How old were my feral cats when I got them?
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63233)
United States
April 25, 2009 11:40pm CST
I was recently asked this question on a message board, and I'm not wasteful, I'll tell you guys too!
Well, my first one we first spotted at about 6 weeks old running away from a busy street near the University of Texas at 1 a.m., we took food over nightly for a couple of weeks before we were able to trap him. He was a Bombay type, and like Bombay's he was really affectionate, and when we lost a cat, he'd step into their place until he actually slept next to me at night - that's not to say I could pill him! That was Mandy.
Mitten was my next feral, her mom wasn't feral, but of the 4 kittens, she was the most, they were about 7 weeks when we caught them. She's the one that died at 16 last fall. I could pet her, if there were food around, but catching her was never fun.
Star, now the oldest feral, is also the most feral of the lot, she looked 5 weeks, but since she now looks 6 months and is over 7 years, we suspect it was closer to 8-10 weeks old. She got the name Shooting Star because the former roommate once called her a "Siamese colored metorite." I can catch her, if I absolutely must, but she hates it. If trapped, she'll tolerate being pet, but doesn't purr.
Ronnie, was about 8 weeks old at a Chevron (hence her name) gas station. She doesn't like people much, but if you pet her, she likes her neck scratched and will purr.
Gizmo, now, I know his age at capture, 28 days, give or take a day, he was caught on the Saturday before Memorial Day, 5 years ago, so he had to have been born around the first of May. Again, he was the most feral of the trio, mom was skittish, but not feral. This is the one that comes to my bed for pets at night, but he's also the least likely of the 3 we have now to be around if we are doing things, and the hardest to catch.
Go figure...
That's my feral history, and when we got Mandy, we only had 5 cats. Still, the other 4 more than made up for not being able to pet Mandy. Funny thing about Mandy is he'd sneak up behind us and put one claw in our backs or butts so we'd look at him. Odd little cat....
So, do you have a history of feral or semi-feral house pets? What is your story?
2 people like this
6 responses
@krayzee (1160)
• Romania
26 Apr 09
Wow, you do have lots of cat stories:) How cool!My current cat is also an ex-stray, my husband found her in the parking lot of a store and (luckily for me) brought her home. We've had her for over a year now:)
She's a very talkative kitty (she even tries to imitate bird sounds), plays a lot, likes to be petted and has a very hard to hear purr. Oh, and she makes a sort of puffing when she's excited. Can you tell I love her? :)
2 people like this
@winterose (39887)
• Canada
29 Apr 09
ferals I don't know that we had real ferals, we had cats that people through out that is for sure but they were mostly friendly so I doubt that they were feral at all. One or two just walked into our house and never left.
1 person likes this
@mentalward (14691)
• United States
26 Apr 09
I have a feral cat now. Actually, I don't think 'feral' describes him very well... he was lost or abandoned. When he first showed up 2 years ago, he was skinny as a rail. You could see every bone in his poor, skinny body. So, my husband fed him.
Needless to say, he never left. He's now a whopping 16 pounds and sweet as sugar! Most definitely, he had a home and was treated very well. I don't know if he was just dropped off or not, because we live in the country and people do tend to just dump off unwanted cats around here. But, everyone around here seems to be used to it because it seems that everyone around here feeds everyone else's cats when they come by.
But my cat, Bean, sticks close to home. He's a great mouser, otherwise he's pretty lazy. The vet said he was around 3 or 4 years old. He's a definite sweetheart, loves to be petted and brushed. Quite a chatterbox, too. If you look at him, he 'chirps'. If you pet him, he purrs very loudly. When he wants food, he'll tell me. When he walks in the room, he announces himself.
AND, he loves my dogs! They don't love him, although my oldest Maltese does play with him from time to time. They'll run all through the house, taking turns chasing each other. It's so cute to watch.
No, the ferals/semi-ferals are not pets, they are little more than amost wild animials that we keep in the house with us.
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
26 Apr 09
Hi Elic,
I have two cats, Tom my male was bought from the Cat's protection shelter home, when he was few weeks old so now he is ten years old and my other female cat Baby, (my hubby calls her Gizmo) because she looks like the little Gizmo from the movie Gremlins, she is so sweet, I got her from my neice because she had to move and she got him from her brother my nephew from the pet shop when she was a few weeks old, same as my Tom so that makes her the same age as Tom, they both gets on very well but Baddy don't like to be picke up but she loves to be fuss with and at night she would sleep with her nose in my neck, but Tom just sleeps anywhere that is warm, I would just pick him up and cuddle him, he don't mind that at all but Babby loves to sit on my hubby's lap but she don't come on mine. If you look on my profile, my cats are there and Baby is the one with white under her chin and sitting there looking regal.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
26 Apr 09
I do not have any pets or even any cats. However your story of how you came to have your cats is very interesting.
