I Love My Feral Cat BB

Our foster mom loves feral cats so much that as soon as she can get one of them to trust her she has them spayed or neutered. Of course, we all have names and we live inside the garage or barn or even inside the huge house. We all have our vaccines and have a lot of food to eat. We get medical attention and are loved – all of us.

I began feeding a starving ‘orange streak’ kitten last Winter. At first I was just trying to keep him alive but over the course of several months he began to let me get closer and closer and had no problems letting me know he was hungry. I remember how happy I felt the first time I was able to pet him and he responded with alot of rubbing me and purring. Come Summer time he was my lil buddy. Me and the woman named him Jerry.

Jerry is unique and different from any other cat we’ve had. He doesn’t mind loud noises and is perfectly happy in the garage with me while I work. He isn’t afraid of the vacuum cleaner lol

He hates all other cats, and isn’t picky about what he eats at all. I grown to accept having to watch my plate of food around him as he will make a whole piece of chicken disappear bone and all. He likes to follow me and Cassie around our trail through the woods and cries for us if we walk too far ahead.

All in all he’s the best outside cat I could have ever asked for…PB

I have updated your pages on BB and Feya by merging later submissions into the earlier ones. I hope you are OK with that. I also linked them together and republished them so that the merged pages are now on the top of the new pages (blog feed) list.

However, I inadvertently deleted one of your pics! Very sorry indeed. I was just plain stupid.

If you can find the time just send me some more pics and I will add them to the pages.

Dear Finn,

Thank You. BB has been through so much if you compare it to “the mummy” submission at the bottom you can see what she looked like when we first got her. It is the diffrence between night and day. It takes time and a healthy diet to get a feral at top form.Freya is important. Not only because we love her but because she helps BB remain a cat. Being around people all the time isn’t good for a cat. Feral cats are community minded and social animals. That’s why they group in the colony. The clicking noise is the native tounge of the colony. The meow attracts preditors.

Freya is going through her terrible two’s. She is into everything.She loves table straws and she hides them under the rug by the front door.Heaven help anyone with a soft drink and straw !She is so fast most of the time we can’t catch her at it.Freya loves all toys. She sleeps with a little stuffed monkey.

Bb has never had much of an interest in toys,not even catnip. She loves chasing a flashlight beam. (She has a lazer toy but I heard it was bad for their eyes.)

Together they play the best. They play tag and they race each other through the house.

we got them a multi-level tower that reaches to the ceiling. BB runs and jumps on it then violently scratches with all fours, bits and pieces of the rope fly everywhere;the whole structure shakes. The main cylinder has deep claw marks. We have had to redo the rope on two levels. it is amazing the power displayed by this seven pound whillwind! They bring so much joy to our lives!

Beautiful picture, Julie. The colourful background suits her so well and that watchful look on her face is tells her story. Hopefully her feral reactions will lessen even more over time – being with Freya surely must help that.

Here is a pic of BB:

Hamming it up for the camera. she is so expressive.

Julie

Hi Julie. I find it interesting that you say your BB makes ‘clicking sounds’. My Snow White often clicks too – as if she is meowing without employing the vocal chords. It’s very quiet, almost like whispering. She knows how to meow properly, but usually she just clicks. She is an adoptee and must have gotten this habbit with her former human. For whatever reason I don’t know – I’ve never heard it with other cats.

The fact that cats dream is unknown to many, but of course they do. All mammals share a very similar sleep pattern and the dreams of cats are no doubt just as vivid as our own. Too bad she could not tell you what it was about. 😉

You bring up a very good point here! We have a farm and so many cats are dropped off or wander in. Most are multiple generation ferals and no matter if we catch them as young cats or not, they are never truly tame! I have scars on my hands and arms from the few I’ve had to handle, due to illness, abandonment etc… two I’ve made ‘house cats’ but they still have their quircks and we must always be aware of them. We also have several wildcat hybrids that have been several generations in captivity and raise/socialied from birth. NONE of these hybrids have ever put a mark on me, not as kittens or as adults! So much is in the early socializing (meaning from the day of birth, onward and how they see their mothers behave). Any cat, or dog, can return to their ‘wild’ state in just a generation or two, when left homeless. Much of the ‘pack’ rules have been bred out of them, unfortunately, when they are domestics turned feral, and so they do not even have the same set of social rules to live by as the truly wild cats & wolves do have in their societies. It’s such a sad state for these wonderful animals :{

A feral cat sitting on your lap is a great achievement, BB must trust you a lot !

Your loving care and undertanding of her wildness is wonderful and heart warming to read about.

Your story does my heart good..I have a colony that we take cae of.One I’d consider taking in,but due to mates health,can’t have cats in the house.How kind of you both to take BB in.I’m sure she’s a joy.No ferals do not enjoy children.Or loud noises,or any kind of fast movement when being approached.

It’s wonderful that you have another kitten to keep BB cat company.You are both kind souls.