When To Let Feral Kittens Roam?

[atp0726]

I rescued 2 feral kittens from a woodchuck hole in my front yard 3ft from a busy road 3 weeks ago. They were caught in humane traps and went from hissing scared kittens to purring, meowing, craving attention little kitties. I can pick both up and they will sit in my lap for a while. They were just neutered this week and each weighed just shy of 3lbs so they are estimating at 3 weeks.

I have kept them in my home office/guest room where i work everyday and they have done great and are completely comfortable. We have company coming so i moved them to the master bath and they initially seemed very scared. I sat with them while they ate and they started exploring timidly.

One of the kittens is much more shy than the other and took much longer to warm up. In the guest bedroom I made sure he had no hiding spots where I couldn't get to him and that seemed to work well.

My question is: How do I acclimate them to the rest of the house? I almost have my wife convinced to keep both of them but she is nervous they will never be able to roam. We have a good size house around 2500 sqft with an open floor plan. The only way to slowly give them access is by the bedrooms, the rest of the house is almost completely open. I fear the more timid kitten will revert to being feral once he has a multitude of hiding spots.

I would like to eventaully have their main litter boxes in the basement which opens a ton of other hiding places.

Any insight or suggestions?

 

[tabbytom]

Hello atp0726, welcome to TCS

Thank you for rescuing these two kitties and giving them a fur-ever warm and loving home

First and foremost is not to freak them out. Since they are purring and looks like they have gotten used to you except for the rest of the house, keep their confidence high in you. Things will slowly fall into place if you don’t rush it.

Leave toys and towels or blankets where they are so that they can get their scents on them. After a few days or so and once they have their scents on it, Place the towels or toys or blankets around the room, let them out to explore and when they have familiar scents, they feel safe. Slowly move the items around the house and as they begin exploring the house, which you want them to, the same familiar scent is there. Also you can do likewise with your clean used clothings, leave it with them for awhile and move it together with the rest of the items. This way, your scent is there too as they have already gotten use to you.

Just make sure they can run back to the safe room where they are now when they are frightened by loud noise or other movements in the house. After sometime, they should have the confidence in moving around without fear.

On top of it all, make sure all windows are securely closed and no doors to the outside are left opened to give them an escape route. Also plugged up all possible hidey holes as kittens are very good at hiding in tight places.
Also keep all medications and toxic stuffs out of their way and also human foods like garlic, chocolate, onions and so on away from them and also certain plants and flowers are toxic to them too.

Some articles for you to read :-
How To Get A Cat To Come Out Of Hiding?
16 Top Cat Experts Share Tips For Dealing With Timid Cats
Cats And Discipline Don't Mix
5 Reasons To Never Spray Water On Your Cat
Cats & Lilies: Avoid The Danger Lurking In Your Home
Pet Poison | List of Pet Toxins for Dogs and Cats
Animal Poison Control
Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List - Cats
Toxic Plants


If you can, have more litter boxes around the house so that’s they don’t have to go back to the safe room to pee or poop as when they are young, they may not be able to make it back to the litter box when they are far away as your house is pretty big.

Do check out the many informative articles we have here Articles | The Cat Site

Play with them often :-
Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know
How And Why Do Cats Play?
Get scratching posts for them, Cat trees and one good place is a window with a good view of the outside. From the window, they can look at birds and squirrels and it’s like a big screen tv to them.

Feel free to ask questions and we do hope that the kittens settle in well and please do shower them with lots of love.
Formula is love, patience and routine.

Please show us photos of the kitties

 

[msaimee]

Did you say they are in a bathroom now? That's probably a big change for them from being in a bedroom. Would it be possible to move them into your bedroom or another bedroom? They might be more comfortable being in a more familiar kind of room. It takes cats a bit to adjust to change, but no worries, it's highly doubtful they will revert to being ferals.

To begin to acclimate them to your house you could keep their room door open half way for a period of time each day when you're around to supervise them so they can explore different parts of your house bit by bit. They're kittens so they will want to explore. Maybe leave catnip toys in other parts of the house. Consider getting them a cat tree--cats love to climb and play on them and they provide height and cubby holes for security. You van find the best prices on Amazon and Ebay. I bet that within a few weeks or months your kitties will likely have the run of your house.

I hope you can keep them together. Most cats are happier when they have a cat buddy to play and snuggle with. It takes some time and patience for any pet to adjust to a new home, and it sounds like you're making wonderful progress.

 

[atp0726]

Thanks for the tips and links to articles! As I write this I can hear them in the upstairs master bath running and playing. My guests that are visiting are helping with the socialization process so they don't just get used to my family. I like the idea of slowly giving them access to the house from their "safe room" I have been amazed by the small spaces they can fit into but they are extremely food motivated and some wet food will most likely bring them out.

I am planning on getting a cat tree from most likely Amazon. Just trying to decide on which one. I am leaning toward the ones that look less like a typical cat tree and more like a tree.

I will be searching this forum for other tips as I haven't had a cat since I was a child.

Thanks again for the responses, very informative!

 

[atp0726]

Here's a pic of the brothers.

 

[tabbytom]

They are lovely and cute!

 

[bigbadbass]

absolutely adorable!

 

[ashade1]

Beautiful babies! I don't have any other tips than the ones given already! I am assuming you meant three months and not three weeks in the first post?
Thank you for caring for these babies!

 

[msaimee]

I got this one on Amazon for about 80 dollars. Your kittys are gorgeous