Okay, so, I got them some, and they are happy. Just a word to the wise… if you’re not going to get cat candy for your cats, you probably should make sure they don’t find the url for this article.

My mom and brothers were ‘fraidy cats’ so they had to be TNR’d. But after almost seven years of living outside in the colony, one of my brothers “adopted” the nice lady who took over the colony when we moved. He’s a house cat now too.

Humans need to know we never forget the bad things that have happened to us and it takes a long time for us to trust you. Just don’t give up hope!

You can always visit the Itchmo Forums, too.

http://itchmoforums.com/

http://itchmoforums.com/announ.....2#msg52362

My cats used to go ballistic when I sneezed and still do a little bit. I don’t know if it’s a good guess or not, but I half suspect it sounds like a giant and terrible cat hiss to them. For that matter, some sneezes are loud enough to frighten people, let alone cats. What was really tough early on is laughter scared them. Try playing with baby cats without laughing!

On cats and traps, I agree there’s no such thing as a one size fits all solution. Where I was, I put food on the back deck for the mom. When the kittens were old enough to eat food, mom would bring them up to teach them how to hunt cat food. Most of the time I could crack the sliding door and pluck them out of the food dish. That wouldn’t work for someone looking after ferals not close to home, where trapping is the only practical way to go about it, but I think the transition to house pet was a lot easier compared to accounts I’ve read when they’re trapped.

One little fellow I tricked into chasing a string toy into the house. Since it was kinda, sorta his idea, he took to being people almost instantly. He was also in a bad way with fleas to the point the biting had caused sores. I gave him a bath and got rid of the fleas right away. At some level, I think they understand when something is done to help them. Other than being a little shy, that one was practically a house pet by the end of the first day. I talked a friend of mine into taking that one and they’ve been best buddies ever since.

I understand Itchmo is taking a break from the daily updates, so it looks like it’s up to Nermal to take over the front page discussions. His writing career seems to be off to a good start so good luck to both of you.

And kudos to mom, who obviously knows when she’s licked!

You remind me of a good buddy I met one summer when I was about 12. I think he had a home at one time, but then all of the sudden he didn’t anymore. So I played with him and stole food from my house for him all summer long. Then it got to be autumn, and it got colder and colder out. I asked my mom to let him come inside and get warm, but she wouldn’t allow it. So I went up and down the streets around my neighborhood, knocking on doors, asking if anybody knew who my buddy belonged to, or if they wanted to make him their pet. Nobody could help me.

When it started to snow one night late into the fall, my mom still did not want my buddy to come inside. So that night I sat on our porch with him, and held him on my lap and kept him as warm as I could as the snow fell some more and it got very dark outside. He was glad to be in my lap, I could tell, because he purred and huddled very close to me. I promised him I wouldn’t leave him alone in the cold that night, and I knew he trusted me to keep my word.

So when my mom opened the front door and said it was time to come in for the night, I told her I couldn’t because I had to keep my buddy warm until it stopped snowing. Well, I must have been pretty stubborn about it, because my mom finally relented that night and she allowed my buddy to come in, although she was VERY clear about one thing: My buddy was not allowed anywhere in the house except our basement, and the arrangement was only going to be temporary.

Within two weeks, my buddy was sleeping with my mom in her bed during the night. Hahaha! Cats are clever, and I bet you are, too, Nermal. Good luck with your new career as a columnist!

Like you, we wonder about an adoption strategy that begins with cage capture. If you want to build a relationship based on trust, trapping seems a counterproductive way to go about it. Still, in cases where the goal is geared more toward colony management than the habituation and adoption of any one individual, trapping is probably a necessary evil. I’m sure that the cage and glove stuff is about protection from disease… rabies is a real threat in many regions and I suppose it’s quite foolhardy of me to give any wild animal an opportunity to bite me. But the thing about trust is that it’s a mutual arrangement, and I can’t expect an animal to trust me if I clearly do not return that feeling.

While Nermal has become a wonderful pet, he definitely has some idiosyncrasies that can be traced to his life in the wild. At one point in his life, he decided to hitch his star to a small herd of deer. (it’s true. they even taught him to eat acorns, which is very bad for cats.) During his transition to pet life, he would often seek them out and interact with them. In doing so, he has actually picked up some deer behaviors. For example, I think most people who live around deer are familiar with their “chuff”. It’s a noise they make alerting other members of the herd to potential danger. When a deer chuffs to its herd mates, they freeze, identify the threat and move rapidly away from it. To this day, if someone in the house sneezes, Nermal freezes, drops to a scuttling posture and darts under the nearest piece of furniture. If one of us has a head cold, he turns into a nervous wreck!

Nermal is a beautiful cat and has such a great PURR-sonality! I look forward to hearing more from this amazing cat! ;)

~The Lioness