3 ferals at snow

Mauku has mornings bit different than other two, where other jump down and rush to greet me, she tries to find place away from other two and acts like they would scare her, also she tries to hide from me.

Then soon she goes to one side window that is accessed trough staircase hall and there she then hides and hisses if anyone comes near to her, even kittens.

After hour or so she gets normal again, but it has been as much routine as Miuku's head bumps and requests for petting.

Mouku is in bad shape, only few minutes of running back and forth behind the laser dot and he was breathing loudly trough his mouth, of course cat's are not endurance athletics, but I thought that he should do little better than that, it was hardly a minute's worth of active running and jumping.

He is very easy to get into playing, though, just move something that makes a sound and Mouku is all over it.

I don't know if grass is really good for them, however they demand to get their grass.

Today I took bit more grass than usual, both kittens did vomit after eating it, maybe they did eat too much of it, but they really like to get grass and that should help with digestion too.

Cat grass that I got from pet shop was not a success, they really did not eat it and one day they decided it is good to toss on floor, so there was end of story for "best friend" grass.

There is another heat wave starting, silly ones have been sleeping all day again, so it will be bit restless night coming up.

Miuku has been out from my bed now, he sometimes goes to stare the bed, but leaves it to that.

I have been able to poke mother cat few times with finger, she is very very shy about touching, but is finding how it is not to harm her, she did observe me brushing little ones with brush, then I took brush and put it under her nose, she did examine it with great suspicious look, she does not want to be brushed at least she did not like from what she did observe from brush.

Hopefully one day I can brush them all well and good, even I can brush kittens now, it is not much of brushing that they tolerate, little bit is ok.

Miuku is nice, he sometimes like to play a bit and tooks my hand with all four paws and puts teeth resting to my hand tip of tail moving and he observing my face at the same time, no claws, he just tries to make sure I'm not leaving and that his belly needs some attention, so I use one finger for his belly and hear his motor purring.

I think that I have now found out Mauku's two traumatic experiences, one must be that she has been left outside, other is human touch, maybe one that has grabbed her and thrown outside, she tolerates me so well, but touch or hand near is very frightening as is situation where she can't access her safe spot right away, then she starts to panic.

She is good kitty, she is not the most active one, but she is learning that she has now home, but she visibly shakes if I reach even near her to give her treat etc. She sometimes tolerates small touch to paw, but often after touching she hides her paw, some days are better than others.

I did clean once again her resting area, lot of fur again, don't know where it comes from, but fleece seem to grab most of it

Miuku is now bit trouble, when I get up he comes by and walks past my leg so that his side rubs my leg, he has tail straight up and he just stays there, it is not petting he would like to have, if I try to move he moves so that he is at front of my legs, there he looks up and has his tail up, I don't know what it is that he wants, but he has something on his mind.

It is surely nice to get all that attention, but I can walk around at all as he is on my legs right away

They are again sleeping days, at night they run at stairs up and down really really fast, I'm bit worried that they will break a leg at that speed.

It is awfully hot weather again outside, at end of week it is coming to inside too.

Aaargh, the worst did happen.

I did close the door noting that little ones are inside and thinking that Mauku is in her box as she use to be some part of the day, but after hour I got bit worried as not seeing her, so I open the door and look for Mauku, there she was at side window, she got spooked when she saw me, probably already thinking that she was abandoned again and now she is hiding under platform which is front of window and not coming out, she is probably very pissed and very afraid now.

I should of notice that Miuku was trying to be on way so that door could not be closed, but stupid me did not get the message, I truly hope that this does not set everything to beginning, but it perfectly well can, let's see how it goes.

Immediately I put some fresh water out there if she is too afraid to come out until late night, it is really hot in there too, surely it is not a sauna, but over +30C, I'm so mad to myself now that can't even think straight.

She must feel miserable anyway as both little ones are getting lot of petting and she can see how they are enjoying, but she is too afraid for such activity and this is certainly not going to be helping to it.

