New kitten is acting semi-feral

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
A bit of a long post, but I’d like to provide the background information. So… about 5 and a half weeks ago one of my cats disappeared a week after I was given a new kitten by my neighbors. Unsure if the kitten was related to him disappearing or not because from about day 3 onward he cuddled and groomed the kitten every day. The kitten was around 9-10 weeks old when I got him I believe, and he hissed at me a bit but quickly got over it and from the start followed my two 10 month old cats around and loved them (until the one disappeared). He has since just bonded even more with my remaining cat, and they play often.

Due to my housing situation (I live in a small hut in Africa), my cats are indoor/outdoor cats. My older cat, now 11 months old, spends most of his time outdoors, coming in to nap in bed during part of the day. He likes to spend time up high outdoors above my toilet area and shower, especially in the rainy season. The kitten I have had goes outside for a couple of hours sometimes, but doesn’t know how to climb well yet, so struggles to hang out with my older cat. Due to the structure of my house, that kitten can escape the house from indoors, but can’t make his way back inside yet (which my older cat can), but he will cry at the door for me when he wants in.

Then, come yesterday, some kids from next door told me they found the sister to my new kitten. They handed me a closed plastic bag which I quickly opened and a black kitten exploded out. I grabbed her and she immediately dug her claws into my hand before I managed to scruff her. I opened a cat kennel I had inside my house and put her inside with the door open. My older cat ran into the kennel and sat next to her and she proceeded to hiss and spit at him until I removed him. Then my other kitten, supposedly her brother, noticed her and he proceeded to hiss and growl at her. If it was his sister, he did not recognize her after 6 weeks apart. I gave her some food which she gulped down. She is quite literally skin and bones and is probably half the weight of the kitten I already had, but almost exactly the same height.

It’s been almost 24 hours since then and things are… not going well. Whenever the kitten sees me she hisses and spits like crazy, and same when she sees my older cat. In the meantime, she doesn’t hiss at her brother but he continues to harass her, following her around just to hiss at her. I managed to get her into a blanket a few times to pet her and then she actually responds really well. She lays in my lap and purrs and kneads me. After petting her for a while I decided to show her the litter box. But as soon as I sat her down in it, she instantly went back into freaked out mode and bolted to hide, giving me a good hiss on her way. That’s pretty much been a cycle… every few hours I’ll find her and bring her to my lap for pets, she’ll seem to enjoy it, and then I’ll try to show her the litter box after a while and she’ll freak out. Maybe I should stop showing it to her but to my knowledge she has yet to pee or poop, and I don’t think she has ever used a litter box before, so I’m eager to get her used to the idea. I also don’t think her freaking out is because of the litter box but more so a mode she enters when she is on the ground at all.

This morning when I opened the door to let my dogs outside, the new kitten took the opportunity to bolt out of the door. The dogs were confused and ran with her, thinking it was a new game, causing her to shoot right up a tree to the very top. After several minutes of her crying up on the thin branches and realizing she did not know how to get down, a child climbed the tree and threw a blanket over her to catch her. When I brought her down she ran back into the house, shot under the bed, and hasn’t come out since. Both my older male and the 16 week old brother have gone under the bed a few times too, and she still hisses at my older male and gets hissed at by my kitten, but she doesn’t move and they eventually leave to hang out elsewhere. Due to my living situation, I really don’t have any way to isolate her completely from them because there is not even a door inside of my house to close and even if there were the walls do not reach to the ceiling and my older male can jump up and over the walls…

On the history of the kittens…. There is one other person who “keeps cats” in my village and he has two female cats. Somewhere close to his house exists a feral colony of cats that his two intermingle with and produce children with… eventually the kittens leave his house to migrate to the feral colony. The children living near me had asked him for a kitten before which he had given them, only for their parents to tell them they couldn’t bring it inside and to get rid of it. That was the first kitten I got 6 weeks ago (my two original males came from me asking this man for kittens). Feeling bad about my lost cat, the kids had conspired to get me the sibling, who at this point was living in between the feral colony and her mothers house.

So… my two options for the kitten are to socialize her at my house or return her to the feral colony if she isn’t able to be socialized. Unfortunately there is no vet who performs spay/neuter anywhere close to me (the closest is about 4 hours away and not very reliable), so I won’t be able to get her spayed soon (I plan to take the kitten I already have with me on my next trip to the capital in 3 months or so to get him neutered at a better vet, as I did for my original two cats).

