Urgent: Need advice on reuniting feral litter mates

zazi

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I managed to trap a 4-5 month old kitten 4 nights ago. I am going to trap her two litter mates tonight.... I only have one available area to house them in at home and am wondering if it is safe to put her litter mates back with her?
Will they remember each other after 4 nights away??

The male is very friendly with me. Yesterday i went down to where they are normally and he let me pet him and pick him up etc. It won't be a problem to trap them ... I just hope they remember each other after the few days apart???

What should i do??
 

hissy

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You can try it, but don't be surprised if they fight. If your trapped kitten has been to the vet especially, that kitten will get pounced on regularly because it smells different. Your scent is on the kitten, it just doesn't have that same scent the others would be used to. Have a room set up just in case of conflict-
 
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zazi

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The one that is in the bathroom has not been handled by me or a vet yet... What do i do if they do start fighting??

Is there anything i can do to sort of prevent them from fighting?? I have some feliway...
 

hissy

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If they start fighting separate them- you can throw a towel over them if they tussle- and your inhouse kitten is going to smell different regardless of if you have touched it or not.
Sometimes it works to put them together and sometimes it turns out to not be a good idea-

Good luck!
 
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zazi

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OK....
What i'll do is trap them individually and put the male who is more handalable in with her IN the cat carrier and see how they react to each other... If it looks good i will let him out.

Then i'll bring the other female in and hopefully she will recognise him and that way they will all be one big furry family again.

this is pretty nerve wracking... I do have a smaller bathroom that the newbies can decompress in but ultimately they will have to go in together eventually...

Will keep you posted.

And just quickly... a little bit of hissing and spitting is ok? Or should i separate them as soon as anything negative happens?
 

hissy

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Hissing, spitting and growling is normal. What isn't good is low posture, tail tucked, ears flat, eyes narrowed- rabbit kicking and going airborn to fight- then you have real trouble- and be careful! Feral kittens bites are nothing to sneeze at. If you do get nailed- you need to stick your hand immediately in a hot epsom soak bath, as hot as you can stand it. Do this twice a day to bring out infection and bacteria. But if the bites are major- get to the doctor without delay-
 
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zazi

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You have such a way with words!! I'll keep an eye out for any airborne manoeuveurs.

Ok... unfortunately i managed to only trap one. The other two are still at the hotel with the mother. They are fairly old now... i think 4-5 months but since they were neutered so young i think they have sort of stuck together. I may have to leave those two where they are. They are just too unfriendly.

In fact the only reason i brought the first female in was because she was so thin. But some one at my brother in laws office is looking for a pair of cats and will hopefully take these two. In any case i will socialise them properly before rehoming them anywhere.

Anyway, i trapped the male and brought him in. They seemed to recognise each other immeadiately. The female was sniffing and licking him and generally very very very happy to see him. Everything was fine... they were exploring the place together.... until she pounced on him playfully a couple of times. The first few times he just ignored her but the last time she decided she would lean up against him and go to sleep and he gave her a bit of a POP. Nothing serious.

Now they are both two feet away from each other on the same folded up blanket. He makes a bit of a grumbly noise when she makes too much eye contact.

I hope i am not being too optimistic but he seems to just want to settle in a bit before he gets back to playing. I've sprayed the last of our feliway in the room and dabbed them both with a bit of vanilla essence.

Do you think that the male's friendliness will rub off on the other one? He is incredibly friendly for a wild cat. He will let me pick him up and pet him all over. And the only one time he swatted me he didn't use his claws...


P.S. I am eagerly anticipating the onlining of your feral cat info site.
 
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zazi

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well things are going so - so....
they don't seem to be as friendly with each other as i hoped they would be.
the male growls every time she gets too close and she ran behind him earlier and he swatted her and started growling. she seems very upset as she is obviously very fond of him and recognises him...

they have been in the same room for about 5 hours now and nothing major has happened other than what i have written.... i'm so scared that he will attack her if i go to bed tonight... and leave them together. he is a fair bit bigger than her...

what do i do???

as it is i'm spending the night in the guest room so that i can hear if anything happens... i'm so worried.... i don't want her to get hurt.
 

eatrawfish

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It sounds like you should keep them in seperate rooms during the night. They can still sniff at each other through the door.
 

hissy

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I would keep em together. If they haven't had major bloodshed by now they probably won't. Make places for her to hide and get away from him in the room, create levels of space above the floor so he can get higher than her and be secure as alpha kitty
 
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zazi

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I feel so stupid!!
I was so worried that something might happen to her last night that i took him back to the hotel where i set up the cat cafe. He rejoined his other two litter mates and the mother cat. Damn.... I feel as if i have really stuffed this up!!