Today I took first steps to teach Miuku to be picked up and on lap, he was very happy to receive lot of petting once again and I just picked him up with my arms onto my lap, at first he hardly even did notice what did happen, but as he realized that he was on my lap, he had to go away and I let him, right after he comes to ask more pets, slowly now and then I plan to pick him to my lap and see what he starts to like from it, he might even grow to like it eventually at least he did not go to panic and never ceased purring, but it was all new experience for him and he still has bit of shyness, so being on giant's lap surely is some experience that needs bit of time to be thinked over.

Earlier he was on his hammock and kept his head outside looking to all directions, so I rubbed a bit from under the chin, he liked that very much, closed his eyes and stretched his neck so that I could rub much better under the chin, he sometimes rolls on his back on his hammock and then likes to hunt my hand, when I'm petting him there, recently he has learned to cut back of claws a bit.

Really hot weather has been around whole week, all three cats are mostly staying on one position during days, waiting weather to cool for evening and then they start to run in few hours for whole day's worth of running.

Hi ! I had to catch up on some reading here about your three! Sounds like everything is going very, very well, especially with being able to pet Miuku and Mouku. I am impressed with the level of patience you have had through this whole socialization process with these kitties. Don't worry, Mauku, won't regress much at all after her "spooking" the other day. They really don't ever go back to square one. Yes, they will get frightened about what we "giants" do from time to time and our fumbling around . But they will come out of it quicker as time goes on and realize they are still safe, even after the scary thing... I think you are making incredible progress with her too. I enjoy reading about your daily adventures with them It has been very, very hot in Northeast Illinois and I have even noticed that my outside ferals are not eating as much these days. Too hot This morning I noticed about six to seven large black crows waiting out by the feeding shelter in the grass. They like to nibble on the cat chow too. Where are the cats when you need them - GO AWAY CROWS!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by Feralvr

Hi

! I had to catch up on some reading here about your three! Sounds like everything is going very, very well, especially with being able to pet Miuku and Mouku.

I am impressed with the level of patience you have had through this whole socialization process with these kitties. Don't worry, Mauku, won't regress much at all after her "spooking" the other day. They really don't ever go back to square one. Yes, they will get frightened about what we "giants" do from time to time and our fumbling around

. But they will come out of it quicker as time goes on and realize they are still safe, even after the scary thing... I think you are making incredible progress with her too. I enjoy reading about your daily adventures with them

It has been very, very hot in Northeast Illinois and I have even noticed that my outside ferals are not eating as much these days. Too hot

This morning I noticed about six to seven large black crows waiting out by the feeding shelter in the grass. They like to nibble on the cat chow too. Where are the cats when you need them - GO AWAY CROWS!!!!!!!

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Yeah, they tend to eat very little and be very inactive when heat continues, here even Mouku has been quite inactive, well he usually is like that, but show him a string and he leaps on it right away, no matter if he looks like he has been melted on sofa, just pull a string and there he is faster than you can say his name, but during this last heat it has been lot less like that, surely if I move string at front of him, paws seize string to his hold immediately, but he is not moving much from his position.

I have used those ice 'bottles' you can put into cooler bag to make cooler resting positions for them, I put 'bottle' inside a towel (as bottle will become wet otherwise) then put those to sofa, so it is cooler area for them to rest. That way bottles stay cool for many hours and surface of towel is not very cold.

Mauku has been again her normal self, she is playing with me with 4 inch long string, sometimes grabbing my hand gently and I sometimes run one finger on her leg, which she is terrified, but starting to find out it is not to harm her and maybe thinking that is quite nice actually.

She sometimes puts her nose right next to my hand and sniffes for some time, then freezes, if I pull my hand away she then relaxes a bit, but she still is very afraid of human being.

Miuku and Mouku both have experienced now me lifting them on my lap, Miuku has experienced that several times, lifting itself is not an issue for him really, when done while petting, but being on lap is something that he is not quite understanding yet, however he just walks to ground and does not get even afraid from that.

Surely when I walk around it is only some times that I can walk over the Miuku (no, not stepping over him, just taking bigger step to go past him from above), but there are times when he still is bit afraid, however he does block all the doorways so that I really have to jump over him to get anywhere, I think he kind of enjoys doing that

Mouku is also similar when it comes to lifting, he is ok with that, but lap is for him bit scary so we are working still with lifting.

