Relocating Feral Cats - One Cat's Story

Preface: For Feral Cat Month, we at Town Cats thought it appropriate to put up this story written by our director about Apache, a feral cat who refused to be relocated. We never recommend relocating feral cats except in extreme emergencies and only when a suitable location is readily available.

Apache's Story

Apache came to us at about 2-3 months of age as a feral kitten February 3, 1996 with his 3 littermates. He's a Siamese Tabby Mix, with the bluest eyes you've ever seen. His littermates were two orange tabbies and a calico sister with blue eyes. I hadn't been rescuing then, just had some spare offices at my business (I owned an insurance agency back then) so I had used a couple spare offices to foster mom and kits for the local humane society, then when they got adopted, I connected with a no kill group and they brought me Apache and sibs. Well Apache's sibs all got tamed and placed in homes within a few months. Laredo took longer, but Apache would have nothing to do with it! He'd lunge and attack when approached. So, we had a couple feral cats living in the bushes around the office that we had spayed and neutered and fed etc. so we finally realized after Apache escaped once then returned, (we went to all the surrounding businesses with his photo but he ended up coming back on his own and we lured him back inside with KFC chicken)...anyway, we decided to integrate him with Maya, Azteca and the other ferals we had at our office garden...

Well, Apache blended in perfectly, he and Maya became a pair with tails wrapped around each other, cuddling and being fed and lying in the sun and in the flowers - these ferals actually are happier and better cared for than many domestic cats I know of (we have a shelter and find homes for housecats and you wouldn't believe the conditions they come in with after living inside all their lives with their guardians). Over time Maya, Azteca, Naughty and the others in the colony passed away, yes some hit by cars, others from disease (we retrapped when ill and took to vet); but domestic cats also pass on from these things and I'd say their quality of life was very high.

Anyway, in 2003 I sold the insurance business and moved that office; and even though Town Cats, the no kill shelter I founded in 1998 is domiclied in the same complex behind my old office, we decided to bring the remaining cats who lived in the bushes there: Amber, Parker, Cinder, Renfield and Apache to my home. Well, let me back up...when Apache was about 5 years old he decided we weren't going to eat him for dinner and he started rubbing against us and wanting to be petted. We gave him turkey treats and petted and picked him up, so we thought he'd love coming home and being a pet. However, anytime we had brought him inside the office to make him an indoor office cat, he would totally freak out and bounce off the walls, he wanted out! When we took the 5 cats (including Apache) home May 2003 and held them in a huge pen to acclimate them to my garden and meet my two cats plus a couple ferals who lived there too; we released them into the garden area around August 2003 and Apache disappeared October 2003.

Then one day in March 2004 guess who's crying (more like screaming with his Siamese voice) at me in the parking lot one day when I'm at Town Cats? You got it! Apache! He found his way back from our home, 12 miles away, all the way back to his territory. We can't move him now. He insists this is his home. There was still one male, Bootsie; who we couldn't retrap to take home with us although we tried real hard because he and Parker were so bonded; and one new male cat (Sanford) showed up there, (of course he's neutered now too). Apache visits us every morning and night and gets his treats! But we cannot move him! It is too dangerous as last time it took him 6 months to get back home! He absolutley loves it here! He patrols along the fences of the industrial park and he is the top cat there. The old top cat, Haj, passed away years ago, and Apache had taken his position.

Yes feral cats are not like little Fluffy - they are free, wonderful animals, much like their cousins in Africa, the lion and tiger and we are honored that Apache allows us to pet him and give him treats...

Rosi Mirko, Founder, Town Cats