New Kitty -semi-feral?

Hi Everyone, I read the other post of caring for ferals (http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/socializing_a_feral_cat.html) and found it pretty helpful, and it lead me to here. So, I have taken in a 5-6month year old semi feral cat. I say semi-feral because when I first saw him outside, I started to feed him. He progressed very quickly with me, at first being very scared, but hungry enough to come by me to eat. By the fourth visit, I put my head close to ground as I was kneeling, and he came and head butted me in a friendly way. I was able to pet his back. I trapped his mom (very feral, wouldn't even come to food if I was remotely near her,) for the trap spay release program, which is how i figured he is semi-feral, and trapped the kitten basically by just opening the back gate of and having tuna in there. He is nuetered and in my home now. Last night (first night here), he slept in the dog cage I got him, with blanket, food, water and litter. Getting him in the cage was difficult, as he would not come out of carrier. He let me pet him in there alot though, contently purring, while he was in the carrier which makes me think he isn't as feral as a typical feral cat. In transferring him he got loose and ran and hid under my desk and hissed me, some lost progress which I understand. I scruffed him and he was very receptive and docile to the scruff which surprised me. He slept in the cage fine, woke up at 5 am meowing. I figured he wanted food so I gave him some. Although I don't want to wake up at 5 am everyday to give him food. I am wondering if it would be a bad thing to let him keeping meowing until at least 6 or 7 when I would prefer to give him breakfast? -

I let him out of the cage because he seemed like he really wanted to, happy after he ate. He was circling me, letting me pet him. He explored. My room has kind of alot of things on my desk, and my dresser and such so i don't know if its completely 'cat proof'. But anyway, he got scared again and hid, but its kind of been a cycle. I'll pet him, he'll start purring. But I know I have heard some cats purr if their scared. When I am petting him this doesnt seem like the case, but thats just a side note. Right now he is on the side of my bed in between the wall and this picture I have there. He is purring and I am talking to him, petting him occasionally and doing my own thing. I am refraining from trying to get him out of the space. In hopes he will come out on his own time. My concern is, I don't know if I leave for work tomorrow, from 8am-1pm, if I should leave him in the cage, or free in my room? I hope he wouldn't go crazy in the cage left for 5 hours, I also don't know if He'd get himself into trouble free roaming in my roam, climbing on dressers and what not. Does anyone have any suggestions for this? Where to leave him in cage, or room with door closed. Tomorrow will be his second full day here. And also about letting him whine, until I want to give him breakfast. Because I do want him to get on a routine, and I want him to know I am there for him, but getting up at 5 am everyday might not be ideal. Thank you I appreciate any feedback!! <3 <3 Much love to your cat lovers. 

Also, since he seems not AS feral as the forum for ferals ( http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/socializing_a_feral_cat.html ) was talking about, I am thinking some stuff it was talking about wouldn't apply to me since he is already letting me pet him and stuff, but yeah. I just hoping I am right about that. Thanks ! 

Hi there and well done for taking this little one in. You are doing everything absolutely right, and he is already rewarding you with affection. Some feral cats, especially if they are young enough, will respond quite quickly to human care - others never become truly domestic. His mother may have had interaction with people in the past, even though she is scared now, and somehow transmitted to her kitten that humans mean food and warmth.

So to your two main questions. Cats like routine - they will try and get you on their routine until you force them to accept yours. 5AM is when he feels hungry and he wants you to know it. I would get him onto your routine as soon as possible, but stick to it, within half an hour or so, and as long as it is a routine, he will pick it up. He will not suffer for a few days if you leave hime to meow. If you cannot bear to do that, then do it later each day, until you get to an hour acceptable to you. Personally, I think this way is more confusing to the cat.

On the other question, I have often left kittens in a cage for a few hours while I went out. I think this is safer for him in a new environment, and more reassuring as he has his food and litter to hand, and does not have accidents. But make the cage as pleasant a place as possible. He needs a comfortable place to sleep, food and water, a clean litter tray and some toys. Hang some toys from the roof as well as things he can bat around. Cover the cage roof with a large towel to make him feel secure, and place it ouside a draft. If it can be in a window or somewhere he can see outside, that is ideal. And leave a radio on - cats relax to music.

He will soon see the cage as his safe place, and you will know you can always safely leave him in it, and travel him in it too should that be necessary.

Good luck. It sounds like you have a wonderful new companion who is bonding well with you.

Thank you so much, Jenny! I am working on a routine schedule for him, feeding 3x a day. Since some nights I work late dinner may have to change. Right now I have been feeding him at 6:30am-7am, and 4:30pm-5pm. Since Tuesdays and Wednesdays I work 2-8, this will have to change. He seems to be getting hungry in between those times and I know he is a growing 6month old kitty. So I think I am going to switch it to feeding at 6:30am-7am still, then adding a feeding session around 1pm-2pm. Then Giving him dinner when I get back from work around 7:30pm-8pm ( not changing amount of food.) Leaving him in the crate seems to be a good solution for now. He likes it in there. I wonder how I will know when he is ready to be left open in my room. Sometimes I have to take him from his hiding place to get him in there before I leave. He doesnt seem to mind being scruffed. But I would rather not.  Right now I leave the cage open at night, so he sleeps in there, but then can walk around and wake me up to feed him. He still likes to hide under my dresser, but is coming out more readily now. Sometimes when i leave the room while he is hanging about in my room, I'll come back to find him back under the dresser, but then he will come back out once I am in the room. He gets nervous when he hears my roomate walk passed to go into his room, but I know this is normal instinct.

