Taming Feral Kittens

I think any ferrell can be tamed at any age if one works at it, but the
younger the better, violette was probably close to six month when she came
to us... Lee
"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Hi

Been reading this group for years and really enjoy it. I need some advice
on
taming feral kittens. Have a pretty serious feral cat situation in my
neighborhood. I've decided to do something about it. We've started
catching
the feral cats using have-a-hearts. My first goal was to catch two
kittens
that I estimate to be between 8-10 weeks old. We caught them last week.
My son
works for a no-kill shelter. They are willing to spay/neuter, Frontline,
deworm and prescribe antibiotics if needed to any feral cat I can catch,
at no
charge. The two feral kittens, whom we named Monica and Rachel, are in my
house, both spayed with the works (deworming, Frontline and Clavamox for
2
weeks). The vet feels these kittens can be tamed with some work. I have
them
in separate dog crates (very large crates) in different rooms. I have
been
bitten badly a few times and it has made me leery. If I can't tame these
kittens to make them adoptable, they will have to live outside. I cannot
take
in anymore cats as I am getting too close to being the crazy cat lady on
the
block I have 7 cats....not to mention the ones I feed outside, many of
which have been fixed. Can you guys with your wealth of knowledge and
wisdom
offer me advice on how to tame the kitties without losing an eye or
finger
Today I've made progress, they allow me to pet them through the crate.
They
aren't thrilled and they hiss a bit but they've made no attempt to bite
today.
When they were together.........yikes, they were quite nasty. I need to
get to
the point I take them out and hold them.

Thanks for any and all advice!


Hmm, I forgot to say that the only experience of feral kittens I have is
when I found a litter under the hedge in my paddock some years ago.
They were old enough to be hiss-spitty but not too old to scoop up, so I
did, and managed to catch momma too.
I did not have cats then,
so I took them to a no-kill shelter. One of the kittens went to a farm
that I knew and he had a great home.
Momma got spayed and put back. (I knew who she belonged to.)
I don't know what happened to the other three babies, but I am sure they
were rehomed successfully.
I don't know what the cut-off point is on taming feral kittens. These were
maybe 6/7 weeks, never seen a human before. It was pure luck I found
them.

Tweed

On Jun 26, 5:00*pm, wrote:
Hi

Been reading this group for years and really enjoy it. I need some advice on
taming feral kittens. Have a pretty serious feral cat situation in my
neighborhood. I've decided to do something about it. We've started catching
the feral cats using have-a-hearts. My first goal was to catch two kittens
that I estimate to be between 8-10 weeks old. We caught them last week. My son
works for a no-kill shelter. They are willing to spay/neuter, Frontline,
deworm and prescribe antibiotics if needed to any feral cat I can catch, at no
charge. The two feral kittens, whom we named Monica and Rachel, are in my
house, both spayed with the works (deworming, Frontline and Clavamox for 2
weeks). The vet feels these kittens can be tamed with some work. I have them
in separate dog crates (very large crates) in different rooms. I have been
bitten badly a few times and it has made me leery. If I can't tame these
kittens to make them adoptable, they will have to live outside. I cannot take
in anymore cats as I am getting too close to being the crazy cat lady on the
block I have 7 cats....not to mention the ones I feed outside, many of
which have been fixed. Can you guys with your wealth of knowledge and wisdom
offer me advice on how to tame the kitties without losing an eye or finger
Today I've made progress, they allow me to pet them through the crate. They
aren't thrilled and they hiss a bit but they've made no attempt to bite today.
When they were together.........yikes, they were quite nasty. I need to get to
the point I take them out and hold them.

Thanks for any and all advice!

Jackie
~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

ferals will hate you until they die. Even when you think you've got
one tamed, it'll turn on you. It will at least run and hide every time
you re-enter the porch. And then slowly butter up to you again. When
all you ever did was to feed it and try to offer it a better life.
ferals should all be rounded up and euthanized IMHO. they are a pure
and simple waste of good time. brain damaged or genetically impacted
in some critical way, they are.


