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- Aug 4, 2014
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We trapped two feral kittens around 6 weeks old. It took us another two weeks to trap their two other siblings, so they were about 8 weeks old then.
The first two socialized wonderfully, and we already have homes lined up for both once we have them spayed/vaccinated/chipped.
But the two we caught last are simply not coming around AT ALL.
Many of you will know that this is not my first rodeo. But with that experience has come the knowledge that even some kittens simply don’t have good predispositions for becoming adoptable.
This wasn’t much of an issue for us before because we had room in our home to take in the ones who didn’t come around well enough, but we are now beyond maxed out. If we fail to make them adoptable, we are completely screwed.
And they are too old and unsocialized for local rescues to take them. They absolutely will not do it, I’ve been through this countless times before when I didn’t have the time or space to socialize older kittens.
I have done everything I can for these two. One still will not even eat within 3 feet of me after nearly 3 weeks now and is just completely terrified (I wouldn’t be concerned if this happened with an adult, but it’s concerning for a kitten).
The other one is better, but she has still been failing to progress nonetheless. I can rarely pet her when she eats, but we can’t seem to get past that. I also can’t contain either in a burrito to be a bit more forceful with interactions.
We just trapped two kittens from another litter who are 12 weeks old, and I’ve literally already made more progress with those two in less than a week than this other pair from the first litter - and we even had much less contact with this second litter than the first litter prior to trapping. This is definitely a genetic predisposition thing in my opinion.
They are about 11 weeks old now. We can get them in for spays this Thursday and give them a few days of recovery before returning them, but at that point, they will have been away from the colony for 4 weeks, and I have no clue how good the memory of kittens this age are.
Will they remember the colony if we return them? Or is returning them too risky for their safety? Anyone have any input here?
The first two socialized wonderfully, and we already have homes lined up for both once we have them spayed/vaccinated/chipped.
But the two we caught last are simply not coming around AT ALL.
Many of you will know that this is not my first rodeo. But with that experience has come the knowledge that even some kittens simply don’t have good predispositions for becoming adoptable.
This wasn’t much of an issue for us before because we had room in our home to take in the ones who didn’t come around well enough, but we are now beyond maxed out. If we fail to make them adoptable, we are completely screwed.
And they are too old and unsocialized for local rescues to take them. They absolutely will not do it, I’ve been through this countless times before when I didn’t have the time or space to socialize older kittens.
I have done everything I can for these two. One still will not even eat within 3 feet of me after nearly 3 weeks now and is just completely terrified (I wouldn’t be concerned if this happened with an adult, but it’s concerning for a kitten).
The other one is better, but she has still been failing to progress nonetheless. I can rarely pet her when she eats, but we can’t seem to get past that. I also can’t contain either in a burrito to be a bit more forceful with interactions.
We just trapped two kittens from another litter who are 12 weeks old, and I’ve literally already made more progress with those two in less than a week than this other pair from the first litter - and we even had much less contact with this second litter than the first litter prior to trapping. This is definitely a genetic predisposition thing in my opinion.
They are about 11 weeks old now. We can get them in for spays this Thursday and give them a few days of recovery before returning them, but at that point, they will have been away from the colony for 4 weeks, and I have no clue how good the memory of kittens this age are.
Will they remember the colony if we return them? Or is returning them too risky for their safety? Anyone have any input here?