Feral Kitten

About 7 weeks ago, a family of five newborn kittens and presumably the mother cat were discovered in a semi-enclosed area outside at my job. I work overnight at a place that stocks and sells hard-surface flooring in bulk, so there are forklifts, reach trucks, pallet jacks, etc running constantly throughout and outside of the building. The cats were posted up underneath a bunch of pallets of steel racking where it was easy for them to hide because the pallets were far too long and heavy for anyone to feasibly get to them before they'd be able to dart out.

3 weeks ago, the jerk general manager of the store called animal control about them, who came in and were able to nab three of the kittens. At that point, mama cat vanished. I had seen her in the woods by a side parking lot a few times prior to that, so whether she ran off elsewhere or if something happened to her is unknown to me.

Last Wednesday, I'd been informed that they were going to "reset" the entire wood department starting on Sunday, which meant tearing into the pallets of racking that the cats had made their home. Terrified that the remaining kittens would get hurt, I spent most of my nights Thursday and Friday trying to capture them, to no avail.

Monday, the reset team had already started the process. We had the doors into the building propped open to let the forklifts come in and out with ease and the kittens made their way inside. We were able to nab the two babies; a cashier took one home, I took the other.

I'm no stranger to semi-feral cats; my grandmother's house has pretty much become a semi-feral cat factory, but this is my first time trying to take care of a completely feral cat on my own. I've got him set up in the entirety of the master bathroom right now with a nice, dark bed, litter box, food/water dishes, and a couple of nooks for him to hide in. I haven't had him fixed yet because I'm not 100% certain of his age, so once I'm sure he's old enough, I'll take him.

Here are my questions/concerns:

He is still veeeery nervous when it comes to sounds, which is a little surprising to me considering the noisy environment he'd been living in prior to being at my home. I talk to him softly and sweetly all I can but unexpected sounds really irritate him. Someone dropped something heavy in the room next to the bathroom yesterday and he hissed at the wall and ran to his bed, haha. Is there an easy way to get him accustomed to noises? Someone suggested putting a radio in the room with him at night when I leave for work. Is that the way to go? And if so, how loud should it be? I don't want to keep him awake unnecessarily.

He seems extremely "confused" on being handled by people. He is terrified of hands... sometimes. When he's in my lap, he loves being pet and scratched and purrs very loudly. He's completely aware there are hands on him but doesn't seem to mind. He has yet to scratch or bite at me while being pet, picked up, or walked around; even when I turned him over to check for fleas, he made no effort to resist or show signs of irritation towards my hands being on his tummy. My roommate has also been handling him and he reacts the same way, even fell asleep in her arms yesterday. That being said, when he's in his little bed or in a hiding spot, I can't get more than 2 feet close to him before he's hissing at me. He has NEVER come to me from his bed or hiding spot on his own accord and always seems scared of people from a distance, despite how much he seems to like being handled. Will this change overtime? It's just so strange to me that when he's in my lap, eating, walking around outside of his bed, etc he's totally into being handled, but when he's in his bed or hiding, he considers me a threat. I thought at first it may have just been a "buzz off, I'm in my own space" reaction, but I've known several tamed feral and semi-ferals to react differently in similar scenarios.

Any help or feedback on how to get my little guy broken into living and trusting other people?

nategfs said:

 
About 7 weeks ago, a family of five newborn kittens and presumably the mother cat were discovered in a semi-enclosed area outside at my job. I work overnight at a place that stocks and sells hard-surface flooring in bulk, so there are forklifts, reach trucks, pallet jacks, etc running constantly throughout and outside of the building. The cats were posted up underneath a bunch of pallets of steel racking where it was easy for them to hide because the pallets were far too long and heavy for anyone to feasibly get to them before they'd be able to dart out.

3 weeks ago, the jerk general manager of the store called animal control about them, who came in and were able to nab three of the kittens. At that point, mama cat vanished. I had seen her in the woods by a side parking lot a few times prior to that, so whether she ran off elsewhere or if something happened to her is unknown to me.

