Well, I recently posted in the Nutrition forums about how I'm a new cat owner with a very cuddly 4 month old male kitten named Archie. Also in the house is somebody else's cat, an 11 week old female. Stunted growth from her extremely bad feral conditions. So bad that we actually lost her littermate...the whole reason we got Archie in the first place. Archie and Angel have always gotten along great. They do play extremely rough though.
However, this morning a surprise...well, TWO surprises walked through my door. Two 7 week old kittens. After picking my jaw from the floor I realized what this meant. More work for me. A LOT of work now. The person who brought them in won't take responsibility for them, so I have to do it all. These two kittens are a male and a female. The male is a cream-colored striped with white stomach/face/paws/etc. Really cute. The female is a calico. Both have the brightest blue eyes. Which, does make me wonder. When do kittens change their eye color? We got Angel at 8 weeks and she was a mix of green/blue so will they change during this week? They show no signs whatsoever.
Anyway...on topic. I planned to separate them, as they both had fleas. Plus, they were feral kittens. Apparently the mother was friendly towards humans and had her babies under a house near my uncle's farm. The people who were 'taking care of them' (and I use this term loosely, at the state of these poor guys.) didn't have the money/resources/etc and were giving them away. I believe they were taken from their mother too soon. I went to the person's house to talk to the woman, but she is partly mentally challenged and couldn't hear unless you yelled so it was really hard to get any important information out of her. The best I got was that they had Friskies Canned and had gotten on it...I suppose recently? So, anyway, I did plan to separate them, but the person who owns Angel is one of those types of people that think they know everything about cats, even if they're completely wrong with everything that comes out of their mouth. So, of course, he plopped Angel right in the box when my back was turned. Yay. So Angel has fleas. So Archie has fleas. So now the dogs have fleas....just....
To top it off there is no way to put them in their own little room now, since they started remodeling the kitchen and the rooms are /filled/ with boxes. It's a mess. We have a hall to move. That is it. So, they're in the dining room which is attached to the living room. In a dog cage the size for a medium dog. They're in there for their own protection as they get used to the dogs, the dogs get used to them, and the other two kittens start being nosy.
To get to the behavior part....sorry, I ramble.
The kittens are feral...but not at the same time. They will tolerate you near them, but even think about moving your hand near them to pet/touch and you get a hiss. The calico is more skittish than the cream. She won't come near a hand to sniff, at all. The cream will at least sniff. One of my biggest problems with her is that when you pick her up, she scream/meows. Over and over again like you're trying to kill her. Does anybody know what can be done to stop her from screaming? Even getting close to my hand would help. Angel was a feral when we got her, but she was never so bad. It makes me wonder if that family was hitting them. If they were, and they are afraid, is there anything I can do to get them trusting me?
Now, to my cat. Angel is fine with them, by the way. However, Archie is acting hostile. He hissed at them when he first saw them. Later on, they were all out playing (Well, the two new were playing with a cheese chase ball track, which was getting them out of their shell. Then, of course, the other two came running to investigate) Archie would hit the ball back at them and play a little. He even sat there watching them play it. No signs of aggression. I thought he was fine until they got closer and he started to whack them. With his paw. One hiss was all I heard. Rest was whacking. He even had the nerve to jump off the couch to ambush them and whack them again! At first I thought it would be the little male, but he is whacking the little female too! I don't want him to scare them back into the shell I'm trying to get them out of. Is there anything I can do to stop this behavior? (I saw him whack Angel once as well, which I've never seen, but then they got back to playing as normal)
I must also say...even though I wish I didn't have to...that this will be a long uphill battle. Not only because of the personalities and feral background, but because everything I do with these kittens will be squandered by the person I talked of earlier, who owns Angel. He doesn't care if the cat is not his own. He will do what he pleases, and he will not take no for an answer. Tell him to not let the kittens out? Turn your back, out they are. Tell him not to give them mass amounts of dry when they're eating wet fine? Turn your back, it's in the cage/bowl/etc. There is nothing I can do to stop him. I've had a number of arguments with him already.
