- Joined
- Apr 6, 2018
- Messages
- 6
- Purraise
- 3
Hi everyone,
I'd like to share a bit of background just to highlight my situation basically on what I got myself into without knowing, you will need to forgive my ignorance, I have only ever had one cat, so am not an experienced cat owner by any stretch of the imagination.
I adopted 2, 12 week old,timid male kittens back in March from a rescue centre.
What really happened is I unknowingly adopted 2 16 week old feral kittens, a male & female.
I only found out the sex of them when I took them in to be neutered 4 weeks after I adopted them (I was finally told the rescue staff couldn't hold or get close enough to check their gender - found that out after adoption)
When I first went to the rescue and seen the kittens the staff told me although they were very timid they would come round in a week if I just kept holding and stroking them, but after getting them home it was pretty clear they were more than timid, I was bitten and scratched quite badly on a few occasions of trying to stroke them, after a week I contacted the rescue centre to talk about returning them as I was out of my mind and couldn't cope or understand what was going with them, that's when one of the staff slipped up and told me they were feral. I did try to return them to the rescue as I really have no experience with feral cats but they said they had no room to take them back - so basically I was stuck with them.
Fast forward to now after months of researching how to socialize feral kittens - the female has become so friendly, I can pick her up and cuddle her, she will climb on to my lap, follows me around, she is also quite happy with other people coming and stroking her, although am really the person she has bonded with and lets pick her up but that's ok!
The male is a complete opposite, he still hisses and spits, he will come and take a treat out of my hand, but most of the time runs away and hides, it really just feels so horrible that he is so afraid of humans, so what am looking for is any tips on how to get him to be more relaxed and happy like his sister, am really lost with him, I have treated them both the same - done all the same socializing techniques with him as her but he's still not made much progress at all - will he always be like this or will he finally come round? I just want him to be happy and comfortable in his home with me.
Many thanks
B
I'd like to share a bit of background just to highlight my situation basically on what I got myself into without knowing, you will need to forgive my ignorance, I have only ever had one cat, so am not an experienced cat owner by any stretch of the imagination.
I adopted 2, 12 week old,timid male kittens back in March from a rescue centre.
What really happened is I unknowingly adopted 2 16 week old feral kittens, a male & female.
I only found out the sex of them when I took them in to be neutered 4 weeks after I adopted them (I was finally told the rescue staff couldn't hold or get close enough to check their gender - found that out after adoption)
When I first went to the rescue and seen the kittens the staff told me although they were very timid they would come round in a week if I just kept holding and stroking them, but after getting them home it was pretty clear they were more than timid, I was bitten and scratched quite badly on a few occasions of trying to stroke them, after a week I contacted the rescue centre to talk about returning them as I was out of my mind and couldn't cope or understand what was going with them, that's when one of the staff slipped up and told me they were feral. I did try to return them to the rescue as I really have no experience with feral cats but they said they had no room to take them back - so basically I was stuck with them.
Fast forward to now after months of researching how to socialize feral kittens - the female has become so friendly, I can pick her up and cuddle her, she will climb on to my lap, follows me around, she is also quite happy with other people coming and stroking her, although am really the person she has bonded with and lets pick her up but that's ok!
The male is a complete opposite, he still hisses and spits, he will come and take a treat out of my hand, but most of the time runs away and hides, it really just feels so horrible that he is so afraid of humans, so what am looking for is any tips on how to get him to be more relaxed and happy like his sister, am really lost with him, I have treated them both the same - done all the same socializing techniques with him as her but he's still not made much progress at all - will he always be like this or will he finally come round? I just want him to be happy and comfortable in his home with me.
Many thanks
B