My next option is to confirm with my brother in laws co worker if she is ok to take two. Then i will try and trap him again and try setting them in together again. Next time however i will trap him and let him calm down a little before putting them together again. Maybe i'll hold him over night in the smaller bathroom and then in the morning take him into her. It will also give me a chance to put my scent on both of them.

This time i hope i will be better prepared. I should be able to confirm wether she will take one or two on Sunday.

I feel like such an idiot. If you guys have any ideas about what i ought to be doing please do let me know.
 

tnr1

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I feel so stupid!! I was so worried that something might happen to her last night that i took him back to the hotel where i set up the cat cafe. He rejoined his other two litter mates and the mother cat. Damn.... I feel as if i have really stuffed this up!!
Zazi..you are doing wonderful..so please don't beat yourself up. I am sending good retrap vibes.


Katie
 

wally meow

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Hi! I think that you are being to hard on yourself, don't worry so much
Take it easy, the young cats will get use to eachother if you coax them little by little... I have a grown male tabby, and awhile ago I adopted a grey street kitten, at first it was a big hissing here and there, although my tabby is not an aggressive cat he was upset, well the heart of the story is that now they are best pals and everything is ok.. I honestly don't think that 4 days are going to be a big problem... Relax! And put them together in a spacey room feed them together and you'll see everything will be ok
Let me know how things turn out!
 
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zazi

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Good news!!!

To escape from all the stress i've been under with the cats etc last night i thought i'd go out and let my hair down and went over to an old friends apartment.
It turns out that she is moving out but her flat mate is not and her flat mate and the new flat mate who was also there want two cats. And they seemed quite happy to take these two as they have been spayed etc.

so i guess tonight is the night guys...
send those "easy re-trap vibes"... going out today to get hold of another box for the bathroom.


wish us luck!!
 
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zazi

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moved kitty to guest bed room and she instantly relaxed... she seems to have stopped hissing so much... i am guessing that the reason for this is that unthinkingly i put her in the bathroom where we usually keep our regular kitty litter and we moved our regular litter in our bathroom... i guess she must have not been very at ease in there due to the smells of our other 3 cats.

now the guest room is the room with the least traffic from our cats and she seems to be quite ... relaxed! She started exploring as soon as i moved her in there. maybe that is why her brother had such a negative reaction to her two days ago. maybe he was smelling OUR cats and not her!! I also think the space has made her feel less threatened...

anyway... this evening i'll be going to trap the male again. hopefully he is as cooperative as he was last time. and hopefully this time he will be less freaked out by all those smells.

have decided on a name for the cats... was initially toying with tigger for the boy and roo for the girl but i may go with Yma - the reason for that is she came out of her box right on cue to a very dramatic Yma Sumac track that was playing in the room that she is in.
Yma Sumac...?? is it too much to name a tiny kitten after one of the greatest opera singers of our time?????
 
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zazi

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well since moving her to the new room she definetly seems more relaxed. today we both fell asleep on the guest bed... not touching but on the same bed. she hasn't hissed at me since i moved her!!!!

i brought her brother in from down the road this evening. it was interesting that while in the carrier they sniffed noses and there was NO sign of any aggression and so i let him out. They both ran into the same box together and everything was fine for a moment or two... then there was some hissing and growling and a bit of a kefuffle and they both came back out again.

she keeps making these cute little chirruping noises towards him but he doesn't return them... and he hisses at her when they make eye contact and growls at her sometimes also. but then at the food bowl he went right up behind her and waited for her to finish before he started eating.

i'm not sure if these mixed messages are good or bad but we'll take it as it comes. i am spending the night in there with them just in case.

tomorrow if i can get a yes from my brother in laws work mate that she wants two then i will give these two to her once they are socialised ... then in the mean time i can go down and get the other two tomorrow and start socialising them and give those to the girl who wants a pair in a few weeks time!!

i'm still very uneasy about the brother and sister being together as i have no prior experience but i really hope my plan works out. since i came across them a few months ago it's been my secret wish that i could find a home for them all.
 
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