Is There A Way To Domesticate A Feral Cat?

[JetsetBkk]

 

This cute little black and white male cat turned up a few months ago, made friends with my female cat and I thought he'd settle in. I feed them both, so how do I stop him eating the garden birds?

PS. The video is 360 x 640

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by JetsetBkk

[G Rex]

You can calm him down by feeding him and getting him used to being in your environment, and 'taming' him in so doing. He may become quite friendly towards you.

Unless you physically prevent him from access to birds or other critters, you cannot stop him catching them.  Cats catch things as much for play (sport?) as for food. As he is no doubt well versed at his art - nothing is going to stop him doing so now.

[JetsetBkk]

2 hours ago, G Rex said:

You can calm him down by feeding him and getting him used to being in your environment, and 'taming' him in so doing. He may become quite friendly towards you.

Unless you physically prevent him from access to birds or other critters, you cannot stop him catching them.  Cats catch things as much for play (sport?) as for food. As he is no doubt well versed at his art - nothing is going to stop him doing so now.

He's quite tame and friendly. He was at the bottom of the garden this morning so I called him over and gave him some food. I also picked him up by the scruff of the neck and gave him a good talking to. Then he had some of the food and disappeared. Probably doesn't speak English.

 

The female ate all her food - Friskies Surfin' Favourites - but he left most of his. Maybe already had his fill of another bird.

 

Maybe I have to take him on a long drive to a countrified place and let him go. I've done that before with troublesome cats - ones that just want to fight with other cats, and won't relax.

 

[Maybole]

Even thoroughly domesticated cats have an in-built hunting instinct. Many years ago our family cat (female) regularly caught birds and presented them to us as a gift or to show off just how good a cat she was. She was fed well enough to get fat.

[JetsetBkk]

I'm afraid there was quite a ruckus tonight between the docile female and the bird killer male, so I've decided to take him on a long trip tomorrow - one way. I don't know where either of them came from, but he's just a trouble-maker.

 - she is very relaxed

 

 - he is ready to pounce or make a getaway.

 

[The Deerhunter]

On 9/3/2021 at 7:16 AM, JetsetBkk said:

I'm afraid there was quite a ruckus tonight between the docile female and the bird killer male, so I've decided to take him on a long trip tomorrow - one way. I don't know where either of them came from, but he's just a trouble-maker.

 - she is very relaxed

 

 - he is ready to pounce or make a getaway.

 

Quite a ruckus between them, you say?    Cats can sound exactly like that when they are mating!!!!!!!   If your female is not already spayed, the cat might be out of the bag already, to coin a phrase.

[lesmac]

put a collar with a bell on it

[bbko]

On 9/2/2021 at 4:44 PM, JetsetBkk said:

I also picked him up by the scruff of the neck and gave him a good talking to. Then he had some of the food and disappeared. Probably doesn't speak English.

Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon;

But as @lesmac suggested, put a collar with a bell on it, then the birds will hear him apporaching.

[Robin]

if you want to keep  cat as a pet, you have to allow it to live a normal life.  For any cat that includes catching birds, geckos and any other small creature.  it is no for food, it is for sport and following his instinct.  if you cannot accept this, you should not think of having a cat.  male cats will mate with female cats when they are on heat.  A short visit to the vets will cure this and normally make the male better tempered.

Domesticating a feral cat is a matter of where its parents came from.  If it is a domestic ca gone wild, probably deserted by its owners, it has domestication in its genes and will tame easily.  A completely feral cat might not be so easy. Depends how far back its ancestors were domestic.

Any cat needs the trace elements and vitamins it gets from eating wild prey, so let it live as it want to.

You can never totally tame a cat; it will stay with you as long as it wants to and leave when it suits it.

[Cake Monster]

Why do you want to change Evolution.

Cats hunt, its what they do.

Our Cat always has a Bowl of Biscuit Food available 24/7, and is fed Fish 2 times a Day. She eats both, but will still hunt at every opportunity she gets. And thats every Day

Anything at all from Rats to Birds to Lizards to Ground Squirrels, and even Snakes

Most of Her kills are bought Home to her family ( us ) and left outside the back door.

Nothing is allowed to encroach onto her territory.

[orchidfan]

To quote Winston Churchill (who loved his pigs)

"Dogs look up to you, cats look down on you and pigs stare you straight in the eye"

My seal point Siamese cat has been spayed so she can't have kittens,  but still comes on heat ,so the horny males (just a couple here) come around still. 

