semi feral kitten in flat - advice need ! desperate ! thanks

Dear all,

My father has been looking after a stray/feral cat for over 6 months and she had 5 kittens. The mother cat eats regularly but never comes into the house and hisses when approached. I decided to take one kitten in (she's 14 weeks old). We were told to wait until she was weened. After looking on-line, I tried out the dark, small room technique and gave her plenty of food and water. But she escaped and the problem is that it's an open space flat with not many doors. She basically meows all night-long, and during the day is silent and hides. I have barely caught a glimpse of her (perhaps twice in 5 days). I have managed to toilet-train her by using a mix of soil and litter. She is eating well but doesn't seem ready to coming out (even just out of curiousity) when I am around. The pore sole ! I'm not sure whether I should just simply take her back to my dad's or continue and wait and be patient. I generally leave her alone and respond to her meows with sweet sounds too. I have noticed she plays with her toys when I'm in bed. Any advice from you would be much appreciated. The problem is that even with ear plugs, I get barely any sleep and I'm going into work extremely tired. THANKS !! Emma

Hello and welcome to TCS.

This is quite normal behavior for a feral kitten. It will take time and patience for her to learn not to be afraid of humans. That she is eating, drinking, using her box and playing is good.

You will need to put some effort into working with her to get her more socialized. Sit or lay on the floor, talk softly to her a lot, even read a book out loud just sitting. Soft music playing can help calm her, classical or harp. Get a few wand toys to entice her to play. These allow her to keep her distance from you while playing, but can be used to slowly move her closer if she allows. Go slow. Keep your body as non threatening as possible. Use the slow eye blink when she looks at you. Never reach for her. Let her set the pace. Treats can be used also. If she won't take them from you at first, toss them to her, slowly working her closer to you.

She will learn she is safe, and will learn to trust you. It just takes time. She's young so this is good, but you do have to work with her.  If she takes to playing with a wand toy, be sure to do a good play session at night before bed, feed her one last time afterwards and hopefully she'll start sleeping at night. Ferals tend to hide during daylight and look for food at night, so she has to be retrained.

Please feel free to post any further questions and keep us posted on her progress. Thank you so much for taking this lil girl in.

Thank you so much for the reply,

Indeed I would love to be able to initiate playing with her but she can't stand the sight of me (yet!) as if she's in a prison and I don't think it's a good idea for me to try to look for her constantly, which I have by the way and she's impossible to find. So her typical behaviour is to "come out"  when I am in bed at night or away from the house. So, I am a bit worried that I'm not having any contact with her whatsoever might hinder any future contact. I did try classical music in the beginning and talking and even singing softly. But she meows all night, sometimes strangely outside my bedroom door, as though she is trying to communicate. But when I get up to say "hi", she rushes off out of sight.  I had managed, when at my dad's, to get the kittens to eat of my hand but was never able to touch them. She seems to have regressed though. Basically, should i just back off until she settles in (I've only had her 5 days) ? I was worried she was going to get depressed. I have never been able to hold her yet , nor pet her. Thanks again. It's much appreciated. Emma 

EMMA DUCASSE said:

 (I've only had her 5 days) ? I was worried she was going to get depressed.

Click to expand...

Oh, here we do have it.  Of course she is depressed, alone cat and  deprived of her siblings and mom... But it will be better soon with this.

Proceed, time is your friend.

Sorrowfully, the advice you got to wait till they were weaned was overdone.  It is true for home cats and we do recommend the 12 weeks age, but with semiferales it is better to take them earlier, before they are 8 weeks; say at 6 weeks: not ideal but much easier to socialize!

It is still fully possible, and shouldnt be really big problem, especielly as they did knew you somewhat as a friendly person already earlier.

But it will take time and some work yes.

Good luck!

Hi there,

To update you: the kitten is learning fast and now uses the litter tray without any problems. The feliway seems to have calmed her down (either that or she is getting used to her new home). I had orginally put the food and water and box in my room so she could get used to my odour and in fact she came in at night to eat while I was asleep. She plays also. She still hides during the day though and won't come out. I expect this will take time. One thing that did worry me slightly was her diahorrea. It's not very liquid but it's extremely smelly. (I think unusually so) . It may just be stress related. I don't think it's a good idea to take her to the vet but perhaps I should call the vet. What do you suggest?
Thanks
Emma

Hi Emma, i am no expert and am just learning about kitties myself as we have just rescued an 8 month old feral 2 weeks ago for the first time. I noticed with Spartacus that his poop was super stinky to the point if i was in the room with him i thought i would suffocate it was the worst smell ever, i had a look on line and it may be the food that you are feeding your kitten especially if you are using wet food with lots of gravy i changed his food and it seems to have improved but if you are concerned a call to your vet can't hurt. Good luck.

