How long do you reckon

... it will take for the three kitties (about 7 months) we trapped the other day, to get them tame enough to be adopted out? They have been living outside since they were born, in a noisy environment - at least in the daytime. They're at the Cat Rescue still, and will probably be spayed/neutered tomorrow. For some reason, they didn't want us to come over there to visit the kitties.

The plan is that my neighbor will take them for a few weeks, and then the woman at the Cat Rescue will take them home until they're adopted. She has 22 cats in her house already. :eek: They have to be calm enough to be with the other cats, or for a family to adopt them.

I suppose the spay/neuter will help them calm down, and they will probably get some medicine for pain and to relax, after such an ordeal.

When we take in feral kittens from the TNR work, we place them in foster homes for up to a month. The kitten remains in a large cage with food, water, litter box and toys. You have to separate them, or they bond with each other. You want them to bond with humans instead. The foster takes the kitten out and holds it while watching TV, etc, for half an hour 3 times per day. Offers treats and yummy nibbles which do NOT appear in the food dish, so the association is with good things.

Here are a few links for articles on topic:
http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/socializingferal.pdf

http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/Congratulations.pdf

Here is the link to the entire resources list, in case anything else applies to you. http://www.alleycat.org/resources_list.html

Our first cat Grisette was a feral, about 4 months old. She hid for like ten days under the cupboard, only coming out for food. But then slowly she adjusted. So a month sounds good to me :)

It Depends On The Kittens As Some Take To A Home And Others Take A Lot Longer.
Its Basically A Lesson In Teaching Them What The Litter Box Is For That Has Stumped Tubster As He Was Feral For A Lot Longer Time.
The Recently Late Scratchy Jr Was Too Wild And Never Really Wanted To Be Confined At All.
We Wish You Luck In Taming These Little Ones And Three Gold Stars Are Going By Your Name At The Arinbow Bridge For Helping Them Out.

Randi,

It depends on HOW feral they are. The longer they are feral, the longer it will take for them to adjust. You need to separate them. If you can borrow 3 crates and put one in each. If not, get one big crate.

Good luck.

Ferals usually have a trust issue because people generally will shoo them away (or worse) because they're "wild". Keep them separated in as large a cage as you can, speak in a soft tone of voice and talk to them a lot when you hold them and bond w/them. Treats for them also works wonders. Good luck.

Thanks for your replies and links. :)

The three kitties have been spayed/neutered today, it went well. :D We forgot to ask who was male/female, but we'll know tomorrow.

The plan is to put them all in a huge cage with litterbox and everything, and my neighbor will take them for a while, until they can be adopted or be with other kitties. I know she can't bear to keep them in a cage, so she'll probably let them out in her flat - we'll see what the Cat Rescue woman says. Two of them are definately siblings, not sure about the third one, but they have grown up together and slept together in that workshed, so I'm sure they'll get along.

Will tell you more when I get news.