Help with feral kitten

datagrrl

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Hello-

I made a huge mistake and got a kitten off of Craigslist yesterday. The guy was honest that these were from his parents' property and that he was doing TNR as he could with the cats there. He even mentioned a local organization that does all of the TNR Stuff around here.

I never adopted a kitten before. She is about six weeks old. My daughter and I have been at the Humane Society and the kittens there were so sweet. This kitten is not sweet. She is scared to death of us.

I have her in a small dog crate now. She is great with the litterbox. She is showing some interest in string toys. She is eating okay when we aren't around.

I can pick her up and hold her, but she shakes a lot. If I pet her on her forehead she falls asleep. I thought we had gotten somewhere last night, but this morning she was even more angry. She did take wet food from me for the first time and let me pet her while she ate it.

Some people are telling me to just let her go in the house, but that scares me.

Also, my husband will have to take care of her this weekend, I will be out of town. Will I screw up all of the work I did? Skipping this trip is impossible.

I was going to have her spayed this week, but now that I have her I think she is too young, so I am holding off two weeks.

The guy I got her from said I can bring her back to him. I like that she is an orange tabby. My husband is mildly allergic to cats and supposedly light skinned females produce less of the protein. I have done a lot of dog rescue, but this is new for me. We currently do not have a dog, just a rabbit.

Some things say I should pick her up, others say leave her alone. My husband thinks I should leave her alone. The guy at work has rescued two feral kittens and he thinks the dog crate is a bad idea.

Any advice is appreciated.
 

stephenq

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Hi

Absolutely do not leave her alone.  The key to socialization is socializing not ignoring her.  You are doing the right thing to tempt her to eat from your hand or finger.

I just posted this for another member, and will repost it here.

As far as socializing goes - the key to their heart is through their stomachs :).  My friend Mike P. is the president of the Urban Cat League in NYC a Trap Neuter Return and advocacy Org and has a great technique for socializing.  The briefest of summaries: 1) never set food down and walk away.  Insist that the kitten eat in your presence.  2) Slowly sit closer and closer to the kitten while it eats. 3) when you are able to sit right next to the kitten, take the food away (human baby food chicken stage one is great) and then offer it only off your finger.  If the kitten won't eat she isn't hungry enough to overcome her fear. Be Patient, tough love time. 4) when she eats off your finger, start petting her gently.  5) when she completely accepts the petting while feeding, start petting without food.

Amazing instructions at:

http://www.urbancatleague.org/TamingFerals

And training videos at:

http://www.urbancatleague.org/TamingVideo

Please look at the first link, the instructions are easy to follow.  Even if you did return her, it would be much better to return her socialized then wild.  her chances of being adopted would be much higher and some kittens will socialize in just a few days.
 
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di and bob

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   I just wanted you to know, it will take a lot of time and patience with her. You have just had her one day, and since cats are more like wild creatures and not immature like a puppy who wouldn't know better, she is scared to death of this scary unfamiliar place and these strange people. She will come around, but it will take at least a week before she starts feeling comfortable. I really wouldn't just let her loose, you'll have a very hard time getting her to come out, she needs to feel more comfortable first. Your husband is going to have to feed her and at least talk calmly to her so she gets to know him while you are gone, someone coming in that would try to pet her would be a big help, how about your daughter? StephenQ is right, food is a great way to tame a kitten, and it would help get her to trust you. If she uses the litter box, you've already won a big battle, and her letting you stroke her forehead is a great advancement!

    Kittens can't be spayed until they are at least two pounds, so she may be too young yet, and would you really want to put her through all that right now? I wouldn't!

    Please give her a chance, she's never known love and desperately wants it, but is too afraid. Bless you for taking her in, I wish you all the luck in the world. Take care.
 
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shadowsrescue

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Welcome to the forums and thank you for adopting this sweet feral girl.  She is still quite young and socialization should not be too difficult.  I gave some suggestions in this thread post #2

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/276573/taming-an-older-aggressive-feral-kitten

Regarding being gone for a time, I hope your husband will agree to help socialize her.  I would keep her in a small space for awhile until she is used to you and doing well being socialized.  Frequent visits are best.  The videos recommended are the best ever.  I learned a lot of great tips from watching them.

