Get hold of whatever group rescues and adopts cats out at the local PetCo
and Petsmart.  That is how we got Molly.  She already had a litter in the
oven when they trapped her so it was homes needed for five instead of just
one.  Yes she is a true feral.  She does her thing and we provide food and
shelter and a couple of grandsons that she loves to bits.  Us she ignores
unless it is really cold and the boys aren't here.  Then she will get up on
our bed after we go to sleep and get back up if we start to stir.

She will tap my face if the food bowl gets low.

The rescue groups will tell you how to trap them and where to get veterinary
care for them.  Some feral are placed in homes.  Others get their shots and
surgery and are released without being able to add to their population..

I think we got Molly thru Cat Moms

Jo

Hello FF,

We've taken in a few ferals. It depends what you expect from the cat,
and your amount of patience. I love former ferals -- it's such a reward
to see the changes in them.

We started with three ten-week old kittens. I found out later that once
kittens are over a few months old, it's tougher to train them. These
guys were right on the edge of that time, but they came around nicely.
Within a week I could touch all of them, although they would scatter at
any sudden movement. Now three years old, they have all different
personalities, but have in common that they will run and hide from some
things (strangers, etc.) more than some of our other cats. They do hang
around us and lay around out in the open like regular cats.

Our other former feral was probably six months old when we brought her
in. She sounds more like some of the ones you described -- she knew I
was feeding her but wouldn't get close. I would talk and talk to her,
and she would roll on the ground in a friendly manner. I started letting
her see me rub my hands all over a plant close to her, then I would walk
away. She would walk over to the plant and sniff it. I knew she was
getting curious about me. Soon after that, she came over to sniff my
out-stretched hand. Later that night, she was rubbing against my leg!

She has been a joy, but never overcame her built-in feral fears. Now ten
years old, she at times has run through the house playing. Most often
she will walk through a room along the wall, not through the center. She
can be braver at times, but spends most days under the bed. She comes
out at night and sleeps with me (and purrs and purrs.)

In general, if you expect a lap cat -- I would not bring in a feral. If
you're willing to go slowly and take pleasure in each little
breakthrough, you will love it. I don't force these cats to be what
they're not, but I do push myself on them enough to build up a trusting
relationship.

One of the three kittens I was talking about went to another home. That
  lady recently moved and didn't take him. It's a long, sad story but I
went down and picked him up. He reverted to a feral state during all of
this stress and would hiss at me from a closet. I let him alone a day or
so but then started some tough love. I spent hours in the secluded room
with him, talking to him while he hid behind a chair. I threw treats to
him so he could see that I was the treat-giver. It took a week, but he
finally let me pet him. The moment I touched him, he let out a
tremendous purr. Moments like that make everything worthwhile.

There are lots of other people who have feral experience, on other cat
groups too, and can give you more hints.

The ones you don't take in, do you have a trap and release program in
your city so these cats can get spayed and neutered? If not, have you
thought about attempting that? We have low cost spay/neuter clinics in
our area -- hope you do too.

Rhonda

All I can tell you is that I took in and worked with a former feral,
Brando, who is now a loving lap cat of some 15 lbs. :-)

Check out Alley Cat Allies website, for one.

What I did was trap Brando with a Hav-A-Heart trap, keep him in cages
for awhile (this may sound cruel, but they actually feel safer this
way), fed him off a spoon and then my hand, and slowly, he started
associating me with "good things" (i.e., food), and eventually, he
allowed me to pet him, followed by starting to purr.  It was one of
the most rewarding things I've ever done, and I am so happy I did.

Best of luck to you.

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
 http://www.moonsummer.com
 http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
 http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
                        Animals in Movies Website)

Both IBKFergus and Shmogg are what you folk would call ferals, that is, not
born to a cat who owns a hoomin, and spent all their life up until they
foundme without close hoomin contact.

Shmogg became affectionate as he was going to be fairly quickly. He will
sometimes jump up and meatloaf on my lap, but not often, although he'll
almost always sleep on the bed with me. He does't look for alot of scritches
or attention, but will certainly remind me about food if he thinks its time
(or that he can get away with getting another serve)

IBKFergus was actually younger than Shmogg when we adopted her, but I think
she was from a long line of generationally feral cats that live here at the
steel mills rather than a kitten born of a stray or outdoor cat.

IBKFergus was far more agressive to us adults, and is not at all
affectionate. She has accepted the adults as mostly harmless (although
occasionally throws a hissy fit if a foot comes to close to her), but isn't
interested in being petted or being otherwise loved on, and will bite and
scratch if any of the adults try. She will, however, let Cary pretty much do
whatever he likes to her - indeed, often voluntarily puts herself in his
'line of fire' - and if it gets too much, she'll just walk away (or gently
bite a warning bite if she can't squirm her way out).

The only time she will accept scritches from me (she has never accepted any
from Joel) is if she is on my chest. I have to put her there, but its pretty
much the same position I used to 'catch' her and feed her when I first came
across the poor half starved little black ball of fluff at work. The amount
of scritching she'll allow herself to enjoy is slowly increasing, but it
always ends with a feirce hiss and a mighty scratch and/or painful bite.

Most of hte time, she just zooms around hte house, protecting her little
hoomin from the dreaded Greeblings or trying to enlist his opposable thumbs
to take over hte world. One day, perhaps when she's oler, and the zoomies
are not so much part of her psyche (and when Shmogg allows her to be alpha
cat) she might realise that hoomin laps and slow lazy pettins are a Good
Thing. In the mean time, she's still pretty much as like a feral, except
that she no longer skitters away at the sight of us hoomins, that and she
has no interest whatsoever in the Out unless her little hoomin is in the Out
as well.

Yowie

Sounds like a lot of cats! I agree with the suggestion to try to
find some help. That said, that's a hard thing to do. Even though
there are many listed feral groups in my area, none of them would
take in Bonnie when I trapped her. I couldn't keep her because I
had a FeLV+ cat in the house. Since I couldn't find anyone to take
her, she was vaccinated, and I kept her.

Without going into the "hows" and her whole story, I'll give you
one from the lessons learned dept. If I had it to do all over
again, I'd spend more "hands-on" time with her. She's impossible to
catch when it's time for vet appointments. It's very stressful for
both of us, and she ends up with ragged claws trying to keep from
being picked up. She'll grab hold of anything in her defense. She's
also impossible to catch if she needs medicating. So far she's been
healthy, but if she has an infection or some other reason for
medication, it'll be damned near impossible to keep a schedule.

Best of luck, and I'd so "go for it!"