- Joined
- Jan 22, 2017
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Hello nice people,
6 weeks ago my family adopted two sisters who are about 6.5 months old now. We adopted them from a great organization who took care of all their medical issues and shots. The kitties were born and stayed outside with their mama for 2 months, and were then fostered by a lovely couple for 2 months, where they came a long way from their feral ways but were still understandably scared of people when we adopted them.
We have followed the advice of the organization to acclimate them - they had their own space for about a month, with everything they needed. Now they have the run of the 2 story apartment. We pet them when we feed them and gice them treats, and they have come a long way since moving in. They come on our bed - my husband and I - and occasionally on the bed of our 10-year-old son. They play a lot and seem happy and healthy, though still very skittish to sounds and they don't readily come to us for petting, only really when we give them nightly treats and once in a while otherwise.
While we see their progress, the challenge is with my 6-year-old daughter. It is way more painful than we thought it would be for her to live with these animals - she has been depserate for a cat/cats for about 3 years - and to not really be able to interact with them. She does occasionally with the bolder of the two, and she is pretty gentle, but it's so rare and most of the time the cats run from her. I'm being very honest when I say that while I love the cats and we are not considering giving them up, I htink we made a mistake in getting formerly-feral cats, and I'm very upset with myself for not foreseeing that this would just be too difficult for a 6-year-old who already struggles with some emotional issues.
But here we are. I would be so grateful if you could refrain from scolding me for making the wrong decision and rather offer any advice you may have for how we can move forward in this situation, specifically more ideas and strategies for creating bonds between my daughter and the cats (at least the one cat who is a little less skittich and afraid).
Thank you in advance,
Stacey
6 weeks ago my family adopted two sisters who are about 6.5 months old now. We adopted them from a great organization who took care of all their medical issues and shots. The kitties were born and stayed outside with their mama for 2 months, and were then fostered by a lovely couple for 2 months, where they came a long way from their feral ways but were still understandably scared of people when we adopted them.
We have followed the advice of the organization to acclimate them - they had their own space for about a month, with everything they needed. Now they have the run of the 2 story apartment. We pet them when we feed them and gice them treats, and they have come a long way since moving in. They come on our bed - my husband and I - and occasionally on the bed of our 10-year-old son. They play a lot and seem happy and healthy, though still very skittish to sounds and they don't readily come to us for petting, only really when we give them nightly treats and once in a while otherwise.
While we see their progress, the challenge is with my 6-year-old daughter. It is way more painful than we thought it would be for her to live with these animals - she has been depserate for a cat/cats for about 3 years - and to not really be able to interact with them. She does occasionally with the bolder of the two, and she is pretty gentle, but it's so rare and most of the time the cats run from her. I'm being very honest when I say that while I love the cats and we are not considering giving them up, I htink we made a mistake in getting formerly-feral cats, and I'm very upset with myself for not foreseeing that this would just be too difficult for a 6-year-old who already struggles with some emotional issues.
But here we are. I would be so grateful if you could refrain from scolding me for making the wrong decision and rather offer any advice you may have for how we can move forward in this situation, specifically more ideas and strategies for creating bonds between my daughter and the cats (at least the one cat who is a little less skittich and afraid).
Thank you in advance,
Stacey