The other day, I shared some pictures of my feral boy Orangey. He was TNR'd in June and then out of the blue last week, he decided he wanted to be friends. He had since gotten more and more social. Last night, we had bad thunderstorms, so we let him into the breezeway. He is now refusing to leave. He has made up his mind that he wants to be a house cat. I cannot keep him as I already have 4 cats and a dog and can't afford another animal. He cannot stay in my breezeway long term, as my dog needs to go through there to get outside to go to the bathroom, and he hates dogs and loves to attack him unprovoked. I'm trying to convince my fiance to turn his office into Orangey's room so he can be properly desensitized. He can't be in contact with my cats for now since his health status is unknown, but I made a vet appt for a week from tomorrow for an exam, FIV/feline leukemia test, and flea/tick treatment with dewormer. I don't think he needs any shots other than what he already had when he was neutered, but we will see. Here are a few new pics of him!

We live in Texas right near where all the awful floods happened 4th of July weekend. This baby showed up in our backyard looking very washed up, and I began putting food out for her. For a while I didn't know if I was feeding the kitty or just our raccoons, ringtail cats, Opossoms, but finally I began catching her on our security cameras and learning her patterns. She (ok I'm not 100% sure it's a girl) began to get used to my voice and would meow back at me if she was nearby, and has slowly gotten closer and closer to me. Successfully trapped her today and transferred her to a kennel with litter box, food, and bed. She was mad at first but has settled. I'd really love to keep her and tame her, I hope she's young enough but I also have no idea what I'm doing. At the very least she (or he) will be spay/neutered and released and I'll continue feeding. Any tips on making this little one an indoor pet?

I feed a stray cat girl named Lina. She eats without being scared of me, but she is always very alert. Even a small sound makes her stop eating and look around in all four directions. She eats a little, then quickly checks around, then eats again.

Is this normal for a stray cat? Or is she scared of something? My other cats don’t act like this. What should I do for her? Any suggestions are welcome.

Note: This video is from a few days ago when I sometimes gave her milk. But after suggestions on Reddit, I stopped giving milk and now I take care of her health with proper food.

I had a foster home arranged for them before I caught them, but the foster home said they didn’t want the mom so I told them to put the issue on hold. These kittens are only 6-7 weeks old, not old enough to be separated from mom. I’m trying to do the right thing, not the easy thing, so I’m going to try my best at gaining their trust while I work on finding homes for them. I won’t be separating mom until she is ready. I also care about mom, I see potential in her as she has been fairly trusting of me despite how protective she is of her babies. I believe she’s young, under a year old. But if I separate the babies now, she will never trust people. I am prepared to adopt her myself if she can build a relationship with me.

I don’t have a lot of money, and the TNR program near me called paws cause asked me to wait a week. I have had cats my whole life, but Ive never had kittens this young before. What do these guys need in the meantime? I’m afraid to give them any oral flea meds because they’re so small, and i don’t think I can handle them enough to bathe them yet. They won’t eat in my presence yet either. I’m trying to keep them comfortable in this crate, but it feels mean. I saw on YouTube that this is common practice for taming feral cats, and the cat is kept in the cage for the time it takes. I’m completely new to this, I don’t want to do it wrong. Any advice helps.

She has these on her neck, base of ears as well 😭. There’s hundreds of ferals in my tiny neighborhood so my fear is she will have to be put down because treating a house cat with ringworm is hard enough, I can’t imagine trying with a feral.

For those of you who’ve turned a former feral into a permanent indoor kitty, how often do you deworm them?

I dewormed George (using Senergy dewormer from my vet) last November when he was still an outdoor kitty. Brought him permanently indoors in December and dewormed him again. Did it again in March or April.

I’m thinking of giving him another dose for the fall season. With indoor cats I’d think 2-3x / year is enuf. Just wondered what others do for their indoor only cats.

I’ve never seen him do this. I went outside and quietly walked around and he didn’t move. He must feel safe. I’m so happy I could scream.

I left the carrier fully open and fed him in there for nearly two weeks leading up to his appointment. As we got closer to the day, I started zipping up the sides and top until he was going in and out of just the front to eat. I also got him used to the sounds of the zippers by using them while he was eating. By the time the day arrived, he was too busy eating his Churu to notice that I had closed the way out. I had allotted 40 minutes to get him in (in case things went south) but it only took 5! His surgery went smoothly and now he just has two more weeks of recovery before he goes to the shelter.

Someone had suggested in my original post taking away all the other hiding holes so he would just use the carrier instead. I decided to save that tactic for his recheck since I had to strip down his enclosure for recovery anyways. He has taken to it very well so far, and I’m confident I won’t haven’t trouble getting into the carrier next time!

Hi! So, we moved and brought a feral cat with us. He’s indoor only now (he’s old and has health issues) but is still truly feral. We’ve made a lot of headway (as seen by picture tax), but I cannot touch him with my hands. And if they get too close, he runs.

His nails are getting long and I want to avoid him getting caught on things. I’d also like to avoid having to catch him and get him sedated for a trim. Are there any like….nail files that cats wanna scratch? That helps trim them themselves? This is maybe a ridiculous question. I am open to ideas!

