Help for feral kittens, please

[jenluckenbach]

No, I don't have feral kittens right now, but I know someone who does. And she is having a hard time and I believe it is mainly due to baby-facing them. I think (and correct me if I am wrong) that you actually need to FORCE love on them because if they get too old while you wait for them to come around on their own, it could become too late.


So what I'd like to have here in this thread is for those with actual experience to give your best tips on taming ferals. I would appreciate a minimum of "useless" posts, as I really need the FACTS only right now.

Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation.

[catmandu]

No useless advice,but Prayers From The Found Cats,and Feeder.

[lizbud]

I could describe what I did with Redbud & Mikey. They were
10 wks old when I trapped them and brought them into the
house to raise. I do not understand what "baby-facing" means.

[mooshoosmama]

Jen,

This is Donna under another name. Long story.

What she needs first is to let them smell her hand to get her scent. Baby ferals have a habit of hissing and spitting when someone either comes near them or tries to pick them up. It's an instinct. The one thing she should NOT do is show fear. You know, like jump back startled. This shows the baby that it's scare tactics are working. Gently pet them on the head (hissing or no hissing) to show them you don't mean them any harm. Once they've gained her confidence. Then she needs to grab one of them by the nap of the neck and wrap him/her in a towel with only his head exposed. Then just whisper, kiss, pet, blink the eyes and assure them that they are loved. They'll come around.

Let me know how she makes out.

[K & L]

They must be brought inside and confined so you have regular access to them. Either confine them in a large pet cage or carrier, or keep them in a small room such as a bathroom where they don’t have anywhere to crawl into or under. Do not let them run loose since they can hide in a number of places and may difficult to coax out. Make sure they have something to cuddle in and their food and water. Food is the key to taming! Make dry food available at all times and then give wet food a couple times a day as a treat. They will start associating you with the treat! When petting a feral kitten, approach from behind his head. Gradually pet the kitten’s face, chin, and behind ears. Talk gently and try to have several treat/petting sessions a day. Also, if possible, expose the kittens to a variety of people.

[Lacey]

I'm not sure how much this will help, but it's what worked for me with the Monster. (For which I still can't thank everyone enough for all the advice!)

I kept him caged and gave him treats until he got brave enough to take them from my hand. And as soon as he was given a clean bill of health, I let Zelda into the same room as the cage and let him watch me pet her and love on her. It was actually about that time he saw me feeding her treats and started rather hesitantly taking them from me so that I didn't have to drop them on the cage floor.

I sat by that cage for hours on end and talked to Mowgli and read to him (Huh... We never did finish reading Faust together). And doing all that let him get used to having me around. Then I started dangling a string into the cage and let him play with that (suggested by CCL!). And soon he started to see that I was loads of fun.

It was about this time that I risked a few fingers to haul him out of the cage and put him in a carrier so that I could put the shelves in his cage, and found that he would let me pet him a little. And so I shut the door and started letting Mowgli right outside the cage door for playtime.

Soon I was letting him run around the room I was keeping the cage in. And he decided when he was ready for the run of the whole apartment by slipping by me one night when I was leaving him in his room for the night.

And that's how the Mowg-monster ended up being my little cuddle-bunny. Don't know if it would work with your friend or not. I didn't force myself on him anymore than I felt he was ready for, but neither did I leave him completely alone when he was all hissy either. It was a case of ummm... I suppose a good term would be "escalating levels of affection." You don't do like the Abominable Snowman in the Bugs Bunny commercials and clutch the little darlings to your bosom and "love him and squeeze him and call him George," but don't go, "Boohoo! He doesn't like me!" every time he hisses either. Don't know if any of that will help your friend. It's just what worked for me.

[PayItForward]

Here is our advice to your friend, from only having our latest batch of feral kittens for a mere month.

We spend simply spend time with them, hand feed them freshly cooked chicken and stroke them when ever we feed them.

Now we can pick up and cuddle Whiskers, Hissy and Felix purr and like strokes while eating and Spot is only tolerates strokes while getting chicken.

We are doing just fine with the loving approach and I would recommend it wholeheartedly to other people.

[jenluckenbach]

Thanks everyone. I will pass it all along. I do not have a whole of experience myself in this area as I usually get the kitties AFTER someone else works with them.

[lizbud]

Anybody who knows what "baby-facing" kittens means please
clue me in with a pm. Thanks.

[jenluckenbach]

She is not really trying to handle or hold them. If they resist ,she gives in. She thinks they need to come around in their own good time. And I think that all they will do is grow older and more difficult to tame. So I was looking to see if I was totally off base or not.

[lizbud]

Thanks Jen.

[QueenScoopalot]

I think most of the ideas I was going to post have been covered. I always cage feral kittens, as chasing them around only makes you scarier to them, and it's harder to handle them. And I usually don't do much handling until the next day or so after they've settled in some. Leslie and I trapped 4 ferals last night which have astounded me at how placid they are...and they aren't tiny by any means. The largest is close to five months, though hard to tell through all the long black fur, but that one's already doing the elevator butt! I'll be passing them down the line within the week to another foster person, as I don't have time for much hands on lately. Best foster home I have available keeps kittens in a large cage in the kitchen, where they're exposed to a lot of activity, and Maryanne(and her family) has worked wonders with some of the nastiest little ferals! A large T-Shirt pulled up like a nest works wonders I hear. Bundle one in, and go about doing things while holding each kitten for a while. Any idea how old the kittens are?

[doolittleky]

Alot of what I would have posted is already here. I have always kept them caged until I am able to at least handle them. Cagney, who was a real 3 lb wild cat when I trapped her use to lunge at anyone in her cage like she was going to attack. To tame Cagney I spent alot of time sittng on the floor in the bathroom where her cage was talking to her and also I used a cat toy and I played with it as she watched. Eventually she started palying with the toy with me and that is when i first petted her. Soon after that I let her out of the cage but kept her in the bathroom until she was tamer.

[wolf_Q]

What a gorgeous cat!

[aly]

I agree, Cagney is gorgeous and I just love the name!