So… I don’t know. This is kind of a unique situation I guess because I don’t have a lot of options for separating and containing the cats. I’m sure if the new kitten explored she could find a way out of the house, but luckily this hasn’t happened yet. I just didn’t expect so much hissing and anger from the sister of my sweetest little kitten, and I don’t know if she is too old to be worked with now or bond with other cats in this way… any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated
 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Its prob NOT too late, but it will take more time, effort, love and patience than with a little kitten... But its doable. Read through the threads in our Ferale forum, such fostering is common there...

I find it VERY encouraging she did fled into your house when let down from the tree top... So she already feel some safety there... The fact she is willingly eating is good to. Scared cat in a new place are often able to not touch no food even 48 hours...
So, you can use the food as your enticing point... Simply, YOU come with the food...

Keep literally a low profile, perhaps sitting or laying near her, talking calmly, and making some friendly sounds.... You can even read aloud.... Or just sit there and read quietly near her...
Dont look in her eyes, look on her shoulder. Dont try to cuddle, use a wooden spoon.... Wooden because it feels warm, and almost soft...

Friendly cats yawn and strech themselves; do likewise (so its seldom sleepy or lazy cat; its usually them greeting their owner)

You can perhaps get some form of cage? a big dog cage or some made up cage?? This is the easiest way to get some isolation, in a house where there is no good possibility to isolate.
You do already have a carrier...

Play with your resident where she can see you; this will give her the idea you are a good person, whom is liked by cats.

S Skyandtoph
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
Its prob NOT too late, but it will take more time, effort, love and patience than with a little kitten... But its doable. Read through the threads in our Ferale forum, such fostering is common there...

I find it VERY encouraging she did fled into your house when let down from the tree top... So she already feel some safety there... The fact she is willingly eating is good to. Scared cat in a new place are often able to not touch no food even 48 hours...
So, you can use the food as your enticing point... Simply, YOU come with the food...

Keep literally a low profile, perhaps sitting or laying near her, talking calmly, and making some friendly sounds.... You can even read aloud.... Or just sit there and read quietly near her...
Dont look in her eyes, look on her shoulder. Dont try to cuddle, use a wooden spoon.... Wooden because it feels warm, and almost soft...

Friendly cats yawn and strech themselves; do likewise (so its seldom sleepy or lazy cat; its usually them greeting their owner)

You can perhaps get some form of cage? a big dog cage or some made up cage?? This is the easiest way to get some isolation, in a house where there is no good possibility to isolate.
You do already have a carrier...

Play with your resident where she can see you; this will give her the idea you are a good person, whom is liked by cats.

S Skyandtoph
Thank you, I will try to read more there (and sorry if I posted in the wrong place). I just read about slow blinking at cats and I tried it with her and she slow blinked back to me! We did it back and forth several times.

I’m glad she came back inside but the way she bolted out the door in the first place makes me a little worried. When I first got her brother six weeks ago he refused to go outside at first and I could leave the door right open knowing he wouldn’t leave. Having to be careful about opening the door is going to be tricky, but my house is pretty far from the feral colony so I really don’t want her to just run away from here as she might not be old enough to find her way back to the colony…

I’m not sure how I can construct a cage entirely but I might try to think of something. I do have a large cat carrier (big enough for two adult cats) but not quite big enough to put a litter tray in which is unfortunate. When I just went back inside after cooking dinner there was a poop sitting on the plastic lip of one of my litter boxes. My boys are usually really good about covering up their poop and they’ve never missed the sand so… it possibly could have been her? But I haven’t seen her go in willingly yet so I’m not sure.

While I was sitting on the floor playing with my other kitten, the new kitten jumped up on my bed from underneath it. One of my dogs was laying in the bed but the kitten jumped up on the other side of the mosquito net so that was actually in between them. The kitten hissed at my dog over and over as my dog just sat there wagging her tail. I ignored the cat and pet my dog telling her she was a good girl and making her wag her tail more. Just for a second, the kitten stopped hissing and started playing with the end of my dogs tail through the mosquito net. Then I glanced too long in her direction and she jumped back under the bed.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
Today’s update: This morning when I woke up I heard the sound of lapping water in the other room. I turned on the light and my two boy cats and my dogs were all in bed, so I realized it had to be the new kitten. Soon after that I heard the sound of digging in the litter box, so I’ll take that to mean she’s using it now! It was hard to resist the urge to peak in, but I didn’t want to startle her.