Mauku will not be lifted any time soon, she is terrified from one finger being even near her, so it takes some time to get her trust, at least now I can sit next to her resting area most of the times without spooking her, but there are still times where she gets spooked even if she sees me accross the room.

Miuku is so close to being fully tame that it is bit of work to keep in mind that he is really a free born wild animal still in process of taming, there are things which can't be done yet, there are ways to approach him and there is issue with eye contact too, sometimes he gets spooked a bit when I move too fast as I forget how short time it has been that he has been ok with me being in same room, but I think that when he gets 2 year old (that is one year in a future) he is not getting spooked anymore except from loud sounds, that is his primal instinct to hide from loud noises and I think that is not going to change for first 5 years or so.

I think that one important thing in socialization is to respect the cat as individual that has own space and ways, so it is important to learn what kind of preferences that individual cat has and trying to not cross those borders of what cat prefers, some do prefer getting close immediately and some like to examine from distance before getting closer is possible and this may happen thousands of times until one is 'allowed' to approach directly.

There are many other things which are different for example, it is not possible to pet Mouku from back first, one must rub behind his ear and top of his head, but with Miuku running one finger from neck to base of tail is what must be done first, that is his preference.

Telling what cat likes and does not is not possible by looking tail, ears or whiskers, not even eyes reveal it, only these all together and most importantly body's position and how cat is moving tells from it, when moving further it is dislike and when getting closer is liking, that is simplest way to tell, that is at least what I think how it is.

Originally Posted by JTbo

I think that one important thing in socialization is to respect the cat as individual that has own space and ways, so it is important to learn what kind of preferences that individual cat has and trying to not cross those borders of what cat prefers, some do prefer getting close immediately and some like to examine from distance before getting closer is possible and this may happen thousands of times until one is 'allowed' to approach directly.

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That was beautifully said . Very, very intuitive of you. I learned long ago that these wild born feral cats are all individuals. Each comes around to socialization in it's own time, on it's own schedule. Some will allow touching/petting and some will never allow that. Some will become your friend and lap cat immediately and some will never allow to be approached. Each cat, even our tame felines at home, are individuals and we cannot ever have expectations with them. That is what I love and respect for every cat, is their individuality and uniqueness. And ferals even more, I think. They know you respect them and in time they will learn to trust you more and more. Mauku will decide after many more finger pets on her leg if she wants more. Isn't it just the MOST rewarding experience EVER

Originally Posted by Feralvr

That was beautifully said

. Very, very intuitive of you. I learned long ago that these wild born feral cats are all individuals. Each comes around to socialization in it's own time, on it's own schedule. Some will allow touching/petting and some will never allow that. Some will become your friend and lap cat immediately and some will never allow to be approached. Each cat, even our tame felines at home, are individuals and we cannot ever have expectations with them. That is what I love and respect for every cat, is their individuality and uniqueness. And ferals even more, I think. They know you respect them and in time they will learn to trust you more and more. Mauku will decide after many more finger pets

on her leg if she wants more. Isn't it just the MOST rewarding experience EVER

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Yes, it is very rewarding experience and very interesting in ways I had not thought before, it is perhaps not about how they become attached to me, but more of how I'm getting attached to them, so much that it gives physical pain to be separated from them even for one night, which I thought would not really be possible, but pain tells otherwise.

I have been doing mostly thinking today and one of things that is puzzling me is how they will adapt when winter comes, then they will not have free access to staircase and downstairs as they have now, I know that they really don't understand concept of keeping warm air in, they don't even understand why it is that inside has different temperature than outside or that having open door changes inside temperature.

I'm thinking that maybe it is mistake to give them free access to stairs at all, but it is really good for them to run up and down of stairs, having space to run should help to strengthen their bones and muscles, even they do have space to jump and run a bit at upstairs, it is quite bit less than to have space of stairs and downstairs. Paint at stairs is suffering a bit though as they do run at full speed up and down using their claws to have traction to make those two 90 degree turns that stairs have, of course at full gallop as that is fun.

Oh poor Miuku, he wanted to jump to computer table, but managed somehow to make chair fell down and of course he did get scared a lot, he was so spooked that was afraid of petting, however few treats did make him feel much better and now he is running up and down at stairs again.

