Sewer dived and saved a kitten... now I need some pointers!

Alright, here's the deal. We had a kitten, maybe 7 to 8 weeks old, fall down into our sewer. For four hours in freezing rain, I managed to save her; a pretty little calico. We brought her into a very small, kitten proof room, and we let have an old cat carrier as her safe spot. At first, she would throw a meek hiss at us, but by the end of our first full day we were able to pet her and pick her up without being mauled. 

Skip about six days later and we are in a decent sized empty spare bedroom. Here's how she is doing:

- Rarely is she in her bed. She is curiously checking out the room, playing with herself and playing with me. I would say she is crazy at times, like most domesticated kittens. She does a lot of her sleeping away from her safe bed now (i.e. on a chair I brought in the room). 

- She has no problem coming onto my lap for eating time.  She will sometimes purr at first. And she has no problem coming over for some baby food on the finger either. Without food, she will keep a little distance, yet she has no problem walking over me, or staring at me like it's time to eat.

- She has no issues with me picking her up (with me standing), or me petting her. But she sometimes tries to avoid being picked up, sometimes I think she wants to be left alone, sometimes she just wants to play and not be held.

- She never meows.

- She always uses her litter.

- She purrs when pet.

- I would still call her skittish. When we enter the room, her first instinct is to go to her safe spot, although today she just sat on the floor and looked up at me. Sudden movements by me still spooks her. She's seems to still have a guard.

I think our progress has been great so far. I read a lot of blogs and tutorials to get to this point. The next landmarks would be to let her into a larger area of the house and meeting our dog, Lexxey the Yorkie (who gets along very well with cats). We have no other pets besides the dog. Since she's a kitten at an impressionable time of her life, I'd really like to get some of the skittish behavior out of her. And I would like to reach the next plateau of goals with her.

Any pointers? We already lap feed her. Play with her. Leave music on for her. You know, the basic stuff.

Nicely done!  You are practically done with the making her a home cat.  They do always have some guard. Even home raised cats have it in some bigger or lesser degree.

It is also entirely normal she sometimes dont want to be picked up, preferring to mind her own business.  As long as she mostly allows it, and even welcomes it, its no problem.

Some cats come late on with meowing. For example, my younger resident began to meow quite late, he was several months. Before it he used other sounds if he needed to communicated by sound.   I think they do have some sound which frequencies we humans dont hear, as he often opened his mouth without any sound coming out.

There is a nice trick which Catwoman707 taught me:

You wrap up your kitten in a towel.like a burrito. A thin towel here as she is friendly now..

Carry her at your chest, where she feels your body warm and heart beats.  And carry around for even one hour, crooning, talking softly warming words, singing softly...

After a couple of such sessions even a semiferal kitten should be done.

I hope this may be some sort of that extra, doing the last little bit.

Otherwise, it is just to proceed along what you are doing, and your plans for the nearest future.

You are entirely right, although time IS your friend, you must also be rather intensive with your socializing and fostering procedure for now, as her age NOW is quite precious, it is now it is easy to socialize her completely.  You dont want this precious time to run away on nothing.

Tx for salving this little one!

Good luck!

You've done an amazing thing! Make sure you take her to the vet as soon as possible. After almost freezing to death and being in sewer, she may have germs that need to be addressed.

You are correct - there are time when she may want to be left alone. Let her be the guide there. If she resists being picked up, don't pick her up.

Keep in mind that she may never be a cuddle kitty. We think all cats should be lap cats but many aren't. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much for braving the poo pit and rescuing her!