The Nice Mean Man

On Jun 26, 4:00*pm, wrote:
Hi

Been reading this group for years and really enjoy it. I need some advice on
taming feral kittens. Have a pretty serious feral cat situation in my
neighborhood. I've decided to do something about it. We've started catching
the feral cats using have-a-hearts. My first goal was to catch two kittens
that I estimate to be between 8-10 weeks old. We caught them last week. My son
works for a no-kill shelter. They are willing to spay/neuter, Frontline,
deworm and prescribe antibiotics if needed to any feral cat I can catch, at no
charge. The two feral kittens, whom we named Monica and Rachel, are in my
house, both spayed with the works (deworming, Frontline and Clavamox for 2
weeks). The vet feels these kittens can be tamed with some work. I have them
in separate dog crates (very large crates) in different rooms. I have been
bitten badly a few times and it has made me leery. If I can't tame these
kittens to make them adoptable, they will have to live outside. I cannot take
in anymore cats as I am getting too close to being the crazy cat lady on the
block I have 7 cats....not to mention the ones I feed outside, many of
which have been fixed. Can you guys with your wealth of knowledge and wisdom
offer me advice on how to tame the kitties without losing an eye or finger
Today I've made progress, they allow me to pet them through the crate. They
aren't thrilled and they hiss a bit but they've made no attempt to bite today.
When they were together.........yikes, they were quite nasty. I need to get to
the point I take them out and hold them.

Thanks for any and all advice!

Jackie
~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

There was a wonderful guy a few years back with much experience
with ferals. There's a quote from him that I still remember:
"With ferals, food is trust, and trust is love." (or the other way
around?)

We were privileged here to be able to read Cheryl S. chronicle how she
tamed her feral Bonnie. She was very knowledgeable about the
whole process, and I remember what huge milestones it would be for
her just the times that Bonnie allowed her to pet her.

Sherry
f

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 19:18:25 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

::I didn't send you any links, just my experience, which you can ignore if it
::does not fit your situation.
::Tweed

I know you didn' send any links.....I was trying to reply to everyone in one
post. Sorry for the confusion.

Jackie
~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:10:11 -0400, wrote:

::
::Get the cheapest, smelliest canned Mackeral you can find and rub some
:n your hands before petting the cats.

LOL!.I will keep this in mind.

Jackie
~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:28:06 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

::I don't know what the cut-off point is on taming feral kittens. These were
::maybe 6/7 weeks, never seen a human before. It was pure luck I found
::them.

From what I've read, after 8 or 9 weeks it becomes increasingly difficult to
tame feral kittens. However, the shelter my son works for....has successfully
tamed adult ferals. They have volunteers that spend many, many hours a day
working with these cats. I wish the shelter would have kept these kittens.
Since my son does not live in the town where the shelter is located at, they
are not permitted to keep them.


Jackie
~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:01:44 -0700 (PDT), Sherry wrote:

::There was a wonderful guy a few years back with much experience
::with ferals. There's a quote from him that I still remember:
::"With ferals, food is trust, and trust is love." (or the other way
::around?)
::
::We were privileged here to be able to read Cheryl S. chronicle how she
::tamed her feral Bonnie. She was very knowledgeable about the
::whole process, and I remember what huge milestones it would be for
::her just the times that Bonnie allowed her to pet her.

I also read that food is a great way to tame ferals. They've eaten cheese from
my hands. At this point, they are all noise (hissing) and no bite

Jackie

~*~The one law that does not change is that everything changes, and
the hardship I was bearing today was only a breath away from the
pleasures I would have tomorrow, and those pleasures would be all
the richer because of the memories of this I was enduring~*~

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 10:34:16 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:10:11 -0400, wrote:

::
::Get the cheapest, smelliest canned Mackeral you can find and rub some
:n your hands before petting the cats.

LOL!.I will keep this in mind.


I used to do foster care for a rescue group and this was SOP when
socializing ferals or even cats that were just shy.

Food is the key. Put them in a small room (a spare bathroom is ideal)
where they have a place to hide (like under the vanity) but not so you
can't get to them.

Feed them only on a set schedule so that they come to associate your
presence with food.