Last Wednesday, I'd been informed that they were going to "reset" the entire wood department starting on Sunday, which meant tearing into the pallets of racking that the cats had made their home. Terrified that the remaining kittens would get hurt, I spent most of my nights Thursday and Friday trying to capture them, to no avail.

Monday, the reset team had already started the process. We had the doors into the building propped open to let the forklifts come in and out with ease and the kittens made their way inside. We were able to nab the two babies; a cashier took one home, I took the other.

I'm no stranger to semi-feral cats; my grandmother's house has pretty much become a semi-feral cat factory, but this is my first time trying to take care of a completely feral cat on my own. I've got him set up in the entirety of the master bathroom right now with a nice, dark bed, litter box, food/water dishes, and a couple of nooks for him to hide in. I haven't had him fixed yet because I'm not 100% certain of his age, so once I'm sure he's old enough, I'll take him.

Here are my questions/concerns:

He is still veeeery nervous when it comes to sounds, which is a little surprising to me considering the noisy environment he'd been living in prior to being at my home. I talk to him softly and sweetly all I can but unexpected sounds really irritate him. Someone dropped something heavy in the room next to the bathroom yesterday and he hissed at the wall and ran to his bed, haha. Is there an easy way to get him accustomed to noises? Someone suggested putting a radio in the room with him at night when I leave for work. Is that the way to go? And if so, how loud should it be? I don't want to keep him awake unnecessarily.

He seems extremely "confused" on being handled by people. He is terrified of hands... sometimes. When he's in my lap, he loves being pet and scratched and purrs very loudly. He's completely aware there are hands on him but doesn't seem to mind. He has yet to scratch or bite at me while being pet, picked up, or walked around; even when I turned him over to check for fleas, he made no effort to resist or show signs of irritation towards my hands being on his tummy. My roommate has also been handling him and he reacts the same way, even fell asleep in her arms yesterday. That being said, when he's in his little bed or in a hiding spot, I can't get more than 2 feet close to him before he's hissing at me. He has NEVER come to me from his bed or hiding spot on his own accord and always seems scared of people from a distance, despite how much he seems to like being handled. Will this change overtime? It's just so strange to me that when he's in my lap, eating, walking around outside of his bed, etc he's totally into being handled, but when he's in his bed or hiding, he considers me a threat. I thought at first it may have just been a "buzz off, I'm in my own space" reaction, but I've known several tamed feral and semi-ferals to react differently in similar scenarios.

Any help or feedback on how to get my little guy broken into living and trusting other people?

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I think the radio thing is more to let them get used to human voices, AND to help give them some company, its really not to make them used to noises as such...   I think he will always take notice on unexpected sounds.  For example, my oldest resident, whom is properly home bred, but shy - he learned me quaite a lot about the behavior of a fostered semiferal - they are almost totally similiar!   OK, he does always react to foreign sounds - he is very vary this way.

OK, your kitten - 10-12 weeks?? not more - is proven a semiferale.  And yet he allows himself to be petted, etc.  BUT in other situations, when he is in his safety zone, he behaves as semiferal.  A riddle?   No, I dont think so.  His willingness to be petted, I think its  a survival strategy.    A similiar behavior may be a shy cat behaving beautifully at the vet.

Now, of course, it makes your  task easier, compared with if he were very defensive aggressive the whole time.  His submissive copy along to survive strategy makes the fostering much easier, yes even possible.  As he did found a friendly rescuer, its a winning strategy in the long run.

But for you it must be a memento, its not so more than half of your task is done, he is already tame.  Nay, you must proceed to work with him, earn his trust...  It will come with time, but dont shour  Hey, Im there!   too early...

Perhaps a Feliway diffuser would help along?   A comfortable little heating pad, under a fleece towel...

There is surely more to say, but this for a beginning.

I hope others will add more.  

Tx for caring! 

Good luck!

