About two weeks ago, I started going out onto my apartment's patio in the mornings to find that my potted plants had all been pushed over and the soil used for digging. It was happening daily until I moved them to a windowsill, out of reach. I had no idea what had been doing it and really didn't give it much thought until I opened my door one day and scattered a litter of kittens, who all bolted under the patio. I'd been seeing the mother around the building for a few weeks, so I'm pretty sure they were born under there. I caught her and all four of her babies (Two female, two male) in a trap before the week ended. I've had them in my apartment ever since -- the mom is waiting to be spayed with my city's TNR program, and I'm trying to find good homes for two of the four kittens. I haven't had a cat in years, and the two that I had were taken in as adults. The family seems to be doing great and I guess-- since I've never dealt with kittens before-- that I'm looking for advice as to how to keep them that way.
The kittens are weaned (I generally keep them near to but separate from their mother at this point, since she's at least semi-feral -- though non-aggressive -- and it'd be much harder to extract the kittens from a shared crate) and I would guess somewhere around seven to ten weeks old by now. They're using the litter box and they've all socialized really well -- two have become sweet cats. One of the females is still a little fearful, though, and the biggest male (The first trapped) tends to play rough -- he's also developing this tendency of launching himself onto legs from across the room. He latches on at about knee-level and climbs up as far as he can manage before he's removed. He does the same to backs and sides when someone's sitting on the floor, and rarely catches sight of fingers without trying to attack them. I'm pretty sure it's not any kind of real aggression and all in good fun, but I'm worried it'll make him undesirable to potential homes. How should I try to curb some of this behavior? Their claws are much sharper than they were when I first got them and he almost always draws blood now, even through some fabrics.
Also -- how should I treat their fleas/possible worms? I've bathed them with Dawn a few times so far. I know they're still a little too young for most regular treatments.
And would anyone happen to have advice for finding them homes? Mine and my family's social circles haven't been too helpful, the local shelters/rescues are either full or my attempts to reach out to them haven't gone well, and I'm really wary of Craigslist and the like.
The kittens are weaned (I generally keep them near to but separate from their mother at this point, since she's at least semi-feral -- though non-aggressive -- and it'd be much harder to extract the kittens from a shared crate) and I would guess somewhere around seven to ten weeks old by now. They're using the litter box and they've all socialized really well -- two have become sweet cats. One of the females is still a little fearful, though, and the biggest male (The first trapped) tends to play rough -- he's also developing this tendency of launching himself onto legs from across the room. He latches on at about knee-level and climbs up as far as he can manage before he's removed. He does the same to backs and sides when someone's sitting on the floor, and rarely catches sight of fingers without trying to attack them. I'm pretty sure it's not any kind of real aggression and all in good fun, but I'm worried it'll make him undesirable to potential homes. How should I try to curb some of this behavior? Their claws are much sharper than they were when I first got them and he almost always draws blood now, even through some fabrics.
Also -- how should I treat their fleas/possible worms? I've bathed them with Dawn a few times so far. I know they're still a little too young for most regular treatments.
And would anyone happen to have advice for finding them homes? Mine and my family's social circles haven't been too helpful, the local shelters/rescues are either full or my attempts to reach out to them haven't gone well, and I'm really wary of Craigslist and the like.
