Should we keep a feral cat? How to tame it?

Nowadays, there are many people who love cats and spend a lot of money to buy cats. However, on the streets it is not uncommon to see stray cats wandering around to make a living, including tiny kittens. So why do few people pick up stray cats to raise? Is it bad luck to keep them? How to properly raise and tame them? Find out details in the article below

I – What is a feral cat?

Feral cats are the term for cats that live in the wild, not raised or managed by humans. These can be ownerless cats in urban or rural areas or even wild cats, which can also be called feral cats.

There are many reasons why a cat becomes feral, for example:

• Abandoned by owner
• Stray cat
• Cats breed freely

In appearance, wild cats are no different from domestic cats. Depending on the breed, each breed will have unique appearance characteristics. In terms of personality, they will mostly be more aggressive and avoid people than domestic cats.

We can almost see wild cats everywhere in the world, some places are even considered their own land, for example cat islands in Japan such as Aoshima, Tashirojima, Ogijima, Sanagijima,...

II – Should we adopt stray cats?

Deciding whether to adopt a stray cat will depend greatly on the owner's circumstances, sympathy, and love of animals. If you feel you can afford to raise them and have no taboos, you can absolutely adopt a stray cat. On the contrary, try to do something good for them and let them continue to earn a living.

In fact, there are many problems that make people not want to keep stray cats. Because most stray cats often have bad looks, are full of injuries, smell bad, and carry many diseases (most commonly fungus, scabies, etc.). Therefore, the adopter will at least spend a lot of time and money to take care of them in the early stages.

In particular, feral cats are often quite aggressive, fearful and unfriendly towards humans and other animals.

In addition, many people also fear whether keeping stray cats is unlucky? Actually, this depends on how you look at the problem. If you think in a positive way, your carrying a cat will be like a time when you do good deeds and accumulate merit, everything will be witnessed by God and Buddha.

III – What to do when deciding to raise stray cats?

If you decide to adopt a stray cat, here are the things you should consider when bringing them home.

Take your cat to the vet: Feral cats often carry many diseases due to living in the natural environment for a long time, so to ensure their health as well as the health of you and other pets, you should bring a feral cat. Go to the veterinarian for examination and treatment.

Prepare new furniture: When you adopt a stray cat, they become your pet, so providing a new rice bowl, new bed, new toys, etc. is also something you should do if it is within your ability. . If you use it with an old cat, you should let them have time to become friends first.

Prepare food: Feral cats are often malnourished and hungry, so providing protein-rich diets will be essential. You can buy more pork, chicken or canned food for them.

Neutering (optional): If you cannot afford to raise more cats, you should take them to be sterilized, this will help you not have the additional burden of raising kittens, avoid them giving birth to more kittens elsewhere and again. increase the number of stray cats, and also help prevent cats from wandering around.

What should you do when deciding to raise a stray cat?

IV – Instructions on how to tame wild cats

Feral cats are often quite aggressive because they face many dangers every day, so to make the nurturing process easier, you should know some steps to tame wild cats, including:

1. Contact your cat from a distance

Don't try to get close to a stray cat right away if they become defensive and react violently. Instead, put them in a separate corner and provide food and water. Note that you just need to put food and water in a fixed place and leave, the cat will use it when it feels safe.

Also avoid sitting near the food bowl for soup, or staring into the cat's eyes when you want to call them out. Because these things all make cats feel like you are dangerous to them.

2. Gradually approach the cat

For stray cats that show fear of people, you should leave them alone for about 2-3 days. During this time, you just need to live normally but try to stay within the cat's sight. When they feel that you are not dangerous, they will gradually reduce their guard against you.

After 2-3 days, you can try using a toy to lure them out, or holding a reward soup and stroking the cat. If your cat is willing to let you pet you, it means they no longer consider you dangerous.

3. Play with other pets

Playing and cuddling with other cats or other animals in front of stray cats will also help them trust you more, they will believe that you are not a predator or a species that can attack or harm them. Besides, the process of playing with other pets will sometimes stimulate the curiosity of stray cats, thereby making them want to approach you more quickly.

In general, not all stray cats are difficult to tame, some even seem to be very friendly with humans when adopted. So if you can, try to adopt them.