Feral Cat Taming Video 3

Please use caution and be responsible when working with feral cats. I strongly suggest you consult your vet before attempting to tame and invite a feral cat into your home. Not all feral cats will become as friendly as this one did, each cat is an individual and results will vary.

We found this feral cat in our live/humane trap and decided to try taming him down a little. I was hoping to find him a good home rather than releasing him back to the wild. We live in the middle of the desert, far away from any towns, so bobcats, coyotes, and other dangers are a regular thing. It's also not unusual for us to find cats full of cactus spines. We know this cat has been on the loose for at least 6 years, and in the videos you'll see his left ear is clipped. This is common practice for catch-and-release workers who catch cats and neuter them before releasing them again. At the time of this video I had him for only about 6 days. I'm keeping him in the bathroom where he can do as little damage to himself and the property as possible. We still use this bathroom, so he sees us go in and out on a regular basis and is getting used to seeing people.

I've been calling him Growly-Bear because he growls at me whenever I walk into the bathroom. He will actually sit there and growl, hiss, and meow simply because I'm in the same room as he's in. If I try to get close, he swipes at me or stamps his paw on the ground. Being indoors around people is the first step in taming him down since I didn't have the option of gaining his trust while he was outside.

I'm talking to him so he will become familiar with the sound of my voice and know that it's not going to hurt him. This video shows his progress, he's no longer staring at me in terror, he actually let me get close enough to move the cardboard box off him and was relatively calm before I accidentally startled him. Because he has sharp claws and teeth, I bought welding gloves to try petting him. I actually did this once earlier in the day, but realized my camera was not with me a little too late. I came back later the same evening to try filming it, and even though startling him set him back in his taming a bit, he recovered very well. Taming feral cats takes patience and care, they're afraid and don't understand what's happening to them. This cat doesn't understand what petting is, and has to be taught love. After I finished filming this video I gave him cat treats to reinforce that this is a positive thing and that he's a good boy. Also at this point he started eating in front of me. You'll see him eat a treat off his blanket, and after the video was filmed he went to his bowl to eat while I was still in the room with him. Another small but important step forward.

I will record his progress in future videos.