Go online and search for "Alley Cat Allies."  If you're in luck, there will
be one in your area.  If not, it is still worth checking with some of them
for information.  They are volunteer groups that specialize in TNR
(trap/neuter/release) and also in adoptions.  They can provide information
on socializing and also on setting up feeding stations for ferals.
Incidentally, it is ridiculous for your SPCA to say that 6 months is too old
to socialize.  It takes time and patience, but there are people on this
group who have even socialized adult ferals.  Personally, I would not trust
that group for any further advice if that is the type of information they
dispense.  It sounds like they simply didn't want to handle
difficult-to-place cats.

Congratulations on having that boyfriend.  It sounds like you picked a
winner!

MaryL

sfannie@webtv.net (anne mcdonough) wrote in news:14804-41AAD547-191
@storefull-3232.bay.webtv.net:

Weird rule. My cat, Rosalie, was feral and she was 3 years old when I got
her. She is very affectionate and a great cat, although it took her some
time to get used to living in a house with a human and a dog. It's true
that some feral cats never get used to humans, but some like humans and
would do well in a rescue situation.

I second the Alley Cat Allies recommendation. They have a great article
called "CONGRATULATIONS!YOU?RE THE PROUD OWNER OF A (FORMERLY) FERAL CAT ?
AND SHE?S HIDING UNDER THE BED."

--Catherine
& Rosalie the formerly feral calicohead

I'm currently feeding and watering a pack of ferals at my workplace
who have been there over a decade in the nasty Connecticut winters.

Carl

That's the SOP for most organizations.  Many organizations will accept feral
cats and then immediately kill them.

Some ferals are more amenable to homing than others.  Some take more time
and work than others.  Some never adjust and its more humane to TNR and
manage.  Generally, and I mean generally - not absolutely - after 8-12 weeks
of age, most (not all) ferals are intractable to homing unless they're kept
as strictly outdoor cats - which is almost the same thing as managing.

Personally, I don't six-months is "too old" to "domesticate".  They'll just
take a little more time, effort, patience and love than an 8-12-week year
old.  Two of my 5 cats were former ferals at 3 and 6 months old.  The three
month feral is now 12 years old, the 6 month feral is now 6 years years
old -- both are thoroughly contented.

You'll get a lot of arguments about that!  It depends on auto traffic,
predators, climate, food availability, environmental dangers, psychos.  A
feral cat would probably live longer in a rual area of Southern California
than in New York City.

Most vets I know and veterinary behaviorists agree that indoor cats live
longer and healthier lives than outdoor cats.  Karen Overall,  Diplomate,
American College of Veterinary Behavior and author of Clinical Behavioral
Medicine for Small Animals says:

"Free-rang?ing cats in the United States have an average lifespan in  the
general population of only 3 to 5 years; indoor cats have an average
lifespan of 12 years and fre?quently live longer than 20 years."

Nicholas Dodman, Professor of Behavioral Pharmacology and Director of the
Behavior Clinic at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and
internationally known specialist in domestic animal behavioral research
says:

"The average lifespan of an indoor cat is around twelve to fourteen years,
.while outdoor cats are lucky to reach double digits."

My boyfriend works in an

How about auto traffic and preditors?  Those are two of the three most
significant dangers.

I'm glad you found the boyfriend you did!

Welcome aboard!

Phil.

There has already been some discussion on this in the thread.  However, in
a restricted sense, the SPCA is right.  Juveniles that old are not easily
socialized, as a rule.  SPCAs are not no-kill, so they're loath to take on
an odds-against proposition.  The ASPCA in New York City, as a datapoint,
prides itself on its adoption rate.  They keep that record intact by
simply refusing to take on poor prospects.

In the TNR world, too, approx 3 months is a common criterion separating
kittens rescued for adoption from juveniles returned to the colony after
neutering.  The brute facts of the matter are that the younger you catch
them, not only will they be easier to socialize but also they will have
greater appeal to adopters, being kittens.  

Phil P has written about two of his ferals.  I have two myself.  One was
trapped at about 14 weeks, the other at about 20 weeks.  For reasons too
involved to get into, they weren't put back out; but also, neither of them
were ever intended for the general adoption "market", so to speak.  They
didn't stand a chance.  Socializing them thus was with the foreknowledge
that in all likelihood we would keep them ourselves.  

That's the way it works.  The bottom line: there is a difference between
socializing ferals, which *can* be done, and adopting them out to others,
which is still odds against.  
 

10 years or more is quite possible.  The greatest risks are predators,
vehicles, and toxic materials.