He plays with his hands roughly as well, which he says "Does nothing to them". Sure. Mr. Galaxy and the whole world says otherwise, but you guys understand that one person.
I'll try to do my best with them and get them to trust hands again, but with him reaching in and acting like they're normal kittens, it's gonna be tough.
Sorry for how long this post is! I like to give all the information I can.
I'll also posts pics up when I have the chance.
However, this morning a surprise...well, TWO surprises walked through my door. Two 7 week old kittens. After picking my jaw from the floor I realized what this meant. More work for me. A LOT of work now. The person who brought them in won't take responsibility for them, so I have to do it all. These two kittens are a male and a female. The male is a cream-colored striped with white stomach/face/paws/etc. Really cute. The female is a calico. Both have the brightest blue eyes. Which, does make me wonder. When do kittens change their eye color? We got Angel at 8 weeks and she was a mix of green/blue so will they change during this week? They show no signs whatsoever.
Anyway...on topic. I planned to separate them, as they both had fleas. Plus, they were feral kittens. Apparently the mother was friendly towards humans and had her babies under a house near my uncle's farm. The people who were 'taking care of them' (and I use this term loosely, at the state of these poor guys.) didn't have the money/resources/etc and were giving them away. I believe they were taken from their mother too soon. I went to the person's house to talk to the woman, but she is partly mentally challenged and couldn't hear unless you yelled so it was really hard to get any important information out of her. The best I got was that they had Friskies Canned and had gotten on it...I suppose recently? So, anyway, I did plan to separate them, but the person who owns Angel is one of those types of people that think they know everything about cats, even if they're completely wrong with everything that comes out of their mouth. So, of course, he plopped Angel right in the box when my back was turned. Yay. So Angel has fleas. So Archie has fleas. So now the dogs have fleas....just....
To get to the behavior part....sorry, I ramble.
The kittens are feral...but not at the same time. They will tolerate you near them, but even think about moving your hand near them to pet/touch and you get a hiss. The calico is more skittish than the cream. She won't come near a hand to sniff, at all. The cream will at least sniff. One of my biggest problems with her is that when you pick her up, she scream/meows. Over and over again like you're trying to kill her. Does anybody know what can be done to stop her from screaming? Even getting close to my hand would help. Angel was a feral when we got her, but she was never so bad. It makes me wonder if that family was hitting them. If they were, and they are afraid, is there anything I can do to get them trusting me?
Now, to my cat. Angel is fine with them, by the way. However, Archie is acting hostile. He hissed at them when he first saw them. Later on, they were all out playing (Well, the two new were playing with a cheese chase ball track, which was getting them out of their shell. Then, of course, the other two came running to investigate) Archie would hit the ball back at them and play a little. He even sat there watching them play it. No signs of aggression. I thought he was fine until they got closer and he started to whack them. With his paw. One hiss was all I heard. Rest was whacking. He even had the nerve to jump off the couch to ambush them and whack them again! At first I thought it would be the little male, but he is whacking the little female too! I don't want him to scare them back into the shell I'm trying to get them out of. Is there anything I can do to stop this behavior? (I saw him whack Angel once as well, which I've never seen, but then they got back to playing as normal)
I must also say...even though I wish I didn't have to...that this will be a long uphill battle. Not only because of the personalities and feral background, but because everything I do with these kittens will be squandered by the person I talked of earlier, who owns Angel. He doesn't care if the cat is not his own. He will do what he pleases, and he will not take no for an answer. Tell him to not let the kittens out? Turn your back, out they are. Tell him not to give them mass amounts of dry when they're eating wet fine? Turn your back, it's in the cage/bowl/etc. There is nothing I can do to stop him. I've had a number of arguments with him already.
Sorry for how long this post is! I like to give all the information I can.
