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Feral Cat Q.
Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals--
Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? Thanks Sherry |
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wrote in message oups.com... Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals-- Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? Thanks Sherry I think it all depends on what age they were caught and seperated from their mother. I've seen little 3-4 week old bitties hiss, but they come around much easier with lots of handling. Kittens caught after 6 weeks take more time to come around, but they will eventually. Many times they will stay on the shy/skittish side. -Kelly |
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On Sat 30 Jul 2005 10:14:48a, wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com): Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals-- Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? Good question Sherry. I wish I knew more about Bonnie's history before I found her, but she had to have had no contact from humans. She didn't act like she'd been abused, but just overall in fear of people - but she was much older than a little kitten. The time I had to go round up a few litters of kittens in the backyard of an elderly woman's house, the momcats were definite influences in how difficult it was to trap/catch them. They were frantically trying to keep me from getting near the kittens by constant meowing at them to "come here now". -- Cheryl "The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited breath." - W.C. Fields |
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wrote in message
oups.com... Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals-- Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? Thanks Sherry That's a good question for Megan, actually. But I'd say not. We get livetrapped kittens in all the time, and most of them come around within their 7 day stray period. The percentage rate is higher for the younger ones, though. Smaller groups usually come around faster, too. Bigger groups seem like the others reinforce the fear and feral activity. MOST of the 'feral' kittens we get in are handleable. |
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Kalyahna wrote: wrote in message oups.com... Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals-- Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? Thanks Sherry That's a good question for Megan, actually. But I'd say not. We get livetrapped kittens in all the time, and most of them come around within their 7 day stray period. The percentage rate is higher for the younger ones, though. Smaller groups usually come around faster, too. Bigger groups seem like the others reinforce the fear and feral activity. MOST of the 'feral' kittens we get in are handleable. Do you mean handleable as in, rubbing and purring all over you? For a kitten to behave that way, does it usually mean it has been socialized by humans before? Wish Arjun was around. He's such a good resource ferals. Sherry |
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wrote Yes, you guessed it. I actually found it under my car late yesterday and can't figure out how it got there. It was *very* skittish and wary, but in the last 24 hours has come around a lot. We're very isolated. If there are any feral cats around, I haven't seen them. I have about decided that either someone dumped it on purpose, or, I know it's remotely possible I carried it home in the undercarriage of the car from somewhere. It's about 4-5 months old. Here's a pic. http://members.aol.com/jjrich0523/straykitty.jpg Sherry Awww... poor little guy! I hope everything turns out OK for him. PS - Arjun, good to see you again! I know you don't really know me, but I've always appreciated your posts and you are such a great source of info regarding TNR and ferals. Keep up the good work! -Kelly |
#10
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wrote in message oups.com... Here's a question for anyone who knows anything about ferals-- Will the offspring of a feral cat *always* be wild WRT human contact? It depends on two things: how early the kitten was exposed to human contact. Feral kittens 3 months old are fairly easy to tame and accept human handling happily. But the age at which kittens will adapt to human handling varies among cats. I have two former ferals that I trapped at 6 and 8 months. Both are completely socialized- although one took a little longer. The eight-month-old took longer to come around than the six-month old, and the six-month old took longer than three-month old ferals I've trapped and socialized. Another factor is the mother. The kitten's mother has a strong influence on her kittens' attitude towards people- a friendly mother is more likely to have friendly kittens- this is probably a result of learning through observation rather than genetics. In my experience, kittens born to feral mothers from a managed colony tend to be much more friendly and easier to adapt to human contact than feral kittens born to mothers with no human contact. That is to ask, if a stray kitten can be handled by humans, can you always assume that it's been socialized by humans before? Or are there feral kittens who allow themselves to be caught/handled? The terms 'stray' and 'feral' are not interchangeable. A friendly feral kitten could have had a friendly mother and a stray kitten could have had an unfriendly mother. In a cases like this it would tough to tell the difference without knowing the mothers' history. I'm not sure if I answered your question. ;-/ Phil |
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