Advice on semi feral kitten care

So I've bitten the bullet so to speak and signed up to foster cats & kittens and my first case will be 3 or 4 semi feral kittens, they've been spending a little time inside the house of the person who feeds the feral colony so shouldn't be completely feral but mum cat is, I believe they're around 4-5 weeks old (will get more info on Monday) so looking for any advice on how best to socialise the kittens as the kittens I raised were with me from birth and although mum was a stray she had obviously been a pet previously.

As soon as I get on a proper computer I will get you some great links!

Mum2Daisy said:

 I believe they're around 4-5 weeks old (will get more info on Monday) so looking for any advice on how best to socialise the kittens

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The short version is,  at this age they are easy to socialize.  You shouldnt have any real troubles.

The difficulty is by feeding, possibly help with eliminating,  and being Mummy in overall...  But this you do know.

The question is,  is their mom with them?  And you thus get a semiferal mom and her kittens?  If so, you can still do it, although you must be respectful and diplomatic to her [whishes], needs and feelings.

I will return with more as soon I know answer on this question - and if possible, their exact age.

Stephen will return him too, with his good links.

Good luck!

These are my favorite posts. I have an almost four month old previously feral kitten.

We have had her almost two months. She took a month to socialize. Now she is a sweetheart who lives in our laps when she isn't playing.

Yours should be much faster. Everyone on this site helped me so much. I don't have good advice, since I only had one who was older when I got her. I am interested to hear how it goes.

The plan is to bring them without mum as far as I know but everything is uncertain until they are trapped on Monday, they should already be eating meat as this woman who has been feeding the colony has been working on this, I'm guessing its a good idea to provide KMR along side the meat if they are 4-5 weeks old?

Mum2Daisy said:

 I'm guessing its a good idea to provide KMR along side the meat if they are 4-5 weeks old?

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Yes, its better to be safe than sorry, so do have KMR or goat milk prepared.

StefanZ said:

Yes, its better to be safe than sorry, so do have KMR or goat milk prepared.

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I already have an unopened tub that I bought when Daisy was pregnant (I bought 2 tubs but used most of one on her kittens)

There are some experienced people on here so you're at the right place. I think it depends a lot on the individual kitten. 4-5 weeks sounds very young and should just take a bit of time and a lot of patience.

Patience is probably one of the most important things with fostering.  If you feel yourself getting angry or frustrated, walk away for a bit; cats feed off of stress, big time.  The last feral kitten I held for a couple of days before he was vetted and fostered by a wonderful organisation (Mayor's Alliance) was around 6 weeks old and would bleet non-stop for the 2 days we held him, it was very stressful and I could only tend to him half the time I normally would.  The window of being able to socialise varies the most in kittens, most agree 8-14 weeks is the absolute limit. You are well within that.

My cat Mithra was said to be 8 weeks when we took him in, he looked more like a 4 week old kitten due to having a level 3+ (according to vet) Giardia parasite and Coccidia.  It took about 2 weeks for him to actually seek me and I think half of the reason it worked so well at his age was that he was basically a little pig.  At first he would hide and hiss but in the long run I think the two things that helped the most were this:

1. Food.  If they were hungry when living outside, you already have a chance to become their best friend because you bring the goodies!

2. Playpen or crate. Keeping him in the lounge where my hubby and I spend most of our time, meaning he got used to indoor life. Eventually he would wander out from his little hidey box (important) to look at us through the mesh and I could approach and play with him.  I suppose it was food --> Comfort --> Trust --> Playtime or something like that, now that I think about it.

I do regret that I didn't:

1. Get him used to visitors as he is a little nervous of new people and hides but is not aggressive at least. Let them learn that people they meet are as loving as you are!

2. Handle him more.  He is fine now but does occasionally suffer from passion biting which I assume is because he lacked the much-needed sibling play. He was the sole survivor of his litter. :{

Also, just want to put out there that if you are going to have 3 or 4 kittens, remember to take them away to handle and play with them individually often. I do think with kittens that they are influenced by each other, if one is scared of you, the others might be afraid as well. Not always true especially if your group has a brave sibling.

Good luck and thanks for looking after these little ones. :}

Thank you for the advice, I have a large dog cage that I will be keeping them in initially so I will have them with me (I'm home almost all the time anyway) I have 3 children so there will be lots of handling but I also frequently have people coming to visit so will be sure to let them be handled by others too. The kittens I've raised already were handled lots and have turned out very social and are very good at playing without biting or scratching hands so I'm hoping to be able to do the same, like I say I have plenty of time to devote to this

@Mum2Daisy

Sorry for the delay.  Mike P. who started a major TNR program in NYC called the Urban Cat League (http://www.urbancatleague.org)  is a master of taming feral cats and kittens. These two links show you how the pro's do it.  The first link with step by step instructions and links to videos which show it in action, and the 2nd link is more philosophy of wild cats and domestication, very interesting.

http://www.urbancatleague.org/TamingFerals

and

http://www.socialferals.blogspot.com/

So he arrived tonight and not only is he actually 6-8 weeks old he's not exactly even semi feral as you can probably tell from this picture lol


So all my reading up on socialising feral kittens not needed this time round, just got to enjoy him while we wait for someone to fall in love with him

Nice!!!