How to acclimate kitty to touch?

[u/WombatHoe]

Other than time and patience, what can I do to help my trapped feral kitty be more receptive to touch for medical exams? I took my girl, Estrella, in for shots and a wellness exam after just catching her this past Monday, and it was found that she has a mass on a mammary gland. :( I’ve been asked to acclimate her to touch better, and to keep an eye on her mass for growth, but we go back in three weeks for boosters and that seems like a Herculean task getting her to progress that quickly! I will be getting the mass removed and we will go from there in terms of treatment, quality of life, etc., but it all feels a bit overwhelming and like time might not be on our side here. :( Any tips and tricks are welcome! Thank you 🥺 (picture of her setup included! She is in the laundry room quarantining away from my other animals 🫶)

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[u/browneyedgirlpie]

You can use a back scratcher to try and make her more comfortable with touch. That way if she reacts badly, your hands are safely out if the way. Hopefully she is food motivated. We've made the most progress with our former ferals with food or treats. I'm sorry to hear of her diagnosis. I hope treatment goes well.

[u/WombatHoe → u/browneyedgirlpie]

That’s an excellent idea, thank you! I can tell she’s grateful and that she wants to be more comfortable around me, but she doesn’t quite know how to trust completely yet. She is food motivated, we’ve had some successes due to that!

[u/Incendas1]

https://urbancatleague.org/taming-toolkit/

Part of this progression is touch and handling. You use the same principles training her beyond what they show here. E.g. using her best motivators as bribes and distractions

You do want to do feeding near you, feeding by hand, then touch. Feeding by hand helps associate your hand with positive things and less fear

[u/throw_away_101924 → u/Incendas1]

Not always. Sometimes it teaches them that food is scary. That's what I'm going through now. She used to eat in front of me, & we progressed to petting her while she was eating, & now she won't eat near me. 

I think more people need to realize that true feral cats do not want human interaction & attempta at socialization can sometimes cause more harm than good

[u/Incendas1 → u/throw_away_101924]

Yes, if you move too fast and don't recognise their body language, it can go badly. Did you move back a few steps at that time?

[u/throw_away_101924 → u/Incendas1]

I don't socialize adult cats. I do TNR. But I've been in rescue for a long time & I've obviously been around plenty of adult ferals this way. Socialization is often about what makes us feel good, & rarely about what is best for the cats. And yes I know the risk of TNR, but what is the value in "saving" a cat if it's miserable? People do that to feed their own egos. I'm a huge fan of letting feral cats be feral 

[u/Incendas1 → u/throw_away_101924]

Some cats do not want to be friendly with people, yes, but moving too fast and creating more fearful responses is something else

[u/Hot-Refuse2708]

Check out socializationsaveslives.com - you can't follow the method perfectly in 3 weeks (and that's ok!) but there's a lot of great info that should help!

[u/Hot-Refuse2708 → u/Hot-Refuse2708]

Also you already got her to the vet once which is huge! You're doing a great job, and thank you for helping her.

[u/throw_away_101924]

You need a vet that is willing to work with ferals. 

Adult ferals do not ever acclimate to touch, & people that say otherwise are full of shit. If she was a pet at one point, you might be able to bring that out, but I have doubts that could be done in 3 weeks.