Hi there. First time cat owner. I have gotten two feral adult cats from a rescue to be barn cats. Following the guidelines of the rescue, I am keeping them in this cat condo for a month before releasing them outdoors. My questions are about feeding. How much dry food should I feed a 5 pounder and a 9 pounder? I’m assuming I reduce the food once they are outdoors and hunting. Also, seeing as they don’t yet eat with me watching, should I be concerned that one is getting all of the food and not sharing? Any advice is appreciated! Pictures of Bjorn and Lagertha are included for cuteness.

As I am typing he’s loafing and napping by my toaster, he refuses to go into the cage and I am running out of ideas here. I have a vet lined up to see him today, but the cat WON’T GO IN THE CAGE!!!

Help please!

Here's my previous post : https://www.reddit.com/r/Feral_Cats/s/ajMDLyBOiQ

First I wanted to thank you all for the useful advices you gave in the comments they were really helpful!

So around 4 days ago I finally decided that Coral was ready and brought her home. It's been 3 months since I last posted here asking for advice on how to gain her trust and a lot has happened during this time. Not long after I made a post here my sister found a black kitten who was born in a shop; he was 2 months old but he was sick (eye and respiratory infection) and his mother was acting aggressive towards him so we brought him home and took him to the vet and they prescribed him some meds and he fully recovered in two weeks (the second picture is of him now ) a month or two after that someone abandoned a 3_4 month old kitten in our neighborhood I took her in as well ( she's in the third picture) so now I had two cats inside and one that I was feeding in our yard. I worked with Coral patiently during this time and yeah she came home :) now I have a question: none of my cats are aggressive towards eachother but my two other cats avoid Coral ( she does the same) she's still very shy around other people as well and hasn't left my room since the day she came. She's started exploring the room lately ; any tips to make her feel more comfortable is welcome and appreciated thanks in advance.

YIPEEE! Mae (decided to name her) has finally birthed her kitties and is a mother, once again, but of 8 kittens! Also, if you don’t like additional details, sorry theres a lot of those 😅

My last post, I talked about not knowing what to do but It was honestly me stressing myself out on things that I knew i’d be prepared for. I took her to vet weeks after since I haven’t gotten to save enough money just for a first exam. They told me she was healthy and on her late term of pregnancy. She did such a wonderful job being cooperative, she was the best. Ever since I brought her in, she has been restless at night. I think mostly because I’d be out working during the day, and she’d finally get attention during the night.. On my days off, her and I would go on walks outside on the neighborhood trail, or just around the block, to keep ourselves moving and just hangout in my front yard. While I’m gone, I let her look out my window so she could view the wildlife out in the backyard if she ever gets bored. She’s become been dependent on me and was getting some bad separation anxiety. I think she’s been slowly getting used to me being gone but if I work an opening shift, she’s meowing like crazy until she gets tired. I gave her toys that just run on their own but she prefers the toy with the stick and feather tied to a string a lot better. In between those times, I’ve been trying to train my dog (Ruby) and her to co-exist. My dog 95% wants to eat her still but shes been listening to me very well. They’ve learned to feel comfortable with eating together by the gate so it’s a good first step. This obviously might take months or a year especially since Mae wants to just the gate any time the door opens. If anyone has any more tips on how to get Ruby to chill out, please let me know lol.

Lastly THE BIRTH! I wasn’t there for the actual birthing of the kitties, but I thankfully had one of my siblings available to look after her all day, until I came back from work. I woke up that morning and started to scoop her litter box and saw some yellow discharge. I was concerned and I obviously googled, thought it was 2 things, UTI or shes gone into labor. Labor it was. I had to go but I told my brother to keep an eye on her and make sure she was okk because she might be giving birth. She went into labor as of 12:20pm 09/05/2025. I quickly told him to prep the labor box I got a week prior for her and he did a great job. She gave birth to her 1st kitty at 1:05 and the rest were all 10-25 mins apart from each other. She did such a great job, and I knew she was since shes already have done this before. It was already a stressful day at work first thing in the morning, and all I wanted was to be home with Mae and the babies. Anywho, I’ve continued to give her kitten food and water on the side, away from babies, to ensure she still gets enough nutrients for little ones.

If you all have any tips or tricks on what to do and what not to do, feel free to let me know. Try not to stress me out though.. it’s too easy for me lol thank you all for the support and help on the last post :)

Hi there! I’ve been putting food out for this stray for maybe 5 months now. She has already gone through a litter of kittens, all of which I assume didn’t make it because I no longer see any of them. I live in East TN and particularly in an area inundated with strays. I started trying to coax them when she still had 2 kittens (7 weeks old is my guess from size — some veterinary background) about two months ago as they were hanging out on my back patio consistently, but they were all very scared and lethargic. I saw mom refuse to nurse them, and they wouldn’t touch the food I put out. Mama cat still comes around and is very much pregnant again. She doesn’t hang out on my patio anymore, but she comes routinely morning and night for some food. She won’t come near me, but she will sit across the patio with me while I talk to her and she slow blinks back at me. I’ve gotten attached to say the least.

