Feral kitten advice needed please

I have recently being caring for 4 feral cats and have also had 3 of them desexed. Unbeknown to me there was also a 5th who never comes to my house so I only really found out about her recently. Anyway she had recently had some kittens who are about 14 weeks old I'm guessing so day before yesterday I caught the torte shell who was coming for food with who I think must be the father who I had desexed. I had the kitten desexed yesterday and thought I would like to keep her. At the moment I have her locked in my bathroom hiding in a side opening box. I don't think this is ideal for her socialisation so thought tomorrow I will buy a extra large dog cage so I can keep her in the lounge where there is more happening. Only problem is I have a Jack Russell dog so aren't sure if this will make it harder to tame the kitten or not. If anybody could please give me some advice I would be really appreciate your help. I'm also worried that I maybe I should have got the vet to do a checkup on the kitten when they desexed her. I just wasn't sure at that stage if I was going to keep her or TNR and continue feeding her and the others. It's winter here now and last night there was a storm so I just didn't have the heart to release her into the cold. Would she be able to pass any disease to my dog. I also don't want to take her back to the vet as I don't want to traumatise her any more than necessary.
Any advice would be greatful. I have done a lot of research over the last few months on feral cats but nothing mentions what to do when you have a Jack Russell that likes to chase cats. Thanks Angela

Its the mom you do have now, or one of her 14w kittens?

There arent that many contagions going between cats and dogs, the most fearsome contagions goes between cats.  Mites are contagious, not very high, but they are, clearly. And fleas. But I suppose you did some basic deworming and deparasiting?

Your Jack Russel chasing cats does not sound good, but with time it will surely be OK, when he has learned she belongs to the house, his herd, and is during your (and his) protection.  He wont chase her then, not seriously.  Dont clip her nails too much, so she can teach him a lesson or two, shouuld it be necessary.   Cats often do so, they learn the dog their place is down the ladder.

Is the JR obedient?  If you say; lie down so he lies?  Have him on leash, laying down, and let her explore the room around and him, if she wish...    It is too early to do this now, but with time it will prob be one of your steps.

Actually, even a dog may help with fostering.  If she sees you are friendly with the dog, she will easier accept your socialization.  It goes of course even better if they two are friends.

Be sure she knows you are her friend, because you will smell dog.

Having the cat in bathroom is a very good beginning. Many rescuers do so. Let her land, let her discover you are friend of hers. You are her reliable source of food, etc...  And it is also a quarantine. I mean, if you by any reason dont want to go back to the vet and do a full check up including blood works, you will at the very least see if she is still healthy after two-three weeks.  If she is still healthy, chances are excellent she is healthy. 

If the deworming and deparasiting isnt not done yet, you must of course do it. 

A little later on you can proceed with this dog cage in the lounge. At least, for some hours a day.

A little unsorted tips and advices, but I hope you have use for them anyway.

Keep reporting and asking!

Good luck!

 Welcome to our Forums!

Hi thanks for replying. I have one of the kittens, I have only ever seen the Mother a couple of times. I can't afford to feed anymore than the 5 ferals and the 1 stray so I have given the trap to my neighbour who is going to catch the Mother and the last kitten and he will take them to the pound. The Humane Society in Auckland were happy to pay for the desexing of 4 of the ferals but said they won't pay for anymore which I guess is fair enough. I still have one male to catch so I will pay for his de sexing as he seems to be the least scared of me and I'm getting used to seeing him every day. My neighbour caught the original mother about 4 months ago and took her to the pound and last week he caught one of the kittens and also took her to the pound. The pound have already said they would euthanise them. I couldn't bear that so my neighbour said he would take care of it. I had never really heard about feral cats until one turned up with 5 kittens and then one of those kittens had 3 kittens plus one of the ones I caught was heavily pregnant when I took her to be desexed. This has all happened in the last 7 months or so. It's truly unbelievable how fast they breed.

I will buy a deworming and paraiste pill from the vet tomorrow and sprinkle it into her food.

My jack Russell was 6 when I got her, she is now 12 and she used to chase my two cats who have since both died of old age but they both learnt quickly that as long as the stood their ground then Annie would back off and leave them alone. I guess in time the feral kitten will also learn. Thanks for your advice, I will leave her in my bathroom for now. I have asked my 12 year old son to occasionally go into my bathroom and also talk to the kitten so she gets used to his voice also.

Thanks Angela

angelal said:

It's truly unbelievable how fast they breed.

Click to expand...

Yes, they do breed if not neutered.  The only effective way to help them is thus TNR:ing.  It does cost, if you dont have support from some TNR group or Animal friends or alike, but it works. At least, for these who got TNR:ed...   Once TNRed, they usually do OK, so if you dont want to adopt them or have them as your outside kitties or at least, a supervised colony, so let them be....

Im sorry you and your neigbour didnt found other solution for some of them than to catch some of them and take them to this kill pound...  Taking a homeless semiferale to an average pound is just another way to kill  the cat, yes.  But if it was the only solution you saw, the only way you saw to care about them, so it was so.

Not all sagas do end happily.

Good luck!

