I have decided to adopt the Feral cat in my shed (kitten, male)

[tinman01]

Today I was working on my tractor. Just easy maintenance. I have this feral cat that moved into my shed and after weeks of us watching each other and the cat sneaking out when it felt safe I finally was able to pet it a week or so ago. Today the cat made the first move to be friendly and walked over to me and sat watching. I reached out to it and it came to me.
That's it she is adopted. I fed her and tomorrow we go to the vet for shots and to get her fixed. My very anti-cat dog is annoyed with me for now. LOL. She will become an indoor cat and old Bailey is going to have to adjust. Bailey lunged at our new family member only once and a sharp rebuke made her chill out.
I have to admit it was amusing watching the cat snoop around the house.
She is an orange tiger stripe and I think her name will be Merf. She makes that sound when she wants my attention. My wife who is not a cat person seems to have already bonded. It took about an hour for Merf to calm down after I brought her up to the house. She loves to chase the laser light but doesn't like when Bailey joins in. LOL I made Bailey play nice so maybe there is hope for old bailey after all.

[Hopes]

Merf! Too cute! Is she a kitten or a cat?

It doesn't sound like she's fully feral so it will be an easier transition for you.

I'm glad she's finding a family at your home!

[PAhippo]

sounds like a mutually beneficial relationship!

[kevxu]

I had an adult male feral cat adopt me. I was not keen on this as he had attacked two neighbour women who had befriended him. My rule was "hasten slowly," and essentially I let Mr. Cat change the parameters as he became more comfortable around me. And I made no attempts to do cutsie kitty-kitty cuddling with him, which probably saved my jugular vein.

However, he was a fully developed male, and this, I think, makes the situation a lot more dicey. It sounds like the OP is having good luck....though I would keep a sharp eye on the dog if it is a big one.

[Hopes]

Bailey will adapt. My Basset used to chase cats outside. He really just wanted to meet them. Plus he'll chase anything because he's a hound. There isn't a mean bone in his body. He was fascinated by Bobbles when we brought her into the house. Then he was terrified of her because she arched her back and hissed and spit at him. It took months before we could encourage the Basset to defend himself. Even then it was just lifting his head to growl when she got too rough. Now they're just starting to fully interact. As long as Merf has a safe place to escape, everything will work out.

[tinman01]

Merf is a young cat or an old kitten. LOL I think someone dropped her off when they decided that they didn't want a cat. I have a kitty litter box and I watched her scout it out. I hope she won't need a lot of for lack of a better word training. When I got up this morning she wanted out, but no chance of that. Bailey still growls at Merf, but she's a good dog so when I growled her name she cut it out. I had Merf sleep in the spare bedroom and I closed the door for her protection from Bailey. Let's hope it works out I am getting attached. LOL I saw one pic posed of cats on leashes. I think me and Merf and Bailey will be hanging out down at the shed when the weather breaks. The shed is my man cave. LOL

[CFoulke]

What an excellent story!!! I love her name too and I've heard that orange tabbies being female are not all that common - they're usually boys. Interesting how she made it seem like YOU adopted HER, when clearly SHE adopted YOU - she's been baiting the hook for a while now. You two have been watching each other for a while, and then her coming close enough to let you pet her? Yeah....she adopted you, all right!!! I'm just glad you two found each other. I agree with Hopes, it doesn't sound to me like she was altogether feral - she has probably had some human interaction at some point in time, enough so that she's not totally trusting, but not totally wild. Her miserable days are over now - she has a family!!! Good job!!!!

[subject2change]

Maybe you could say you adopted each other. It does sound like she may have been owned at one point. It sounds like she and the dog will be fine, but I agree on keeping them separate for now when you're asleep or out. If the spare room really isn't needed for anything but a cat room, that's where I keep litterbox, food and beds for my cats. They have their own hangout when they want to get away, and it keeps my dogs away from their food and the kitty roca in the box. I have a baby gate set up in the door, about 5" off the ground I think.
I do walk one of my cats on the smallest, Chihuahua size dog tie out. We found her in the street and she did used to sneak outside when she was young. I set her up outside in a wire dog crate at times too. She lies on a folded towel or blanket and gets some fresh air and watches the birds. She's happy with this setup and never tries to slip out the door anymore. We never knew how much we liked cats until we got her, our first. Congrats on your new family member!

[catdad7x]

Good for you Tinman. I hope everything goes well with your new family member. I've also heard that orange tabby females are quite rare, so you may have a true gem on your hands.
Congratulations and thank you for giving her a home. Love the name BTW.

[Rene S]

That's great news! She chose you to trust and that's a wonderful thing.