Right now he is playing so I know that is a good sign. But, sometimes when I pet him he gets a little frisky and looks at my hand like a play toy. I want to be able to play with him fun like this, but when it gets to be too much or aggressive on his part I stop and bring the toy into it. As I don't him to be accustomed to swatting at hands aggressively as he gets bigger. I make a sound, the kiss kiss sound, when I feed him, and I do this often to assure him everything is okay and just to talk to him. When he does get more aggressive play fighting, I do a 'shhh noise', and pet him calmly this usually works. I also am starting to use the , 'psst' noise if he is eating a plant, or doing something I do not want him to do. Do you think I could also find a different noise to use for nice play fighting? Or should I really stay away from having him see my hands as some type of target to swat at? 

Also, I plan to go home for thanksgiving. I got him on the 11th, so it would be 2 weeks that he would be in my room. I want him to get used to travel, he did well in the carriers so far, but I just read on a different post that travel and new environment= stress. Do you think it would be a bad idea to bring him to a new environment at 2 weeks? Even if he is doing well adjusting. I like the idea of keeping him crated when I leave for now, so he gets used to his safe place like you said. And figured if I brought his safe place crate, and had that in my room at home maybe he could adjust again? Just for the 3 days that I will be home. What do you think? 

He is also sneezing. He goes all his shots and neutered, but I am waiting until he is more adjusted to take him to the vet. And he keeps one eye slightly more closed that than other, like squinting it. These are the only physical oddness I see in him so far. Just adding to make a note of that. 

Again, any advice you or anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I'd rather be overly cautious than do anything to lose progress or put him in danger! Thank you in advance, 

Kalene, New cat mommy 

It certainly seems he is making progress and you sound happier. If you are going home by car and you can fit it in, then I would take him in the crate rather than leave him to be fed for two weeks by someone else. If he has his cage and you can put it in a quiet place at home, letting him out in your room at night, he will be fine. If it a very long journey then maybe that is not a good idea, but I brought 5 cats in two crates across Europe once, a 2 day journey, and they were fine. Some cats are ok travelling by car, some are not, but if you get him used to it (in a carrier for short journeys) then it will be much easier later on when he has to go to the vet.

On the hand question I would never let him playfight with your hand. It is not a good habit to get into and could lead to him hurting someone later.

Noises - I find that my cats learn very quickly the meaning of actual words. They all understand 'no', 'down', 'out', 'good', 'here', 'dinner', and some of them have more extensive vocabularies. So you can combine those with hisses and clicks and blinks, all of which I use too. The problem comes after living for years with cats and no humans - not to hiss or blink at someone you know!

The sneezing and squinty eye may be an upper respiratory infection. Like a cold in humans. I would take him to the vet just to be on the safe side.

If you are traveling home for a visit, he may be better off staying at your place if you can find a responsible person to care for him. Change is hard on cats, who crave consistency and routine.

Thank you so much for helping him!

Thank you both so much for you advice. Ondine, I was hoping that making his crate his safe space would help bringing him to a different place, by still having him in the same crate he's been used to, when taking him home. I feed him in the crate, I pet him in the crate. When I leave him in it for now, just because I work 6 hours and get nervous for what he would do while I was gone. And I leave water and a tad bit of food in there while playing music. Arriving back he has been happily sleeping in it. I just am nervous to leave him here if i go home for thanksgiving because it's only been a week that we bonded, it will be 2 weeks then,  and I don't want to lose the progress we've made. I don't know if I could expect my roomate to do what I do with him. Putting him in the crate, calming him, playing with him. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow, so I will see how he does with that transitioning in the carrier and such and go from there. There is so many things that go into making him a happy kiitty to adjust well and I just want to do my best to gain his trust. We've been making alot of progress. He is coming to treats, he lets me pet him. He comes up on the bed sometimes, as I leave him out of the crate during the night. I found him sleeping in his carrier this morning which will definitely be good. Do you really think it would be too much for him? :/ I planned to leave him in the crate only for Thanksgiving dinner and go right back to him after. As I figure I would be a calming constant, as well as the crate. But I guess him staying in my room would be calmer... I'll have to decide. 

And the next thing is that my roomate has a cat and dog herself. The dog is a Pomeranian, who is very good with cats, she just pretends they are not there, as she has lived with a cat for a year and half now. The cat, Penny, two years old,  is also very good with cats. She's had kittens before, so she is a sweet cat. The cats are already playing through the door, ( My cat, Garfunk, and my room-mates cat, Penny). Garfunk seemed more aggressive at first darting his paw through the door, which I put an end to by putting a towel under the door, but now he seems more playful with it. I have put a sock that Garfunk slept with in Penny's crate, and vise versa. I have also tried to have to them eat, on each side of the door together, but Penny is picky with food, so she didn't eat. I also had them both eat separately on towels where the other one's scent was on. I'm not TOO worried about them meeting. I don't know when I am going to introduce Garfunk to the rest of the house. Is there any signs you can think of that he will be ready? And should I do the same things I have been doing for Garfunk and the Pomeranian to pre-meet. I know when I first introduce him to the rest of the house I will have the other cat and dog in my room-mates room. I guess I should introduce the cat first to him, and then the dog? Do you have any suggestions for this? Garfunk is already curious by the door when I open it. He has seen Penny before. When he accidentally saw the Pomeranian he did hiss, but I know this is normal.  Any information would be helpful! Thank you so much ,

Kalene 

New Feral Kitty Mama ~ 

You are doing the right thing with slow introductions. I would hold off any more until he sees the vet, just to ensure he doesn't have anything Penny can catch.

If you think you can bring him in his crate to your visit, that may work. The time you spend with him in the car will be helpful. Just make sure he has a quiet room at the new place and cover the crate with a blanket you've slept on, so he has your familiar scent.

If you are careful things should work out. Good luck!