Cheryl <jlhshadow@NOSPAMhotmail.com> wrote:

If my current feral female came out to be petted or even for food,
that would be a miracle. And if the food wasn't in the usual location,
she would get very hungry before eating.

I think it's the difference between feral and stray. I wasn't familiar
with ferals until recently. Thought I had a stray that had been
beaten. Now I can fairly clearly see and understand that it's feral
(don't know whether it has been beaten, but I can see that it is
wild).

A temporary tomcat I had before this female recluse had one peculiar
trait. When I brought it food, it could tell food is in the area, but
it didn't recognize me as the provider (it's definitely not blind).
Most hungry cats will look at you and the food bowl in anticipation. A
feral might not recognize a human being as a food provider even when
the food is in hand.

My current female probably would rather be completely hidden too (most
of the time it is left alone, and currently there is an infant room
monitor in the area so I have a clue about what it's doing). It
usually gets warning before I enter the room so it can scamper away
from its reinforced window screen and up into its hideaway loft. The
idea it will be two years before it acts like a pet sounds about right
at the rate it's going. I feel sorry for the thing, but it's probably
not as lonely as it looks, and it is being provided a view/smell of
the outdoors and very good accommodations compared to what it had.
There's a house cat in there somewhere behind those fearful (and
otherwise expressionless) dark eyes.

The part about a feral hiding most of the time even when it is outside
sounds about right, thanks for another clue. I wish I could tell
better when my female was stressed, like being able to always see/know
its respiration rate, but oh well. Avoiding eye contact helps, but
that's difficult when you're trying to tell how it's doing. Need to
use my camera to do a little study.

Giving a cat space based on the idea that if it were outside it
could/might run away to avoid contact or whatever, probably keeps the
cat from feeling a need to run away when it has a chance. Then it
feels good being able to open a door without the cat trying to get
outside (especially in front of company). And maybe that goes double
for ferals.

I'm glad your sister was able to rescue the cat again.