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Old September 21st 04, 05:58 PM
formerly known as 'cat arranger'
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"Ar Fai Ve" wrote in message
...
: I discovered a feral cat and her kitten living under my
: deck last Monday. I fed them dry food outside a few times,
: and they immediately caught on to the pattern, and by
: Wednesday morning they were coming to my door to wait for
: the food. On Thursday, I used a live trap and caught them
: and took them to the vet. They got a full health assessment,
: all the standard tests for diseases and parasites, and
: both were neutered. I am going to try to make both cats
: indoor cats, and my main concern is the ability to which
: the mother cat can be rehabilitated. She is about 1.5
: years old, and as far as I know has spent her whole life
: outdoors.
:
: The kitten is only 8 weeks old, and he is really friendly
: and social. The mother on the other hand is pretty much
: hiding in a corner of my walk-in clothing closet. I tried to
: offer her some wet cat food from a plastic spoon, and she just
: spits and hits the spoon when it is offered towards her. I am
: wondering if anyone has suggestions for how to proceed in
: working with the mother cat. Should I let her stay in the
: closet until she is ready to venture farther, or should I
: have her live in a cage during this adjustment period?
:
: Thanks.

We have had so much fun and learned so much with out two
feral kittens, and they bit hard and scratched. I never thought
they would get on the bed, much less become the happiest
and friendliest of all of our cats. Dangling something like a string
when they aren't receptive to affection worked and put them in
a less fearful frame of mind. That wasn't possible for at least
a week though. They were really scared and fierce. Putting
another kitten that knows you with them helped a lot too. One
of our older cats that we call "CPS" for cat protective services,
because he protects all of the foster kittens, honestly, was a
big help too. He was licking and laying next to them a long time
before they would even not hide when we came into the room.
We were keeping them in a storage box, plastic with holes
drilled for air. They escaped and we thought they were going
to hide forever, but being under our bed actually helped. I
wish you luck. They are so friendly and unafraid now which
I can't say for the set of feral kitties we raised in the garage
who seem to be skittish, although the exception is when I am
playing the piano, one sits on the piano and rolls over and makes
noise and tries to play too, which is weird because I have
headphones on. : -) and no one can hear the sounds. I guess
cats can though.