Feral Kitten Caught

[clara4457]

I know this may sound improbable, but today when I was at my sister's house for Xmas dinner we found a feral kitten hiding on their back porch. Her two German Shepard were barking up a storm and when she went out to investigate, she found a very scared and very wild black kitten hiding in the corner of her back porch. It was obviously very scared and just hissed and hissed at us when we tried to get close. We gave her/him (not really sure) a can of tuna, some water and some seafood broth (which it ate completely). We closed off the back porch and were able to catch it and put it in a cat carrier she had. It looks like it is about 10-12 weeks old, but I don't know anything else about it as it won't let me get close at all.

I have a couple of rooms in my upstairs area that I use for fostering, one of which is empty right now, so I took it to my house. (I currently have one cat in foster care right now, but the second room is used when fosters are ill and can't run loose - which fortunately is not needed right now.) I let him loose in the room, put down food, water and litter and closed the door.

So my questions are:

1. I can't take it to either of the area shelters as they have a policy of euthanizing ferals no matter what. Since the cat is so young, do I have a chance to socialize it? Or am I looking at altering, vaccinating and releasing? I am concerned as it is getting so cold out right now - but I can't tell the SPCA that I can't foster sick cats right now because of the feral one. If the SPCA doesn't have isolation space for sick cats, they are euthanized. If there is a chance that the cat can be adoptable in the near future, it would be worth the effort. If not, I might be inclined to treat and release.

2. How long should I wait before I take it to the vet? I don't want to traumatize it, but I don't want to put any of my animals at risk.

3. If it is able to be socialized, how do I go about it? Should I just continue to feed it and give it water for a few days and then spend some time just hanging out in the room with it and wait for it to come to me? If this was a dog, I would know better how to work with it - but my experience with cats is pretty limited.

If anyone can give me a few pointers, I would really appreciate it. My gut feeling is that this kitten is so young that it can be worked with, but I felt I needed to ask people that are more experienced in this than I am.

Clara

[Laura's Babies]

I just caught one too a few night ago and am waiting for responses to this... See my thread just below this one... My advice is to just give it time to settle in, then spend time in there with it, talking to it and seeing how it reacts to you. The one I caught don't hiss and spit, it just cowers in the back of the cage we have it in and watches me, to me, don't apperar wild, just terrified... I wish you luck with your and hope it works out for you. But if all else fails, treat, fix and release... I would rather see them in the wild than PTS... The ones we catch that are to wild, we plan to TNR....

[QueenScoopalot]

Congrats on your capture (there's probably more, along with a mom). Best way to socialize a kitten is to cage it in a roomy enough cage to allow for food, a litterpan, and a place to relax. I cover cages over except for the front, as it gives them a sense of security. Set the cage up so you have easy access to the litterpan & food. Putting it up back only makes for an easy escape route for the kitten. I usually leave them alone for a day until they settle in, and give them lots of wet food etc. In a day or so try to see if the kitten will let you approach carefully, and slowly. Don't try patting the kittens head, but go toward the back. A hand coming at them is scary! Best time to attempt patting is while they're gorging on wet food. Always move slowly, and talk in a quiet voice too. It sounds like the kitten has a good chance of becomming social if given the chance. Most shelters won't accept a feral kitten unless they have a network of foster homes willing to do the socializing. The kitten won't come around as fast being loose in the room. We can look very frightening to them, and chasing them around to try and hold them is terrifying for them, and you risk getting bitten or scratched that way. I've socialized probably a few hundred ferals by now, and 99% do come around when given a chance. Some may take longer than others, and some may only bond with one person, so if you have friends or family willing to interact with the kitten as well, it will make for a better socialized kitten.

[Laura's Babies]

Thanks QSL, sounds like I can have even more hope for Wally now. Mike says he thinks too, they they were tame and dumped recently.. Tonight, he even came up to the front of the cage when Mike was messing with the outside back of the cage and I was RIGHT there!! I just wanted to pick him up and love him and assure him, he is going to be alright...... But I didn't..

Sounds to me like I am doing things right so far by what you have said here..

[clara4457]

Thank you very much for the input - I am glad to hear there is a chance it can be socialized. I have a dog crate that is large enough for about an 80 or 90 lb dog - would that work? I don't really want to use the cat condo the SPCA gave me, as I don't want to run the risk of any cross contamination. So I should probably wait to take it to the vet until it is a little tamer? We have a wonderful vet that works with our organization, but she is in the process of moving to a different practice and is unavailable until February.

I never thought about making sure it was socialized with more than one person - thanks so much for the advice. I also never thought about the possiblity that there could be more out there. We'll have to keep an eye out.

Thanks again for all the input - anything else you can think of, let me know.

