Terrible Cat Owners Are Cat Owners Too

I was getting some groceries from a big-box store the other day and ran into this lady who had a cat that was about 6 months old. She was saying that the cat is an awful house cat. She’s peeing everywhere, scratching the furniture (I think she might have blocked the cat litter boxes because the cat doesn’t trust them, but that’s a whole other story). The lady was either going to rehome the cat or get it spayed. I told her that if she rehomed the cat, it will be rehomed again, and it’ll end up in the animal shelter. I convinced her to let me take the cat and let me pick it up.<br><br>I’ve had the cat for almost a week and I noticed that the cat was naturally staying away from my hamster cage. I started leaving the hamster out with the cat and she’d sniff around it. I’d even put the hamsters in the cat’s food bowl and she’d eat around them without any concern. I was thinking to myself, this cat isn’t quite feral, she’s just under socialized. So I started taking the cat out onto the back porch and she reacted with less fear. I started putting food out there and now she’s eating out there and I’m starting to see the neighbor cats and I’m wondering if she’d get along with them.<br><br>I put some food on the neighbor’s patio around 10 pm and sure enough, the neighbor cat came over. The moment it came close, the cat ran towards it hissing. So I’m thinking, maybe this is a house cat after all. But I realized that I could put cats in her presence and she’ll react with fear. That’s weird for an animal that is fed by humans.<br><br>I went out there tonight and put some food out. The neighbor cat came over and the cat I’m fostering walked up to it, sniffed it, and then walked away. The neighbor cat also walked up to her, sniffed her, and walked away. So now I’m wondering, is this cat going to get along with these outdoor cats? She’s getting socialized to them, but she reacted with fear to the neighbor cats at first. So once she gets socialized with them, it’s going to be hard to make her a house cat. What are some things I can do to make her less skittish?<br><br>EDIT: I think this cat has been out of a house for a while. She’s stopped running away from humans and instead, she’s walking away. She needs some time to get socialized with other cats before I can bring her back into the house. Hopefully, she warms up to me and the other cats in the future.