This is the 5th day and for some reason every time I have gone into the bathroom today she has hissed at me. I don't understand why as she has been really quiet up until now. Last night when I got home she was sitting up on the mirror cabinet above the vanity and was happy to sit and watch me having a shower. My partner said he rubbed her under her chin when she was on the ledge so I'm wondering if this is why she is hissing today. I'm a little scared now in case she attacks me. I know I'm being silly as she's a lot smaller than me, I'm wondering if she senses my fear?

Also early hours this morning I could hear her crying, this I was a first bit of noise I had heard from her.

Today I did manage to coax her out of her box with food on a spoon so I hope at least that is progress but if I tried to touch her she kept hissing.

Hissing is simply fear, not aggression.

Do not be afraid of her! If you do she will know, and keep the upper hand for too long, which will make taming her endless.

If she were with me, I would only feed her out of my hand. She needs to rely on your for food, and this will gain her trust quickly.

When she takes the food from your hand, use the other hand to pet her. If she pulls back, and she will at first, then pull back the food. She will quickly learn that to eat, she must allow you to pet/touch her. Do this on her level too, on the floor, or if she is elevated. (much less intimidating) She won't attack, they are feral with fear, lack of exposure to humans. Not often when a feral will actually attack, and even then it's when a very feral adult cat is cornered.

They would much rather run away then be aggressive.

Your pets/feeding can gradually become playtime, and if you get brave you can wrap her tightly like a burrito and carry her around with you. Tightly though, up around her neck with her arms also in the burrito (towel or small blanket)

After 20 minutes she will finally stop squirming and her body will relax.

Twice a day and she will really become comfortable with you.

Thank you I will try feeding her tomorrow directly from my hand. When I fed her just now with the spoon I tried to touch her with my other hand and she swiped me with her paw, lucky I had my sleeve around my hand so she only got the edge of the material. All the time hissing.

The other problem I have is that she is going to the toilet in my shower at the opposite end from where I have her toilet tray. I have put a bit of her poo in the tray so I will see if this helps.

Also today I left the talk back station on the radio with her in the bathroom but I wonder would the talking stop her from coming out of her box? I also bought her some toys and they had all been moved so she must have been investigating which is good

Expect her to resist taking food from your hand, but that's okay, she will get hungry enough to where she will just do it anyway.

Put the litterbox in the shower where she is going. That will help her get used to it.

Yes, kittens don't understand at first what kitten toys are, but their natural spunk and curiosity will eventually cause them to play with toys. Once the food from your hand thing has settled more for her, it's important to show her you can play with her too, it helps in the trust building as well.

Always talk in a 'booboo-kitty' voice, don't stare as it's intimidating, don't force her, try to be on her level and not towering over her when dealing with her, slow movements, not slow motion but no fast or sudden movements, and spend as much time with her as possible. Even if you just go sit on the bathroom floor and read a book. Reading out loud is excellent.

Also a good tip is to put a radio in with her, not loud, but soft constant music is good.

Kittens don't like to be alone, that's why she cried at night.

The more time spent around her, eventually she will actually come out and check you out on her own. And when she does, you will feel like dancing! It's a breakthrough.

Too bad you didn't get her at half the age you did...taming then is like 1 day

You'll do fine.

Hi thanks again. My shower is an open walk in type that takes half my bathroom area so the litter tray is in one corner and she ends up going toilet in the opposite corner. I have the radio on talk back. This morning I fed her from my hand but she did stay half way in the box, she even licked my fingers but as soon as I moved my other hand to touch her she scratched me. I left and went back 10 min later sat there for while with her food in bowl, she can out to eat so I was able to pet her and she was ok. It's hard to spend to much time in the bathroom as its small and I'm busy studying for exams. What I would really like to do is out her in the large dog cage I bought on Friday and put her in the lounge but only problem is the cage only has one door so will be harder to touch her. So do I leave her in bathroom where I can touch her or put her in lounge where there is more happening but I can't touch her?

I'm not sure if the crate out in the open will work for her. There would be no place safe for her to go and as you said, your reaching into the one door may make her feel trapped. You can try sitting in the bathroom and reading out loud to her. I studied for exams that way - reading what I needed to learn out loud helped me retain it better.

I'm utterly amazed, my 12 year old son Stacey has made more progress with Lucy in 30 minutes than what I have made since Wednesday.   I opened the bathroom door and my son had his head on the ground and he was rubbing the top of Lucy's head and she had her eyes closed with her head also on the ground.  As soon as I opened the door she opened her eyes and hissed at me so I left.  Stacey said she went straight back to sleep while he continued rubbing her head and under her ears.  Stacey said this is what he used to do with our cats Twinkles and Sally before they died.  I actually thought from my research that it was best not to touch a feral cat on it's head.  Stacey said when he tried to move his hand to Lucy's body she hissed at him.  Anyway I'm glad we are making progress.

What I would really like to do though is bring her out into the lounge area.  I bought an extra large dog cage which I thought I could put onto the dining room table so that way she would be elevated and away from my Jack Russell for now.  Inside the cage I thought I could put her box so she can still hide if she wants and if she wanted to be elevated then she could sit on top of the box and watch us.  Or am I just being to impatient. I understand I need to socialise her which is really hard to do when she is stuck in the bathroom on her own.