Both boys are pretty much at level which they have been for quite some time, not much has changed, but Mauku is learning almost daily, she learned now to stay on one place when I'm walking past her, that is very brave of her really, also today I slept on their sofa and Mauku did not see any need to leave from window, which is right next to sofa, less than arm length to Mauku and there she slept that two hours which I slept too, Mouku was at my feet and Miuku was at his hammock just above, so they are quite tame now.

Mauku is still very afraid of touching, if I put one finger to her paw she takes her paw under her immediately, but sometimes does tolerate touch a bit.

She often is less than 4 inches when I pet little ones, sniffs my hand afterwards but even she hears them purring she is just sitting and watching, she would like to, I can see how she starts to get up to step closer but sits back down right after, she is too afraid. Muscle by muscle every day she is getting tiny bit closer to accepting petting, but she surely has many muscles until whole cat is moving.

Everytime I swing string at front of Mauku she is ready to play and she really does enjoy from it, fells on her side, then on her back and 'wrestles' with string.

Oh there is on improvement with Mouku, if I sit on sofa he is now playing right next to me, just inch away and indeed sometimes comes to sit right next to me on sofa.

Oh that is great to hear about Mouku!!! I think he will be your snuggler in time..... Don't you just HATE that when something like that happens, (the chair ) poor Miuku, but he got over it quickly He probably wanted to blame it on you, the chair falling over .

AW, I can just FEEL that Mauku wants so badly to be pet and loved . She watches the other two and is learning, S L O W L Y, that it will be wonderful to be pet on. Soon enough more than a finger

Originally Posted by Feralvr

Oh that is great to hear about Mouku!!! I think he will be your snuggler

in time..... Don't you just HATE that when something like that happens, (the chair

) poor Miuku, but he got over it quickly

He probably wanted to blame it on you, the chair falling over

.

AW, I can just FEEL that Mauku wants so badly to be pet and loved

. She watches the other two and is learning, S L O W L Y, that it will be wonderful to be pet on. Soon enough

more than a finger

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I have now plenty of new scars at my hands, they are bit keen to jump on string I move, so keen that sometimes they jump straight to my hand, ouch.

Mauku was funny this morning, as we did play with string, she was on window ledge as usual, but now she got on her back twisting her body and reaching string with her paws while being upside down and I was just 4 inches from her, she had not worries at all, Mouku was at other end of string and Miuku's paws swinged above my head.

Miuku is always trying to hit my head from above, he is quite energetic while doing that, but if I put one finger to bottom of his paw he just closes his eyes and stays still, it is kind of a button where to press to make him ease off a bit

Mauku did tolerate tiny bit of touching her paw, she did prefer grabbing my hand that did hold string, with all her fours and then sniffing carefully, Miuku does that too, but with claws and then he tests with his fang if my hand is edible or not, luckily he knows how to be careful so it usually don't leave any marks.

Mouku had last night something in his mind, after 10 minutes of petting it was still not enough, he came to push my legs, walked 3 feet away and come again from other direction, it was almost like if he would not stay in his skin, I was thinking that he perhaps wanted to get on lap, but is not quite ready for that yet.

Both little ones tend to rub my nose with their cheek and top of their head if my face is enough low, also Mouku licks top of my hand after petting, they show lot of affection.

Miuku did nibble from my nose some time ago, that was when I did returned from businesstrip, that is very great honour.

There are still dots at my wrist, no symptoms but around ten small dots which did come when I spend more time in livingroom with Miuku there. It was months ago, there is no change in those, don't know if they are permanent then, odd.

I, too, have marks on my hands from my kitties playing too rough . Some do disappear over time. I try to put Mederma cream on the little scratches after a day or so of healing because that helps with tiny scars.

AWWWW Miuku and Mouku just love your attention and will soon enough be your little snugglers. That is a great sign that Mauku grabbed your fingers with all four paws and sniffed your fingers. She is really showing you that she is trusting you more each day. I enjoy reading about your three little kitties each day

Mauku managed to put one claw under my nail, it did hurt a bit, then Miuku did the same to very same spot only a lot harder so that his claw got stuck under my nail, he of course then tried to get loose, now that did feel rather interesting I must say.

