Our little feral kitten (I'm guessing ~10 weeks old) has been in our care for about a week. We are keeping her in a large dog crate on top of a table. The crate is about 2'x3'x2.5' high (I'm estimating...I'm at work right now). There is room for a single story round kitty condo, a small litter box, food and water, and floor space to lounge.
We have gotten her mostly used to our presence, as long as we don't touch her. She will eat with us just outside the cage, at least if she is hungry. I have put my fingers near her, and even touched her paws. When she backs up, we stop and back off a bit. I do think there is slow but mostly steady progress. We are following the other advice we've found on the web re: how to interact with her.
Some of the advice I've read says that she should really be in a small room. I can see the advantage - she could really play (laps in the cage chasing the red dot just isn't the same), we can work on getting her to approach by putting the food closer each day, etc. The problem is that I don't have a room I can put her in. The main bathroom wouldn't work, and the other bathroom is too tiny for humans to sit in and interact with the kitten. Closing off any of the bedrooms wouldn't work, and I live with a packrat...too much effort to eliminate hiding spots. The only thing I can think of is to make some sort of temporary room within our den.
So my question is: how important is it that we have the kitten in a room versus a large cage. Have any of you successfully socialized a kitten in a large cage? If I do need to make a temporary "room", any advice on how to do it on the cheap and easy?
I am having to learn patience. I so want to pick her up and cuddle her. I know socialization has to be at her pace...I just wish her pace was faster :-)
We have gotten her mostly used to our presence, as long as we don't touch her. She will eat with us just outside the cage, at least if she is hungry. I have put my fingers near her, and even touched her paws. When she backs up, we stop and back off a bit. I do think there is slow but mostly steady progress. We are following the other advice we've found on the web re: how to interact with her.
Some of the advice I've read says that she should really be in a small room. I can see the advantage - she could really play (laps in the cage chasing the red dot just isn't the same), we can work on getting her to approach by putting the food closer each day, etc. The problem is that I don't have a room I can put her in. The main bathroom wouldn't work, and the other bathroom is too tiny for humans to sit in and interact with the kitten. Closing off any of the bedrooms wouldn't work, and I live with a packrat...too much effort to eliminate hiding spots. The only thing I can think of is to make some sort of temporary room within our den.
So my question is: how important is it that we have the kitten in a room versus a large cage. Have any of you successfully socialized a kitten in a large cage? If I do need to make a temporary "room", any advice on how to do it on the cheap and easy?
I am having to learn patience. I so want to pick her up and cuddle her. I know socialization has to be at her pace...I just wish her pace was faster :-)