moving feral cats - any experience?

[littlebeast]

we have two ferals who have been living in and around our garden for several years - and we are planning a move in the not too distant future. they are no where near domesticated, but are reliant on us for food, and come on a very regular schedule to be fed (coming close to us while feeding, but even after all this time, won’t let us touch them). the female spends most of her day lounging in the sun close by, but the male is a roamer (he’s never around, but comes running from wherever he is when he hears me tapping on his food bowl).

they are relatively young (approximately 7 years old), and we are either stuck here until they eventually pass or need to figure out how to acclimate them to our new property (we can trap them no problem - we did that to spay and neuter them - but it’s the change in location we are worried about, and there’s no way we can just abandon them here with no reliable food source).

does anyone have any experience with this? or know anyone who may?

 

[bigpoppa]

Sorry, no direct experience but we did end up adopting a number of kittens from a semi-feral cat that had two litters in our back yard before we were able to trap her and get her fixed.

As you probably found out already, local feral cat rescues are of limited help in situations like yours (it feels like some kind of elite club that leave you hanging if you’re not in the clique).

If they’re as feral as you indicate, I’m sure they’ll adapt to either a new location or to your old location without you around. It’s great you trapped them and had them spayed and neutered!

Personally, if I were attached to them like it sounds like you are, I would go ahead and re-trap them (if possible...cats are pretty smart and wary that way) and move them to your new location. If you have a garage at your new location, releasing them to the garage with food, water, and a litter box for a few days might be a good way to acclimate them to the new surroundings.

I’m subscribing to this thread since I’m very interested in what you end up doing and how things turn out.

Good luck!

 

[madsen203]

Sorry, no direct experience but we did end up adopting a number of kittens from a semi-feral cat that had two litters in our back yard before we were able to trap her and get her fixed.

As you probably found out already, local feral cat rescues are of limited help in situations like yours (it feels like some kind of elite club that leave you hanging if you’re not in the clique).

If they’re as feral as you indicate, I’m sure they’ll adapt to either a new location or to your old location without you around. It’s great you trapped them and had them spayed and neutered!

Personally, if I were attached to them like it sounds like you are, I would go ahead and re-trap them (if possible...cats are pretty smart and wary that way) and move them to your new location. If you have a garage at your new location, releasing them to the garage with food, water, and a litter box for a few days might be a good way to acclimate them to the new surroundings.

I’m subscribing to this thread since I’m very interested in what you end up doing and how things turn out.

Good luck!

I foresee a garage smelling like cat piss for years to come. :gross

 

[Grissom]

If feral cats are going to be moved my understanding is they need to be "imprinted" to the new location by being penned in for a period of time.

Reach out to the various bay area cat rescues perhaps for advice.

:thumbup for caring for them.

I have a "former" feral feline at work that if the poop hits the fan I need to take home as I have put in years taming her

 

[Sharxfan]

I agree with probably having to pen them up for a while at the new place.

When I was younger my parents got a cat from some friends and when we took it home we did not pen it up as it was an outside cat. It took off the same day and a few days/week later they got a call from the friends saying it had shown back up at their house.

 

[Climber]

Feral cats are really good at adopting new families that move in.

We had one in our new neighborhood that came by and adopted us when we moved in.

 

[byke]

My mom had what I would call a feral cat. You couldn't come within ten feet of the thing or it'd hiss and howl. When mum died we were cleaning out her apartment and had everything out and it came down to getting that damned cat out. It had embedded itself in the corner of the top shelf in the closet and things were going south and we were getting fed up with this insane animal hissing and swatting at us while trying to get her into a crate. She finally jumped in there and we took her to our house and got her setup in our closet at home. She literally lived in the closet for months, then slowly started stretching her legs and eventually let us hold her and now she's a pretty great cat. Anyway, I think it came down to a bit of luck and then being able to simulate a confined and comfortable environment and letting the socializing come at her own pace.

 

[DucatiHoney]

A friend of mine had a similar situation. The neighbor was moving, and she and her husband had been looking out for this untamed furball. The neighbor told everyone in the neighborhood the deal, and it didn't take long for kitty to move about 6 houses down to a place where another kind soul filled the bowl regularly. That's not going to be the solution every time, but cats are pretty resourceful--they get it figured out much of the time.

 

[TerryM]

A feral cat adopted us in Ireland, and we eventually moved with him back to the US, but he was somewhat acclimated by then. Still, we kept him in a small, closed room a couple of days and let him venture out at his own pace.

Neighbors adopted 2 young feral cats through Marin Humane and were advised to keep them penned up outside (Marin Humane provided cages) near where they'd be fed for a couple of weeks and slowly introduce them to free ranging. Cages were covered/protected, doors left open and the cats would return for sleeping. Neighbors' place is totally their home now.

 

[HappyHighwayman]

My neighbor is an awesome dude he catches feral cats in his garage and takes them to the vet to be fixed

We're sad our feral Cat orange appears to be gone

 

[bpw]

Feral cats are pretty resourceful, I bet they will find another food source pretty quick after you move. Wouldn't be surprising if they already have a few houses that they get food from.

 

[littlebeast]

Sorry, no direct experience but we did end up adopting a number of kittens from a semi-feral cat that had two litters in our back yard before we were able to trap her and get her fixed.

As you probably found out already, local feral cat rescues are of limited help in situations like yours (it feels like some kind of elite club that leave you hanging if you’re not in the clique).

If they’re as feral as you indicate, I’m sure they’ll adapt to either a new location or to your old location without you around. It’s great you trapped them and had them spayed and neutered!

Personally, if I were attached to them like it sounds like you are, I would go ahead and re-trap them (if possible...cats are pretty smart and wary that way) and move them to your new location. If you have a garage at your new location, releasing them to the garage with food, water, and a litter box for a few days might be a good way to acclimate them to the new surroundings.

I’m subscribing to this thread since I’m very interested in what you end up doing and how things turn out.

Good luck!

yes - absolutely. have contacted the local feral groups. no help. my impression is that they are crazy cat people on steroids, but are so consumed managing their colonies that they have no bandwidth left for anything else. and that said, they don’t seem to have expertise with anything other than managing colonies - they are good at feeding and controlling the population, but have no clue what it’s like to live with ferals.

I foresee a garage smelling like cat piss for years to come. :gross

not worried about this. wild cats (similar to most wild animals) typically do their business in the same location every time - and cats in particular love to go in certain types of material (these two are predictable WRT the garden - they like the deep mulch). i think they would use a litter box if one was provided.

If feral cats are going to be moved my understanding is they need to be "imprinted" to the new location by being penned in for a period of time.

Reach out to the various bay area cat rescues perhaps for advice.

:thumbup for caring for them.

I have a "former" feral feline at work that if the poop hits the fan I need to take home as I have put in years taming her

LOVE your mention of ‘imprinting’. am thinking to erect a large enclosure for them while they become accustomed to the new environment.

Feral cats are pretty resourceful, I bet they will find another food source pretty quick after you move. Wouldn't be surprising if they already have a few houses that they get food from.

as i said, can’t leave them to their own devices. they would be confused at the loss of their routine and regular food source. we could not sleep at night worrying if anyone else was caring for them. they are wild, but they are our babies. leaving them behind and at the mercy of others is not an option.

 

[ThumperX]

Trap and transport, food and water and garage or barn. We are dealing with this as well.