- Joined
- Sep 29, 2005
- Messages
- 108
- Purraise
- 1
hi everyone! after my sweet mabel crossed the rainbow bridge in january, i said, "i won't be able to have another cat for a long time..." so two weeks ago, i brought her canned food up to the local shelter. no sense letting it go to waste, right?
while i was there, i fell in love with 2 8.5mos old kittens. ruby and roxy. thought about them for a week, and ended up bringing them home.
they were both former ferals (not siblings, but definitely bonded), brought into the shelter at 3 & 4 mos (not sure which was which). both were fostered for a month (together), spayed, tested neg for all the nasty kitty diseases and then brought back to the shelter. and basically haven't been socialized since. they were in the cage with each other and a male kitten about their age. since mid-October.
roxy has warmed up to us. she will let us pet her; she will come out of her bed when we come into the bedroom.
ruby wants nothing to do with us. she will let us pet her (and she will purr), as long as she's in her bed. and she will play with Da Bird and with roxy.
but both of them run like a bat out of hell if we walk by them or bend to pet them. which makes it difficult to administer eye drops for pink eye.
i guess my question is, will they ever not cower like we're going to beat them when we slowly reach to pet? will they ever approach us, instead of us going to them? anyway to make this housewarming more welcoming for them?
right now, they are in a 10x14 bedroom, with litterbox, food, water, lots of toys, a bed in a cardboard box and lots of mommy's attention.
i go in and spend 30 to 45 minutes with them at a time. the only time i pick them up is to give them eye drops.
should i just give them more time? how long should i keep them confined to the bedroom? it's been 8 days. (no other pets and no children, just dh & myself.) should i be trying to pick them up when NOT giving the eye drops? ideally, i'd like to get them used to being held and petted.
any insight or tips? i've never had shy animals before, and i want to do what's best for them. thanks!
while i was there, i fell in love with 2 8.5mos old kittens. ruby and roxy. thought about them for a week, and ended up bringing them home.
they were both former ferals (not siblings, but definitely bonded), brought into the shelter at 3 & 4 mos (not sure which was which). both were fostered for a month (together), spayed, tested neg for all the nasty kitty diseases and then brought back to the shelter. and basically haven't been socialized since. they were in the cage with each other and a male kitten about their age. since mid-October.
roxy has warmed up to us. she will let us pet her; she will come out of her bed when we come into the bedroom.
ruby wants nothing to do with us. she will let us pet her (and she will purr), as long as she's in her bed. and she will play with Da Bird and with roxy.
but both of them run like a bat out of hell if we walk by them or bend to pet them. which makes it difficult to administer eye drops for pink eye.
i guess my question is, will they ever not cower like we're going to beat them when we slowly reach to pet? will they ever approach us, instead of us going to them? anyway to make this housewarming more welcoming for them?
right now, they are in a 10x14 bedroom, with litterbox, food, water, lots of toys, a bed in a cardboard box and lots of mommy's attention.
should i just give them more time? how long should i keep them confined to the bedroom? it's been 8 days. (no other pets and no children, just dh & myself.) should i be trying to pick them up when NOT giving the eye drops? ideally, i'd like to get them used to being held and petted.
any insight or tips? i've never had shy animals before, and i want to do what's best for them. thanks!