Semi-Feral Kitten - Attached Just to Me Need Help

Hello,

I help out with animal rescue.  I have fostered 3 kittens before this fourth. One became a failed foster.

I was always a dog person, but really grew to like cats, after saving my first one from being taken to a kill SPCA.   I never thought it possible, but cats really do take to me and like me.  I now have 3 cats (including the failed foster).

Now, the issue.

There were feral kittens that were being taken care of by another lady.  She managed to tame and home 2 of them, but the third, a little gray girl was frightened and too scared to come out.  she would bite scratch and hiss if the lady tried to touch her.  She was probably about 10 weeks old.  The lady did not have as much time as was needed, and so it was suggested I try and work with the kitten.  

I named her Peanut.  I managed to tame her to the point where I can hold her and she will sleep on my for almost an hour in my arms while she purrs.  She comes when I call her.  She sits on command if given a treat.  She knows her name.  AND she sleeps on the far end of my bed at night.

However, she is still frightened of other people.   Or not as friendly.  She will not bite or hiss at them.  My sister is also able to hold her.

Yesterday, she had an appointment to be fixed.   She was taken by another lady (Mary) who runs TNR to an SPCA to be spayed.  Peanut was terrified.  She hid in the back of her carrier.   She freaked out at the SPCA and was handled as a feral.   Peanut was spayed.  Mary returned her to me because Peanut was too scared and uncomfortable at her house.  (Mary usually keeps them for several days of recuperation).

Mary says Peanut is semi-feral and has attached herself ONLY to me.     I REALLY would like Peanut to be adopted by a nice lady that would love her.

Peanut DOES do great with my 3 cats.    I have 2 neutered boys who are very laid back.   She is very social with them and follows their lead.

I was told it would be hard to adopt her out?    She does not ACT feral to me . . .still my room is  her "safe" room.   See her precious adoring face?

Judy

I wish I could offer more help, but I swear to God she looks just like one of mine! Her name was Heather, but became "Shredder" after a while. She had 6 toes on each foot, and every last one had a claw on it! She and another of our cats opened the window in our RV and escaped! It took hours to find them and when we did I had to sit on her to get hold of her. Shredder was certainly living up to her name too. The inside of my car, and myself looked like some horrendous bloody murder had taken place inside ( that's no joke either!)
It sounds like you did not want to keep her, but you may not have a choice if you want her to live. She's obviously bonded with you. Some cats have only one person, ever that they love and trust. Heather was about to be put down when I took her and I couldn't allow that to happen!
She did calm down a lot over time. But I couldn't have parted with her by then anyway. If I can help you in any way, please PM me at any time.

If you live any where near me I'd be willing to take her. I also do resue, fostering and catch and release. Also worked with a Vet as a temp Tech. I'm in Colorado....
Connie

ConiKat said:

If you live any where near me I'd be willing to take her. I also do resue, fostering and catch and release. Also worked with a Vet as a temp Tech. I'm in Colorado....
Connie

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Its swell, but it is dangerous for rescuers to collect on themselves too many cats.   After a while, you will have so many residents, you wont have place for the fosterlings.

Also, Im sure quite a few hoarders did began as rescuers.    Or at least, they themselves fancied themselves to be rescuers.  

Not everyone is naturally sociale.  Cats arent automatos.  My oldest resident, a male and more masculine mirror of your pretty girl cat, he is a purebred  Russian Blue, properly raised by a good breeder, is also almost like  Peanut.   A wonderful, loving family cat here in our home, but shy to strangers.   He never goes violent, but everything else is there...

But when we buyed him, we knew some RB are shy to strangers, so we were fully prepared, and fully accepted his way of behaving and being.

-  His kids were more sociale, btw.  

And, she is the most shy of them in her litter.  Her siblings got much easier tame.  So she is the individual who isnt naturally very sociale.    I suspect she will always be alike that to strangers. 

But.  The big opening is done.  Peanut IS fully socialized to you, and even decently socialized to your sister.

So a new socialization by someone else will go fairly easy,

I understand you cant get her adopted out by the usual  Adoption Shows so common in USA.     What you must have eyes open for, is to try and find your nice lady who is willing to adopt her, precisely like you say.  This lady must be willing her new dau will always be shy to strangers.  AND this lady must be prepared to make some fostering in the beginning herself.

Let her be in her room and cat igloo, come regurarly with food and treats, talk a lot with sweet, friendy voice, be patient and lovingly, often lay down in this room, reading or sleeping,,,,   She can cheat a little and have a Feliway diffuser on.  

A friendly resident cat, or cat friendly small dog wont hurt.

In one word, I myself dont see any real problem with her socialization.  But it demands you find a suitable "end consumer", the adopter.

Tx a lot for helping  these our small sisters and brothers!

Good luck!

ps.   What is it about this failed fostering?  Is it perhaps somebody alike Peanut?   Got decently socialized with you, but still shy to others?

Stephan Z
I got the distinct impression that you are classifying me as a hoarder, or potential hoarder. That seems a bit extreme to me. Or perhaps the person who posted originally? Wanting to help out where you can is hardly hoarding.

ConiKat said:

Stephan Z
I got the distinct impression that you are classifying me as a hoarder, or potential hoarder. That seems a bit extreme to me. Or perhaps the person who posted originally? Wanting to help out where you can is hardly hoarding.

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Im deeply sorry if I gave that impression.   It was NOT my purpose.   Just a friendly  advice between friends -  after all, its my role here on these forum...

If you do count your residents, and find you do have not only heart, but also place for one more - of course, by all means, take one more.  Or two or three.

