Any experiences with socializing feral kittens?????

[jimanuel12]

just wanted to know if anyone has had experiences with socializing feral kittens.
we have a feral cat in the neighborhood and she has had kittens 3 times. the first litter she had, she brought them up on the carport and they got used to us.
we were able to handle them and pet them. eventually we were able to give all away to good homes (all house cats) and we even kept one for ourselves.
they were beautiful cats, two were turkish vans (we kept one turkish van), the other was black and only one was a bob tail.
they all are house cats and have made really good pets.
the second litter she had, we only saw them once, and she must have taken them off, we never saw them again.
the third litter she had were also beautiful kittens, all turkish vans, but she took them off for about 4 weeks, when they came back, they were wild and we could not pet them.
i was able to catch all of them in a trap and take them to the human society.
anyone else had any luck with domesticating feral kittens?

[StefanZ]

Are these kittens with the human society - and what will happen with them there? Have they the resources to foster them? If they dont have the resources, this will be probably the end of the saga.

Or are you considering to take them back and foster them? - If so, good luck, you should succeed.
It will get rater easily if you get the help of their older halfsibling (if he is anywhere cat-friendly that is) or any other cat friendly resident home cat.


I want also to ask you to help the mom to be spayed. She apparently managed OK to live as homeless semiferal. So it is not absolutely necessary to bring her in. But she does need spaying.



Welcome to the Forums!


ps. I see it is YOU who has the other thread about trying to trap a mom with kittens every 6 months.... OK so I see se do agree, you are even before me with this

[jimanuel12]

Originally Posted by StefanZ

Are these kittens with the human society - and what will happen with them there? Have they the resources to foster them? If they dont have the resources, this will be probably the end of the saga.

Or are you considering to take them back and foster them? - If so, good luck, you should succeed.
It will get rater easily if you get the help of their older halfsibling (if he is anywhere cat-friendly that is) or any other cat friendly resident home cat.


I want also to ask you to help the mom to be spayed. She apparently managed OK to live as homeless semiferal. So it is not absolutely necessary to bring her in. But she does need spaying.



Welcome to the Forums!


ps. I see it is YOU who has the other thread about trying to trap a mom with kittens every 6 months.... OK so I see se do agree, you are even before me with this

our local humane society does not put them to sleep, they try to find them good homes, i think they can be socoilized, they are still young (about 8 weeks or so). they are beautiful kittens,but we could not take in more cats.
i am trying to trap the mom and have her spayed. she is also a beautiful cat, i wish i could have caught her before she turned wild, she is small and somewhat social, my wife can pet her but she won't let me get around her at all.
i will keep trying and let everyone know how it turns out.

[sarahp]

You can absolutely socialise feral kittens. 8 weeks old can be harder to socialise, but if they're already used to people, and have seen mom trusting humans to a degree, then you have that on your side.

You need to have the kittens inside, in a room away from their mum, and just spend lots of time with them. Initially you'll just sit in there and talk to them, and make sure they associate you with food. If you can catch them, then our way of doing it, is we take them one at a time into the bathroom, and put them on our lap and pat them. At first they'll be so scared they don't move, then they start to look around while they're on the lap, then eventually they'll start enjoying it, and before you know it they're scaring themselves by letting out their first purr Once you get that first purr, you know you've won

I start introducing toys fairly early - there's always one who's more social than the others and is interested in toys. Once one starts playing with you, the others will join in. Play therapy is awesome for feral kittens.

[Skimble]

Ditto what sarahp says. We do much the same when we socialize feral kittens.

It is good to take one at a time to the bathroom for some one on one. They feed off each others reactions, so until they settle down and start to play, they will feed off each others fear.

Once they start playing some we take them one at a time and walk around with them snuggled in a towel. They get to enjoy looking around and hear/feel your heart beat and breathing.

Best of luck to you. It is so rewarding when they "get it" that humans are good.

[mrblanche]

If the kitten is brought inside, especially in a small room with no windows (such as a bathroom), they can turn around in as little as a few hours. Sometimes it may take a weekend.

Of course, as they get older, it gets harder.

Here's a video of the "feral" kitten we fostered. Just a day or two before this, we couldn't get him to stop hiding in his cage, spitting and hissing.

Jeeves

[StefanZ]

Originally Posted by jimanuel12

our local humane society does not put them to sleep, they try to find them good homes, i think they can be socoilized, they are still young (about 8 weeks or so). they are beautiful kittens,but we could not take in more cats.

This makes me anxious and worrying. As my collegeuas says, its no big deal with socializing such small kittens even if they are not longer in the optimal age. But you must know how to do it, or at least, have the patience and love to these our small brethrens.

If they living in a shelter without especially good conditions, NOT in a foster home, and then are adopted out to hopeful people, NOT prepared they must do the fostering themselves... It is begging for trouble, the risk is it may end very sorrowful. AND also giving that shelter AND the kittens of semiferal cats bad reputation.

Nay, fostering first, adopt out later. That is the trick to get wonderful, really first class young home cats.

The only imaginable exception is if the adoptee knows it is a semiferal kitten, and is prepared to work with it. Stricktly said, being de facto a sort of volunteer to that shelter...

Lets hope these unsuspecting adopters do already have own friendly home cats. It will make the process a lot easier, and the story may thus even end luckily. Edit. sometimes, not so seldom, also a friendly dog can be such a guardian angel and introductor.

Im sorry. I do hope I did misunderstood you, or you wrote a little too quickly.
Otherwise Im worried here.

ps.
Yes, the mom can surely be fostered she too as she is already friendly of sorts to your wife, although it takes more time and some more effort. But if nobody cant do it, she will do OK proceeding her semiferal life, if she is spayed.

Good luck!

[LDG]

Yup, quite a few of us have experience fostering feral cats and kittens! Kudos to you for all your work with this mom & her offspring - so glad you're finally going to get her spayed.

Of course I'm with Stefan on this one. I'd check in with the Humane Society to see the status. I know you have too many cats, but fostering is a short-term commitment with kittens. They'd be so much more adoptable if fostered first! At 8 weeks old, it should only be a matter of a few weeks most likely.

(We live in an RV with 7 cats, all feral rescues).

[Auntie Crazy]

All five of mine are ex-feral kittens. I trapped Allen, Rachel and Meghan at about 8 weeks of age and socialized them fairly easily (that's Allen in my siggy). Spencer and Heather were closer to 12 weeks and were much, much harder to socialize. But it can be done.

[sharky]

you have gotten some very good advise.. my two former ferals were MUCH older and well they are wonderful now but

[GloriaJH]

We have a mommy feral and her now 1-year old kittens.

We also have the daddy of the kittens - a stray that arrived first, and after a year and a half, is now very social.

I can't bring them inside, so I'm trying to socialize them while they're outside.

Having the one very friendly cat has helped the others to trust me a little better.

They watch me with the daddy - and as long as I'm with the daddy, the youngsters feel safe coming close to me - the son will now let me brush on him as long as Daddy is there, too. Finally, the Mommy is now putting her head inside the door when I bring out their meat - she's been sniffing my hand - it's all I can do to refrain from trying to pet her - but I must have patience.