Hello all!
I have read several posts on feral cat taming, but none seem to apply completely to what I'm going through, I'm really desperate right now, hope you can help.
About a week ago we caught 2 kittens that were living in my neighbor's house with her mom. The neighbor had called pest control (I live in Spain, don't know the exact translation of this agency) to take them away, which -at least in Spain- is a death sentence. They take them to cages full of parasites and infections and if they are not adopted in 2 or 3 days they are killed.
Anyways, we tried to get the mom too, but she ran away and haven't seen her since, so now I have two very scared kittens with me. They are really aggressive (ie. scared), and they will bolt and hide as soon as I walk in, they barely tolerate my presence when I feed them, and they become very hissy and anxious, even shaking, when I'm near.
I have followed the advice I have read here: gave them their private place, didn't disturb them for several days, haven't tried to pick them up or touch them, feed them and talk to them at the same time every day, etc... But they just won't make any progress whatsoever. They become very agitated when I'm near. It's not that they become nervous, they become almost spastic, hiding and hissing even when I'm not near. They only come out to eat, and they growl the whole time they're eating, even if I'm far. When I try to touch them lightly they jump off and run away.
I'm really at a loss here, nothing seems to work, and I can't keep them here forever, but nobody will want to adopt them if they scratch and hiss and run away.
Any help will be gladly appreciated (sorry for the long post).
I have read several posts on feral cat taming, but none seem to apply completely to what I'm going through, I'm really desperate right now, hope you can help.
About a week ago we caught 2 kittens that were living in my neighbor's house with her mom. The neighbor had called pest control (I live in Spain, don't know the exact translation of this agency) to take them away, which -at least in Spain- is a death sentence. They take them to cages full of parasites and infections and if they are not adopted in 2 or 3 days they are killed.
Anyways, we tried to get the mom too, but she ran away and haven't seen her since, so now I have two very scared kittens with me. They are really aggressive (ie. scared), and they will bolt and hide as soon as I walk in, they barely tolerate my presence when I feed them, and they become very hissy and anxious, even shaking, when I'm near.
I have followed the advice I have read here: gave them their private place, didn't disturb them for several days, haven't tried to pick them up or touch them, feed them and talk to them at the same time every day, etc... But they just won't make any progress whatsoever. They become very agitated when I'm near. It's not that they become nervous, they become almost spastic, hiding and hissing even when I'm not near. They only come out to eat, and they growl the whole time they're eating, even if I'm far. When I try to touch them lightly they jump off and run away.
I'm really at a loss here, nothing seems to work, and I can't keep them here forever, but nobody will want to adopt them if they scratch and hiss and run away.
Any help will be gladly appreciated (sorry for the long post).