Half Feral / Half domestic cat help needed!

[Catastrophe]

I would love to hear some professional opinions on this matter, but of course, appreciate all feedback.

The back story:

About 9 years ago we adopted a 14 week old kitten from a "free kitten" add. When we went to pick her up the owner said he had been working double shifts, and although he wanted to keep them all, he didn't have the time for them.

Clearly he didn't because the kitten was WILD, WILD, WILD! Even though these kittens were indoor cats, I'm betting they were rarely handled.

So for the first couple of years we tried everything to get her to like us, and behave well. My sister is even a vet tech, so we went at it with several different approaches during those years.

She eliminates inappropriately no matter what we have tried.

9 years later and she is still wild. She is completely non-adoptable, and purrfectly healthy. We can't touch her and she usually hides under the bed ALL day long.

We now have two kids, a 4yo and a 2yo, and she has fear scratched both of them when they accidentally got too close.

We just recently moved into a much smaller house, and have been keeping her in the garage because A) we can no longer afford to keep having our carpets cleaned, and B) because there is no safe place to keep her away from our kids.

This poses a couple of problems. Eventually there could be harmful substances in the garage, and extreme weather conditions could make her ill.

We are at a loss. I've considered building her a cat kennel, but left inside the kids would actually have MORE access to her, and if left outside we still have the extreme weather problem.

One petty thing is that we cannot have another pet until she is gone. All of her other cat buddies have passed away, and we only have permission for one pet. I really miss having a cat friend, but we are responsible for her.....

I've looked at various feral cat sites, and none seem to deal with inside feral cats so any feedback and suggestions would be completely welcome!

[Tina B and crew]

kittens can usually be turned around if they are feral and handled enough early one and I have heard success stories of adult cats being turned around, but each cat is different. I wish I had some good advice for you...the only think I can't think is just working with her daily, consistently to get her to trust you. Plenty of play to keep her occupied, cat trees so she can climb and hide etc. Otherwise the only thing I could think of is to find a rescue agency that works with feral cats...but I do appreciate that you seem to realize adopting is forever, many people would have given up by now. It sounds like you have tried, I don't know. Some cats just prefer quite surroundings and possibly it's too much with two kids?

As far as keeping her in the garage, that probably isn't helping, if she is isolated all day long..does she ever get to come out?

[gurl2005bby]

Hi i am glad that you havent gave him up and alot of people do... I did had a cat that he was a year old or older and he was wild cat and what i did i kept him in a cage and give him a treats and talk to him alot and eventually he will start to want to be around you and when he accept taking a treat from you and put him a room where he can be alone and you can be around him more often and play with him and build him a trust and then eventually you can able to let him around the whole house and know that he wont be scared at all... But remember cat can know what you are feeling esp if you dont trust him at all... But work with him... If you need to know more about it just ask me....


Sorry if you didnt totally understand me cuz i am hard of hearing... Or that you need to understand more, i can make it little more understanding lol