So that was a bit of good news, but unfortunately she has discovered a new and better hiding spot. I have a wood pallet on the floor, basically just to keep some of my things off the floor, and she crawled under there seeing a great opportunity to hide. Sadly that meant I didn’t get to interact with her all day, because it’s very difficult to get her while she is under it without a big fuss of upending the pallet. Only once all day that I saw did she come out. Just briefly she ran out and back under the bed. But within a couple of minutes she dashed back out and under the wood pallet again.

As night falls, my two boys have been going up to the pallet and peeking under it a lot, or generally hovering around it. For most of the day they left her alone and played in the other room or outside. I didn’t hear much hissing today, except my older male stuck his paw into the pallet to try and play (I think) and the kitten growled at him.

I tried to put food near the pallet but she wouldn’t come out to eat. Finally I put it under the pallet but near the very front, and that worked to get her to come to the front of the pallet. She sat and watched me for a bit and then ate all of the food I gave her. So if she keeps staying under here I will try to slowly move the food out from under the pallet so she has to come out more I think…

Actually just as I was writing this, she came out completely again and went back to under the bed! She walked out right in front of me but moved by me very fast, obviously not wanting me to try to touch her, but I think that’s a good sign?
 

susanm9006

Willow
Top Cat
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
13,153
Purraise
30,221
Location
Minnesota
Yes, that is a good sign, and I am happy to see that she is now hiding in a more comfortable and probably safer place. She seems to be a very resilient little thing.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
Last night my other little kitten tried to play with her, but she hissed and clawed him whenever he got close. So instead he played with all of his toys in front of her for a couple of hours, before she went back under the wood pallet.


At one point she crawled under my stool and I thought it was adorable the way she was peeking out- only to realize she was actually pooping under it, which I didn’t realize until too late. She’s used the litter box at least twice, but I sure hope she hasn’t peed anywhere else….
C5D74E17-9F45-456D-9CF8-D69CC164DFA2.jpeg
5DAFF441-5B01-47ED-A85D-7838F447CA2E.jpeg
 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Give her food more iften but not so much each time. So she will connectvyou with food....


All in all. It sounds good. Very good you gove her time to adjust in her own pace... pressing on just a little. :)
 

lollie

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Apr 28, 2018
Messages
311
Purraise
458
It actually sounds like it’s going pretty well! As long as they don’t get physical with each other again, I would let them figure it out. If she swipes at the kitten or other animals again, you can try some redirected play, with maybe a wand toy. She is just trying to set her boundaries.

Do you have any UP places they can go to get away from each other or the dogs? If you don’t already have a kitty tree, they are great for this, and some people make their own. I understand it may facilitate them getting over the wall, but it sounds like that will happen anyway.

If she responds well to being held and petted by you, I would do this at every opportunity.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
3D11AEEF-83EC-46FB-9C2B-53B43F74C1B3.jpeg


The sassy little kitten is feeling a lot more confident today! She spent most of the day in bed, close to where my other cats nap during the day. She intentionally separated herself so that she was on the other side of the mosquito net from them, but she definitely kept an eye on them. She is still hissing a lot, but she will play with the cats for a moment too before she gets overwhelmed and hisses. She still HATES the dogs, and hisses pretty much anytime they move, but luckily they pretty much just ignore her. They're used to cats that like to play with them but they can tell that hissing means stay away. Ive tried to redirect her by play, but she wont engage in play with me yet. I tried to show her a string toy and she was ok with watching it but didn’t ever try to paw at it and backed away when I moved it towards her.

As far as up high places, my older cat can jump onto the top of the wall and sits there a lot, but I think the kittens are just a bit too short to make it up there. Ive considered adding a small step for them to be able to, but I think my older cat likes it being his private spot for now. My male kitten also sits on top of my mosquito net a lot which is kind of up high.

This evening I walked into my room too fast and startled her and she hissed horribly and spat at me. But then later at night she finally came around the mosquito net and sat on the bed about 2 feet away from where I was cuddling with my other kitten. She just sat and watched us, then laid down. I slowly inched my hand over and pet her head for a minute and she purred! I just lightly rubbed her head for a couple of minutes until she got up and moved just out of my reach. I guess that was her way of telling me she had enough. Now shes sitting on the edge of the bed watching me. My dogs really want to get into bed but she hisses at them when they try to. Maybe shes going to be the queen bee around here.
 

