My indoor cat(formerly feral) has been missing for 18 days and I’m losing my mind.

My 4 year old cat has been missing for 18 days. I think I have done everything I can think of. I unfortunately live about 50 feet outside of a trailer park where she was born and I began feeding her at around 6 months old. I let her walk in the house that winter, of course she was pregnant. We did a spay/abort and she has been an indoor cat ever since.

She escaped for 48 hours in 2024 and came back on her own.

We have had two insane storms and now Labor Day with the fireworks.

**Things I have done in my search:**

1. Made flyers

2. Passed them out almost everyone close to me in the trailer park and my block and the two blocks next to me. And also to the local vets, humane society, animal emergency and animal control.

3. Most of my neighbors let me search their backyards, sheds and garages.

4. I have gone out every night at 3 am into the trailer park and my neighborhood.

5. Put my heavily used pillowcase outside by the front door along with used socks and stinky old shoes

6. Set a live trap (I caught a TNR stray that I feed)

7. This morning I set up cameras in front and back of my house that animal control kindly provided to me.

8. I have watched all the cat ladies feed the strays and feral cats in the trailer park.

9. I had actual laminated posters made today that I will put up around my neighborhood and the trailer park.

I don’t think someone took her in because she becomes very aggressive outside and pretty much only likes me. I think she is probably very scared. I don’t know what to do, I am walking roughly 8 miles everyday looking for her and passing out flyers, talking to people etc. I’m so heartbroken and scared.

Any advice/tips? 😭

I trapped a feral kitten 3 wks ago and I am amazed by how well it is going. I am in love with this little guy. I already have an appt set for his neutering , chip and shots. He now lets me pet and play with him. He purrs when I play, pet or feed him. But I can not pick him up. I do not want to scare or force anything too soon. I am going by his comfort level. He has come so far. I gave him his first flea and tick plus deworming treatment. He loves all the toys I gave him and plays a lot. But, will he someday come and sit on my lap ? I worry if he sees a open door he will run. Is that a reasonable fear by this point ?

I'm looking for a combination of enablers and real-talkers please!!

I really want to know what you would do in my situation:

This is Aya, we've been on a long 18-ish month journey together, but the short of it is that I TNR'ed her earlier this year (with microchip, vaccinations) and I didn't really want to release her BUT I was in way over my head as she was the first cat I ever really interacted with beyond friends pets and I never had pets growing up.

I did a deep dive on the feral cats sub and SSL and learned a whole lot that helped make the trapping process a lot smoother than it would have been, but still, my anxiety got to me and I felt bad knowing how anxious she was.

But now I want to re-trap her and actually try harder to socialize her.

She was with me for 2 weeks after the spay, and her quick adaptation makes me think she's a prime candidate for living inside. I believe she was a true-feral based on her absolute lack of vocalization and the level of fear at first, but within those two weeks I was able to get her to eat with the bathroom door open and me visible in the room, and I got a couple slow blinks! (Catnip helped lol)

Why I think she could do indoors:

• when I needed to take her to the vet for a follow up, I simply went into the bathroom I was keeping her in, opened her little hidey hole with the carrier in my hand and pointed her to get in....and she just did. She looked at me, looked at the carrier, saw me point, then just got in.

• got the litterbox idea immediately and only "missed" when she was annoyed about the vet and/or not having fresh litter.

• she's not super destructive or violent with people. She'll hiss and fake swat within close distance but has never clawed or chomp-down bitten even the vets.

• she hates other lady cats and kittens encroaching on her territory (my yard) and I think she could do well with less territorial anxiety

Why I think this might not work:

• she hate hate hates being touched in any way. And most of her human touch has been from traumatic vet visits. Not sure how to change that dynamic with deworming and vaccination schedules

• I'm living in a country other than my home country right now and will eventually need to go back (ETA: in 1-2 years I imagine), meaning I will definitely need to keep her up to date with healthcare and be able to manage her through international flight travel. And I don't know how long it would take to get to that level of trust between us

• she doesn't seem to consistently socialize with other neighborhood cats but she has a male friend that she seems to like sometimes and I don't want to necessarily make her lonely

• technically mum and I are allergic but we're willing to suffer/get help but also maybe we shouldn't?? Ugh idk

Right now we feed her every day, mostly twice a day at our front door. We have a room prepped for her in case we find a way to just.... encourage her inside, but another part of me is just thinking that this is logistically delusional.