But the warning and the observations is  standing fast:   to be an affective fosterer, you cant  adopt yourself them all.  1   now and then, but most must be adopted out.

Again, sorry if I gave wrong impression.

Tx for helping these our small brethrens!

 Good luck!

StefanZ
Apology accepted. I have four cats. And yes I've been tempted many times. Especially while I was working with Main Coon Rescue. However, at my age (63), I also have to think of other issues now. Primarily that they need to be cared for if something happened to me or my husband. This was brought home to us two weeks ago when my husband had a heart attack. Though we had already made arrangement among the family's younger members to take care of them if something happened, I've seen utter disasters happen when someone changes their mind. Now we also have second options in place. I've seen far too many older cats sitting in cages at various shelters. They rarely get adopted and it's heartbreaking to see.
Now it's more likely that we would adopt one of them over a kitten. But even more likely that it would be a friend's cat ( someone in our age group) that had no one else. I'm not looking for a new addition anyway, as we just lost a young cat ( Rascal) to Lymphoma. Our cat family misses him as much as we do, but the four we have are stable and happy otherwise.
My health isn't that great either so I haven't been taking more Foster's in the past two years. So now limited to trying to help with placing them. And sometimes feeding or playing with them ( socializing). My friend who is still fostering ( some) has MS, so she isn't taking many either. But we have managed to take care of neutering most of our small town's population of Ferals, which was our goal from the beginning. The program is in place, and others are picking up where we left off.
Connie

Can you help me with the IPad instruction on the site for adding photos? I can't access it. The message says I'm not an administrator or something, so I'm not allowed to look at it.
Connie

ConiKat said:

Can you help me with the IPad instruction on the site for adding photos? I can't access it. The message says I'm not an administrator or something, so I'm not allowed to look at it.
Connie

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Are you in desktop mode or mobile mode ?

At the very bottom of the page there are two buttons to switch between the two. Click the desktop, it's easier to do when in desktop mode.

If you are already in desktop mode, just try refreshing the page and it should work

Thank You, I did try that. Sadly I don't have access to the instructions on the Site. I need admin privileges or something, according to the message I got when I tried. But I did change from mobile which helps a tiny bit.

Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me from personal experience, that some cats are just " one person" kitties. We actually have two like that, both females. One is strictly mine, the other belongs to my husband pretty exclusively. They aren't unfriendly or mean, just seem to have preferences that they won't give up.

Tried all that....massive fail! Next I will check all my settings on the IPad!

Japentz: I know what you are going through. We have a cat who still hides when company comes. He's just never gotten confidence that humans (other than my husband and me) are to be trusted. If you have friends who can come in and play with the kitten, she may come around. But as you know, it will take lots and lots of patience for that to work.

Thank you for helping her. She is a beauty!

I was very tempted by one of my Foster's 2 years ago. I called her Panda and she was very unusual-looking. She was all black body with four totally white legs! Anyone else ever seen that pattern? She really was quite adorably sweet too. But found her a great home!

Thank you all for your responses.   No, I live on the east coast in Maryland. 

Peanut truly is very sweet.   i was told that a semi feral may attach itself to one person.   however, my sister (who is not great with cats lol) is able to hold her and pet her and she purrs.

Mary had already pegged her as a semi feral who was only attached to me before really meeting her.  Then again, Mary takes good care of but is careful not to get attached to kittens.  She rescues a LOT of kittens and cats. 

Peanut seems to need attention and care, I believe she would warm up to someone who is a warm person and very loving of cats.  I think perhaps she just needs the right mommy.   She does like to be held, talked to, kissed and hugged.  She is So sweet to me. 

I think after hanging out with my cats, she might see the example of how not to be afraid of people but I'd need her for a few more weeks.  I'm trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep her in my room which is her safe room.  She does LOVE my other cats so she sneaks out sometimes.  I'm semi disabled so its hard to stop her.

She was just spayed on Friday, so I try to keep her contained.

I think what I will do is post a YouTube video and talk about her.     I think she will be difficult to take out to the Vet.   her only really outting was to the SPCS where she was spayed which terrified her.

I think she just needs to feel safe and could be a very nice cat.  And I DO hope they keep her indoors, whoever adopts her.

I will post a video once I make one of her.   She really is very cute and sweet.   Not a mean kitten at all.

Yeah, a video sounds like a good idea.  Easier to find adopters this way.

Be sure the adopter donates a suitable sum, to you or to  the rescue group you cooperate with.  Or even - to some other worthy cause, in the name of the cat. Not a cent below 20 dollars, preferably more.  100 is not beyond the reasonable.

This is the easiest way to scare off the crooks and villains.

Good luck!

Our Adorable Adoptable group asks for $65.00 to cover the cost of the spay and all shots.   They are also tested for FIV.      We do this for just that reason.   I'm going to be very picky about who gets her.

I will post the video I do here, once I make it.



Judy

As this beauty is so close to you and your other kitties i feel that she will only be happy with you. Is There No Way You can adopt peanut? I feelbshe will be very unhappy to be taken away from you.
I had expected cat who at the age of 15 still ran away when people came otherwise she was my cat only.

I really wish I could but I am disabled with MS and on a limited income.   I do believe she will warm up to another nice lady.   My sister who lives with me has to clean all the litter boxes.    I truly love this little girl, but economically impossible, plus its a lot of cat box scooping for my sister who is wrecked by her job every night.

Our failed foster, Mittens, was also supposed to be adopted out, but my father (age 84, but has since passed), fell in love with him.