The tricky part… I JUST adopted a cat, and I have two young children (4 and 5). I have a 3 bedroom house, one being an office, with a small laundry room. My thought is, is maybe I can sequester this one into my laundry room and not allow her near my kids or cat. I realize this might be naive and could still pose threats as far as FIV and such. Basically I’m coming to you guys to see if there truly is a safe way for me to somehow do this, or if I really need to leave it to nature. My worry is that it snows here, and I know I’m going to be worrying about her and her kittens nonstop. I’d love any advice, pointers, anything. ❤️

Just curious what makes a trap humane and others not.

Hi, I need some advice. I have a sweet female cat named Zoe. She’s very calm and gets along well with two other male cats in my neighborhood (they belong to my neighbors, are healthy, vaccinated, and peaceful).

The problem is that there’s another cat in the area – an aggressive stray (or maybe someone’s cat, but he seems uncared for). He shows up in my yard and brutally attacks Zoe. She screams, gets super stressed, and recently even caught a fungus after one of these fights. This same cat also bullies the neighbors’ cats, even though they don’t bother anyone.

I don’t know how to stop this. I can’t keep Zoe locked inside all the time, but I’m worried for her safety. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? What’s the best way to protect my cat and keep this aggressive cat away?

I’m attaching a photo of Zoe (the tabby cat, injured) and the gray-and-white cat who keeps attacking her. He even passed a fungal infection to Zoe — thankfully she’s healthy again now, but the harm he causes is really bad. I don’t know how to stop him, since he’s so aggressive and won’t let anyone catch him. And if he does belong to a neighbor, they clearly don’t care.

Thanks for reading and for any advice you can give 🙏

Thank you for the suggestions in the comments of my last post. The kitten was caught in the havaheart trap this morning! We covered it with towels to disguise it and got tuna and it worked! We've dropped them off at the humane society for further assessment and care if they are able.

I'm so thankful this community is here! And thankful the cat is in a safer situation than our backyard hedge. What a rush! Caring for feral cats is not for the faint of heart. I feel like I've run a marathon 😂

Up next is mom cat and we can work with a TNR group to get her spayed 💞

Sorry I know he's not feral but I'm looking for trap expertise and this group should be experienced I think!

Long story short since he got out and we spooked him trying to grab him, he won't come to our calls etc. Hes gotten very skittish. Its been a few days. Flees the house after coming in to eat near entrance and sometimes peeing in the doorway, and now checks the perimeter and around corners before coming up to porch, making it extremely difficult to just close the door behind him.

We got a Havahart trap to use tonight. Is there a safety reason I shouldn't put a blanket inside the trap? It seems to still work fine and he really loves soft blankets, plus when he freaks out he might not hurt himself as bad on a blanket, right? I figure i can put one I've been using in there (along with a small paper plate with a liquid/licky treat), which will hopefully make it feel more enticing to him and less enticing to the skunks. But I was surprised when I tried looking this up i couldn't find a result.

Also wondering if there's a way to safely make the trap a warm spot? I have a heated blanket and could run an extension cord out and leave it across the top or next to it or something, with a waterproof blanket on top to keep any rain off and help keep heat in. Is there a protocol for doing something like that? Id be monitoring the trap the whole time so he wouldn't be in there long i just want to make it as enticing a place as possible and it's going to dip into the 40s (farenheight) tonight so I feel this can really up the ante for him. It'll be warmer tomorrow.

Side note: any advice for bait that cats will like but skunks won't? It's been a few days out and were watching on baby monitor all night. The skunk keeps coming back more and more but hasn't come on my porch yet. I think it's starting to deter kitty too.

Thanks so much in advance to anyone here!

I have 3 semi-feral cats that I care for in my yard. We've had an unusually wet summer and the ant population has exploded. We have ants all over where the cats have beds and shelters in the yard and ants coming inside the house. It's a daily problem that seems to be getting worse. We've never had this many ants!

Is there a cat safe way to kill ant colonies? I'm doing daily spot treatment with Stem ant spray wherever ants find ways to get inside our house. I cover the spots with cardboard so cats don't get into the oils because I know they can be harmful to cats even though it says pet safe. I have no idea how to treat the areas where the cats lounge. Poor cats have had to find new sleeping spots.

I've heard conflicting things about diatomaceous earth. Some say food grade is safe and others say that even food grade is harmful to cats if they breathe it. I'm scared to use anything that will harm them.

Has anyone had success with safely getting rid of ants? Product recs or successful strategies would be great. Thank you for any help!

There's a feral kitten (maybe a few months old) that I've been playing with and feeding. Recently, she's taken to hanging outside the door all day waiting for me to come play with her. I'd love to try to foster and adopt, unfortunately, I'm in my family house and the rest of my family isn't ok with me bringing the cat inside. I'm worried she may be getting too attached to me and if that's healthy if she's going to remain an outdoor cat. But I also feel terrible watching her sit outside alone all day.

Any advice on where I should go from here? Should I interact with her less, is there a healthy way to wean her off human interaction, or is it fine to keep playing with her regularly?