Many feral cats will never have the chance to learn that humans can be trusted. However, these five feral tuxedo cats from Phoenix, Arizona, have firsthand experience that kind humans work hard to earn their trust and treat them with love regardless of how they behave.
Occasionally, we cross paths with cats that we can’t help but help. One of those stories is this one about five feral tuxedo cats. Fortunately, their caregiver kindly agreed to let me share their story with the Tuxedo Cat Lovers group on Facebook.
How did these five feral cats come into your life?
While building our home, we lived in a rental house for about a year. Feral cats are abundant in our neighborhood. We began feeding the cats because they hung around our yard all the time. As soon as we approached them, they would run away. We received a notice from our neighborhood’s HOA a couple of months later asking us not to feed the cats.
Initially, I wondered if I should set a trap to catch them. We began to observe the smaller cat eating after a few months. One night, we nudged her into the carrier, and she fell asleep. My house already has two cats and three dogs, so I had to find a place to keep her. Then, I decided to relocate her after checking her out, spaying her, etc. I have another rental that I use as an office.
A neighbor told me soon after that she thought there were kittens in her yard. Our neighborhood was having problems with a coyote wandering around recently, so we baited two traps in hopes of catching the mom and her three kittens. We managed to catch all four, including mom, over a week. We brought them all to the vet and moved them into the same environment. My office now has 5 feral cats living there. They have not warmed up to us yet since I can only spend a couple of hours with them each day, but the first one was generally friendly by the time we caught her.