Almost a month ago now, we were able to catch a feral 6-8ish week old kitten that was living in our yard. We have her in a large kennel in a back room to herself, and our goal is to socialize her enough to be able to find a home.
We had a large set back though. Either my hubby or I (let's face it probably him) didn't latched the kennel door right and the kitten got out. She was still confined to the one room, but it's a back storage room with lots of junk and way too many places to hide.
I tried to entice her out with food. Id place it at the front of her hiding spot and wait over an hour for her to come. But she never did. The food would be gone later but she would never eat while someone was in the room.
It took a lot of work but we managed to clean the storage room of most things and recapture the kitten in the kennel.
We've been taking turns every day for a week feeding her and just sitting on the floor next to her so she gets used to seeing, smelling, hearing us.
Today, a week after recapture and over a month since we first caught her, she FINALLY relaxed enough in my presence to eat in front of me! I am so proud of her, and I'm so relieved at this small sign of progress. I was beginning to become worried that we'd not be able to help her with our limited experience and would have to bring her to the humane society. But now, I know our hard work and patience is starting to pay off!
She has a little box bed that she likes to sit in, and would not get completely out of it to eat. So I think our next goal should be to get her to come all the way out of the box for food.
This is the first time we've ever attempted anything with a stray or feral cat. So if anyone with more experience would like to give me advice on how to precede from here, it would be much appreciated!
Wish us luck everybody!
We had a large set back though. Either my hubby or I (let's face it probably him) didn't latched the kennel door right and the kitten got out. She was still confined to the one room, but it's a back storage room with lots of junk and way too many places to hide.
I tried to entice her out with food. Id place it at the front of her hiding spot and wait over an hour for her to come. But she never did. The food would be gone later but she would never eat while someone was in the room.
It took a lot of work but we managed to clean the storage room of most things and recapture the kitten in the kennel.
We've been taking turns every day for a week feeding her and just sitting on the floor next to her so she gets used to seeing, smelling, hearing us.
Today, a week after recapture and over a month since we first caught her, she FINALLY relaxed enough in my presence to eat in front of me! I am so proud of her, and I'm so relieved at this small sign of progress. I was beginning to become worried that we'd not be able to help her with our limited experience and would have to bring her to the humane society. But now, I know our hard work and patience is starting to pay off!
She has a little box bed that she likes to sit in, and would not get completely out of it to eat. So I think our next goal should be to get her to come all the way out of the box for food.
This is the first time we've ever attempted anything with a stray or feral cat. So if anyone with more experience would like to give me advice on how to precede from here, it would be much appreciated!
Wish us luck everybody!