This past week someone tagged me on Facebook when they saw a post about feral kittens near me who needed a place to go. When I contacted the original poster, thinking I would have to set traps to catch the little guys, it turned out the couple who found them had already captured them. They were loose in a small bedroom in their mobile home, so we had to spend some time propping up furniture and catching them. I only suffered two small scratches. Two of them (the long-furred ones) are quite wild:
The little grey guy was tamed up enough to go to the veterinarian yesterday where he tested negative for FeLV/FIV. I think the white one would be far calmer if the little tiger coonie kitten (who is quite scared) wasn't always hissing, so I will need to separate them soon.
I am trying something new, which is to only feed them when I am there. I am not leaving dry food for them in the cage 24/7 as I normally do. I want every interaction with me to be associated with food. Of course they have water all the time. They are a bit old for taming, but they can't go back where they were (their mom was hit by a car). So I'm going to be quite interactive with them.
The great room, where they are currently stationed, needs to be painted, so I may take on that project now, so the kittens see me moving around. I've also opened the door to let my cats and Molly check them out (although after an initial visit, all of my animals are, like, "meh, boring.") I can't get stuck with more unadoptable shy cats. If I could tame up the two long-hairs, they would both get homes right away, as I have people looking for long-hair kittens. The white one is drop-dead gorgeous, and everyone wants a "Maine Coon type" kitten.
The gray shorthair is taming up fast enough that he should be adoptable while still small.
Keep your fingers crossed!
That was my downfall, getting stuck with a lot of shy cats, ultimately not adoptable, and now just trying to care for them til they grow old. Anyhow, I bet you'll tame them quickly with that method. I hope you have others to interact with them also, so they won't just one person tame, as sometimes happens with older wild kittens. Earlier this summer, I trapped two older wild boys and worried severely over it, but went at taming them full steam, with them in my bathroom, and they tamed very very quickly. Now both are in homes, although once tame, I sent them off to an adoption group for that. I was relieved, because what do you do if they don't tame, add on more? It's very tough.
ReplyDeleteI don't follow you over on FB so I wondered what was going on. Was starting to get worried about ya!
ReplyDelete-Janet in Florida (where kitten season is never going to end)