Every time little ones wake up it is 10 minutes of petting and purring, tails shivering high up. Miuku likes then to go rub Mauku with his head and Mauku swats with one paw, then Miuku swats Mauku with two paws and Mauku flees. That is bit of issue, Mauku would like to get them loose from being her kittens to have them adults already, especially Miuku is not letting go, but is growing to be dominant kitten, this leads Mauku feeling bit lost about her place of course.

Luckily it is mostly just moments, most of the time they are equal and can share space just fine. There is also downstairs access for them, but they prefer of course upstairs.

Miuku is always following me when I go to bathroom, he is right there when I open the door to go back, I can hear him stomping at stairs as he is 'secretly' following me, sometimes 'secretly' peeking behind the corner so I can see half of his face and when he notices that I see him, he very slowly moves bit side so I can see only part of his ear. Stalking that is, not very good at it or so he tries to give impression of, I know better, he is excellent stalker if he want's to be.

Also Miuku is always on my feet when I bring them some fish, he makes it almost impossible to walk, if I try to take giant step over him he just positions himself under the footing, I think he is trying to get all the fish only for himself

What to except from cat with quite amount of orange fur and matching furious nature, he truly has fire inside him, he is always everywhere and is really nice kitty with quite a spark.

Good thing is I don't need a shredder, I just lower paper towards Miuku and he immediately tests how sturdy that material is if it is edible and if it does make nice sound when shredding it to pieces, then looks very happy and comes to ask for petting, sometimes trying to shred my hand too

Amount of energy that kitty has is just about insane, especially when he gets that mad hour, which he gets two in a day, btw. I can see Mouku running with him too, but Mouku really does not get mad hour, he just accompanys Miuku sometimes, not always, it can be days that Mouku is not running all over the place, so it leads to me suspect that Miuku got twice the amount of those activity booster genes compared to Mouku.

Yesterday he found plastic bags, shredded two to pieces, pulled down a fan, opened suitcase and tipped that over in the process, I think it was closer to 20 times that he did run stairs up and down at full gallop, emptied one self of clothes in closet downstairs and of course first opened that closet, which actually has button which need to be pressed to get that open and it is at handle, so I don't know how he did that, he then chased several times Mouku and Mauku around the chimney, oh and carried on shredded plastic bag from downstairs to upstairs, now this all was just one mad hour and I don't know all that he does, he does carry his toys around often too, hides them under mat and then chases them under the mat, sometimes he steals toy which other cat is playing and runs to hide it just to bring it back later to tease others so they would chase him.

Some say cat's memory is 15 minutes, but if I take a toy or treat and hide it, Miuku usually pretty much ignores the event, but next day he goes straight to where I hide it and grabs it, he also has several places where he hides the stuff, some are downstairs I have found. One new ball I gave them I have never seen again, I did hear Miuku carrying it around as it has tiny bell inside, but I think he put it to his treasures somewhere.

I did saw cat program from Animal Planet when I was at hotel, there was some cat breed that did steal everything that was shiny, just don't remember name of that cat breed, anyways I have found Miuku being bit of like, I must be careful with my keys for example, he seem to know what keys are or at least that connection between keys and my going, so if I leave keys on table I can play hidden key game for quite some time, you see he changes place where they are hidden when I'm searching, he probably think it is funny to follow desperate giant running around without a clue

I think that I must do some game for them where they can waste their energy a bit, I saw some puzzles for cats where they have to solve how to get treats, of course there is danger they get even more clever.

Anyway I wish to teach them to use toilet someday, it would save quite bit on cat litter, but there are some dangers, with paper that is

Don't know how other's cats are, but somehow I have found these to be quite a different from what I excepted cat to be, they are quite little animal, quite lot emotional intellectual beings.

Oh and why it is that Miuku just loves if I grab from his tail and rub it gently towards the tip, he has eyes closed and moves his head side to side while opening his mouth and clearly not trying to move away but after that comes to push his head against my leg, so Itake he really likes it, but I thought they were bit sensitive about their tails in general?