Regarding the diarrhea and stinky poop. ALL kittens need to be wormed at least twice (first worming gets the adults, second worming gets the juveniles that were just eggs during the first worming, before they get old enough to breed and produce more eggs. Therefore, yYou should take the kitten to the vet and get her first shots and worming, and you could also get her tested for leukemia and aids since she was born wild.  If she tests positive for either one, it is not a death sentence but there are things you can do to make her healthier and protect her from future illness.  We had a kitten in rescue that tested positive for leukemia, so one of the volunteers adopted him.  He has been getting Interferon regularly and so far has not developed the disease.  He's over a year old now and just fine.

Thanks for the advice to you both. In fact, It is impossible right this minute to take her/him to the vet because I can't get hold of her and she has only just arrived in the flat. I will be taking her as soon as possible. I went back to feeding her friskies dry food, which is what she had been given by my father. She seems a bit better. I was feeding her chicken and fish but no sauce. I think stress coupled with the change in diet did it. But I will certainly get the whole check up asap.

Emma

Re smelly diarrhea - if she isnt dewormed, she has surely worms.  So do ask a vet, begin by phoning if you wish asking for a suitable dewormed.  tell the vet you will sooner or later wisit him with the cat, and be his paying patient.

Do avoid OTC dewormers, unless you know exactly what they are.  Qute a few of them are more or less worthless, and some are even dangerous for cats.

It may be stress related too, but as said, if not dewormed, she has surely worms, and smelly diarrheas are typical symptom.

I have a semi-feral also. I got her at approx 12 weeks old, and she is about to turn 9. I haven't been able to hold her yet, but she is a lot friendlier. Anyway, they mentioned the slow blink trick, which worked wonderfully for mine. I would also suggest taking something close to you (perhaps a shirt you've worn) and leave it very close to her bed or hiding spot to help her with getting used to your scent. For a few years I gave mine wet food only occasionally, and if she wanted it, she had to approach me. Similarly, I rescued an outdoor cat by moving a food bowl closer every few nights until he ate out of my hand, and 16 years later my father still has him, though he runs for me (no other guests) every time I visit.

Anyway, while I agree about deworming, I have also noticed that every feral rescue I know, male or female, has the most awful smelling poop imaginable. I can't imagine that they're built that differently from a born housecat, but somehow they always smell worse.

Good luck with your feral cat. I will post an excerpt from my intro below about my cat, but please don't think you will have the same outcome after 9 years. I can tell you that it is the most rewarding moment when she lets me pet her, and I drop everything when she cries for me. I take a lot of pride in knowing that others would have given up on her within weeks or months, and that my hard work is slowly paying off.

Mischief is a beautiful but difficult cat. She is (as far as I'm concerned) semi-feral after 8 years. She is only friendly on her terms, and only towards me. As a kitten, she was hard to pet. After 5+ years, I tried the "my cat from hell" slow blinking trick, and it worked wonderfully. If I laid down, she would cautiously approach me. Then she started jumping on my lap, but only in the computer chair. Now she jumps on my lap at least 2-3 times a day, and even sits at the top of the stairs and cries for me to come up and lay on my bed, so I can give her attention. Unfortunately, I cannot pet her with 2 hands or pick her up, and I can't approach her for attention. She still runs. However, if she's laying on the bed, I can sit or lay down (not too close) without her running, as long as I don't try to pet her. My husband and children can pet her for about 20 seconds while she eats canned food (they always have dry food), but she runs if they get within 10 feet, and my husband can rarely pet her if he is next to me when she approaches, and he touches her when her back is turned, but when she turns and sees it is him, she runs.

Last week, she fell asleep on my chest for the first time, and it was the most rewarding experience I've felt in years.

Hello again,

Sorry to bother you again. I'm a little bit worried that I'm no making real progress with the kitten. I managed to block off the area in the bathroom where she was hiding in (because she was never with me. Now she has settled in my wardrobe in my room but will not come out until night time when I'm in bed. She'll only eat at nightime when the lights are off or during the day when I go to work. I've had virtually no contact with her.

On the plus side, I have managed to deworm her and she is better. She no longer miaows at night, except a short miaow to signal her presence when she comes into my bedroom. She sleeps in my bedroom in the wardrobe. She plays at night or during the day when I'm at work. I have tried playing nearly everyday but she won't even show her face. She has shown her face on occasion, once when I was cooking chicken. She seems to seek my presence yet at a distance (is this normal after 2 and half weeks?). She is using the litter boxes no problem both upstairs and downstairs. I really would like to keep her but she seems very very scared still...

Should I withold food until she eats in front of me? I feel I should just leave her to do things at her own pace but I'm now not sure she understands who I am, apart from the food giver if you see what I mean. Any thoughts? Many thanks

Emma

Hi Emma, i wouldn't with hold food from her at all. Have you tried sitting in the room talking softly and waiting for her to come out to eat? or tried to entice her out with some treats while you read or talk to her? I know it seems like it is taking forever but from what we are going through 2.5 weeks is not a long time.