What do y'all think? Any similar stories? I love her and every time I think about eventually leaving this home or this country, I can't imagine her not coming with me.

(Edited for formatting and timing context)

He is so special to me. He still won’t come out of his safe room more than a few feet so we spend lots of time in with him (not as much as I’d like but a solid few hours a day spread out) and I just love him so much. He’s got little scars all over him and little chunks missing from his non clipped ear, has a funny stance when he sits from what we assume was an old injury but the vet wasn’t concerned. I know nothing about his history other than he started coming around my office last October and the first time I saw him he was eating chicken bones under the dumpster with his sister.

I miss his sister desperately and wish I had her here too (I was very much bonded with her) but coyotes 😔
I’m so happy we have him though. I hope one day he and our dog can get along.

What is is about these former ferals that is just so damn special?! He’s perfect to me in every way!

Kuruchi is one of my 30+ rescued cats. I found her on the street over a year ago, dragging her hind legs. She was only about one month old at the time.

According to the vet, her hind legs were underdeveloped. Surgery may be an option to correct the issue, but so far, she has adapted well to life as an indoor cat. She is now over a year old. ❤️

If you'd like to see more of Kuruchi when she was still a tiny kitten, you can check out these posts:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIIiLgdpRIz/

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIYU_hcJ-GY/

We adopted 2 "working cats" 3 months ago, did the whole crating thing on our back screened porch for 60 days. One cat socialized quickly and moved indoors about a month ago. Boomie (handsome tuxedo) seems to prefer outdoor living. We still feed him daily in the screened porch (he has a pet door) and he mostly comes at night to eat or enjoy the 2 humans + 3 cats inside the house that he can watch through the living room windows. If we go outside he runs a few yards away. But if we just crack the kitchen door about 4 inches he'll let us pet him and he's super affectionate. I'm not sure why it's OK through the door but he's still scared when we just sit on the other side of the door. He loves greenies and will eat a churu fed through the door but not all the way outside. We plan to keep working with him. But any tips for earning trust would be appreciated! He is neutered, vaxed, chipped, etc. We still want to get him tested for FIV, get rabies boosters as needed, and get him on a flea and tick med every month. While it would be great if he moved inside at some point, we're letting boomie call the shots right now. We live in a safe, quiet neighborhood and our neighbors all have his picture and know he's ours.

Hey friends, 2 weeks ago exactly I trapped 2 older kittens (10 weeks at the time, now 12 weeks) that had been showing up to eat food at my house. They were fully feral, not letting me near them etc. I’ve worked hard to earn their trust with high value food, speaking when feeding then touching when feeding etc. I would say I’ve made good progress. The braver one now allows and enjoys pets even outside of feeding time.

However, I ran into an issue this morning. I’m trying to get them comfortable with getting on my lap/eventually being held, but they still are quite skittish in a lot of ways. The braver one came briefly out of the cage to rub up against my legs which he has done before, but this time, before I realized he jumped over me and out into the room. This was an immediate disaster and he was obviously super scared and would hiss and growl and spit when I got near him. It took me 45 minutes to get him back in the cage and I’m sure I’ve lost a lot of his trust now.

How can I start getting them comfortable with being in my lap/being held without this happening again? I don’t believe letting them free roam the room is a good idea yet as it will cause them more stress.

I appreciate any advice as this is my first time with ferals.

I am beyond proud of her!!

Backstory;

I moved here in October and she was already TNRd. She would run as soon as I stepped outside so I would admire her from afar and out my windows.

July- I went away for 2 weeks and while I was gone, my partner told me he heard her meowing loudly on our porch. She was hungry and was asking for food. She did back away when he went to feed her but it was progress

End of July- when I got back, it seemed like she missed me. She no longer ran away but kept her distance

August - I snuck pets and she would swat at me. After a week and a half she decided she would allow me to touch her. A week after that, she is now rubbing all over my legs and LOVES my pets. She also comes when I call her. I tried a few times to play with her but the toy scared her and she would bolt and hide.

Today, beginning of September - she finally played 🥹.

I am going to start networking to see if I can find anyone who would want to adopt her. If so, I will take her inside, socialize, then let whomever adopt her. I can tell shes young since her teeth are pearly white and she seems like she will be such a sweet kitty once given the time to adjust to indoor life. She has also already gotten pretty comfortable around my dog when I let her on the porch. Fingers crossed I can find someone or a rescue willing to home her in the coming months.