Alldara

TCS Member
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Apr 29, 2022
Messages
5,284
Purraise
8,919
Location
Canada
It's going really well! It sounds like she is smart and learns through observation.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #11

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
Well… I made a terrible mistake and now the kitten is gone.

I know people will judge me for being this stupid, but it happened and I can’t change it now. Things had been going well with the kitten and my other animals. She layed with my other cats and they groomed each other and she even likes the dogs now. She would sit on my bed in very close proximity to me all the time.

But then yesterday, my male kitten was due for a vaccine. The vet is a 10 hour round trip on a good day so I decided I was going to take the new feral kitten and get her vaccinated too. In the morning I caught her but she became very scared and mauled me in the process. Luckily once in the cat carrier together they were happy, and at the vet’s office I was actually able to pull her out for her vaccines with no problem.

By the time we got home it was late. I let the kittens out and they curled up in a ball together in my bed, and I went to sleep. But I made a mistake and forgot that during the day, I had left my adult cat’s favorite window open because he was home alone and I knew he has been missing having it open. I thought he would enjoy having the route open when we were gone, because he was pretty upset when I put the kittens in the carrier. When I got home, I forgot to close the window again, and fell asleep with the two kittens in my bed and my adult cat outside.

I woke up at 3 am to my male kitten crying outside to come in, and I instantly remembered I hadn’t let him out and he must have gone out the window. I let him in and whenever I let him in at night the little girl cat would come running to greet him… she didn’t come. It hit me she must have also jumped out of the window. I left the door cracked open the rest of the night so she could come back in.

So now it’s 8 am and there’s no sign of her. I think she must have taken off. My house is bush (forested area) in most directions so there’s not much hope searching for her. I have a litter box outside already but I poured some litter I know she has used on top of it and put a food outside, just in case she stuck around the area.

Her brother is especially sad and keeps peeking into all of her hiding places in the house looking for her. I feel terrible and know it is my fault and negligence that let her escape from here. I’ll probably keep my door cracked open at night for a few nights on the off chance she returns but not sure if there’s much else I can do. I scanned the nearby area a bit but she’s so afraid of me that calling her is no use. There are a lot of bush cats around, so I’m sure she can find a place to stay if she wants and this is territory cats are native to, so I think her chances of survival are good, but I will miss having her around and working with her, and I know my other cats will too.

Snowy, my house and cat food will always be here waiting for you if you choose to return.
 

Alldara

TCS Member
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Apr 29, 2022
Messages
5,284
Purraise
8,919
Location
Canada
Put a litter box outside that smells like them. (Or some used litter in a paper bag. Anything to help her smell her way home) She might be close by.
Somewhere she can hide that you can check, like a bin with an open hole or something. Usually cats are nearby, but we have trouble determining their hiding spots. Inside the "house" you make, put something with her brother's smell.

Many people have had luck using a baby monitor so they can hear when the cat comes by.

If you don't have already, you can buy screens for your windows so that your cats can smell the fresh air, but not escape. I think there's some on Amazon. Lots of people from Europe have posted some hacks online to fix them to the window areas. I'm not sure if that helps!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #13

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
Update: She is sticking around my house!
This morning my older cat was outside crying very sadly as he has been doing ever since she disappeared. And then I thought I heard a small answering meow and she appeared from the bush! I watched her walk around and play with my two other cats, but she didn’t come back inside and soon disappeared. But this has given me hope that I can lure her back inside eventually. Because she is so afraid of me I just kept my distance and watched them, and figured if anybody can lure her inside right now it will be my two other cats.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #14

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
I didn’t see her again all day but I’ve kept my door cracked open. Just as it was dark, my other two cats came inside through the cracked door and she followed them. I hoped she would go in the other room and eat so I could shut the door, but she saw me and stood there for just a minute before running outside again. I have a food outside anyways so that she has something to eat…
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #15

Skyandtoph

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 4, 2023
Messages
16
Purraise
27
So she snuck into my house last night and ate some food. Judging by how fast she ate, she didn’t find the food I left outside for her. I turned on the light to see what cat was eating and she bolted out. Unfortunately I had no way to close her in the house without her running out before I had a chance. She came in my window at least twice to eat, but no sign of her come the morning.
 
Top