I've done it twice.  Both cats were under a year old.  Rules I gave the kids
is you can put out food.  If she's still around in a week, I'll take her for
shots.  It she is still around a week after that, I'll have her fixed.  Then
and only then is she you cat.  (Now I'd be more inclined to go for shots and
fixed at the same time if the cat were old enough.  Both our ferals were
much older that they looked at first glance)  First guideline in the cat has
to be willing.  Any cat born in the great outdoors is by definition feral,
but there are huge differences in degree.  I'd personally never try to tame
a tom that has been active for several years.  I'd try to trap and have him
altered.  I'd provide food, etc. But there are so many willing kittens that
may never get homes that I don't see the point with a fully adult feral

However.  We had a plague of rabies here about 15 years ago.  Unless someone
were willing to pay for quarantine, all the feral cats in one area were
destroyed.  Many business had a semi resident, semi feral cat that they had
fed and taken for shots and fixed and encouraged to hang around to deal with
vermin.  Old victorian building that had been remodeled next to a levee
river area.  Virtually all those cats were put into paid quarantine, and
most of them taken home as household pets after it was over.  The two I knew
adapted very well.  You just let them come to you as much as they are
willing.

Neither of my ferals every became much of a lap cat, and one never learned
how to purr.

Jo

My Brando was a feral/semi-feral.  I trapped him with a Hav-a-Heart
trap, and then put him in a cage.  I started out by feeding him caned
food from a spoon, and then went to feeding him canned food from my
fingers.  It took him about a month to let me touch him, and another
month before he purred.  Once he was neutered and healed, I let him
out of the cage, since he was essentially tamed by that point.  Now,
he is the most loving, sweet, lap cat I've ever known.  He was
probably about 2-3 years old when I first trapped him.  So you *can*
tame an adult, although I've read it isn't easy.

HTH,

Ginger-lyn

Rosie was wild and homeless from birth until I trapped her when was seven
months old.  Now she is the sweetest little purr machine you could ever
find.
You can see a picture of her, the way she looks now, at
http://www.hpphoto.com/servlet/com.hp.HPLargeView?com=usUtil&awp=largeview3mbr.h
tml&pict_id=18358889&index=1&album_id=1740469
or at RPCA_Pictures in Yahoo.  Look in the Annie folder.
Annie

"Fuga :o\)" <fuga_@_canada.com> dumped this in  news:A18qc.48828
$0qd.41721@twister01.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com on 17 May 2004:

Bonnie is my little feral girl. She was trapped at around 4-5 months old
(I think!!) just about a year ago now. She spent about 2 months mostly in
a cage and then in a separate room where I spent time with her teaching
her that I wasn't going to hurt her. I also had to spoon feed her in the
beginning because she caught a URI in the clinic getting spayed. Either
that or it was herpes virus. It took many many months before I could pet
her without a welder glove on, and at first it was only with my foot. lol  
Each step closer to affection was a milestone and I'll never forget the
first time she climbed on my lap to sit for the first time (it was at
least 6-8 months for that). She is now very affectionate but I can't pick
her up. She still runs if I walk across the room too fast. She still has
never purred.

Well, Rocky was a true feral. I wouldn't recommend my method of
"taming" him though. When I first moved in here I put out food for an
apartment complex cat, who visited various apartments on a rotating
basis. Rocky found the food, and was a regular visitor for a couple
years before he'd stick around while I filled the bowl, and a LONG
time after that before he let me pet him.

A couple more years passed before I did the smart thing and took him
to be neutered. Once he'd been neutered (TED estimated 8-10 years old
at the time), it didn't take him very long, but I'd already been a
regular part of his life for 4 or 5 years by then. A month or two
after neutering he first purred, and not long after to decide to try
out the hoomin lap. Still doesn't appreciate being picked up, more apt
to jump down and run away than stick around.

I waited WAY to long before deciding to get him neutered.

