3 male ferals and a blind kitten

Someone in another cat forum I go to said they have 3 unneutered male ferals that live on their deck. They said a kitten that was blind in one eye showed up and the males were hissing at it and the kitten has now disappeared. They also have a 12 year old neutered male inside that would meow at the door and the kitten would come running to the screen. Their inside cat now has an attitude and has been bitting people.

They wanted to know if the males may have been responsible for the kittens disappearance and also, if they found the kitten again would there be a problem it they tamed it and brought it inside with their other cat. They also wanted advice on taming the kitten.

It's a slow moving cat forum and dosen't have that many members and the person hasn't received any help yet. I thought I would ask the experts here for advice.

If the 3 unneutered males are adults or nearing adult hood, it is most probable that the drove the kitten away, or worse yet, killed it. Feral cats can be very territorial and it doesn't always make sense who they allow within their "colony".

If they can find the kitten and it's fairly young still, it is very easy to tame it. I've taken in ferals anywhere from 10 days to 2 years and have success to some degree with all of them. Find the thread in behavior about introducing cats as it has all kinds of good tips on how to do that successfully.

For taming the kitten: it depends on how feral it actually is. I've been surprised when I've brought feral born kittens into the house and they adjusted the moment they came inside. Others took a lot more work and patience. If this kitten is the latter, there are also a lot of very good threads on that topic. I can look some of them up if you want.

I hope they can find the kitten and take it in. It should be separated from the cat already there till checked out by a vet to be sure no illnesses get passed on, but I've found that most cats can adapt and live together, (especially when working with young kittens). I have 14 indoor/outdoor cats, of which 9 were originally feral.

If I were you, I'd make a suggestion to the person in queswtion that they also see about trapping the unneutered males and getting them neutered too. That would take care of some of their aggression and stop them from making more homeless kittens. :-)

Thanks, Amy and Trudy. The person posted another message last night and said that the kitten has returned and that they are trying to gain it's trust so they can bring it inside. I'll pass on the information you gave me.

Forget trying to gain the kitten's trust. The best, safest and surest way to capture a kitten is to trap it. Suggest to the person that they call around to local vets to see if any of them have a Hav-a-heart type trap that person can borrow. Local groups may also be able to lend or rent a trap: that person can search for them here: http://www.pets911.com/organizations/organizations.php

Here are links to info on trapping: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16045

We rescued a deaf kitty that had to have her eye removed. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ht=Flowerbelle

I sure hope this poster is able to rescue this kitty! Thank you for trying to help this person.

Laurie