Oh Goodness, Please Help Me With This Feral Kitten....

Hi everyone, three years ago you all helped me out tremendously with a very feral TNR that showed up starving and today he is a happy kitty with his problems, but definately a happy boy in our household of 5 kitties. We since then have taken in another TNR that was very calm and social from the beginning and they are the best of freinds.
Now, my current tragedy....a couple of months ago 3 female kittens showed up in the neighborhood where I have a rental house. The tenant reluctantly began feeding them. Then about a month ago a very tiny kitty showed up with them, clearly from a different litter. Very wild, but would let you watch him eat and could touch him, barely.
So last Wednesday, she set the trap and we caught him first thing in the morning. I covered the cage and took him immediately to the Human Society and had him vacinated, fixed and the works. I picked him up at 4:30 and took him back to my house were I had cleaned out the garage and had kitty litter, heated house, food and water. I put the carrier while opening the door right next to the heated house and left him for the evening. Thursday morning I went out and he saw me and dashed from the house to behind the fridge so I took the carrier away. He had eaten all the food and water but not the litter box. He started yowling behind the fridge.
I put out more food and left him alone. I checked on him 2 more times, he didn't move from his spot and the food remained uneaten. He howled everytime I softly called or spoke to him. I heard him yowling in the middle of the night.
Friday, (yesterday) in the am he had used the litter box serveral times and the food was gone and he was in the back of the fridge. So I again left food and checked on him that afternoon and the food was untouched and he was yowling from the back of the fridge. So, I know he was freaked out, but I rolled the fridge away from the wall and got close to him and he ran frantically to another corner to hide, while I got a peice of plywood and wedged it back behind the fridge so he couldn't go there.
I heard him yowling again last night and this morning again his food was gone and litter used but he was hiding in a corner, not taking refuge in the little heated house and towel and just crying desperately.
What can I do for him? He is freaked out, I have been giving him a little bit of a sedative in his food that I would thought might take the edge off of his fear but apparently not!
Any suggestions would be great as he is just a little buddle of raw nerves. I am leaving him alone until I get some advice as I think I might be doing more harm than good.

Hi!
Try a ticking clock or one of those heartbeat "toys", and also some low volume classical harp music, or George Handle compositions might help this baby
@Jcatbird, most/all of your cats were adults I think but maybe you could provide thoughts?

I need more than that, he won't curl up anywhere except in a corner, refusing a bed, box towel......it's cold concrete out there! I think he is about 3 months old, so not a tiny kitten.
I want to know if I should leave him alone and just continue to feed him or should I get pushy? He seems exactly as fearful today as he was Thursday.

Hi again! Try it anyway, and cover the floor in his general area with towels or blankets. He's been through such a rough time that at this point his actual age doesn't matter as to whether a ticking clock, and certainly age won't matter in regards to whether music, will help him
If you were to pick him up and try to hold him, if he doesn't calm down I'd wait, I think.

He's using the box and eating so you have time on your side, he's just working really really hard to make sense out of it all.

Hi. I am sure at this stage, you've already tried to put the little heated house in what has now become his refuge corner? If there are any blankets that he has been on, place one of them in the house - his scent is on them.

How about leaving him some catnip, maybe even in some sort of toy?

Talk to him softly every time you go into the garage. If you can sing, sing softly too. You need to be around him, even if it is only from afar in your garage. He needs to get used to seeing you as much as possible.

My neighbor has been working for over 2-3 months to get a kitten in her backyard to accept her. She sits outside and talks softly every morning and night when she feeds this kitten and a young stray that is also in her backyard. It was just only this past week that it stopped running from her to hide. It now watches her mostly from afar, but even swatted playfully at her hand when she waved it at him/her (it was closer by and distracted because s/he has started to play in the open with the young cat).

The very fact that he started using the litterbox is a sign of progress, even if it doesn't seem like it. And, it is probably even harder for him because of what he thinks you put him through.

If it were me, I would pet him with something on a long handle. It worked for Demi, I tamed him within 3 days. I used a long-handled duster to pet him.

Thanks for all of your advice, we had a breakthough! I watch a few vidoes someone had posted on how to tame feral kittens and the key was food....baby food! I went to the store and bought some and went out to the garage where he found a new place to hide, in a half filled Pelegrino box on top of the fridge. He hissed at me but I dipped my finger in the baby food and when he smelled it something inside of him clicked and he started purring and came out of the box and long story short, I got him down on the floor eating out of a bowl while I pet and touched him...anyway we have repeated it several times, each a little more and I can't believe it. I am so happy for him....I will continue to work with him like the video outlines and I am very hopefull that I can socialized him and get him a inside home with a cat lover! I was really worried....our first feral Romeo took months before I could touch him, let alone pet him....this guy purrs and stomps and then remembers his scary self and bolts, but he is a quick learner!

That is so cool!!! I just might suggest that to my neighbor for the baby kitten in her backyard - of course, she will to "share" some of it with the young cat, no doubt!

crazeaboutcats said:

this guy purrs and stomps and then remembers his scary self and bolts, but he is a quick learner

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This is such a wonderful update, GO TEAM lol!!

That's wonderful! Good job.

Here is the video that uses the baby food for socialization. It is a 3 part video series that starts with the rescue of feral kittens and progresses through socializing. I used many of these tips when working with feral cats of any age.

Tough Love Video - UrbanCatLeague