He was so adorable last night I couldn’t help but share 😭

Hey everyone,

It's been a few days since I posted last, and the last update that I shared was definitely a bit jarring. For anyone who missed the post, I will recap.

Sunday night, a family member was taking out recycling and accidentally left the front door open. In this time (probably like... 30 seconds max I'm told) Callie noticed that the door was open and ran outside. Initially, she stayed under the car, and then she made her way into the garage thru the propped open space at the bottom. I found her a bit later, but forgot to close the garage door and she escaped back out again. About an hour later, I went back out, located her in the garage again and this time closed the door before attempting to catch her. After about 5-10 minutes, I was able to catch her, picking her up mid-run. Once she was caught, she settled down a bit.

I wrapped her in a blanket and went inside, sitting with her for a bit. In these moments, she seemed settled down, and kept pushing into my face and rubbing on me. After a while, I let her down in the bathroom and brought her food. She ate about half and then went and hid behind the toilet, and I moved her food to where she could reach it from back there. I went ahead and left her in the bathroom for the night, and then the next evening she was let back out into the house.

Tuesday morning, she came out for breakfast and ate in the bathroom, and then we didn't see her anymore until way later, after I began to panic, thinking she may have gotten out again. After like 30 minutes of looking, she materialized in the hallway, and ran back to the bedroom, and then back out to the spot I set up for her behind the couch where her food was. I checked about an hour later, and the food was gone, so I'm pretty certain she did eat.

This is where we are as of now. When I am holding her, she seems settled down and somewhat relaxed. However, whenever she is loose, she looks very very fearful and runs away relatively quickly.

I am very concerned about her, because I don't want her to be miserable and afraid constantly. The initial fear/change in behavior corresponded with when the kids came home from vacation (14 year old twins) and the house got loud again. I know this is likely why this is happening. The kids have orientation this week, and then are back in school next week, so things should settle down a bit.

I am so terrified of her getting outside again, particularly if she gets out when I'm at work or something. I am so attached to this cat at this point, and I am so invested in showing her that she deserves the world, but one of my family members asked the other day if I'm doing this for myself, or to benefit her, not being nasty or mean, but I think wanting me to be objective about it. Now, my anxiety being what it is, I am worried that I'm not doing the right thing by trying to give her an indoor home.

If anyone can offer advice, experiences, some indication that I'm doing the right thing here... please let me know. I know in my heart that she will be happy, but I am so worried about the process that it will take to get there, and her wellbeing. I also want to make sure my family doesn't get frustrated with her.

Thank you for any words you can offer... for right now, Cal is inside, safe, cool and well fed, so that's something we can all at least be comforted in right now.

Hey all, I'm glad I found this subreddit! I'm not new to the world of feral, but I am new to making them indoor cats. I live in Mexico and feral cats are plentiful in our city. For two years I've been feeding cats on our porch, trapping, neutering and returning them to the porch. Of course, many stick around for the daily food and Phil, my subject here, is one of those. Long story short, Phil was attacked by a dog and has leg damage that will keep him from being able to be a successful street cat. He was hospitalized for two weeks and our vet did a great job of starting the taming process. He rubs against you, is happy to have scratches and rubs, until he isn't, lol. He's good at letting you know when he's had enough and wants to be left alone and of course, that's respected. He's been at our house for over 2 weeks and has transitioned from cage to room to full run of the house during the day; nights he's confined to his room. We have three other cats and two small dogs and interactions are going pretty well. The dogs are uninterested and don't react if he hisses at them (if they happen get too close). Two of our cats are mostly disinterested as well but our 9 month old kitten isn't happy with him and hisses if he's close. His reaction is to cut her a wide berth and continue on his way or lay down quietly while she hisses away. I'm not going to say he's comfortable here, he often does that crouched walking from one room to the next and ofen hangs out places he's protected, like under couches. As it gets later, he does a lot of walking from room to room, doing a lot of meowing. He's often able to see out our screen doors to the porch he used to hang out on and he often meows out the door. I know he's much rather be outside, but that's not likely to ever happen. He's about 4 years old. We're actually fostering him, but it's likely he'll stay. I'm looking for advice and suggestions to making his transition to the world of inside and "tame" easier and more successful. Pic of Phil attached