Just have patience.  Keep her in the cage for awhile or in a small room.  If you move her to a small room, be sure to pick up any beds or mattress so that she cannot get under and get stuck.  Also watch for small spaces behind dressers or book cases.  Since she is probably quite small, the cage is her best spot for now.  I would definitely not let her have free run of the house as who knows where she could find to hide and then not come out. 
 
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datagrrl

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My 10 yo daughter is going crazy not being able to play with her, but both her and my husband are adamant that I be patient and work through this. The guy said we could have all of our small rehoming fee back if we changed our minds within two weeks. We get most of it back when we spay her and keep her as an indoor cat for a few months. I have already spent more than the reforming fee on supplies, so the money isn't really a concern.

We had a good night. She was bad when we came home and changed her litter. Then we ran our errands. Came back and she and I batted a ball around her cage for ten minutes. She knows it was me playing with her.

She is still iffy about taking food from us. She took some baby food from my daughter earlier, but isn't interested in the wet food now. I am sitting next to her crate ignoring her now.
 

buffy2011

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I had three feral kittens that were very small and had to be bottle feed at first. Then I bought Purina kitten food and soaked it in 2%milk until it was soft. I would pick the kitten up and place it in front of its plate and it would eat everything.  I had one that would get a little angry if someone would get near her food, she wanted it for herself.  This kitten you have should be so easy to socialize.  Hold it because its a baby and keep it warm. That's why its shaking, its scared, it lost all its friends that it would cuddle with, so it needs you. It has those little tiny claws that scratch so just be careful. I had a little room blocked off for the kittens. They had a place to sleep and run around. That lasted until they learned to climb. And let me tell you they were everywhere. Places that they should not of been.  But your kitten is all alone so that makes a difference. All my kittens got good homes. When the time comes to get it spayed,don't forget about worming it also, because most feral cats have worms or fleas from being outside. But in the meantime just pick it up and hold it. I would pick mine up and put her close to my chest and neck and she would try to hide in my hair. I don't know why maybe she thought I was her mother. But good luck, and I'm sure it will come around real soon. Hope to hear all the update on the kitten. 
 
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datagrrl

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She is taking food pretty well from us, and the constant hissing has stopped. Still a lot of hissing, but not nearly as bad as the first day. She is still crying a fair amount.

She is getting much more curious. My daughter moved the rabbit out of her room, where it was living during our kitchen renovation. It is now in our kind of hallway, which is close to where the kitten is.
Naturally he was making a ton of noise this morning and she really wanted to know what it was.

I definitely think she is improving, but the patience thing sucks. I have tomorrow off work. Should I let her loose in the kitchen for awhile? That is the easiest room to close off. She will have to spend the next two days in her crate in the living room though. My husband will feed and play with her, but I doubt he will cuddle her much, especially if she is still hissing. He strongly feels I am doing the wrong thing picking her up when she is hissing.
 

buffy2011

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 Do you have some kind of soft fuzzy blanket it can sleep in. Also maybe it is hungry. Its a kitten so it might still need milk. Maybe it was taken away from its mother to soon. Once you feed them they are usually content. When we got our 3 ferals they were like wild animals. They hissed, scratched like crazy. I filled a bottle with powdered kitten milk and once I stuck that in there mouth it was all over. Then I went to the next one. Finally they had all eaten and went to sleep. But they were together, they had someone. So when it was feeding time again, you wouldn't of know that they were feral. They had milk all the way up till they were 10 weeks old. I never feed them soft food. I feed them purina kitten chow soaked in milk. It has all the vitamins and minerals that they need as a kitten.  Then usually after they eat they are down for a nap. I think you need to hold it as much as you can, so it is near your warm body. It is just scared and it won't be if you keep handling it.  One thing I was told but I knew this, but just picture a big giant coming towards you, you would probably run or try to protect yourself. Well that's what this kitten sees.  Its just like a baby, its lonely and its going to cry because all its siblings are gone.  Once it gets a little older it won't mind being by itself as much.  Is it eating enough? How many times a day do you feed it? This kitten is so young it should be so easy to tame in about 1 to 2 weeks. It hasn't been in the wild long enough to be a real feral cat. But the less you interact with it the worse it could get. Your husband doesn't have to cuddle it to death, just hold it and pet it and let it smell him. They just want to be warm. Mine use to crawl between my side and arm. I don't understand all the hissing. If your holding it alot and feeding it and then it usually has its nap time it should be content. I'm just throwing some things out there for you in case you haven't thought about them. Just trying to think what could be the problem. At night I had a room block off and I would put them in there and shut the light off, and then they would go to bed. But the difference is I had three so they weren't alone. I also had a bigger cat and she seemed to take care of them.  Let me know how it goes and if  you have any questions I can give you insight on what I did with mine. Please tell your husband to interact with it while you are gone so it can be use to people. 
 
