Fostering 5 feral kitties at once..

Hello,

I'm seeking some ideas and advice about fostering ferals. A group of wonderful ladies trapped some 3-5 month old kittens living in a neighborhood garden. I volunteered to take 2, and ended up with 6 all at once! I'm new to fostering, so it is overwhelming. I've had them 3 months now, and one has been adopted, and one is going to stay (He's the most lovely boy kitty you have ever seen ; ) , and loves to be petted). That leaves 4 I need to find homes for when they are ready.
The 5 kittens are living in one room, closed door to the rest of my house. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s set up with toys, beds, litter boxes, TV, etc. I have had them for 3 months, and have not really petted or touched 4 of them yet. They take baby food from my fingers and we have great play sessions, but cannot really get near them. The "leader" is a tough cookie named Star. She is clearly older, was like the momma to them (but not actual mom) and is distrustful and lashes out even with a soft approach. I only have an hour or two a day to spend with them. It was probably too much for me to take on given my work hours are long and not flexible. But I couldn't let them be out on the street for winter!
Any tips, hints on how to move forward from this point to get them to trust me? I am trying to get some people to come and spend some time with them in addition to me. Thanks all! Happy holidays!!

Do you have other cats? Ferals are typically cat friendly, though these ones may be a bit weary having been with just each other for a few months.
The real secret to getting a cat to understand that something is ok is for them to see another cat doing it. They'll copy other cats behavior (for better or worse, sometimes ).

Fostering several ferals at once, AND with their big sis overprotective and hostile against you, and withouth help of own, friendly resident working as ambassadeur, isnt easy, not even for experienced fosterers.

You did apparently did a marvellous job!

It may be so, if an adopter in spe has a friendly resident, cat or even a cat friendly dog, AND accepts to take a not ready fostered kitten - it MAY be a solution to think about?

Because next fosterer will have it easier, as skissed above.


I think you can and should also try with a Feliway diffuser. Making the atmosphere feeling more safe, and more friendly, and more comfortable with the situation, for this overprotective but inexperienced big sis.
This trick may be just the thing to make the difference.
Cant hurt but may help mutch. It doesnt even cost very much.

Good luck!



ps. Welcome to the Forums!

this is a big job! thanks for working to tame them. my advice is to separate the leader and isolate her. I also had 5 feral kittens to tame this fall and isolation was the only thing that worked on the hardest cases. by removing the leader, the others may be more pliant. and in isolation, Star will have no one to interact with except you. Since cats are so social, this can have a strong effect to get her to come around. This worked for me for a kitten who was aggressive and violent with me, even after the other kittens started to come around.

With Star separated, you might begin to bring in tame cats so she will see you are no threat. but make sure she knows she only gets food from you. I started an exercise with my hard-case guy where i would hold some kibble he really liked in my hand, and would only give him some after he let me pet him. it took a while for him to get it, but once he did, he would allow more and more petting, as long as he got the treats after. eventually he just wanted the petting/affection. after that he became a real softie! I was able to let him back with the other kittens and he was soon adopted.

It's tough because you never have enough time, but in this case leaving Star alone (for a while) can help make her want to get tamer. good luck!

Thanks to all who replied. All great suggestions.
A few other notes: My 2 cats are 11 & 15 yrs, and one is Queen Rustina. She is a lovely but spoiled monarch of the home. (I wonder who did that ; {}
I am worried about she and Star meeting. She has met Jesse, the one I'm keeping, and no problems there.
I don't really have a good space to isolate any of the kittens, but may need to do that with my office, where my 2 kitties spend their time and sacrifice their contentment for a little bit.
I like the Feliway diffuser idea and will try that too.
thanks again!

What a wonderful thing you're doing! Oh - and welcome to TCS!

Sounds like isolating Star in the office might be a good idea for a little while, if that's the only option. We've never had a litter to foster, just one at a time. But the fosters learn SO FAST from watching us interact with the other cats, given that Star's not very social, the younger kitties will become people-friendly a lot faster without her present. For those that foster more than one at a time, it seems to be a common practice to split them up.

In addition to the Feliway diffuser, you may want to consider Bach's Rescue Remedy - add a few drops to their water. It may really help Star.