Kitten has adopted us - help please!

[Angielka]

A week or so ago, we saw a little kitten (3-4 months?) hanging about and when we got close it meowed but soon ran away. After a few days I took pity on it and gave it some milk (after reading a bit since I know that wasn't the best thing to do but as a BF mum it was kind of a kneejerk reaction). A day later a guy came round after seeing the kitten playing in the front and asked if it was ours. I said no, he could take it if he liked and thought that was the end of the story. Two days later we looked out of the window to see it sitting in the middle of the lawn looking up at the house...

It seems to have moved into the garden shed, which has a hole in one wall. I've got some kitten food for it, gave it a box with an old jumper in to keep it warm and have been gradually moving the bowl closer and closer to the house with the idea that eventually it will be tempted into the house.

I know I need to get it to a vet fairly soon to get it neutered/spayed and sort jabs out but so far it has only let me get within a metre of it. Does anyone have any advice about taming? I had a cat when I was a girl but it came already tame! This one's a bit wild but winter is coming and I would like to try and get it from the shed to the house! Any tips gratefully received. TIA

Keep doing what your doing, be nice, crouch down so you don't seem so big and keep feeding.

Ham is a great ice breaker.

If its male it should be fairly obvious by 4 months, if its female and it gets pg spaying will sort that out.

You can ask Cats Protection (or, if you live in London or Hastings [I think that's right, thecatneuterer will know] Celia Hammond) to help with getting shed!kitten to safety & sorting out neutering etc.

In fact, thecatneuterer will just generally Know All The Right Things on this one...

Thanks a lot fluffy and zebra for the tips! It is currently under a car at the front and responding to me by meowing but not coming towards me at all. I'll keep trying. I'll send thecatneuterer a pm and see if she can help further (I'm actually not in the UK at all...)

Tbf it's not expecting you to miaow.....

Patience is key

I find sitting with them while they eat helps, they come to associate your presence with good things and can have a good look at you out of the corner of their eye while they eat. Just sit there and let him get used to your smell, your movements and your voice. Chat to him and always narrow your eyes when you look at him, wide eyes are a sign of aggression in cats. If you squint your eyes at him and he half closes his eyes in response that's a really good sign, it means he isn't feeling threatened by you.

Don't just reach out and try and rub him, same as you would with a dog you need to let him see your hand and sniff it a bit, if he likes the idea of a run he'll bump head head against your hand... he might not do that the first few times you let him sniff your hand but don't push it. If you let that first rub go completely on his terms he'll be much more trusting of you after that.

It can take very different amounts of time depending on the cat, don't get disheartened if it seems to be taking a long time. I've taken in a lot of ferals and some make friends within days, others take months. My old girl took 6 months to let me rub her.... now she climbs on top of me and asks for belly rubs every time I sit down. I've had cats who tamed a lot quicker but were never as trusting so don't assume if it's going slowly that he won't be friendly.

Good luck

You're welcome - hope you're able to entice kitten in

Is a good sign kitten's willing to chat. If you can bring out something kitten's likely to find delicious & put it down nearer where you want them & then move away it might help?

Good luck!

Hells bells. I just typed a huge reply and it disappeared!

Anyway I got your pm OP.

SummerRain is right about taming and has some good suggestions. The problem is it can take months or even years and the cat needs neutering sooner rather than later, particularly if it’s female. (What colour is it by the way? That can be an indicator of sex).

The easiest thing would be to trap it. As there is only one cat involved then you can use an automatic traps. Cat charities can lend these and so can many vets.

If you can’t find any cat charities or vets with traps (I realise it might not be as easy in whatever country you’re in as it is in the UK) then you will have to try to get it yourself.

This will probably be a three person job and you will need a cat carrier, preferably that opens at the top with a flip lid. Then you need to wait till the cat goes in the shed and get someone to block off the hole from the outside. Then the other two of you need to get into the shed without the cat slipping out past you and make sure you can close the shed door securely. You will also need a sheet or large towel. Try to corner the cat. Throw the sheet over and it bundle it into the carrier. This will probably take several attempts and you will doubtless end up with a few scratches.

It can’t be that feral though if the other man managed to take it away. How did he do that?

Once it’s been neutered then I would bring it straight into your house. Do you have a spare room? If so I would keep it in the spare room with a box for it to hide in or an igloo bed and a litter tray and would aim to keep it for a couple of months (unless it becomes really tame sooner than that). After that time it should be a lot more relaxed around you and will certainly regard your house as it’s home .

If you don’t have a spare room then you could do the same with the cat in a large dog crate in say the kitchen or living room, with an igloo bed or hidey box in the crate. But that should be for no longer than four weeks as obviously the cat can’t get much exercise in a crate.
Do that help?

And it’s lovely that you care and want to help.

'Does' that help ... not 'do' ... duh

I think you need to get it to a vet to be scanned for a microchip first before deciding to get it neutered and giving it a home!

There could be people looking for it!

It's very, very unlikely that a semi feral kitten has come from a home. However any vet, knowing the story, would of course scan when it goes for neutering. The problem it getting it to the vet in the first place.

'the problem is' - what's up with my typing today!

I've just had another thought. If you wait till the cat goes in the shed, you could get a front opening carrier and hold it against the hole (providing the hole isn't bigger than the opening of the carrier. Someone else can then go into the shed and scare the cat back through the hole and hopefully straight into the carrier. You will then need something rigid to put over the opening of the carrier to enable you to move it to shut the door of the carrier without the cat escaping.

