Reading your forum entries really helped me with two feral kittens I recently adopted -- I'd only adopted socialized adult shelter cats before and had no idea where to start with shy kittens -- so I wanted to share our story with you in case it is useful to anyone.
We arrived in July in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on assignment with the US Consulate here. As soon as the word got out that we might be interested in adopting a cat, a colleague who has been helping animals here dropped off two young cats, about 6 months old, who had been found in an empty house. They had been picked up by someone else and were living in a closed room, but were not socialized.
They were panicky and only wanted to hide. We made the mistake of putting them in a family room that was not closed off, and soon they were hiding in small nooks in the house. They hid all day and meowed sadly at night. We spent a few unhappy days wondering if we had made a big mistake; then I got online and found your forums.
Thanks to your advice, while we offered them canned cat food and tuna (after finding their hiding places!), we stroked them tentatively and gently.
As people on the forum advised, we then decided to put them in one room. This worked a lot better, because they had fewer places to hide and had to interact with us (although they were still extremely nervous).
I had to catch them to put them in the room and also to be treated by the vet (who makes house calls here!), and I got a nasty bite on the finger from the male (Bengal, an orange tabby with semi-long fur) -- it swelled up and I had to take a course of serious antibiotics. I should have used a towel or tough gloves, but I had handled him twice before and thought I could manage him (wrong).
After about a week of being in the room (my son's bedroom -- the poor guy had to sleep on the couch because of the noise and litter box smell at night!), and lots of gentle attention, good food, and tentative stroking, they started to act more trusting -- lying down in front of us and even letting us rub their bellies.
One interesting thing was their different reactions to being held -- I tried to hold each of them at different times, hoping they would stop struggling and realize I wasn't hurting them. The female (Blanquita, white with mixed colors on her forehead and fluffy tail) responded pretty well to this, calming down after a few minutes of squeaking and struggling. After that, she was noticeably more tame than before.
Bengal, on the other hand, did not calm down, and it was definitely a setback in our relationship -- the next time I tried to catch him is when he bit me, and it took longer to regain his trust after that. So I guess different cats may respond differently to the controversial topic of forced contact.
At any rate, we are a full success story now, a few weeks later -- they are roaming through the house, following me around, playing, wanting belly rubs, and getting underfoot.
We have had Bengal neutered already and Blanquita will be spayed in September, and we're very happy to have two adopted Ecuadorian cats in our family. Thanks for your stories and advice, which were a huge help to us as we worked with them.
Patricia in Guayaquil, Ecuador
We arrived in July in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on assignment with the US Consulate here. As soon as the word got out that we might be interested in adopting a cat, a colleague who has been helping animals here dropped off two young cats, about 6 months old, who had been found in an empty house. They had been picked up by someone else and were living in a closed room, but were not socialized.
They were panicky and only wanted to hide. We made the mistake of putting them in a family room that was not closed off, and soon they were hiding in small nooks in the house. They hid all day and meowed sadly at night. We spent a few unhappy days wondering if we had made a big mistake; then I got online and found your forums.
Thanks to your advice, while we offered them canned cat food and tuna (after finding their hiding places!), we stroked them tentatively and gently.
As people on the forum advised, we then decided to put them in one room. This worked a lot better, because they had fewer places to hide and had to interact with us (although they were still extremely nervous).
I had to catch them to put them in the room and also to be treated by the vet (who makes house calls here!), and I got a nasty bite on the finger from the male (Bengal, an orange tabby with semi-long fur) -- it swelled up and I had to take a course of serious antibiotics. I should have used a towel or tough gloves, but I had handled him twice before and thought I could manage him (wrong).
After about a week of being in the room (my son's bedroom -- the poor guy had to sleep on the couch because of the noise and litter box smell at night!), and lots of gentle attention, good food, and tentative stroking, they started to act more trusting -- lying down in front of us and even letting us rub their bellies.
One interesting thing was their different reactions to being held -- I tried to hold each of them at different times, hoping they would stop struggling and realize I wasn't hurting them. The female (Blanquita, white with mixed colors on her forehead and fluffy tail) responded pretty well to this, calming down after a few minutes of squeaking and struggling. After that, she was noticeably more tame than before.
Bengal, on the other hand, did not calm down, and it was definitely a setback in our relationship -- the next time I tried to catch him is when he bit me, and it took longer to regain his trust after that. So I guess different cats may respond differently to the controversial topic of forced contact.
At any rate, we are a full success story now, a few weeks later -- they are roaming through the house, following me around, playing, wanting belly rubs, and getting underfoot.
We have had Bengal neutered already and Blanquita will be spayed in September, and we're very happy to have two adopted Ecuadorian cats in our family. Thanks for your stories and advice, which were a huge help to us as we worked with them.
Patricia in Guayaquil, Ecuador
