I'm told if you spray it around the carpet and curtains, that it will cut down on the static electricity. and there are aerosols too that pooter users use...(we rarely have to deal with static electricity up here.)

He'll come around. He huddled in your lap. It's obvious that he's used to humans. And I'm not familiar with California traditions, but up here in Montana, animal shelters do not adopt out feral cats to families**...so I doubt if you've ended up with a feral cat...and like me, you'd have realized right away if he was actually feral...as would your local animal shelter folks.

**they used to euthanize them here in missoula, but now if there are locals in the area providing shelter/food...and the cats are adept at hunting...and are healthy appearing (i.e. obviously not suffering in their wild lives)...the shelters will spay/neuter them, and rerelease them to the neighborhood where they were captured.