[JetsetBkk]

On 9/3/2021 at 2:16 AM, JetsetBkk said:

I've decided to take him on a long trip tomorrow

I couldn't do it. He looked up at me, meowed a lot because he was hungry, so I fed him.

 

I've added a collar and bell to my shopping list. It might give the birds a bit of a chance. 

[tonray]

1 hour ago, orchidfan said:

My seal point Siamese cat has been spayed so she can't have kittens,  but still comes on heat

If she comes into heat she is not spayed

[orchidfan]

9 minutes ago, tonray said:

If she comes into heat she is not spayed

 Well I took  her home from the vet and she was totally knocked out and a few stitches in the right location. 

So maybe the term spayed is incorrect. 

But in 6 yrs,and many "boyfriends later, she hasn't got pregnant.....unusual for Thai females I admit !!

[JetsetBkk]

4 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

 Well I took  her home from the vet and she was totally knocked out and a few stitches in the right location. 

So maybe the term spayed is incorrect. 

But in 6 yrs,and many "boyfriends later, she hasn't got pregnant.....unusual for Thai females I admit !!

Perhaps they put a cervical cap in.   ????

[zzaa09]

On 9/1/2021 at 11:54 PM, G Rex said:

You can calm him down by feeding him and getting him used to being in your environment, and 'taming' him in so doing. He may become quite friendly towards you.

Unless you physically prevent him from access to birds or other critters, you cannot stop him catching them.  Cats catch things as much for play (sport?) as for food. As he is no doubt well versed at his art - nothing is going to stop him doing so now.

Indeed. It's the nature of felines - domestic or feral. Just allow it to be. 

Might be surprised as to the uplifting of the soul if we spent as much energy integrating with natural cycles instead of battling and intervening when such acts needn't be. 

[Thingamabob]

Thanks for spoiling my day with your awful post. Very sorry for the little guy you are disposing of. You clearly know nothing about feline behaviour. Be ashamed.

[orchidfan]

7 minutes ago, JetsetBkk said:

Perhaps they put a cervical cap in.   ????

Could  be, or maybe some remnant ovary left behind inside.

Was surprised when she started attracting a make or 2 after this operation. 

I found her as a tiny, abandoned alley cat kitten, but the only one of 5 displaying the colorings of a "pure" siamese (phenotype ?)  in the litter.

Maybe it's a case of you can take the cat out of the alley, but not the alley out of the cat ????

[tonray]

19 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

 Well I took  her home from the vet and she was totally knocked out and a few stitches in the right location. 

So maybe the term spayed is incorrect. 

But in 6 yrs,and many "boyfriends later, she hasn't got pregnant.....unusual for Thai females I admit !!

Usually spaying involves removing all organs capable of producing estrogen, thereeby removing the ability to go into "estrous" or "heat". Perhaps some other operation were performed like a tubal ligation. Not standard...very unusual

[orchidfan]

3 minutes ago, tonray said:

Usually spaying involves removing all organs capable of producing estrogen, thereeby removing the ability to go into "estrous" or "heat". Perhaps some other operation were performed like a tubal ligation. Not standard...very unusual

No idea of course what they did. 

Small local veterinary clinic (now closed I think). 

She doesn't really display full on "heat " behavior,  just once every 2 or 3 weeks goes off with the boys for a night or 2. No big deal. 

And unlike the originator of this thread, the odd male calling by every few weeks doesn't bother me. 

No cat screaming or wild fights, just nosing around like a farang in Soi Cowboy. 

[JetsetBkk]

52 minutes ago, tonray said:

Usually spaying involves removing all organs capable of producing estrogen, thereeby removing the ability to go into "estrous" or "heat". Perhaps some other operation were performed like a tubal ligation. Not standard...very unusual

Interesting:  https://www.avma.org/resources/pet-owners/petcare/spaying-and-neutering

 

Surgical alternatives to traditional spaying and neutering

The procedures described above are the surgical procedures routinely used to spay or neuter dogs, 
but some pet owners opt for one of these alternatives:

Hysterectomy: the uterus and part of the fallopian tubes are removed from a female dog or cat. 
This makes her unable to reproduce, but her ovaries remain and will produce hormones. 
This may not eliminate the dog or cat’s behaviors associated with the breeding instinct.

