.

He is eating/drinking, grooming and walking well. He has a follow up with the vet tomorrow and I’ll talk to them as well.

I just ordered a low profile litter box in case the issue is him feeling uncomfortable climbing into a traditional sized one.
Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

This little feral tabby girl who adopted us a few months ago, we've been socializing very successfully, has moved into our walled-in front yard, but eluded every attempt to trap or snatch her; she has finally decided on her own to come explore the inside

I set up a catio balcony for her adjoining the study upstairs. Earlier this week she started making little excursions inside downstairs, and into the [also enclosed] backyard. The catio faces the back; I went up there and called to her and she climbed up the cork tree looking for a way over! So I made a little gate on the catio, and lashed a plank to the tree and screwed it into the balcony. I call it her "secret passageway".

A few days ago she came up, looked around a bit, made biscuits on the little guest mattress I set up there, and took a nap there with me watching over her ❤️.

My partner is out of town at a conference so I don't have the car; as soon as she gets back I'll try to close her in that space and see if she'll let me get her into a carrier to finally get her to the vet. She has really turned a corner of deepening her trust in me, and lets me handle her a fair amount and pet her and kiss her and gently place her on my lap for a few moments. I think she's starting to understand that our attempts to bring her upstairs previously, and then to trap her, were probably all just to get her inside to offer her this refuge (she had gotten spooked for a bit each time those attempts failed and it regressed her blossoming trust for a bit, but she kept coming back and giving us more chances).

Then a couple nights later, I saw her take her brother on a tour of the house after I went to bed, on a security cam I set up! This is huge because he has been WAY more skittish; she let me pet her after 4 days of feeding her, while it's taken 3 months for him to even come close at all.

The night afterwards, he seemed to have learned "maybe this place isn't so scary and these people are just actually nice", because he came up to eat within arm's reach of me for the first time!!

Tonka Bean hopped on the couch with me, and even climbed on my chest for a second and sniffed my face!! He only stayed up for a minute but it’s a huge step so far!

Big update to this post from a few days ago.

TabbyTom is a "feral" tomcat that I've been seeing around, maybe once or twice a week coming into my yard in search of lady cats. I've been trying to befriend him since early spring with zero success, never able to come within twenty feet of him. For all intents, he really seemed to be entirely feral.

.....but, a week ago I noticed that he was perched on one of my window sills, watching through the glass with a super sad expression as I cooked dinner and my own cats frolicked. That night he had a surprising breakthrough, as he came up to me within an arm's reach, even kicking some food off my finger. He was still shy, though, but over the past week has become a more regular guest, stopping by several times in the evening for some dinner.

Tonight, I got home from a late softball game (we got CRUSHED) and this little fella was waiting for me on the porch. He came right up to me and shoved his face into my hands, just begging to be pet. At some points he even put a paw on my leg, and seemed to be considering hopping right up into my lap. And he was purring! This is an absolutely remarkable change from the feral cat I knew just a week ago.

I do still plan to trap/neuter him, but if we keep going at this rate I'm not sure if the trap would even be necessary, might just be able to pick him up and put him in a crate.

* And disclaimer, yes, I know that these are not the actions of a feral cat. However he did seem entirely feral up until recently, so I wonder if he got dumped at a young age or something. I doubt he's someone else's indoor-outdoor.

I've been posting updates on the sibling pair my husband and I adopted at 6-7months old in March this year. When Cheddar (orange, m) and Wensleydale (dilute calico, f) came to us they were underweight, under social, and so scared of people that we could barely touch them. They had to be kept in my office for further socialization for almost 2 months before we could let them have access to the whole house.

Because they were not appropriately socialized prior to 6 months of age (their foster mom is amazing but they were adopted to a man that had no clue what he was doing and he caused them both to completely regress before he returned them to the shelter saying he didn't like them and didn't want them) their journey has been a bit odd and unusual.

They have just recently passed their first birthday and have been a part of our family for about 6 months. In that time Wensley has advanced along socially pretty steadily. She is still skittish and wary in some ways but she has become very cuddly and affectionate and enjoys snuggling and being held. She's come a lot further than we ever could have anticipated in such a short time.

Cheddar has had some odd roadblocks. He is quite friendly and loves to be petted but he's very wary of being handled, picked up, held, or even getting up close to a body. For several months we have been stalled out on him soliciting affection only when a human is sitting or standing and he is on the floor. He simply refused to join us on the couch despite a lot of gentle encouragement and he never, ever gets up in bed with us. He HATES being held and actively resists it the entire time though he is calm enough now that he doesn't panic and scratch to get away, he does lean away with his whole body and he never relaxes at all.

He also gets overstimulated very abruptly and he slaps at petting hands suddenly. He is also very grabby and excited when being petted and he often tries to grab my hand/arm if I try to pull away from him or even when I'm not pulling away and he is just anticipating that I might. Thankfully we're working on this and he grabs and slaps less now and he also has learned not to use his claws on us so it doesn't hurt when he has a moment of poor impulse control (thankfully that has been easy, he has such a sweet nature and he definitely isn't trying to hurt us, once he learned that I won't keep petting him if he scratches me he stopped using his claws really fast).

Suddenly in the last few weeks he has decided that he is now ok with getting up on the couch with people. He just started hopping up with us after months of being like absolutely not. In the last week he has also relaxed enough to lay down next to me (but not touching me) on the couch. He has begun rubbing up against my body in affection when he's up on the couch with me being petted. But he still hates being held and he won't willingly go onto a lap.

Then, today, he had a huge breakthrough! This morning he saw me laying in bed from his perch in the window and it was like something clicked. I said "Hi bud, did you want to come over here?" And he lept from the window to the bed and came charging across the bed (and my husband lol) right to me. He climbed right up onto my chest and proceeded to spend the rest of the morning being petted and congratulated for his courage while he climbed all over the bed, us, and our pillows. He eventually laid down curled up on my legs (pictured) and did a little bath time. He has never felt relaxed enough to lay up against me let alone groom while literally laying on me. He has never willingly climbed up on anyone in his life.

He was so happy he drooled a lot and purred even more and he made a lot of really enthusiastic biscuits and he smashed his face into my husband's face while he was asleep lol. We're so proud of our sweet not-so-little-anymore guy.