Almost forgot to report from brushing, Mouku and Miuku are growing to love it, now if I get brush they come near immediately, sides and underside is still which needs work, but brushing from head to base of tail is what they actually are grown to like a lot.

There is also at least one feral outside, haven't seen it at whole summer, but amount of food that disappears says there is at least one, sometimes only little disappears in a week, sometimes four big bowls in a week, avoids all stalking and all cameras too, maybe I need to put one camera to near bowls so I can at least see what kind it is before trapping, as it can be one that has been already 'fixed'. There was tiny mouse next to bowl one day, dead of course, so I guess feral cat has bring it there, a gift or forgotten dinner, who knows.

There is so much green growing around the yard that feral can easily slip into warehouse unnoticed even I would be on yard.

They have funny way to get up, they sleep a day and then get up, come to beg for petting, then begs for food, no matter if they already have it, after enough petting and food they go back to sleep for half an hour and only after that they actually get up for another evening and night of racing up and down the stairs.

They sound like little holy terrors with all of this running about. And little monkeys getting into a suitcase, pulling down a fan, shredding paper towels . Look what has become of them now!!! From terrified little kitties, so afraid of the big giant, to now following you to the bathroom and waiting. It is just so spectacular that these feral cats/kittens CAN become so socialized, well, most of them anyway . You really should start a book about this experience you are having. Would be a good read

Oh yes, there always seems to be another feral. A never ending cycle. I have a new one too and I think it is a female. I see her with Dixie. I think she ran Boo Boo off, have not seen him in a couple of weeks . So, I also have another one to TNR....

I did spot the one, what I could see is that it is completely white one, also more fur than standard based what I could see from the tail, thing is that new feral visits around 3-3:30AM (yes, it is that precise time, every second day, but sometimes there are several days apart).

So it is trapping time, never have seen such before, size says 2 years or more, imo, so might be again one abandoned pet.

Luckily during summer there is lot of space to use for recovery from operation, if I catch it as it means neutering/spaying naturally.


Oh my 3 are indeed little terrors at times, when they run up and down the stairs, they do it nose at other's tail and first has toy mouse, they just switch places and some other gets toy mouse at top or bottom of stairs. Not much of trouble really as stairs are rather separated section of house, so not much disturbance, it is more when they decide to run around the chimney, running cat is not a silent cat, wooden floor makes a good drum if one tries to sleep during such event.

They luckily most of time understands what is night and what is day.

Also if I leave door to stairs open so that there is too narrow gap for a cat, they don't go there, they understand what is wanted and what is not and most of the time they don't do things that are not accepted, even they do run and shred things, they don't shred wrong things and running is just good for their health, so I would say they are nice kitties.

Just need to be careful when sitting on sofa, there can be tens of cat toys hidden between pillows etc

When I have time, I might try to make a book from events of these ex-ferals, good thing is that lot of stuff is recorded in here, but for book quite bit of editing is needed.

I gave Mauku some bubbleplastic to rest on wondering if she is getting bored of that fleece, she avoided it at first, then we did play with piece of string and straight to bubbleplastic she jumped at, later I saw her on bubbleplastic and giving lot of slow blinks, she perhaps liked from that, surely it is soft and air circulates bit under her in that, so it might be nice to rest on if one is a cat.

I think that Mauku is bit over sensitive to touch.

She is just fine if I place my fingers inch away from her, she sleeps comfortly if it is a good day, but if I even as little as touch single hair of her fur of her's she gets spooked and starts to look escape from situation.

Sometimes I can touch her paw very briefly, but still she gets spooked by that.

I doubt that she will ever learn to be touched, she often leaves if I pet little cats right next to her, somehow she is unnaturally afraid of such, no matter how lodly little ones purr and try to show her how nice it is.

Oh but when I pet Mauku's paw from below she is more tolerant, just grabs my finger with two paws and claws, rolls on her back and play bites as if it would be a toy, then slowly blinks at me and looks like would be enjoying, she is sometimes bit hard to 'read' really, however she knows how to hiss if she does not like something, she does hiss daily to little ones, whatever meaning that is, it looks like they are playing then, but she never lets out other sounds like meows for example.