Help - Feral Kittens, Captured One Of Them And Is Traumatized

[lotaoto]

Hi everyone from Spain,
I live as a renter in a house and share the yard with the owners. Therefore, my decisions are very limited That is why I'm asking for advice and I thank you in advance.
The owners feed several cats in their yard but do not sterilize any.
A week ago we found 4 kittens in the garden. They are two months old. The mother was very aggressive, so they captured her and abandoned her somewhere else, in a village far away. Cruel, I know, but I can't do anything, other than to try to minimize damage. The owners said they wanted to feed the kittens until they are old and then probably abandon them elsewhere just like their mother. So I decided to try to tame them so they could be given into adoption. I thought it would be "easy" because they were small, thus I took one and put it in a room. My intention was good, but the kitten has been very traumatized. She spent two days without eating (she now eats chicken) and hides in remote places when she hears me enter the room. She has no intention on approaching me or letting me see her. She even bite me once I tried to give her food. I think she would benefit from having a little brother with her, but I do not want to screw another one and have the same results. Obviously, I'm very worried and I do not like having her go through this. I am in favor of not forcing cats's times (it took me 1 year of respectful approach to get to pet and hold my previous cats), but I feel that everything has been precipitated. Does anyone have any advice to give me? I try to avoid entering the room so she feels calm and eats, but this way I will never get her to relax with humans. Should we let her go even if this means she will never approach humans again?
Thank you for this nice forum

 

[kimmehjean]

Don't worry! She can definitely change/be helped. One thing you may want to do is when you put her food down, bring in a book to read or something quiet to do and just sit somewhere in the room. She may come out and start eating eventually (it could take a long time- hence the quiet activity). Do this for many days/weeks and she will begin to associate you with food (a positive association) and will realize you are safe. Then, you might be able to start interacting with her gradually.

 

[lotaoto]

Hey, thanks so much for the reply! Since she stopped eating for 2 days, I'm afraid she will do that again if I start to go there regularly. I think she is hidden most of the time. Today at 10am I went there and she was under the bed, behing some boxes. She started to hide even more. I couldn't see her after that, I put her some food and came back 6 hours later to find she was still absolutely hidden and hadn't eaten anything. I'm heartbroken, but I guess I need to just calm down and trust. Would you suggest putting one of his brothers there with her?

 

[pearl99]

At 8 weeks old it's definitely possible! I adopted a 2 year old feral and it took months and months.
As above I had Waffles in a bathroom and went in a few times a day to give food and sat away from the food for awhile not looking at him at all and softly talking reading a book (small bathroom though) and he started to venture out to eat. Repetition is key and not forcing anything. Then I had him closed in my bedroom and did the same thing. At night he could check me out while I was sleeping. I'd move the food closer and closer to me sitting on the floor and he eventually was comfortable coming up to me for cheek and chin scratches.
2 months later he jumped on my lap for 2 seconds and it's been progress since then.
The keys were that I always let him approach me, started by sitting or lying on the floor, did the exposure to me routine consistently, didn't force anything, used food to entice him.
I still can't pick him up or walk up to him directly but he is a very affectionate lap cat on his terms.

 

[kimmehjean]

Hey, thanks so much for the reply! Since she stopped eating for 2 days, I'm afraid she will do that again if I start to go there regularly. I think she is hidden most of the time. Today at 10am I went there and she was under the bed, behing some boxes. She started to hide even more. I couldn't see her after that, I put her some food and came back 6 hours later to find she was still absolutely hidden and hadn't eaten anything. I'm heartbroken, but I guess I need to just calm down and trust. Would you suggest putting one of his brothers there with her?

Awww I'm so sorry to hear that! In that case, can you rearrange the room so that she has less places to hide where she is just cowering in the dark? This can perpetuate feelings of fear over long periods. Maybe move furniture from the wall?

I would try putting another sibling in with her and see how it goes. It definitely seems like she is a feral cat if she doesn't let you near her and is this fearful. Check out Kitten Lady on YouTube! She has a lot of great advice on socializing feral kittens (I learned pretty much everything from watching her/reading her posts online).

Someone else may reply with better suggestions on this forum as well!

 

[Hellenww]

If you haven't brought the rest ofthe kittens in the house, that's the fisrt thing I'd do. Yes, it's ok to put them all in the same room. They adapt to homes faster at a young age so the sooner the better. Hopefully 1 will be braver and approach you and the others will see you are safe.

I agree with K kimmehjean make fewer places to hide and more places they can get high up. As pearl99 said spend time in the room speaking softly. Reading outloud works great for this. Sit on the floor if you can. The lower you are the less threatening. This is so they learn you are friendly and not dangerous. The more they can see you the better.

Thank you for caring about these little ones.

 

[5starcathotel]

Oh, 8-12 weeks is a very critical age for a kitten and their socialization.
And as a caretaker of 4 that range in socialization from "formerly feral" to "indoor-feral", I can say it is all about both pushing their boundaries (i.e, closing off their hiding spaces), and earning their trust.

I would suggest, if she is really under 12-weeks old, you can toss some cat treats near her to get her interested, and then use an extended spoon to feed her warmed and wet cat food. Or play with her with toys. Really, any positive experience you can give her, from you being in her presence, will socialize her.

You don't even have to read - just take your phone/tablet, and binge-watch some Netflix for a few hours, with fresh food out and available. When you leave, take the food with you. To avoid malnutrition, you can leave a half-portion of food out when you go to sleep.