Grateful for any advice

[newbieneedshelp]

My feral kitten has really turned around and I was the same way as you. I felt that I had betrayed her trust and held her captive. She is really really happy now in her new digs. I don't want to think of it as Stockholm Syndrome. I think that after all is said and done, she seems to really like it here and is happy to see us every day. When we had a thunder storm, she didn't have to cower or run. She doesn't have to freak out when sirens go by. She knows she is safe. At the core, cats are really about survival. I think she may recognize that she has a much better chance of that now.

 

[newbieneedshelp]

Your stories, or the way you relate them, are highly entertaining. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kittychick]

You've gotten lots of good advice already -but ill chime in anyway as we just ( successfully) went through this times three!! First-block off as much off the spaces the kitten can wriggle into/under -- the less he can hide, the sooner he 'll be forced to bond. Promise - it helps ENORMOUSLY!!! Don't leave the extra yummy food out when you're not there. Leave hard & water out at all times, but the treats should be for only when you, god of love & giver of all things yummy, appear! We've found Gerbers (pretty sure it's Stage 1) Chicken with Gravy (& boy does it smell yummy !) is what we've come to call "kitty Crack." We only offer it from a spoon, & use it to lure them closer & closer, slowly. Eating out of our laps within days!!! A zap on low for 3 or 4 secs in the micro further increases the yummy "stank" (just test it's not too hot). Kittens also do love tuna-but tuna alone is not enough. And we've found Kitty Crack & even cheap sliced ham are more sure-fire lures. Another almost sure-fire--//a laser pointer. Easy to draw them our....dance it around the carpet & walls. Neat trick? If you need to get them into a carrier to take to vet.....have the follow laser pointer right into carrier & close door behind them! Leave something on with voices in their room--/talk radio on low 24/7....or tv turned low. And when you're in with them-read read read and talk talk talk!!! Always in soft, sweet,,-almost sing song tones. And always immediately sit low-preferably on the floor for everything-earing, feeding, readng etc. The more youre on their level the better! One last trick - after we blocked off under the bed, and all places under dressers, etc -we set up a "safe house" for them....a small carrier with a used towel that smelled like us.

Keep us posted! And let us know what they seem to enjoy literarily!

 

[kittychick]

(It's possible she's past all what I just wrote-but it's even good for times she regresses if she's already truly come out of her shell! Again keep us posted -maybe a photo or two too!

 

[krz]

I am just reading this, you are awesome for rescuing this kitten! I really can't think of anything to add, you have been given so much great advice, --patience, harp music- I love the CDs by Diane Schneider, specifically for calming cats, and treats too. I will often boil chicken and break it up, feeding by hand, soon they are on your lap!

 

[matts mom]

Your progress is amazing

It took me about 4 weeks to socialize my feral to where I could pick him up. And when it happened, it was practically overnight....one day he was scared of me, only coming close to get food and run away(I fed him close by and sat still as he got bolder) the next day he let me touch him! The first time he sat on my foot while I put the food down, It was I could do not to squeal and bounce like a teenaged girl!!

Like you, I was feeding a little stray, but as the nights got colder I brought him in and locked him in the bathroom. the poor guy was flea&worm infested, so I gave him a bath to clean him up until I could vet him........I figured I'd ruin every ounce of trust I'd spent the summer building, but to my shock, instead of running under the claw-foot tub, he climbed up my shoulder to escape the water. I could have cried for joy. What a clingy baby he turned out to be!

Once your little one puts you into a caregiver role, things will come along quickly for you too...the turnaround is Amazing to see!  

 

[epidaurus]

 

[vball91]

That is a great update! I am so happy for you all. Many

that this genius of yours continues to make leaps and bounds in being socialized.

 

[sivyaleah]

Glad to hear things are progressing nicely - even if you still think not in some ways!  I remember when Cocoa first walked down the stairs to our first floor on her own.  We nearly hyperventilated - oh so quietly.  She didn't stay long once she got a glimpse of how large the area was (which in actually really isn't that large).  ZOOM! She was right back up the stairs but at least, she tried.  

Oh and your apartment looks typical for a NY one to me.  I lived in NYC proper for many years.  Off Central Park West with a friend for a while (sounds better than it was, I was on a futon in a screened off area of her living room) and then my own 300 s.f. studio on the very edge of Murray Hill with a bathroom ceiling that was always on the verge of collapse (but darn it, it was all mine and the closets were to die for).

BTW, he/she looks very unusual and beautiful.  Can't wait to see a closeup so we can fully ooh and aww over it!

 

[krz]

What a sweetheart! Steady wins the race! You guys are going to be fine. And please don't ever feel badly for taking him in, you saved his life! Life for a feral cat is very hard, it is always a win when they are rescued.

 

[epidaurus]

Haha! Thank you for the good vibes vball91!

