keeping warm in the engine block of a truck, just before the driver turned the ignition. Probably her mother had gone hunting and never returned. She had fleas, worms, and ear mites and weighed just 2.4 pounds. Once I got rid of the parasites, her weight doubled in one week, and she then continued to gain weight rapidly thereafter.
Tico was a TNR feral. I live near campus, where there are many ferals. Apparently someone puts food out--not uncommon in areas with ferals. Also there are a lot of rabbits and squirrels for hunting.
But Tico is a house panther--a shorthaired black cat. Those Halloween kitties are usually--perhaps even always--part Siamese. Certainly he is. He even has the guttural Siamese voice, though he mrrrs rather than yowls.
Siamese cats are notoriously people oriented. He used to come and visit my cats through the window, and he shadowed me on my walks, but I couldn't get close to him.
I went around the neighborhood to see if he belonged to anyone, because he was always outside, no matter how bad the weather. I wanted to find his owner and ask to adopt him.
Then on July 2, 2014, when I got home from my walk I sat on my porch steps and cuddle talked him for almost 3 hours until I got him close enough to make a quick grab and get him inside.
I knew of two people who had lost cats because they ran away from fear of fireworks, and people do shoot off fireworks around here.
I called the Humane Society to see if anyone was looking for him, but when I described the notch in his ear, they said that instead of taking off the ear tip as most TNR programs do, our city's program just cuts a notch in the ear. IOW, he was a feral.
He took a while to learn to play with me, because he hadn't played with toys before. Even now, years later, though he is a lovey cat indoors and comes when I call outside, even I cannot walk right up to him outside. He survived by being hyper alert and skittish when he was feral, so outside he is super cautious.
If I sit and cuddle talk him outside he will come and rub his face on my legs, but if I try to approach him directly, I can't get near him. When I clap, he dashes into the open door, though, so that's how he comes home when I call for him. Once inside, though, nothing I do startles him or makes him nervous. Though I have to be careful not to scare my three 100% indoor kitties away from their food or water by walking by them while they eat or drink, I can step right over him and he doesn't even flinch. Indoors he knows he is safe. Outdoors, though, he trusts nothing and no one.
Visit tinykittens.com. They run a massive THE program and also rehab ferals and find homes for them. If a cat is pregnant, they spay her once the kittens are weaned and then find homes for the kittens and either find her a home, or if she can't be sufficiently tamed, return her to the feral colony.
Some of the ferals they bring in are pretty easily tamed; others are not. It all depends on the cat's personality.
The OP has found that one feral he feeds will sit on him, but not the other. It just depends on the cat.
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