My first cat was feral.  I probably would not have considered a feral cat
for my first if I had known anything about it -- but he eventually became a
truly wonderful companion.  It took a lot of time and patience, though.
This was many years ago, and none of us had heard of TNR at that time.  I
knew I would be heading to graduate school several states away in a few
weeks, and I wanted a companion. (If I had known better, that was actually
another reason why "feral" was not the logical route to go.)  I also heard
that my neighbor planned to trap feral cats in the area and take them to the
animal shelter (where they would be euthanized).  I spoke to him, and he
agreed to trap one for me.  We simply accepted the first cat that we were
able to trap -- there was no "selection" of a specific cat.  The cat we
trapped had long hair but had been running wild in a semi-rural area with
lots of tall grasses.  As a result, he was so badly matted that skin could
be seen tightly stretched from one mat to another.  Naturally, he was
terrified of us.

I kept him in my bedroom until I left for graduate school.  This meant that
I was frequently in the room with him, but he kept his distance and did not
let me touch him.  (FYI:  I now know that this is not the best way to
introduce a feral cat, but I was "lucky" with my results.)  I gradually got
him to come closer to me by placing his food closer and closer to me over a
period of time.  Looking back on it, I would say that he permitted me to
work on those mats in a remarkably short period of time.

It took about 2 years before we were truly "bonded."  For a few years, I had
to be careful not to walk quickly past him because he would grab my ankles
(ouch!).  Over a period of time, he became more and more a truly
affectionate and loving cat -- so much so that he slept in bed with me and
every time I would move, he would shift so that his body constantly was
pressed up against my back or legs.  We learned shortly after I adopted him
that he had UTI, and the vet told me that he would not have lived much
longer without treatment.

This cat eventually became one of the most wonderful cats I have ever known,
and he was also gorgeous -- truly regal.  The vet estimated that he was
about 8 months old when I adopted him, which means that he lived to be
almost 20.  During that time, he adjusted remarkably well to leash training.
Once he began to purr, it was a "monster purr" -- we used to call him a
motor boat when he was purring because we could hear him purring clear
across the room.

There are others on this group who can give you much better information
concerning the best methods of working with feral cats.  As I said, I knew
so little that I really learned just by feeling my through the process.
However, I thought this personal anecdotal history might give you some
encouragement.  I can certainly tell you from personal experience that it
*simply is not true* when people say that feral cats cannot be trained or
become household pets.  It takes a lot more time and a lot more effort, but
it definitely can be done (although I will not claim that it can be done
with *every* cat).

To see a picture of him, go to the second link under my signature.  Scroll
about 2/3 of the way down.  You will see a picture of Holly on the mantle.
The next photo down shows Duffy relaxing on top of the hutch -- and in the
hutch is a photo of the cat I have been describing.  He was 18 years old at
the time that picture was taken.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

Many years ago - around 1980 - I spent several months feeding and
trying to make friends with a feral calico that lived in my
neighborhood.  Eventually she got to the point where she would
tolerate my presence while she ate, but would still run away if I
touched her.  As time passed, she had a litter of kittens, and I
followed her one day to discover that they were under a neighbor's
mobile home.

Then on July 4th - it had been raining for some days - she showed up
on the front steps and meowed as if she wanted to come in.  somewhat
amazed, I opened the storm door and she came in.  We had three cats at
the time, so there was cat food, a water bowl, and litter pans.  The
feral checked out the facilities (our cats stayed out of sight) and
demanded to be let back out.

A few minutes later, she came back, with a red tabby kitten in her
mouth, came in, put the kitten behind the sofa, and went back out.
She did this two more times, each time with a red tabby kitten.  Then
she lay down on the rug in front of the door and called her kittens,
who promptly came out and nursed.  She left and the went back behind
the sofa.  She came back a couple more times to nurse them, then was
never seen again.

It took several months, but the kittens eventually got used to us and
tamed down.  They turned out to be reasonably good house cats, but
they always preferred spending good weather outside.

BTW, they were all three females - female red tabbies (with tiny white
lockets ranging from seven hairs on one to a fully visible spot).

T.E.D. (tdavis@gearbox.maem.umr.edu - e-mail must contain "T.E.D." or my .sig in the body)

Hey, Sharon,
As you may recall, I went through the "taming of Tucker" last year and if
you'd like to email me for support or advice I can try and offer some ideas
or put you in touch with the wonderful person who mentored me through this
experience!
You can see Tucker at my yahoo page:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/cfbureltoo/lst?.dir=/My%20Photos&.src=ph&.order
=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/

Regards,
Christine