So sivyaleah, I read "Off Central Park West" and went "NICE!" and then read between your parenthesis and busted a rib. Oh how we'll murder our standards to call this city home. The 300 sf studio also sounds very similar to what I lived in before moving to a 1 bedroom -- its Ficher Price kitchen (actually, those are fancier) nearly butting up against our headboard. Your old Murray Hill digs sound perfect.

This is my first pet ever (I didn't even have sea monkeys or a rock growing up) so I'm over the moon. Those days when it wasn't eating were some of the scariest of my life. I really thought my first pet was going to die in three days. What a relief. I'm in love with it now and I don't know what I'm going to do when it actually starts acknowledging our existence for more than five minutes at a time. I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but its tail is black! I'll try to inch closer and closer and get a better shot soon

 

EDIT: KRZ, cheers and thank you. That put a smile on my face.

 

[mservant]

A Photo. Thank you.

He/she is gorgeous and very sweet face. From this photo it looks like your little one has really short, smooth fur and is a really lovely colour.  Loving the black tail too, a friend of mine used to have an all white cat with a tabby tail and it was so cute when she was all happy and her tail was 'up'.  I hope you see this wiYou are amazing if this is your first pet, you guys must be naturals even if you don't feel like it. Your furfriend is settling in well even going by some domesticated non-feral cat new home introductions I've read on this site! 

  

 

[kittychick]

Yes - we did it three times this summer (all one litter - I'm adding a photo to this post of the three of them that shows them once they started to calm down a tad)!

At the time I - and my husband - thought I/we were crazy. Especially since we knew we couldn't keep them (we have 5 rescues already - and don't think the 19 & 20 year old would take kindly to any new kittens at the moment). But we're trying to control a colony that's gotten going in our neighborhood (thanks to a cat lover with misplaced feelings about not neutering) - so we're tnr'ing. But back to the kittens. We took them in at about 7 weeksish - seemed so young but definitely old enough to be feral enough to be TERRIFIED of us!

But once we figured out that cutting off all hiding places (not easy - even in a bedroom - kittens can fit ANYWHERE - can't imagine the almost routine number of times I'd run screaming out of the room "Pips' gone!!! I don't know how but he's gone! You HAVE to come help me find him" only to have my husband come in the room and find him simply tucked under a blanket frozen, or something equally simple. Cutting off places to hide forces them to deal with you more. Otherwise they'll literally hide for life. We actually even sectioned the room off into half at first - making it smaller so they were were even MORE forced to deal with our forced love We developed a routine - coming to the door I'd say in a voice I'd never want other humans to hear "Babies! Where are the babies? Looking for babies!" so that they knew we were coming. Then we'd sit on the floor or mattress (we'd taken the bedframe down so that they couldn't hide under).as close as we could to where they were ensconced (which for 2 weeks was the open cat carrier we'd set in the large dog crate we started them in the first few days ..then we'd start talking to them (again - in embarassingly sweet voices) non-stop. We'd immediately offer "kitty crack" (gerbers chicken). It took about a good week before they'd come eat "crack" off the spoon - or even really eat in front of us. WIthin a week - one (Buffer, the orange & white one in the pic) - the alpha - decided what was on the spoon was far too tempting and started eating off of it. WIthin a few days we could lead him onto our lap while he as eating it. By week 4, he was purring and sleeping on our laps! His brothers - Pip and Izze - were FAR more skittish. It took about 2-3 weeks before they'd even consider eating off the spoon, and even though eventually they'd start eating in from of us, playing, etc. - we couldn't touch either for a good 5 weeks. It took 7 weeks before we could pick Izze up - and TEN before we could pick Pip up. And he never did love being held.

But now - all three are in amazing "forever homes." 

And I agree - I thought these little kittens would almost rip apart our marriage I spent so much time with them, plus it was such an emotional rollercoaster. But it became such an absolutely amazing bonding experience between my husband and myself that I wouldn't trade it for anything. The joy of knowing that a little being that's so untrusting of the world comes to trust you....and that YOU did that ...is just amazing. The first time you hear the kitten purr - it's like seeing your child walk for the first time! My husband and I cried with each first purr! (can you tell letting these three go was hard? And we've fostered over 100 "non-feral" kittens!)

Hope I didn't overwhelm with advice - but I did SO much reading on feral kittens to work with these guys - so thought I'd try and make it as easy as possible for someone else struggling with this very rewarding process!

Keep us posted (and enjoy the Pip/Izze/Bowie shot from "mid taming")

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• kittychick
• Sep 20, 2013

 

[mservant]

And these gorgeous little kitties look amazing, all relaxed,  healthy and fluffy. What a good job you did with them! 

 

[mservant]

Your little kitty will be very well read by the end of that!  My poor boy (and tabby girls before him) have had to suffer a combination of 'The Adventures of Dougal' (scripts from the Magic Roundabout read by Richard Wilson - actor famed for portraying comedy miserable characters reading a totally crazy children's tea time show from the UK in the 60s and 70s), and the entire series of Harry Potter books unabridged - which in sequence must be considerably longer than War and Peace (and decidedly less intellectual).

