"Sharon Talbert" wrote in message
. washington.edu...

Wendy, how is the ferocious feral kitten coming? Your story reminded me
of a black kitten who inspired the term, "pink hisses." Though in your
case (and hers, as well), the hisses were more than just noives.

What you might try for Red Tongue is isolating him/her in cage with you as
the only contact. Physical contact is very important to kittens; you just
may start to look pretty good to this kitten after a day or two "in stir."

Separating the fractious kitten from its siblings may well help settle the
other kittens down as well.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats

Thelma (aka Red Tongue) is coming along slowly and her tongue is no longer
bright red. I guess it must have been from her being so freaked out. She no
longer launches herself across the cage at me and tolerates being picked
up.. She puts up with the tickles under the chin and every once in a while
almost looks like she's considering whether to enjoy it or not. Then she
catches herself and down go the ears. Her sister, Louise, OTOH has become a
traitor and gone over to the other side. She cries for attention and does a
fair amount of purring when picked up and snuggled for a bit. We also now
have her brother who is very shy but does like the chin tickle and isn't
afraid to show it. He isn't wild about being picked up but will tolerate it
as long as it isn't for long. So I'm at least able to clean out the cage
without risking skin and don't have to resort to the welders gloves. I've
been able to worm all of them and get their ears cleaned out and treated
for ear mites.

I never would have thought of isolating her. I would have been afraid that
might have upset her more. Do you think that still might help her? If so
I'll certainly give it a try.

We have 7 kittens from that "colony" and 4 are pretty friendly and the other
three are still works in progress. At what point do you start showing them
for adoption?

W