If they are really terrified, just set the food down and leave. When
they calm down a bit, set the food down and watch from the other end
of the room. As days pass, move slightly closer to the food as they
are eating. Eventually, sit on the floor with the food bowl in your
lap. Let the cat set the pace. Don't move to the next step until they
appear comfortable with the current step.

Feed small quantities and keep them a bit hungry.

MsMonarchdancer wrote
Sherry wrote:

::There was a wonderful guy a few years back with much experience
::with ferals. There's a quote from him that I still remember:
::"With ferals, food is trust, and trust is love." (or the other way
::around?)
:
::We were privileged here to be able to read Cheryl S. chronicle how she
::tamed her feral Bonnie. She was very knowledgeable about the
::whole process, and I remember what huge milestones it would be for
::her just the times that Bonnie allowed her to pet her.

Yes. many milestones and sorry to be late to this thread.

Current high semi feral hit a milestone this weekend. She layed down in my
lap for petting. It was something like 2 moths ago when she finally climbed
into my lap (standing). It was about 4 weeks ago when she let me cuddle her
in my arms while standing there. It was this Saturday that she layed down
for a back rub for a bit.

She's definately not at the flip over for a tummy rub stage yet. For that
(which she loves) she has to be on the floor with us sitting beside her.
That floor rub she did within 6 months.

She's been with us since Spring 2008. 28 months I think now.

I also read that food is a great way to tame ferals. They've eaten cheese
from
my hands. At this point, they are all noise (hissing) and no bite

Feral *kittens* adapt much faster. Feral to semi-feral adults take longer.
Often years.

There's probably a true defininition of feral vs semi-feral. Mine is this:
true feral, never lived in a house and raised by a cat who had gone totally
feral by then. Mommie cat then teaches a rather different rule set to the
kittens. They still adapt fairly fast and easy if caught as young kittens
and kept indoors always.

Feral cats of any age, if allowed outdoors, adapt slower IMHO.

My definition of semi-feral. Lived in a home with people for some portion
of it's life or could be raised by a mommy cat who was raised in a people
home and fairly new to 'not being taken care of' so hasn't really adapted
her rule set yet to pass it to the kitten.

Semi-feral in my lexicon means a lesser level of impact. Often adapts to
people (to the level of the nature of the cat and not all are lap kitties,
even non-semi-ferals) within 6 months with minimal issues and minimal need
for the new 2footed family to adapt to the cat or do much special other than
wait for the cat to come to them.

High-semi-feral to me means dang near full feral but seems to recall some
earlier gentleness though it may not have been related to a 2footed person
(and can be hard to tell if it ever was). It's more a matter of patience
and allowing the cat to rediscover comfort and love are normal things as
well as ability to trust.

Daisy-cat (current high-semi-feral) shows no actual signs that she ever
loved a 2foot or lived with one other than this: She likes dogs who like
cats. From this we postulate she was raised at least in early months in a
family who had friendly dogs. It's hard to say more in her case. The vets
can't even agree if she's 4 or 6 years of age and some say might be 8.
She's not had an easy life, that much is for sure.

Daisy is about my 20th cat, of which some 15 have been various ranges of
feral in what was normally a multi-cat house from 1978 to now. A few were
re-homed over the years (3) and the rest died of natural causes in time
except one we were still working to get him to come inside who got run over
by a car.

Feel free to ask questions if Cheryl S. isn't about. My methods may not be
the same but they have worked for me.

"Stormmee" wrote

not the wrong group at all, there is lots of experience here, just that
the rescue group has people that rescue/tame and rehome all the time, i am
glad you are making progress, Lee

Yup! As you know, my current kitty is Daisy-chan.

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:02:25 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:

::And for Boyfriend. I would not describe him as ex-feral, but he was
lost
::and well on the way to being a feral cat.
::It does take a lot of patience, though. It's worth it.
::Lots of luck, Jackie

Thanks for the links! I will be reading everything. Sorry if I posted in
the
wrong group.

A little update, today...we are able to hold both kitties. While they
still
hiss a little, there are no attempts to bite us. They like their necks
stroked

This is a good sign. Also, not the wrong group to post this I think. There
seem to be more here who are familiar with it.