3 months ago, Plumpernickel (gray with clipped ear) was a "working cat" (read: feral) on death row at the local shelter. He served his time in a crate on our screened porch for 60 days, but decided he would rather be an indoor lap cat. He has integrated with our indoor 2 rescue cats (Zee and Smokey) pretty well! He knows how to hustle for greenies and take over the human bed like he's been doing it his whole life lol. We love this kid so much!

This is Ambien (toasted marshmallow) and Goblin (burnt marshmallow). They’ve been inside for a little over a year. Obviously they have adjusted just fine 😂 Goblin is actually kind of a bully (I blame it on her dog like-Manx traits) so most of the time, they get along but Ambien is still nervous around Goblin. (I was in the bedroom, cleaning Goblin poop up (another great Manx quality lol) and they both want bedtime even though it’s 3pm.)

Any suggestions for enrichment to simulate hunting? We do treat hiding/tossing games and puzzle feeders. She likes kicker toys and catnip. Shes afraid of wand toys or doesn't find them convincing.

Hello everyone! There is a community cat that has been living around my apartment complex for at least a couple of years. I believe she (?) has been TNR'd before because her left ear is clipped. I normally wouldn't try to coax a community cat indoors, but I live in Arizona and this is a beautiful long-haired black cat. Every summer she really struggles and suffers outside and gets really skinny, and I just don't think it's humane to leave a domesticated non-native animal outside in the 120F heat like that. Also, I usually leave during the summers and I don't know of anyone else who feeds her or gives her water, so she's on her own for the two most brutal months of the year.

She has been doing so much better since I've been giving her regular food and water and will even eat from my hand and enter the house to explore. Today I closed the door while she was inside for the first time to see how she would react. She spent about a half hour yowling and walking around the apartment trying to find an escape route, but when I opened the door, she just kind of sat there and kept yowling?

Since she didn't leave, I closed the door again and started working on my laptop. She then settled on the counter right in front of my face and kept meowing softly (see attached pic). She was like this for maybe 15 minutes before she started pawing at the door again, and this time she did leave when I opened it.

What do you guys think? She seemed stressed but not totally terrified. Should I try to acclimate her to indoor life so she doesn't have a brush with death every summer? I've never owned a cat either, so any tips on where to go from here would be helpful.

Edit: Thank you all for the wonderful advice and encouragement! She is back in the house now and is currently sitting in the corner of the room staring at everything. Cat tree is on the way, and she's got a carrier sitting out for an eventual visit to the vet. Looking forward to a new chapter with her!

I have a feral cat that I’ve been taking care of over 3 years. He’s been staying in our garage but not we don’t have dogs and he’s been inside during the day! He’s very sweet to me. I will always have him inside during bad weather and day time but he does still want to go outside when the sun sets. Do your cats do this?

What is up with a litter box situation for feral cats? Do they learn to use them?

Do your ferals still spend tons of time outside?

So my formal feral will let me pet her (I can only really pet her if I come in her room and sit on the floor, then I let her come to me) She has her own room which she loves. Will come out to nap under our bed. But she won’t really come out to common areas. Will this get better with time? (it’s been 2 months, and we have 2 other resident cats)

Fostering this little guy for my neighbor. I am helping him with TNR (Frankie will be neutered in 2 weeks). Someone dumped him at a salvage yard, and my neighbor brought him home. He has a flea infestation at his house, so I am holding Frankie until Wednesday. He is now feral no more!!

UPDATE: This is the colony where Ellie lives, and the colony where we lost a kitten to fly strike.

I am hopeful Frankie will show Ellie the ropes, and she will come inside!

There are several more kitties to fix, but we are getting the colony healthy and fixed. Shout out of thanks to the Humane Society and another local rescue that has been so helpful with this massive project!

I adopted two barn cats from the humane society that they told me would be happier outside living in the barn but I was surprised that these cats were only 6 and 8 months old. And especially because we have to keep them in this big dog crate in the barn for like 2 weeks and some people even say more than that before they associate it with their home and don't try to go back to wherever they got these cats from. I was thinking maybe we could keep them in the house for those two weeks at least and try to see if we could get them a little friendly with us and maybe become more of inside cats.

What would be the protocol for this? So far they don't hiss at me but they did not accept any treat when offered and they spend all their time huddled up inside the box shelter I gave them in the cage looking at me with their big eyes.

Yes, feral cats can purr, but don’t assume a cat that isn’t purring is unhappy with you. A feral cat may need a long time before it feels safe enough to relax around a person.