Clara

[QueenScoopalot]

The dog crate should work fine. I used them before I found cages to be easier to deal with as far as cleaning went. Maybe you can get the kitten a cozy bed to sleep in. The tricky part will be getting the kitten into the crate now. A large blanket over him/her could be used to grab up the little 'pit viper', and then it can be contained. I'd let the kitten be for a day or so after the big scare! Laura, I'm hoping Wally's not feral....he's such a handsome kitten.

[clara4457]

Well I was able to put the kitten in the dog crate without too much trouble. Once I got her/him in there - she/he seemed to relax a little. I put a litter pan, wet food, water and a towel to lay on and left it alone for a while. A few hours later I went up to check on it and it was at the front of the kennel. I had a long handled scratcher and used it to pet it - and it started purring!!! I did that for about 15 minutes and then reached in with my hand to pet it and it just relaxed, head bumped my hand and started purring again. My thinking is that rather than being feral, it was just a stray that was cold, scared and hungry.

It is filthy - it looks like it was laying in it's own waste. I can't really do anything about that right now, as it is still too scared, but hopefully eventually I can get it cleaned up.

My biggest fear now is the health issue. I know there are a great many diseases that can be picked up by strays, so as soon as she is a little more comfortable - I will be taking her to the vet.

Again - thanks for all your help. I'm sure I'll have more questions later.

Clara

[QueenScoopalot]

Poor scared baby! Glad he/she's calming down in the crate. There still is a chance there's more, as I don't see much of an end in sight around here. Is your sister keeping an eye open for more kittens, and a possible mom cat? Being that the kitten was so spitty, and hissing, I'd venture a guess that it's feral born, and very thankful to be out of the elements! I find feral kittens turn around quite quickly when they've endured horribly cold weather, and then find themselves in a warm home with all the food they can eat! If the baby is purring, chances are very good you can pat the kitten with your hand, and then slowly scruff it, and do the undertail sex check.

[clara4457]

Thank you so much. Yes, we are watching out for any others that might be out in the cold. We haven't seen any, but we have a friend that runs a cat rescue and has some traps. We are going to try to borrow them if we see any signs of others.

The kitten is doing well - seems to be a great deal more secure in an enclosed area. I was able to take a couple of pictures of her - she is going to be just beautiful when she gets cleaned up.

[QueenScoopalot]

Clara, She looks so tiny and sweet! I thought when you said you had a dog crate, that it was one of those plastic ones similar to a cat carrier. What you have the kitten is, is what I use. Easy to clean, and makes them secure feeling. She/he (have you determined sex yet) looks like she'll be adoptable in no time. Good job! Jan

[Laura's Babies]

A fuzzy blackie!! That baby is beautiful and QSL is right, that one should be adopted right away.. (I need one of those cages like you have there.. I been looking at them but never have acutally bought one yet.).. What a PRETTY baby, I would find it hard to keep my hands off of that one!!!

[lizbud]

Clara,

What a sweet little baby. I'm so glad she calmed so quickly.
If I were "trapped" by two Shepherds, I'd being hissing and
spitting myslf. LOL. Poor baby.

Her cage setup looks perfect for her. I sure hope she checks
out well at the Vets. Good luck on this & please check back in
with some updates when you can.

[clara4457]

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragment. I am able to pick it up and hold it (although it still hisses at first). I am no expert - but I think it is a male. Which means it's name will be Kringle (as in Kris Kringle). It has long hair, so it is hard to see it's exact sex - plus at this young age it is so hard to tell if you aren't experienced as what to look for.

I am hypothesising, but I think it was put in the back yard of my sister's house by someone. She has lived in her neighborhood for 17 years and everyone in the neighborhood knows she is a pet lover. I can't really see a feral cat even attempting to come into her yard with the two shepards going in and out at will. Although stranger things have happened. A Christmas present gone bad perhaps??? We looked and looked today and didn't see any signs of any other kittens.

Anyway, our organization will get it vet checked, vaccinated, and neutered and then put it up for adoption. It is such a beauty that we shouldn't have too much trouble finding a good home.

[smokey the elder]

What a cute kitten! If he's socialized it will be very easy to place him (unless you're going to keep him!) Kittens are rare this time of year (except on Pet Talk, it seems.)

[clara4457]

Well Kringle is doing well. He is starting to use the litter box and although he still hisses at me a little when I first approach, once I feed him he gets very affectionate and lets me pet him and pick him up. Once I pick him up he just melts into the crook of my arm. He also allowed me to turn him over on his back and scratch his tummy (purring the entire time). I am going to give him a couple of more days, but then I need to get him his first round of shots and get tested for FLV. The good news is that he is eating and drinking well, and I haven't seen any outward signs of illness.

Is there anything else I should be doing in the meantime. When I have sick cats the SPCA has me do a regiman of vitamin C and weekly doses of vitamin D. Not sure if I should do that with such a small young kitten though.