The art of tomcat whispering
My house adjoins a small area of public land and having 6 cats makes my place a magnet for roaming tomcats and my nights are often disturbed by cat fights and I have to bear the stink of eau de tomcat sprayed all over as they indulge in pissing contests.
This guy has been hanging around for a couple of months now and it's become clear that he wants to move in. It's pointless to chase them away, tomcats are tenacious, so yesterday I decided to try feeding him. The usual method for feeding skittish cats is to go in the general direction that they retreat and leave the food about halfway between them and you and then leave the area. I did this twice last night and saw that he immediately stopped running away.
This morning, I was going to repeat the process but he didn't even run far and so I sat down, put the food down close to me and waited. He was eating out of my hand within 5 minutes. Feeding them out of your hand is a good trust test for cats but not without risk. Sometimes they are so hungry that they bite you by accident as they tuck into the food.
The odd thing about this guy is that his whiskers appear to have been trimmed, I wonder whether someone tried this to get rid of him: there is an old wives tale about cats becoming disoriented if you trim their whiskers
The state of his paws is a testament to his roaming and I posted about him in a local social media group to see if anybody missed him and another woman that lives about one kilometer away replied that she has seen him roaming around too
He's quite thin so the next task is to feed him regularly, deworm him and get him neutered. Once his hormones settle, he will either go back to his home within about 3 weeks or stay here and luckily, someone has shown an interest in adopting him if he stays. Hopefully I will have some peace at night, until the next tomcat appears...
I'll take him and Wookie in together to the vet next week, it's high time Wookie said goodbye to his nuts: he keeps trying to hump Peanut when he's sleeping and the next progression would be him disappearing as his hormones take over and that's the last thing I want
Great he accepted the food, and even better, from your hand. If he could do that after just two, three days, he trust you now, at least to that food accepting thing. Poor guy, I see also the trimmed whiskers... maybe was abused by someone...? Well, now he is in good hands, he will be a handsome ginger guy and hopefully, you will get someone to adopt him. If not, one cat more ;))))
No, no, no! Not more cats!!!
Woookie is that age already? I always hate doing this to cats, but I couldn't live with them otherwise.
I was bitten by a feral cat that I had spent months luring closer and closer to me with your food method. I'd finally gotten him so that I could stroke him gently, or so I thought. He sank two teeth into my forearm, and sent me to the ER for the rabies treatment. Luckily, I captured him the next day and quarantined him so I could discontinue the rabies. After a few more months of luring, and dog acclimating, he became a housecat. Now he does not want to go outside, not even on the porch. Sometimes I feel I robbed him of his life. I love him though, so there's that.
Thanks for caring for the new one.
I also feel bad but an adult tomcat's life is not a good one and they never stay at home and end up dead sooner rather than later. I don't think you robbed him of much.
I've also had to do the rabies treatment from a teeth in the forearm episode. I developed cellulitis almost immediately from it and went to the ER for that, not expecting to be hit with rabies PEP too. An unpleasant experience: they use horse-derived immunoglobulins here and that makes you pretty sick
I love cats but the feral versions can be a problem and tend to multiply out of control. I commend you for taking him in for a neuter. I have a link here for How To Keep Cats Out Of The Yard. If you garden like me (and I know you do too) this is a great way to keep them out without harming them. I have tons of rosemary growing in the yard. THEY HATE IT. I love it, it smells wonderful and is easy to care for, very hardy. Citronella not only keeps animals out but mosquitos won't hang out either.
Thanks, I'll give that a try. Neutering will happen as soon as I can arrange it
Poor kitten! That's all I can say. We also had one, actually two gorgeous ginger tomcats. And this one in the photos reminds me a lot of one of them - a diligent fighter who one summer came home almost every day with new and new wounds on his body - shot, burned with acid.... Until one day he just disappeared.
I still miss him a lot. He was one of the smartest cats I've ever had. But these are the risks of having a yard cat.
And it's so wonderful that there are people like you who feed and help stray cats in need!
I'm sorry you lost your cat: this is why I always castrate my cats - they stay at home and are less in danger from awful people
Thank you! Well, I'm not quite sure this really helps. Of our three male cats at the moment, two have been neutered and one is not. But I'm not sure which one is doing more mischief and more wandering around and which one is more at home. It seems that the three continue to be on the same level in this regard :)
Your not the Cat Lady for nothing. Tamer the wild cats.
They only pretend to be wild. If you study their body language, the are easy to predict
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Street tomcats tend to hold large fights around our house as well. True, they are quiet in the winter, only interested in food. They climb into the downstairs balconies where they can warm up. Therefore, it is not worth exposing the food there to cool. Once one of my neighbors baked a birthday cake, put it on the downstairs balcony and the tomcat found it and pissed it off. I saw the neighbor's face as she smelled that characteristic odor. With a muffled laugh I told her she was at fault, not the cat.
Oh dear, I can't help laughing. That is so typical of tomcats
Cats probably know your kindness towards them, so they tend to get to your piece of land.
They hope apparently to find their home and food from you. Cats always love kind owners.
I think they just keep trying everywhere, to be honest
This is a record!
Earn the cat's trust in such a short time!
Hungry cats are very easy, especially if they are not feral
oh, I feel so sorry for them ...
I think we have a good outcome here, he was neutered and vaccinated yesterday and I have somebody who wants to keep him
O!
It is very good!
Bye bye wookie's nuts, we will miss you, but we won't miss the piss, the smell, that just truly never goes away.
Ask my Zara jacket that I brought to SA, that did never smell the same again. I can't believe I still manage to get laid smelling like cat pee! Legend!!
Can I just say... You're a good soul. That's all!
You got laid smelling of tomcat? Hahahahaha
He's lucky he found you 🙌 How does he get along with your other cats???
He doesn't. But I have found another home for him
Good, hopefully he will get all of the love that's been missing in his life so far. He deserves better than walking all over town scrounging for scraps and looking for ladies.
Awww!!! so adorable post. ❤️ fantastic composition and capture.
the cat looks really cute
Yes, he's cute and friendly
🥰 I love yellow cats❤️
They are irresistible
OMG! So adorable!! 🤗🤗👍👍 I wish I could have a cat. I miss my cat in Japan 😌
🥦 !LUV 🥦
@mizuosemla(3/10) gave you