The best approach is to let the cat control the pace. Sit quietly nearby, avoid staring directly at them, speak softly, and establish a predictable feeding routine. Over time, you can use slow blinking, sit with your body turned slightly sideways, and offer your hand for them to investigate.

I wouldn’t start petting just because the cat is staying close. **Let the cat initiate physical contact.** Look for them choosing to approach you, sniffing your hand, rubbing against you, or otherwise asking for interaction.

Some feral cats eventually become affectionate and purr when they’re around you. Others never become comfortable with being touched. That isn’t a failure. With a truly feral cat, building trust is more important than getting them to purr or accept petting.

Curious...

Have you ever taken the time to befriend a feral cat?

Hi All. Poly the poly pictured here. My mom had been caring for two polydactyl semi-feral kittens for a couple of years when she died last November in a neighboring state and I inherited them. Her neighbor had trapped the mom and kittens and gotten them spayed, but couldn't put the time into acclimating the kittens and let them go a couple of weeks after their vet appointment. They moved under my mom's deck and she started leaving the door open for them and feeding them just inside and after a couple of years they came and went through a basement window and slept and ate inside. After she died, I worked with the same neighbor to trap them both (now adults) and bring them more than an hour to my home. They were the most terrified cats I have ever seen! The first, Poly, I installed in my upstairs bedroom but she got out and lived in the cold air return in the walls for 2 MONTHS. I finally installed a one-way pet door at her exit and got her corralled into the bedroom again. Her sister Shadow was trapped in March and since then I've been working with them daily. They've come along wonderfully - Poly loves to be petted and while Shadow her sister won't allow me to pet her yet, she will accept treats from my hand and both will play with string and ribbon toys with me. I put in one of those netting doors so they could meet my two resident cats, Millie and Jiji. So far so good. But now I'm stuck. I can't pick either of them up, so I can't bring them to a vet - although they seem very healthy and weirdly flea-free. And Millie believes she owns me, is completely dominant in the household, is very swatty even in the best of times, and will sit outside the netting growling and hissing while I'm in there. She attacks Jiji if she just feels the vibe is off or he is looking at her too much - not seriously, but enough that he tends to let her have her way. I have let Jiji (male) in to sniff and become acquainted and he's a very calm and gentle cat and he did ok, but Millie will absolutely rip those other girls a new one in short order if I let her in. Yes, I am using Feliway and feeding Millie treats through the netting while I interact with the other cats so she gets positive associations with them. Millie is very human-oriented (she has the talking buttons for example) and wakes up every morning and chooses violence (she loves to bite and scratch when she plays, to the point where I wear gloves). My question is, What now? Poly and Shadow have come so far in trusting me and are super bored confined to one room. But I hesitate to let them out of their safe room only to run straight into Millie, the cat manifestation of possessive violence. And I also hesitate to let them run free in my house without at least a vet visit. Maybe a chip-coded pet door in the room so Poly and Shadow can get out but only they can get back in and be safe there? Do I just introduce Millie and keep my fingers crossed? Do I try to take them to the vet by trapping them in a carrier? They have only just come to trust me. I would appreciate some advice from people who have more experience than I do! I adore all 4 of them and want the best for them - and no, I cannot re-home any of these cats. The two recent adoptees are straight-up terrified of anyone but me after months of daily interaction, and while I am trying to teach Millie to be more peaceful and rewarding her when she behaves well, she is the Queen and sees these other girls as interlopers. Thanks in advance for your advice!

We’ve had our (formerly) feral girl for 6 months now. We keep her in my bedroom, but have the door open with a baby gate so she and our resident cat can interact and get familiar.

When they’re on either side of the gate, they’re great! Playing, eating treats, all the things you want to see. I’ll share a video in the comments of that.

However, our resident cat has started getting on top of her when the gate is open. He used to just move around and watch her as well, but now it seems he’s only interested in pinning her down and asserting dominance. At first she seemed not to mind it, but now she’ll walk to her play pen when she hears the gate opening with him outside of it. She’ll meow at him and twist a bit (seemingly trying to get away), but she won’t really hiss or cry.

Is this something I should continue intervening with, or should I let it go and let them work it out? I don’t want her to be scared of him, but I also don’t want to keep them separated.

Important side note: our feral girl is FIV+ and our resident cat is not. She hasn’t shown any signs of aggression or tried to bite me or him outside of play, but I also try to keep an eye on them to make sure it doesn’t get to that point.

I took in a feral mom and her kitten back in June. Considering everything, the mom has adapted well to allow us petting her, she loafs around the house and hops up on our beds.

