Are my fosters progressing, like they should?

rice-a-roniee

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
71
Purraise
2
Location
Northern Kentucky
I have had my foster kittens for about 3-4 wks now.
They are still hand shy and will run when approached.
They don't purr, and won't willingly let me pick them up.
They no longer bite, or scratch though.
I have the cage they are in, in a high traffic area of my home, they get handled for several short peroids each day.
Two of them no longer hiss when approached, but one of them does.
They WILL approach me to eat their wet food If I place it near me.
They get supervised play time out of their cage in a small room (which they love.. They play for the whole time they are in there.)
If I sit on the floor with them, they avoid me for quite a long time, only when My cat is around will they approach me to get to him. They Love him.

Is this normal progression, or am I doing something wrong?


This is Tanya



This is Meika


This is Mr fantastic




Also, one more question, Where would be a good place to post
pictures of my personal pets?

Thank you!
 

beckiboo

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
7,382
Purraise
4
Location
Illinois, USA
I have found this link helpful in taming my feral kittens. It is from the stickys at the top of this forum.
http://www.cat77.org.uk/articles/feral3.htm
Sometimes their progress depends on their age. I have heard that younger kittens tame quicker than older kittens. I have also heard that it can help to separate them, or just take out the wilder kitten so the others tame quicker. I did separate my two for a short time.

Mine still shy away from my hand when I try to pet them, but since I fed them from my hand, if I hold it out as if it has food in it, and call them, they usually do come towards me. Blue, who is tamer, often comes towards me as if looking for food or to play. She surprised me tonight at dinner time when just after shying away from my hand as I tried to pet her, she came up and rubbed against my hand and leg. I did pet her as she ate from the bowl.

Red would not approach the food while I sat close, but waited until I left. 17 y/o ds then pet her as she ate and she started purring until she looked at his hand and realized it was a person making her feel so good. Then she stepped away, but returned to the food. And she did play with a shoelace with me (and Blue) for about 20 minutes. Later she played with 17 y/o ds for about 1/2 hour.

I let them remain loose in their room, out of the cage, for several days before giving them free run of the house. Blue is doing very well now, in fact I may take her to an adoption show next Saturday. Red is no where near ready to be shown, but is far above where she was when I had her caged. Hissy has said that she doesn't believe in caging ferals, but giving them a room. She certainly has more experience than I do. It sure is more fun to have them running around the living room and to see them interacting with our other cats. And they do watch how the big cats are real friendly to us.

Of course, if you move towards Red, she runs into dd's bedroom and hides under the bed. But twice a day, when it is mealtime, she does come out to eat. And in the evening she is now romping around the living room with us nearby, or even playing with us from the distance of a feather toy or shoelace!

Each kitty is different, and each litter is different. I was given the tamest two kittens from a feral litter. (They were held at a vets office for over a week and treated for an illness. While there they were handled regularly and could already be picked up from the cage and held when I got them.)

Plus, my cage was in a separate bedroom/playroom. So while the kittens were exposed to the noise of kids playing video games, and CD music when we were gone, they did seem to feel that room was a sanctuary. When first let loose, they would run back to that room to hide, or even into the open cage which I kept in there. Now they sleep on dd's bed all day, and hide under it as "needed".
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

rice-a-roniee

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
71
Purraise
2
Location
Northern Kentucky
Thank you for all the help!
The three kittens, are all from the same litter as far as I know. I am still trying to capture the mother cat and remaining kitten.
 

semiferal

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 15, 2005
Messages
1,890
Purraise
9
Location
in my apartment
I would recommend putting them in separate cages at this point. Kittens are by nature highly social and if they are not able to get their social needs met by their siblings, they are likely to be more receptive to you.

I think this progression is normal given the apparent age of the kittens (12-14 weeks?). It takes a while at this age.

Regarding caging, I am definitely opposed to caging adult ferals for socialization. But with kittens my experience is that it's a totally different story - they tend to respond quite well to the cage as a learning tool.
 

badenzoo

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 16, 2005
Messages
84
Purraise
2
Location
In the Cat Nip Patch
Beautiful kittens!
We had a wild litter dropped off at our house the summer of 2004; they were totally wild, hissing, spitting, etc. with the worst ear mites I have ever seen. One of the females actually had a warble-- anyone out there know about warbles?? They are nasty, parasitic worms that hatch out from inside another animals bodies, after forming a cyst-like encasement. It's like science fiction- remember "Alien?"
The younger they are, the faster they tame-- we were lucky our guys were only about 5 weeks old. They are now some of the most social, friendly cats I have ever met.
We caged them initially, but let them have a room after that, and slowly introduced the other cats to them.
Take it slow and easy, and at least with ours, it seemed like they more you could handle them or let them be close to you (uncaged), the better.
Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

rice-a-roniee

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
71
Purraise
2
Location
Northern Kentucky


Thank you!

I have seen a Warble before, I worked at a very rural animal shelter ( More of a pound)
and I found a kitten that had been droppped outside, I picked it up, and saw the awful thing on its side.
It was disgusting, but Mostly I felt terrible for the kitten, it was less than a pound.


I caught the remaning kitten today, he is biggest of the kittens and A whole lot more rowdy.
Wish me luck...
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

rice-a-roniee

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
71
Purraise
2
Location
Northern Kentucky
The kitten I caught is much more unsocial, ofcourse, since he is a month older than the other kittens were when I caught them.
Any tips on how to handle him? should it be differently than the others, since he is older?
He bit me twice today, he's a rascle

He has calmed down a bit already, sniffing me through the bars of the cage, and not hissing AS much as he was.
After he was cleared by the vet to be with my other pets and fosters, I tried to see if he would like to go with his brother and sisters, he doesnt seem to recognise them, so I am keeping them seperated.
The other kittens are doing pretty well.. progressing nicely I think.
I started allowing them to explore in the house, instead of just a few rooms.
They are doing EXCELLENT.
No hissing, spitting, bitting or scratching at me. They dont hide or run when I approach them, and they have been trying to climb my christmas tree.
They have been going in the litter box instead of the floor.
they are STARTING to approach me , and will jump up on the furniture to sniff me when they are on play time.

I hope I am doing this right..



oh Iamlost forgot.
I still haven't caught the momma cat, but the house where she was staying under, closed up her hole to get under there house ( someone just moved in.) she is now staying under my house.. I could hear her through the floor, she ripped through the insulation on the bottom of my house ( thats where she was staying under the other house too.. its like she makes a nest )
and I could hear her under the floor in the room the kittens were staying in.
I re set the trap near the place she was getting under my house.
Is it okay if I let her stay under there until I catch her, or should I keep her out of there.. I mean will it harm her to be in there?

Okay, I think I asked enough questions
 
Top