Try and spend as much time with her as possible from what i can see patience is the key. Nicole

Hi there,

I have tried treats, tuna, all sorts of things, playing with different toys... The thing is that when I'm downstairs, she goes upstairs and when I went into my room tonight she ran off downstairs. At the same time, I feel as she is getting used to me as she has selected to sleep in the bedroom with me. I don't know but I get the impression she is making progress but I'm a bit discouraged I guess. Thanks everyone with the support and suggestions.

Hang in there Emma, things will get better better just give her time.

Actually, withholding food is an excellent, effective way to 'reach' a cat. Through it's hunger. A cat will never starve itself to sickness or death no matter how afraid they are.

Unless you are fine with waiting it out, which can be a very long time. This kitten is mentally feral, and likely will never be fully tame, it may come around to you, actually quite likely, but to a degree, and to what degree only time will tell and also depending on how much you workl with her, as well as if she had former exposure to people, which she had in your dad.

If you hold back the food, it forces them to seek out food from you, whether they want to or not.

An example that might help explain is, when I get feral kittens the first thing I do is seperate them.. Otherwise I could work with a kitten and make progress, only to put them back in with sibs and they are reminded that they are supposed to fear me, making time spent pointless.

 I allow them all the food they want to get full since I don't know how long it's been.

Then I pull the food, say in the morning.

That night I start, I offer food from my hand. They usually look at me like hell no, not a chance. But I offered.

The next morning they are a bit more eager, and will come towards me reluctantly, even snatch a piece of food from my hand and jet back, but never leave food for them.

By that night, guaranteed they will come for food, and as soon as they eat from my hand, my other hand pets them. They hate it but are too hungry to not allow it. Shaking scared, meowing some, all that, but they are forced to accept it, and very soon realize my pets don't hurt. They begin associating pets with food, a positive thing.

Forcing them is not painful, you are not starving her, but forcing her to take the step of accepting you and your touch.

Oh also, always leave fresh water, you are only pulling the food.

I have successfully tamed countless kitties, most are young, some not so young, but the older they are, the more time and work it takes, and many of the older I end up tnr'ing as they just don't tame down. Some become more of a semi-feral than feral and I can place those in outdoor homes as mousers, etc.

Mentally by 8 weeks and up, 'feral' has set itself in stone basically, okay at least in clay, this is why it is so difficult to tame after, and the further from 8 weeks they are, the harder or near impossible it becomes.

Although, I tame to the point of total tameness to people rather than to only me, to make them adoptable. Taming is not as difficult if it is to one person or one family in the home.

Good chance at Kitty's age she will always have a shyness about her, but that's okay.

It will take some time for her to forget about where she came from, her momma, her sibs. The first 10 days are spent missing and wanting their sibs and mom. Resisting the new place, uninterested in the smells, sounds etc of it. Then about 2 weeks, this stops, they become more aware of where they are, smells, sounds, etc. By 4 weeks they are accepting that this is their home totally forgetting their former life. This is the mental part of a cat acclimation.

So her resistance now is normal.

Once you get the food withholding/hand feeding/petting down, you can leave the food with her, and if/when she attempts any reverting to your pets, pull it again as a reminder. In time she will understand you are a good thing, not a threat or danger. Petting feels kinda good even! I've had feral adults I have done this with, and remember how cute but sad it is when they first have to allow my pets, but it very soon turns into their welcoming my pets, and I even get purrs! Love that.

It's a bonding thing, a trust thing, just a way of speeding up the process is all.

As for stinking poop, usually born outdoors kittens have parasites, which causes the horrible smelling poop.

Runny poop speaks volumes

Many thanks for your message and sharing this story with me. I shall try the withholding food when I have sufficient time to wait. Because I also work full-time, it's very difficult to find enough free time to wait around. I think it could work, since she has in the past (when at my dad's) eaten out of my hand. Which is how we "trapped" her and brought her home. She doesn't seem as afraid as before either. The smelly poop has finished after deworming. She is 16 weeks now so I guess it's a critical time for her. I'm very fond of her, even though I don't see her but I hear her and she does play. I always leave water around. I don't think she is totally feral.

Thanks again!

Emma

You are correct - she is not totally feral.  If she at one point ate from you hand, then it would appear all this new fear is the result of the move and all the new sensations she's experiencing.  Cats have to be cautious of change - it can, after all, be dangerous for them.

So patience, patience, patience.

I brought in an aging,feral injured adult several years ago.She was scared to death,hid under the bed.

That is until I brought in another homeless cat from the neighborhood,male.Oh joy she shot out from under the bedpurring ,she needed her own kind.

I do wish I had not mixed male,female not knowing girls seem to go better with girls,and vice versa I guess.