Many years ago, I coaxed a feral half-grown kitten whose mother had been hit by a car. My old cat Luke used to bring stray kittens home for me, so I was not surprised to see he had corralled the kittie whose mother had died. But the cat, about 6-8 months old at the time, was feral, so I couldn't get near him. Instead, I would take food out to him in the small parking lot near my apartment. At first I just left the food for him while I watched from across the lot. After a few days, I watched from a little closer. About ten days later, I was lying on the ground on my back by the food, but very, very still. A couple of days after that, I had extended my hand to lie on the ground next to the food. Think of Sigourney Weaver as Diane Fossey in Gorillas in the Mist:
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Next step was to put some tuna in the palm of my hand and lie next to the food dish with my hand lying still by the dish. the cat was skittish, but he took the tuna from my hand, so for the next couple of days that is what I did. Then I sat next to the dish, with my hand held out for him to eat the tuna from it.
Because I always would say, "Lukey, where's your little friend? Where's the other kitty?" when I would take the food out to him, the feral boy started to respond to the words "other kitty." I eventually named him "Other Kitty," and he would come for his food when I called "Other Kitty!"
Eventually, he let me scratch his head and pet him. Finally, I coaxed him into my lap with the tuna. After about two months I was able to grab him and take him inside with me, where he was scared at first, because I had suddenly snatched him, but after a few days he became less nervous and would come to get a head scratch if I was sitting down. He became a very sweet pet cat.
Some feral cats will take longer than others, and some will never completely overcome their skittishness. My Tico is afraid of nothing when he is inside. Unlike my other cats, he doesn't even flinch if I walk near him while he is eating. But when he is outside, he is extremely cautious, even with me. That cautiousness is undoubtedly why he survived as a feral for 18 months or so.
If I walk toward him outside, he scoots away from me, even if he actually wants me to give him attention. I have to sit on my porch steps for him to come to me outside. He is also always on high alert outside. When I sit on the porch to pet him and play with him, he will sometimes crouch down suddenly and stare across the street, obviously ready to dart away if necessary, because he has seen some slight movement in the distance.
One Tiny Kittens alumna--Starling--was adopted a couple of months ago with one of her kittens. The other kittens were adopted by other people, sometimes in pairs, but Star and her kitten went to the same home. After 2 months, Star's new person just finally got her to let her pet her on the head, and two days ago got her to take treats from her hand. But Star is still cautious, so she smacked the woman's hand a few times (no claws) as a warning before taking the treats.
https://www.facebook.com/StarandherKit/videos/1677614545874186/
It is possible that having one of her kittens with her has weakened her motivation to warm up to the human being. I saw that happen with a friend whose cat had one kitten who stayed with her. (one of the other kittens from that same litter is my own Lucy.) The mother cat and her remaining kitten were so close to each other that their person didn't quite fit into the bond for a long time.
Starling was feral for 18 months. She had her last litter at Tiny Kittens Headquarters (TKHQ) after being brought in by them for treatment of a severe foot wound. At first she wouldn't let anyone near her, but then she became very sweet and affectionate with Shelley and the other "cuddlers" at TKHQ.
The woman who adopted her has shown infinite patience with her, and has finally been rewarded for it. Personally, I would have been a bit more forward about socializing her to me if she were my cat. In fact, at TKHQ, Shelley would wrap her in a blanket and force lap time at first. And at first it was not comfortable for Star at all because she was so scared.
But by the time she was adopted, she had been feral for 18 months, had already had a couple of litters as a feral, and had suffered a serious wound on her foot. Then, as she experienced it, she was kidnapped and taken to a strange place where she was being approached and touched by all those people, and then forced to sit in someone's lap. Then after having and raising her kittens, she was moved a few times at TKHQ to make room for new rescues, and finally moved to SHelley's home until she was adopted. Then she was transported to an entirely new house with another strange person. That is a LOT of disruption for a 2 year old cat to go through in such a short time. Not to mention that after 18 months of being outside all the time, she is now a 100% indoor cat--which probably is a bit stressful for her. My three girl cats are OK with being indoors, but my Tico HAS to have a couple of hours outside each day or he goes bananas. He was about 18 months when I got him, but all my others were very young.
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But they are cute.
