Hello all!
I found this forum while looking into the do's and don'ts of socializing feral kittens.
There are a lot of stories here about people persevering in difficult feral adoptions and putting a lot of love, patience and care into feral cats. I have a slightly different one.
I have adopted a kitten from a litter that lives in an old shed. The cats just showed up there last year, and the owner of the shed puts out a bowl of food every evening since she feels they will keep the rats away. They have never been indoors, and have never been handled. The kittens seem to be about 7 to 8 weeks old.
I knew I was being stupid. Afterall, my wife and children have never owned a cat before. My youngest is only 2 years old. Socializing feral animals is a slow, careful process that may or may not work, even when they are still young. But I had seen some of the kittens scrounging around the street for food in the cold november rain, and now that I had started to think about it, I found I could not give up the idea.
I managed to get my hands on the runt of the litter. Two of his siblings had spun around and proceeded to flay my hands with such an air of casual professionalism that I was beginning to wonder if I knew what I was getting into. I brought him home with only a bare minimum of hissing and scratching, and the kitten took up station under my couch.
And ate. Good god how he eats. He sat on my lap in the car as my wife drove us home, his heart pounding in his chest so hard I could feel it through my jeans and shaking like a leaf, but still he ate at the same time. He hissed and spat at me when I fished him from under the couch and dug his nails into my legs as I held him there, but seconds later all that was forgotten as long as there was food to eat. I was beginning to wonder if you can explode a kitten by overfeeding. He ate and ate until we took the food away for fear of harming him, and then he wriggled clear and darted back under the couch where he mewed in a heart-rending manner and stared out at us supiciously.
I explained to my family what the score was. Things were looking good - the kitten wasn't very agressive, but nevertheless we should remember it was practically a wild animal. Don't expect too much too fast, get all the contact in we can get away with, no sudden moves and slowly win its trust. What a boring old fart I must have sounded.
4 hours later the kitten whose names have included Muffin, Biscuit and now seems to have been dubbed Greebo was asleep on my wifes lap. "he's snoring!" she announced proudly. She'd never heard a cat purr before. I couldn't believe it - it had to be wishful thinking.
I was awoken at 4 in the morning by my daughter. The cat was mewing so sadly and it kept her awake. She had it in a little box in her room for the night. I unceremoniously fished the kitten from behind the bed and stood in the hallway, stupefied with sleep, absent-mindedly rubbing behind the cats ears. He started to purr loudly.
I was gobsmacked. He hadn't been in the house half a day yet. We went downstairs, and with the aid of some more catfood we made friends. By the time I had to go to work he was rubbing his cheeks against mine - I had now been accepted as a cat, and a friendly one at that.
That evening my youngest had him on her lap and was learning how to properly rub a cat. She plays with him with a piece of string with a feather on it. He still hides under the couch when startled, but once you lure him out with the ever-powerful food he is fine. He is incredibaly affectionate, and is rapidly settling into a pattern of eating, playing and sleeping non-stop throughout the day. He likes to sleep on top of people and will climb up onto our laps as long as we don't move around too much. He found the litter-box on the third go and hasn't missed since, although he does have a distressing habit of sitting down on it after everything has been buried to his satisfaction.
It has taken 24 hours. I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it. From half-wild feral cat to lazy moggy who likes a belly-rub and a nice snooze in the crook of your arm in a day or less. The kids still haven't finished laughing at me.
So to anyone who is considering adopting a feral cat, even when they are a little older than 7 weeks, remember to be ready for anything - including the perfect housecat. And try not to feel silly when it turns out to be incredibly easy.
I found this forum while looking into the do's and don'ts of socializing feral kittens.
There are a lot of stories here about people persevering in difficult feral adoptions and putting a lot of love, patience and care into feral cats. I have a slightly different one.
I have adopted a kitten from a litter that lives in an old shed. The cats just showed up there last year, and the owner of the shed puts out a bowl of food every evening since she feels they will keep the rats away. They have never been indoors, and have never been handled. The kittens seem to be about 7 to 8 weeks old.
I knew I was being stupid. Afterall, my wife and children have never owned a cat before. My youngest is only 2 years old. Socializing feral animals is a slow, careful process that may or may not work, even when they are still young. But I had seen some of the kittens scrounging around the street for food in the cold november rain, and now that I had started to think about it, I found I could not give up the idea.
I managed to get my hands on the runt of the litter. Two of his siblings had spun around and proceeded to flay my hands with such an air of casual professionalism that I was beginning to wonder if I knew what I was getting into. I brought him home with only a bare minimum of hissing and scratching, and the kitten took up station under my couch.
And ate. Good god how he eats. He sat on my lap in the car as my wife drove us home, his heart pounding in his chest so hard I could feel it through my jeans and shaking like a leaf, but still he ate at the same time. He hissed and spat at me when I fished him from under the couch and dug his nails into my legs as I held him there, but seconds later all that was forgotten as long as there was food to eat. I was beginning to wonder if you can explode a kitten by overfeeding. He ate and ate until we took the food away for fear of harming him, and then he wriggled clear and darted back under the couch where he mewed in a heart-rending manner and stared out at us supiciously.
I explained to my family what the score was. Things were looking good - the kitten wasn't very agressive, but nevertheless we should remember it was practically a wild animal. Don't expect too much too fast, get all the contact in we can get away with, no sudden moves and slowly win its trust. What a boring old fart I must have sounded.
4 hours later the kitten whose names have included Muffin, Biscuit and now seems to have been dubbed Greebo was asleep on my wifes lap. "he's snoring!" she announced proudly. She'd never heard a cat purr before. I couldn't believe it - it had to be wishful thinking.
I was awoken at 4 in the morning by my daughter. The cat was mewing so sadly and it kept her awake. She had it in a little box in her room for the night. I unceremoniously fished the kitten from behind the bed and stood in the hallway, stupefied with sleep, absent-mindedly rubbing behind the cats ears. He started to purr loudly.
I was gobsmacked. He hadn't been in the house half a day yet. We went downstairs, and with the aid of some more catfood we made friends. By the time I had to go to work he was rubbing his cheeks against mine - I had now been accepted as a cat, and a friendly one at that.
That evening my youngest had him on her lap and was learning how to properly rub a cat. She plays with him with a piece of string with a feather on it. He still hides under the couch when startled, but once you lure him out with the ever-powerful food he is fine. He is incredibaly affectionate, and is rapidly settling into a pattern of eating, playing and sleeping non-stop throughout the day. He likes to sleep on top of people and will climb up onto our laps as long as we don't move around too much. He found the litter-box on the third go and hasn't missed since, although he does have a distressing habit of sitting down on it after everything has been buried to his satisfaction.
It has taken 24 hours. I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it. From half-wild feral cat to lazy moggy who likes a belly-rub and a nice snooze in the crook of your arm in a day or less. The kids still haven't finished laughing at me.
So to anyone who is considering adopting a feral cat, even when they are a little older than 7 weeks, remember to be ready for anything - including the perfect housecat. And try not to feel silly when it turns out to be incredibly easy.