Advice on taming, socializing our new feral kitten/young cat

Hi,

I work in a warehouse and about 2 weeks ago we realized that there was a kitten/young cat there. One of the guys is terrified of animals, so another brought in his squirrel trap. Fast forward, a few days, and the kitten was trapped, and I convinced my husband and landlord to let me bring it home. My husband grew up with cats, and I lived with a kitten a few years ago. We took the trapped kitten home and let it loose in our bathroom. It was terrified for a few days, and made its home underneath our tub (which is basically behind the woodwork). It is eating, voraciously at first and now a bit more for its size, and using its box. We have a small flat and now allow it access to the bathroom (where the litter box is), kitchen (where the food is kept) and living room. We named it Emily Dickinson because it is so timid.

We are feeding her wet food 2x a day, and dry food is always available. She is now much more curious and is coming out of hiding. If we are very still while eating breakfast or watching a dvd she will come out and spend time in the room with us but always fairly close to the door or a hiding place. Cautious but curious. We leave the radio on all day to help her get used to voices; it seems to be working. She seems very alarmed by motion, even very slow motion. We don't look at her straight on, but avert our glances and yawn a lot.

We are estimating her age at 12-16 weeks. She is quite small, has paws too big for her body and has a bit of fluffy down on her chest. We cannot get close enough to touch her- nor are we really trying to pressure her into contact. But I would like to get her to the vet asap, and get her out from under the tub and sleeping in the living room. We have the feliway diffuser going.

Most of the websites I've looked at have advice on how to tame a young kitten, and it usually involves putting it in a cage. There is no way this one will get into a cage at this point. What do we do? Some things suggest tough love by withholding food, but my husband and I are big softies. We love this cat, and dont expect it to become all cuddly wuddly. We would just like it to be a bit more comfortable with us.


Thanks!

I kittynapped a feral kitten from his Mom. He was about 8-9 weeks. I had Gus in my basement. I just spent a lot of time sitting on the floor and talking to him. He started slowly just looking at me from afar. He gradually came closer, one day just ran across my lap. It took about 3-4 weeks before he was totally comfortable with me. It just takes time and patience. She will come around. Gus is now 2 and he is a sweet boy. my 6 year old packs him everywhere

The reason people suggest a cage is that they do best by seeing you more, so by putting the cage in the room with you, you can carry on your daily business while they get the daily socialisation to noise etc

Honestly, I have never felt the need to cage kittens, their mothers definitely, but never the babies unless there was something in the room I didn't want them getting into. It seems like Emily is fine out of the cage as she is getting more used to you already.

Without being handled, they will never get used to being handled, I usually start with a wand/fishing pole toy, playing with them for a bit and when they are tired from playing, I touch them gently with the pole of the toy (ensuring my skin stays in tact but getting them used to being touched).

Always be very gentle and come from their side so you are not sneaking up on them from behind but they dont feel cornered like they often do if you move towards them right before them.

I often sit on the floor with them in the room and read out loud, putting their food about 1ft away from me, especially wet food or treats, whichever they prefer more so spending time with people is rewarded.

http://www.messybeast.com/feralkit.htm
This is the one we suggest at the shelter, if you feel confident enough, start at the first contact section

Have you been able to get the little one in to see a vet, yet? If not, you do need to get that done. She'll be upset with you for a bit, but it's best to get it out of the way.

I suggest you read thorough old threads here. There is a lot of information and tips, some by people who don't post as often anymore so you might miss that without looking.
If you get stuck, ask.

I always use food as a motivator. Either a really tasty cat treat, wet food, or even a bit of (safe) human food. Practically every animal can learn that way, and cats pick it up fairly quickly.
As soon as you think it's safe enough to put her in a larger room, consider moving her to your bedroom.

It's going to take time, so don't get discouraged or give up!

We had some feral cat rescue experts from a local trap, neuter, release (or rehome) charity over to give advice. They think that our cat is not feral, but lost and shy. Despite not meowing, they said that if she was feral, she'd be bouncing off of the walls and scratching at the windows and generally frustrated. Our little Emily Dickinson is timid but her curiousity and love of food gets the best of her. Also, her willingness to play is another sign that she is just shy, not feral.

And now, 3 weeks from bringing her home, she is eating salmon off our hands! We've borrowed a cage to get her to the vet and will be taking her next week. They also suggested putting her in a larger cage for a long weekend with a hidey hole in it to really get used to us and our movements. Any opinions on that approach?

That's not entirely true - adult cats are more likely to behave like that, but kittens are often more scared.

I had three that were definitely feral born. No one in the warehouse had been petting them. They were very fearful and would freeze instead of flip out. One came around in a little under two weeks and the others were closer to around a month. But they were young, ~7 weeks old, at still very much at that needy age where they want someone to care for them.
The reason the one tamed so easily is because it's simply her personality to demand to be the center of attention.

It sounds like you're doing what you can with the space you have. Ideally, you could have kept her in just the bathroom with her food, water, and litter box, and you could have hung out there with her, talking to her, even reading to her, etc. She needs to see you are not going to eat her, after all.

so, we managed to get Emily Dickinson into a 'crusher cage' using cat milk and salmon, and her favorite toy as lures. She was very unhappy about this. We took her the vet, who said this cat is too feral to treat without anesthetic. So we have to bring her back in a week to get fixed, and the rest of the works.

He estimated her age at 5 months, which seems to make sense. Within the past week she seemed to go from big kitten to little cat, if that makes sense. I'm not sure if she will fit in the squirrel trap we used to catch her initially in the warehouse. Because she can't eat from 9pm the night before going to the vet, we cant use food as a lure the following morning. How can we get her into a cage?

Sometimes you just have to use food to get them in there, the more times you try to trap them the wiser they become to it. There is a danger to surgery on a cat who has eaten, but it isn't common. I have left cats in traps for 12+ hours when I have needed to trap them for TNR, they don't like it but I knew I wouldn't catch them again later that night so you could trap her before 9 too

Most shelters have feral traps you can borrow that she will fit better in

Originally Posted by strange_wings

That's not entirely true - adult cats are more likely to behave like that, but kittens are often more scared.

Click to expand...

Is it common for feral kittens to be so scared they will not growl, hiss, or even lunge at you through the bars of the trap ? The one caught here one last night and neutered today hasn't done anything to behave particularly 'ferally' other than shivering the whole time at the clinic. And he's still quite subdued 9 hours on in the trap in my living room, although that could be before the anesthesia has completely worn off and he is fully awake.


What I also don't get is that this guy is 4 lbs but the vets are aging conservatively at 6 months -- is that even possible, especially for a male ?? He looks normal weight, or maybe a wee short but at least not half-sized to me. There are the markings of some in the colony so let's say at least semi-feral but I was able to touch the cat's fur without it reacting badly which gives me hope of socialization.

I have 6 cats, all from a rescue centre, and a dog. The cats can come in anytime, and go too. There is plenty of room outside in the quarrys for them too go and explore in. They do not have trouble socialising except for my young Tom Cat, who tries to start fights with my dog. Real fights, too. It's not a dog thing, because he's all right usually with other dogs. It just seems to be Granite he hates. But the dog is really tolerant, up to a point, when he snaps, and tries to catch him. If he caught him, he would probably kill the cat with one bite, but he knows that cats scratch and bite back. He is not scared, but one day he will get so mad that he doesn't care about any scratches and probably kill the cat.
Which will be a shame.

The kitten's mother might be around, and if she is feral, she may reject the kitten if she smells human on her.