Oh thank you all so much

SummerRain I will follow your tips step by step - it all makes perfect sense.

thecatneuterer thank you so much for all the info. I'm in Belgium so I'll try and find a Belgian cat charity or a local vet with a trap. There are some MNers here so maybe I'll ask them too through facebook. Someone might have a lead for me to follow.

Yes, I have no idea how the man took it away. I don't actually know that he did - maybe he just scared it so much it lay low for a couple of days.

Yes, we do have a spare room, but we also have guests coming fairly soon! When you say keep it for a couple of months, I assume you mean don't let it out for a couple of months while it becomes tame, is that right? It seems a bit mean for such an outdoor cat, but I suppose it's a case of doing what is best for it in the end, right?

It's black and white - a picture is on my profile if anyone can tell from that about sex...

Thanks again, and any more tips gratefully received!

I can't tell the sex from that photo, but it's about 12 weeks old. Being so tiny I'm sure you could manage the trapping in the shed and bundling technique without coming to too much harm.

I yes, I do mean keep in for a couple of months without letting out. Minimum one month, but really the more shy they are the longer it takes for them to calm down, start to trust and to see the house as their home. It will be fine (cats in rescues are in much more cramped conditions very often) and will certainly be in it's long term interests.

OK, well I'm pretty optimistic about getting it on side as I got it in the house this evening - it had a poke about the room that the garden is off (conveniently also the guest room) and I plied it with ham (went down a treat fluffy) while sitting near and talking to it so things are progressing.

Thanks for telling me its approximate age thecatneuterer I thought it was young... and the clarification. OK, I'll see how we get on again

Progress indeed, getting kitten to come into the house! I hope you're able to find a vet/animal charity who're able to help you out

Well that's great. If you can get it in the house you can shut it in there and one way or another get it into a cat carrier. And then you can take it to a normal vet, so no need for a trap or a charity.

And if it's already coming into the house then there is really no need to shut it in for so long afterwards. Two or three weeks should be enough.

The vets I've called haven't answered their phones but I spoke to a lady at a charity who said that if we take the kitten in, they will do the neutering but that it shouldn't be done before 6 months...

Got it in the house again this morning with the aid of ham. I suppose the next step is buying a litter tray and shutting the door, but I still feel mean it's the right thing to do, right?

Firstly the charity don't know that they're talking about. It should be done at five months and can even be done younger. They can be pregnant by six months. So in eight weeks time.

Of course you don't know the exact age anyway so just say, if it seems to be a sticking point, that you think he/she is probably six months.

It's the ONLY thing to do! Anything else would be awful. What if it's female? And ends up having kittens when she's only a baby herself? Giving birth is especially dangerous for very young cats. And then if the kittens don't get eaten by foxes you will have about 5 feral cats in your shed, not one. In two years approximately 150. In four years 600 ...

And apart from all that I'm sure he or she will be thrilled to have a proper home with heating and a comfy bed and people to love him/her. A bit of very short term distress will be quickly forgotten.

Have you taken it to the vet to see if it has been microchipped? Might be someone else's sorely missed pet.

As we've mentioned above 'cheese' this is a semi feral kitten we're talking about. It's very, very unlikely to belong to anybody and the problem at the moment is managing to catch it - what with it being feral and all.

I'm sure once the OP manages to get it to a vet then she will have it checked for a chip, but I'll eat my cat carrier if it actually has one:)

Just to clarify things OP. I realise I may have confused you. When we were first talking I didn't know the approximate age of the kitten so advised taking to the vet immediately. Now we know that it won't need neutering for approximately 8 weeks you have more time to play with.

So either you can shut it in the house and get it completely used to the house straight away until neutering, when you will need to keep in for another week and can will be able to let it out. Or you can get it used to coming in and out of the house as it is now, for another 6 or 7 weeks or so, and then shut it in for a week, have it neutered, keep in for another week and then let in carry on coming in and out if it wants to.

It's absolutely not worth the distress to both of you of trying to get it to a vet straight away just to check for a chip. I have trapped/caught hundreds of kittens in a similar situation (semi-feral, 2 or 3 months old) and not one has ever been chipped. This is because owned kittens are more trusting of humans and so don't behave the way this one is doing, and also people tend to combine chipping with neutering, so it generally isn't done until they are about five months old. Of course the vet should check when you take it in for neutering, but I don't think you need to make a special effort beforehand.

Of course it is an age now when it should have its first jabs too. But again, considering the problems with catching it, unless you intend to catch it and keep it in for the next two months until neutering then it may not be worth the distress and loss of trust. And if you are going to have to use a trap then you should not use it until you are ready to neuter, otherwise it will become trap-shy.

It really all depends on how tame you can get it over the next few weeks I suppose.

Good luck anyway!

Thank you thecatneuterer your advice is really helpful. I absolutely agree that neutering is the only thing to do, but your second option of letting it come and go for a few weeks and get gradually tamer seems to be a much gentler option to me, especially since 3-year-old DD1 is a bit scared of animals in general and didn't like the idea of having the kitten in the house when I mentioned it.

I think the way we'll go is to fix an end date in mind, maybe 6 weeks from now, by which time we should be able to stroke it/get it in a carrier with as little distress on its side as possible. It'll be the end of November so pretty chilly by then anyway - the house should become more and more attractive as the weeks go on!!

Yes, I doubt this belongs to anyone, although it's perfectly possible it goes up and down the road miaowing to everyone who will give it ham having said that, it tends to be pretty hungry when it comes by the house for food, so I don't think it's getting lots of food elsewhere.

Thanks again