Goin' to a place where the tough cats go

Oh boy, Cat update! We have taken in Gray Boy,the creatively-named gray male cat who has been living at the Empty Cages Collective for the past couple of years. He was raised indoors, but never socialized to humans. So he's essentially a feral cat, he seems to detest humans (at least me) and spends most of his time hiding under his cat bed. Since the loss of Edmund, we thought it a good idea to take on another cat with no other place to go. Even though he's not a dyed-in-the-wool feral, we think we can provide him a good life with our colony.

He's been in a cage in the back yard for a couple of weeks now, the usual protocol for assimilating a feral to a new location. Once we're sure he 'gets' it, we'll release him and then we see what he does. If he's anything like Edmund, he will totally freak out at his new freedom (Edmund ran up a tree and stayed there for hours). He'll calm down eventually and with any luck, start hanging out with the other outdoor cats. They are a highly tolerant bunch, so I don't forsee any issues outside of GB's own shyness. But since coming to the yard he has slowly been showing signs of interest.

Instead of hiding all day, we've lately seen him sitting out in his cage, watching the residents. He still doesn't like the humans much, but he tolerates us (though as soon as he sees us, he ducks back into his house). Once released, he'll have the rest of the summer to adjust in relative comfort. When the winter hits, I am hoping to have an even more ridiculous solution for feral cat outdoor shelter, possibly something heated instead of just insulated. Not counting weather, these feral cats lives pretty much like spoiled housecats, right down to the cat toys. It might take a while for Gray Boy to truly become one of the gang, but after our success with Edmund I am optimistic he'll want to join the club.

This entry was written by Jimmy Legs, posted on June 17, 2010 at 4:45 pm, filed under Cats and tagged Cats, Empty Cages Collective, Feral, Gray Boy, unsocialized. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

3 Comments

lisa

Posted June 18, 2010 at 10:07 am | Permalink

I'm so pleased he's found a place in your gang! Thank you! Grey Boy was a favorite of mine from the start even though he was a bully to his housemates, Groucho and the Princesses. He has a sense of humor and even though he's shy, he's not completely disgusted with us humans. Nicole made him a little circus tent-like structure in his cage once and he delighted in peeking out and teasing us. I could never touch him, but he like attention and would play with his toys in front of me and seemed to want to engage in some way. I think he'll be fine, not a replacement for Edmund but an interesting new character!
Jimmy Legs

Posted June 18, 2010 at 10:25 am | Permalink

thanks Lisa, that's encouraging to hear. He's making strides every day, becoming less spooked in general. he even stayed outside of his house last night when i opened the cage to feed him. i'm glad he likes toys, the other boys love them so at least he'll understand what's going on. I'm hopeful he'll fall in line quickly since he's already used to the idea of people providing food in a specific spot.
Stephanie

Posted June 19, 2010 at 12:17 pm | Permalink

Glad he is doing well! I had a crush on him too. He was one of my favs. Good luck!