 

[Damrongsak]

On 9/2/2021 at 12:27 PM, Maybole said:

Even thoroughly domesticated cats have an in-built hunting instinct. Many years ago our family cat (female) regularly caught birds and presented them to us as a gift or to show off just how good a cat she was. She was fed well enough to get fat.

I had several cats.  They were always bringing kills into the house to show off.  Except the chipmunks would play possum and come alive when I tried to pick them up.  Took me a couple days to catch one of them.

 

My big cat killed and ate many squirrels.  All I would find were the heads and tails.  Fastest cat I've ever seen.

[Nojohndoe]

If a true feral cat not likely. But a stray cat that allows you to pick up very likely.

All cats will instinctively attempt to stalk and kill with no intent to eat.

Taking a cat "away" to some place will not do anything to stop that other than to possibly/probably subject it to an unknown environment victim to competition from other sources that it had previously avoided . I can understand that the "out of  sight ..out of  mind" is a  common thing.

You fed it. It now owns you .

 

[malibukid]

On 9/2/2021 at 4:44 PM, JetsetBkk said:

He's quite tame and friendly. He was at the bottom of the garden this morning so I called him over and gave him some food. I also picked him up by the scruff of the neck and gave him a good talking to. Then he had some of the food and disappeared. Probably doesn't speak English.

 

The female ate all her food - Friskies Surfin' Favourites - but he left most of his. Maybe already had his fill of another bird.

 

Maybe I have to take him on a long drive to a countrified place and let him go. I've done that before with troublesome cats - ones that just want to fight with other cats, and won't relax.

 

please take him to a vet and have him neutered.  rather then dumping him.  he will calm down after the surgery and will be less aggressive.  its cheap here. 1000 baht or less.  he should stay in the hospital for a week and also be vaccinated.  

[JetsetBkk]

57 minutes ago, Nojohndoe said:

If a true feral cat not likely. But a stray cat that allows you to pick up very likely.

All cats will instinctively attempt to stalk and kill with no intent to eat.

This one enjoys his kill.

 

[BTB1977]

Someone should take you for a long ride in the country.  You deserve it for even thinking about it 

[phetphet]

Don't know if this will work, but our security guard brings some sort of plant with him every night for our building's cat. He sort of adopted us. The cat, not the security guard.

It must be some sort of natural cat nip. Maybe even real catnip if it is a plant. Whatever it is,  he loves it. Sits outside the guard box licking the stuff. Won't move.

[JetsetBkk]

1 hour ago, phetphet said:

Don't know if this will work, but our security guard brings some sort of plant with him every night for our building's cat. He sort of adopted us. The cat, not the security guard.

It must be some sort of natural cat nip. Maybe even real catnip if it is a plant. Whatever it is,  he loves it. Sits outside the guard box licking the stuff. Won't move.

????  I don't think I need to buy catnip (which is available from pet stores, I read). Half an hour ago he was meowing so loudly outside my closed patio doors that I had to go out and give him some food.  Maybe he didn't manage to catch a bird today. ????

[RichardColeman]

On 9/1/2021 at 7:24 PM, JetsetBkk said:

I feed them both, so how do I stop him eating the garden birds?

I used to walk a dog daily along the river in the UK. Lovely tame dog, cross labrador and collie or something. Loved people, tame and very friendly and a bit daft brained, and neutered. But I always took the dog out through the woods and fields and near the river. Never a problem off the leads for other people.

 

BUT, this dog caught rabbits and pheasants - even fish - like a trained hunting dog.  Every other day we would walk home with a pheasant or rabbit in its jaws. Even got offered money for it from a bunch of clay pigeon  enthusiasts.

 

I guess it was just in the animals to hunt. I guess that applies to many animals.

 

 

[roo860]

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

I used to walk a dog daily along the river in the UK. Lovely tame dog, cross labrador and collie or something. Loved people, tame and very friendly and a bit daft brained, and neutered. But I always took the dog out through the woods and fields and near the river. Never a problem off the leads for other people.

 

BUT, this dog caught rabbits and pheasants - even fish - like a trained hunting dog.  Every other day we would walk home with a pheasant or rabbit in its jaws. Even got offered money for it from a bunch of clay pigeon  enthusiasts.

 

I guess it was just in the animals to hunt. I guess that applies to many animals.

 

 

'Even got offered money for it from a bunch of clay pigeon enthusiasts'

I used to find them a little bit tough for eating.