Kitten remains afraid

I am working with a three-month-old feral kitten. She has only been with me for about 10 days. When she arrived, with her brother, they were both terrified. I had never heard kittens scream before! Anyway, we separated the two and the boy kitten is at another house. The female has been combo tested and I am socializing her ready for adoption. She has come a long way. When I pick her up, she loves to be petted. She rolls over for her tummy to be rubbed. She purrs up a storm. Uses the litter box just fine and is now learning how to play with the Cat Dancer. She also likes a toy mouse. The problem is that we seem to have reached a plateau. She still hides behind the toilet or in her carrier in the bathroom and she still hisses upon seeing me for the first time. In order for her to be adopted, she needs to have the courage to approach me for the attention that she clearly enjoys. I take her into the other rooms in her carrrier so that she can "meet" my cats and she seems comfortable with that. What do I do at this point to encourage her to make the leap of faith and come to me? I remember when I fostered four kittens that I snatched out of the wilderness. They ran to me every time I opened the bathroom door. I would love for this kitten to get there.

Sounds like you are making good progress...best thing to do is to allow the kitten time.

Katie

I am curious why you separated the littermates?

Originally Posted by hissy

I am curious why you separated the littermates?

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It can be a good thing to seperate. Sometimes when they're left together one kitten will become shy and the other outgoing. Plus this makes the kittens become depended on you and not each other.

Also may I suggest you have others besides yourself interact with the kittens? This helps them socialize not only with you. When we rescue feral kittens we seclude them in the bathroom (which sounds like what you did) and have friends come over and sit with them and play. We have some friends that just love to do this for us.

Good luck it sounds like you're doing all the right things. It just takes time and patience.

my wee alfie a semi feral and his sister wee maggie are still shy after 5 weeks ,alfie cmes to us after a few minutes but his sister is starting to come round a little now but is still scared when she does get close alfie nudges her away from us, so its taking longer with her to socialise, they both escaped yesterday (afriend from ireland ) let them OUT , god i wasnt a happy mum but alfie came back right away and 9 hours later we enticed maggie back with hunger i think so im spending more time with her as i think if she was more socialised with us she would have came back right away too, she didnt go far just about the back yards but its still frightning , anyway good luck to you and the wee kittie it sounds if your getting there cheers cheryl xxxx

Try giving her special treats when she first sees you. Ham, Cheese, or Cream Cheese on your finger. It sounds like you're making great progress as it is. She will just need a little more time to trust humans.

It's so much fun watching a feral come out of it's shell and trust!


Donna

Just please be careful you don't upset their tummys with the special treat. Stick to something like tuna or canned cat food, to be safe.

I've had stormie for month's and I don't think she will ever get out of that stage if anyone knows how to get her going let me know, (but don't say more time, she has had months and she is still that way) It would really be nice if I could socialize her since she has tore her neck open again.

Don't say that Some cats can take a year to come around. Keep being patient and EVENTUALLY she should change, but maybe not, all cats are different. Time is the thing to say because apparently your cat does need more time to come around. You can try a Feliway Plug-In too.

Yeah, I've had Timmy about a year now and he's just starting to act like a normal cat...sometimes...

where can i buy feliway can i get this in scotland and what does this do thanks all cheryl xxx. will this help my older cat snowi accept them a bit more they are fine and sit and try to play with her but shes not having any of it xx.

you can buy it at your vets or on ebay. you can also go to kelkoo.co.uk to find the cheapest website if you want to buy it online.