Will he ever let us stroke him?

[SamMewl]

i would agree with the comments especially slow blinking and time..lots of time 
Although it sounds like you are doing well with him anyway.

With one semi feral here i used to spoon feed her tuna whislt sitting down at her level with my other hand above the spoon so that she had to brush the top of her head accross my hand to get to the tuna (so she was in control of the contact and not me). Fortunately she was a tuna fiend and so not only got used to human contact but associated it with something good. 

[Kay and Penny]

I had this problem with my Tosker - the breakthrough came when I was lying on the sofa and he was on the rug within reach, so he felt me stroking him without seeing a hand approaching

[mollycat]

Thanks everyone, yes he loves toys on sticks so I'll try stroking him with one of those first 

[jezebel]

Does Bert like toys? I have a feathers on a stick toy thing which Drum likes to bat but she also likes having her head stroked with it! It might be a way of getting Bert used to being touched whilst keeping a respectful distance from him.

With the progress he's already made, he sounds like he'll get there eventually!

[Liz]

As the proud Mother to the 30 odd ferals who live here at the Clan Homestead can I say time is the key some of ours are like their domestic counterparts some turn easily to the human side, even after 9 years sabrina feral is hands off and like a bengal tiger in her crush cage at the vet but she is the leader of the house cats and loves the cats and dogs its us humans who are her problem

I can advise we have Ace a really nasty feral who never forgave us for drugging him 6 years ago to move house and has taken me the remaining 6 years to get anywhere near him and last year he got his first injections and his ID Chip

I have about 10 who are treat dependant and will follow me and the Blue bowl anywhere in the house they are all youngsters though under 4

I do have me Physco bengal Miss Porsche who is now 9 months old but was trapped in the middle of nowhere and has no idea how to be a cat and she has a yowl thats like walking on broken glass but she has come along way as she fell in love with my big Rescue Ragdoll Casper and she adores him to the point of stalking and hates anyone near him

Time and love and food are the key

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

ITs very hard to know but maybe in about 6 years time if Sasa a semi feral is anything to go by!

She has been living outside in the rain, frost and wind for the last 3-4 months and onlycame in to eat when she was sure I wasnt around.

Then after being trapped and being confined to barracks she has let me stroke her for the very first time 

However she has been hiding for the last 12 hours and I dont know where so its all very much on her terms.

Last night she was purring away and headbutting but only ijn the kitchen........sigh

[Sootyca]

Does he come up to you for food?  I just wondered whether it is possible to stroke him whilst he is eating so he associates stroking with food/treats/good things.  I did this initially with Robbie and now he likes me stroking him just after I put his food down.  You obviously know whether this approach would work for him. 

Or just lie very still on the floor and ignore him whilst watching TV in front of the fire.  If/when he approaches you can have treats nearby to reward him with or a toy to play with whilst next to you.

I think patience will be the key - letting it all be on his terms.

We've got an outdoor cat who pretty much lives in our garden.  Sometimes he won't let me approach him others he will - but he has a very strong sense of smell so if I smell slightly different (even from opening a tangering 4 hours earlier) he won't let me touch him.

KAren
x

[Rosella moggy]

However he still cowers and runs away if we reach towards him, even slowly. Is there anything we can do to build up to stroking him? Perhaps he'll never let us and we'll accept that, but the way he rubs on our legs and furniture constantly it seems a shame not to try. He also takes food from our hands and licks our fingers afterwards! 

Suggest you might try practising slow blinking when you look in his direction for a few seconds then look away.  Then look back with slow blinking etc. Look away from him when you reach to stroke him.  All very slow and build up. 

Billy Whiz (well named) came to us in May 2006.  Let's just say, I know what I'm talking about    My aspiration is to be able to pick Billy up when he's about 16    Meanwhile, he just loves his strokes and head butts betta than any of em 

[mollycat]

Some of you gave me some great advice regarding our Bert a while ago, so I'm hoping you can do the same again   

He was described as 'semi feral' by the CP, but had actually been taken in as a kitten and lived there for over a year so wasn't used to humans at all. Over the 7 months we've had him he's gone from hiding under the sofa and running away when we moved to wanting to be in our company, sleeping on the bed with us and rubbing around our legs. We'd never even heard him purr but after a lot of patience and having a painful tooth removed he purrs all the time 
However he still cowers and runs away if we reach towards him, even slowly. Is there anything we can do to build up to stroking him? Perhaps he'll never let us and we'll accept that, but the way he rubs on our legs and furniture constantly it seems a shame not to try. He also takes food from our hands and licks our fingers afterwards!

Thanks.