You are doing a great job. I took in and socialized a 12--14 week old feral kitten two summers ago. I spent a lot of time playing with Harry with catnip toys and a wand toy, and playing really helped us to bond. I was fortunate in that my older cats inside the house adopted him within a few weeks--despite his somewhat wild ways--and that helped him to settle in. I've had him almost two years now and there are still some "feral" characteristics which are likely ingrained. He is still easily startled and anxious by  noises both inside and outside--even when one of my other cats is coming down the stairs, he'll jump out of my lap if I happen to be holding him. Feral cat parents teach their offspring to be constantly on guard, and this is deeply ingrained in them. Harry is also fearful around strangers visiting, though he will eventually come downstairs after a few hours have passed. He won't allow them to touch him, though. Ferals are always cautious about hands coming towards them--this, too, has been ingrained in them by their parent cats. I usually wait for Harry to come to me and jump on my lap before I pet him, otherwise he gets stressed if I just reach out to pet him. Harry's litter box habits are messy--he throws a lot of litter outside of the box instead of just covering his droppings inside the box, and he also still dips his paws in the water bowls to clean them (I imagine he used to do this in the stream by my house). So your little guy may always have some of these feral characteristics. That said, I love my Harry very much and wouldn't change a thing about him (well, maybe the messy litter box tendencies, lol), and you will love this little guy too! My suggestion is that you get a wand toy (you don't need the expensive "da bird"-- any wand toy will do) and play with him several times a day. Get him lots of toys. He's a kitten and will love playing with you and it will help him to bond with you. Also, be patient. He's already come  a long way! Taking in a feral kitten is more challenging than taking in a domesticated kitten, but it's well worth the time and effort. Ferals are wonderfully interesting and very devoted companions. 

Most semi-feral and feral kittens are a bit of a mystery. They have an emerging personality along with the fact that they are in different circumstances while they are acclimating. This makes the socialization process a little more complex.

I wouldn't worry too much about the loud noises. Most cats will eventually figure out what "normal" is for noise although many will never be completely indifferent to a loud noise. I have two that hate my noisy garage door. They watch me start to open it but insist on running away until it's all the way up. One only "runs" about 2 feet but it makes her feel better so she does it. That said, most of the noises that scared them terribly no longer bother them at all. They just needed time to figure it out and they're hard wired to be extra wary.

I believe defensive hissing (in my opinion, there are more than one kind) is natural and I've seen kittens just get into a habit of hissing when the feel you're in their space. Since nothing bad has ever come of it, they see no reason to stop it. So, time is your best friend here. Find the spot where you get hissed at and push just a little at that point. If you get hissed from three feet away, the accept the hiss but try to play or otherwise interact and then leave a treat. One of my feral kittens used to hiss at the same time she would jump up to get closer to me. Anyway, see if you can move closer with time. I'm always concerned with trying this when they are in their "safest" spot (like the bed) because we humans would defend our bed too. But, if that's where you need to work then go for it. When I have to address this I put a little turkey or chicken baby food on my finger or a wand and see if I can get them to focus on the food and not on what's delivering it. After a while, they recognize that it's all positive.

I use Feliway spray and while it's not magic, it's not bad.

Time and patience, time and patience. I have an older feral now that wouldn't even let me walk into the room without a hiss and then hiding. She's been with me now for about a week. Last night, she came out, jumped up on her hideaway and stared at me for the longest time. 18" away. She finally decided that I wasn't going to hurt her and might even be interesting. To me, just sitting there watching TV and having a feral cat come out of hiding to sit and stare at me is tremendous progress and I'm so grateful. To many people, it's nothing. Not to the cat.

Their time......their terms. 

Just some updates~~~

He hasn't hissed at me since I wrote the original post. Even when he runs to hide from a stranger or noise, I can still go right to him and scoop him out of his spot with no resistance. He's finally started to associate  me with food and treats and is not afraid to come up to my face from his bed and let me know when he's hungry! He's now playing with toys (he used to hiss at them) and loooves his ping pong balls. I've let him out of the bathroom and into my bedroom under supervision and he is loving the exploration. I'm amazed how far we've gotten in only 5 days.

That's wonderful.. And so rewarding!

Keep us posted..

Within a month, he'll start to love you for just you and not just the food, lol. If he starts kneading you with his paws, then you'll know he's officially adopted you. I'm glad things are working out