That being said, the girl just wants outside alllllll of the time that she is not sleeping! She is very relentless and follows us from room to room, she paces between the doors, etc.

We have Feliway, calming treats and she was spayed last week. We love her, but it gets a little draining when she follows us and meow when we know what she wants. She will even paw at our leg when we don't go toward the door. Most concerning is that she will take her frustration out on her kitten at times. I've gotten use to their play fighting and her hissing at the kitten to set boundaries, but I get upset when her kitten is just laying there and she pounces on him unprovoked (and seemingly from door frustration). We have toys that she is barely interested in as she sadly prefers chasing real animals outside.

How long did it take some of you before your formerly feral cats stopped wanting outside so badly? Any advice is also appreciated. We did also let her out a few times after she pounced on her kitten, because we didn't want him to get hurt... however, it's now resetting the clock of keeping her in.

About a month ago, we took in a potentially pregnant feral female and were able to get a spay/abort done with the help of a local trapper. I’m estimating 6 months to a year because I’m pretty sure she’s imprinted on given how she follows me pretty much everywhere.

Roxie’s amazing except for that she’s having trouble getting along with other cats and I’m not sure what all factors are contributing. The last month has been kinda hectic so I might as well give a quick summary.

The week after we took Roxie in, my roommate had to put down her 13-year old male (Sora) due to an inoperable tumor around his intestines. I had known him as a kitten and my 10 year old female (Riley) had known him for as long as I had her. We wanted to try the slow integration by keeping her isolated for a few days but that went out the window after Sora started refusing food and huddling in my bathroom.

Over the next two weeks Riley stayed in my roommates bedroom (we believe grieving) while Roxie had the run of the rest of the house. At first we didn’t shut off any rooms because they stayed away from each other for the most part. Until in the second week, Roxie bit Riley on the tail hard enough to go to the vet when neither of us were home. Nothing major just a shaved patch and some antibiotics. Now we’re at the both can sometimes sit with me on the couch phase but still hiss at each other once they make eye contact.

And to make everything more complicated, my roommate adopted an 8 week old kitten (Nimbus) to help alleviate the pain from loss of Sora and the kitten had only been at the shelter for a few weeks so he’s a step away from the streets himself. We have been doing the slow integration between Roxie and Nimbus over the past week but Roxie is frequently hissing, growling, and sometimes even snarling during supervised playtime.

Does anyone have any advice of how to tell between actual aggression and overexcited play? Or just general advice for integrating a household where there’s such a wide age range? For so long it has only been the two of us humans with our two cats so we’re feeling out of our depth.

We already have Feliway diffusers and calming collars and we do plan on getting more cat trees.

This is StarDog Champion or Champ

We found homes for his 4 siblings and mom. He was so scared I had to keep him. I was 7 years old when my sister took me with her to PAWS, where she worked for a while. I was always happy to go under the house and befriend an animal in need. Champ was 6 weeks when we saved him, or he saved us. It took 3 weeks to get them all at once. He’s 9 years old now and a healthy 24lbs. We later found out (tiny momma) his daddy escaped his home and impregnated his stray mom. Dad was 100% papered mainecoon.

At least I think he enjoys them? He sticks his neck out and closes his eyes, which seems to suggest so, but since he does it EVERY time I’m still trying to figure out whether it’s a reflex 🤔

I figure that if he disliked it he would bite or swat at me. And he does look up at me with “warm” eyes at the end, for lack of a better word.

What do you think?

Btw he’s so funny bc the SECOND it’s over he’s like “I’m vulnerable!! Who’s there!? Checking the perimeter!” as if coming out of a trance 😂🩷

This is Chip! He showed up at my house 2 years ago, with my other community cats. He was very weary of people, after feed him twice daily for a year, providing him with shelter he finally let me pet him. Then I was able to TNR. When the winters were bad I tried to get him to come inside but he refused. In June he went missing and returned 5 weeks later, very skinny and dusty. He saw me in my garden and ran up to me crying. Two weeks ago I found him on my porch weak, refusing to eat. The neighbor down the street had their grass sprayed, and a bug company was out for several hours. Not sure if this caused his illness, but vet suspected it played a role. I brought him in the house, he was secluded in my kitchen for a full week, then decided indoor life is not so bad! He is reunited with two other former feral frens, Dottie and Captain Frederick Wentworth. He spends his days chilling with my senior cat Prince Finn (19), Fred and dot!