  Oh, and I listen to the HP books over and over again coz once you know the story you don't have to listen: I can doze off the the relaxing sound of Steven Fry's voice! 

  I hope you can find an unabridged version of War and Peace - unabridged is so much better than the ones where they miss chunks out and piece little bits together.

 

[ldg]

AND a black tail! Wow, what a beautiful and unusual kitty!

Obviously you're doing an awesome job ignoring him. .

**********************************

I actually don't agree with the leaving dry food at all the time. This is for a couple of reasons:

1) Dry food is unhealthy for cats. If you can afford to feed only wet food, you'll have far fewer vet bills over the life of your kitty. Here's a good site for kitty nutrition information, written by a vet: http://www.catinfo.org

2) When socializing a feral, one of the biggest motivations is scent. Having kitty associate you as the "bringer of food" helps - and helps more if they don't have dry down to eat. Even better if you get a t-shirt all sweaty and put it under the food dish. I also like leaving a sweaty t-shirt behind with treats on it when you leave.

3) Establishing set meal times that begin and END, up front, means that if at any point in the future you rescue or adopt another kitty, you'll never miss one of your cats being off their food, which is one of the most frequent indicators of a health problem. When free-feeding, problems often aren't caught until you've noticed one of the cats has lost weight - and that means you're well into the problem (weeks or months vs. literally knowing in a day or two).

It does make taking a vacation more complicated, and that is something to consider.

 

[nccarol]

Your new baby is adorable it is one lucky kitty....Great Job

 

 

[epidaurus]

kittychick, that was absolutely splendid advice. Not overwhelming in the least. I'll be coming back to that post a lot for tips and pointers. And your cats are gorgeous!

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• epidaurus
• Sep 22, 2013

 

[ondine]

Get the carrier out now and put it in the room.  Make it a cozy bed and leave the door open.  She will get used to it being there and may go into it spontaneously.  If this happens, give her a few days to make it her own place.  You can practice approaching it when she's inside.  See  how close you can get - you may be able to close the door when she's inside.

If you can't get close enough, use a ruler or yardstick to close the door.  If the back of the carrier is against a wall, it will give you leverage to keep the door closed until you can secure the door.  You might also have someone else close enough to secure the door.

 

[kittychick]

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• kittychick
• Sep 24, 2013

Ondien's suggestion is great. Can't remember if in any of my voluminous posts (again - apologize for the length - I just remember how soothing it was to read someone's advice on this forum when I was sitting, terrified, with my three unwilling participants in our socialization process).

Anyway - we utilized a cat carrier as a den too. Since we'd (as I'd explained earlier) closed off every possible hiding spot - the cat carrier (with the door tied open so it didn't accidentally shut them in while we weren't in the room) became their safe haven. The other great thing besides having it for the little one (did I miss it - does the little guy have a name??) to use as a safe haven is that, when you need to take him/her to the vet, it's already in the room and not yet another thing to freak them out. And can't remember if I told you this - but one of the best tips I got from anyone was how to get our guys into it to get them to the vet: a laser pointer. Play with him for a little bit each day  for several days before the vet visit so that he starts to get geeked every time he hears/sees the laser pointer come out. Then - when you need to get him into the carrier, have your girlfriend sit next to the carrier ready to shut the door  - and just have him follow that oh-so-tempting red dot right into the carrier and bingo! Kitten in a carrier ready to go! 

We even used this technique when (long story)  - my husband accidentally let Pip escape out of the carrier in the short distance between house and car as he was being taken to be neutered (Pip, not my husband --- although the thought entered my head as I thought Pip was gone forever that SOMEONE was going to get neutered that day!). Despite being totally terrified outside (ironic for a feral kitten, eh?) --- we got him to focus on the laser pointer and led the little bugger right into the carrier. 

So - long story made longer - carrier in the room - great idea!  

Have you discovered which author he's into yet? We went the non-literary way of 24/7 television, and interestingly enough, also raised a kitten that inexplicably, spent alot of time with his foot in his water bowl

In barely-related news ----- we trapped, neutered and released our 9th neighborhood feral yesterday!!!! Only a few (that we know of) left to go and we'll have fixed the whole neighborhood colony! And in sad/happy news - we took a 24-hour-old foster kitten in Sunday night and the poor baby only made it till Monday noon (but at least we made sure he spent his last hours warm, dry, with a full belly and lots of pets. And we barely had time to cry when we got a call from the same shelter that they had a pair of 2 week old babies whose mom had just been hit by a car, and could we take them. So...after 4 months with Pip, Izze, and Buffer....and swearing we'd take a BIG break from fostering...we're back on the rollercoaster  (non-ferals certainly have their advantage though!) I'll have to post a pic of Scoot and Cooper soon as I get a chance

Anyway - Epidaurus - for someone who's never even owned a pet - you're doing so much right and being ever-so-patient. I think we're all enormously impressed! Good thoughts coming your way from here in northwest Ohio!!!!

(pic attached of Izze and his water-lovin' ways)