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datagrrl

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I thought for sure she would regress while I was gone over the weekend, but she actually improved a lot. I can pick her up without scruffing her and she purrs like crazy when she is held.

She is still a little weird. Any sudden movements and she hides, but she no longer lives in the corner of the crate hiding.
 
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datagrrl

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In the hammock I made her.



She is sitting here more than back in the corner now.

Sorry about the image quality, not enough light for the iPad.
 

Norachan

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She's doing AMAZINGLY well for a kitten you've only had for a few days. Some of the feral kittens I've taken in haven't allowed me to touch them for months, so to be able to pet her a little already is great.

Just take things slowly and steadily and try to establish a routine with her, she'll soon get used to you and stop being so skittish.

Keep us posted, I want to hear all about her progress.
 
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datagrrl

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Thought I would share some pics...


She is doing pretty good. Tonight we tried the salmon shrimp fancy feast instead of baby food, she liked it even more. She was purring up a storm.

She is getting super curious. I am not sure when it will be safe to let her out. I have been trying to block stuff off for a few days. We still need to install toe kick and moulding on our cabinets, so she will probably stay in the crate until this weekend at least.

I posted some pics of her back end to confirm that she is a girl on another thread. I am thinking of getting her spayed this week. She is a pound 15 oz today. Do you think that will be too traumatic this early? I was trying to get all of her vet stuff done in one visit.

Her name is Golda, at least for now. I am not in love with the name. My husband likes it.
 
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catwoman707

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I love what you are doing with her, you have literally savedd her from living the life of a feral, nothing nice.

Taming a kitten this young is pretty easy really. It's all about contact, talking, carry her around, play, interact as much as you and husband and daughter possibly can.

Take her around the house with you often, because believe me, when you do let her out, she is going straight for the first hiding spot she can find, so let her see around, get used to some sounds, sights and smells.

Hold her on your lap while watching tv, the more she is handled, held, played with and interacted with, the faster and better she will be tamed and loving.

She is adorable btw!!
 

Norachan

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She's beautiful, such a pretty little face. I'm glad to see she is settling in.

I think she's still a bit too small to be spayed, it would be better to wait until she is at least 2 pounds. Does she need to go to the vet for any other reason than her spay? If there is something that needs the vets attention you should take her in now and then book an appointment to have her spayed when she gets a bit bigger. No cats like going to the vet, but a couple of trips are unavoidable.

She'll soon forget about it. If she's healthy now give her a a couple of weeks to grow and get used to you all, then get her spayed.

 

shadowsrescue

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She is just the sweetest little thing!!  She is making lots and lots and lots of progress too!!!  Keep up the good work and remember just to take things slowly.  I remember reading once of someone who used a toothbrush to brush a kitten especially under the chin.  This might be something to try if you are able to pet her for a bit. 
 
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datagrrl

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My husband talked me into moving her into the bigger dog crate today. She was climbing the walls of the smaller one.it is pretty clear she loves the bigger space.

She is still hissing up a storm at me sometimes, but once I give her special food and pick her up she could stay with me for hours. She cuddled with me for over an hour tonight. Sleeping and purring, but God forbid I try to come near her without bribing her.

Her name hasn't stuck. My husband wants Patsy and I am partial to Hazel.

I really can't believe this is the same cat I picked up a week ago.
 

catmomma627

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Oh my goodness she is an adorable little thing! It's normal for even non-feral kittens to be afraid in a new home! When you do finally let her explore I would spend a few days or even a week letting her explore with supervison and putting her in a smaller space at night/ when you're not home. Gradually give her more and more space in the house to become accustomed to.
 
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