An update on Dusty and Lily

[chrisbrault]

I wanted to give you all an update on my two semi-feral kittens, it's been a month now and we are definitely making progress!
We still have Dusty and Lily in the bedroom - this was the BEST advice ever offered me. We can pet them both occasionally, pick them up once in a while even! They have both taken to sleeping on the foot of our bed and when we aren't in bed and are out of the room, they sleep in the middle of the bed. Lily has more or less "caught up" with her brother in outgoingness, and both of them are very active - they chase each other around, play a LOT, and esp love chasing a rope my husband plays with them with.
We're sitll only feeding them when we are in the room, and I think it will still be a couple weeks before we can release them into the entire house, still trying to come up with ways to keep them from getting upstairs into the same hiding places as before.
We have them both scheduled to be fixed (thanks to a low-cost option in another county that will accept me) on Jan 9th...not too early, I'm thinking, as Dusty is definitely feeling his oats and trying to figure out how to mate. Lily's shown no signs of her first heat at all, so we're still safe on that front for now, but I'm already thinking we may need to seperate them in the interim.

 

[sarahp]

That's great news! Having them in the bedroom is a great thing, and makes such a difference, they learn to approach you in your most vulnerable state (when you're asleep), and check you out, and snuggle up - they aren't silly, they know we are warm

Keep on going with the "play therapy", it helps give them confidence, and helps remind them that people are fun

That's great they're booked in to be fixed, it will help as well. How old are they now?

Keep up the good work, you're doing great

 

[ellsworth]

I've had my 3 ferals for almost 6 months now. Even though it seemed like I was hardly making any headway with them on a day to day basis, two of the three are now essentially tame, except for the running and hiding whenever something out of the ordinary occurs, and the third exceptionally timid cat is at my side all the time asking to be pet, just don't pick her up. No Way.

After the first month of intense, try to make it happen, work I gave up and let them figure it out. I still continued to force the picking them up part, even if it was for only a second. I coupled it with food. They stand around waiting for the canned food, I hold the bowl, scoop a cat up and then place the bowl and the cat down together at the same time. The cat gets so interested in the bowl that she forgets to object to being picked up. That's what worked for me for 2 out of the three.

I love my cats so much. That part sort of surprised me. I'm a happy failure as a foster mom. These critters aren't leaving.