I think I’ve inadvertently adopted a semi feral kitten

[Savethebric]

We have a very old lady in our village who ran a cat/kitten rescue for many years before she wound it down. She still has many cats and kittens dropped off with her but doesn’t have any real formal process for adopting them out. I’ve had two rescues off her in the past both very successful. One kitty unfortunately died about 6 months ago at a ripe old age so I gave her a call this weekend to see if she had any kittens around.

I went to see her and she had 3 kittens around 4 months old which someone had found in a Tesco carpark. She (the lady) has clearly deteriorated since I last got a cat from her around 10 years ago. House very stinky with cat urine etc. I saw the 3 kittens All spayed and jabbed but no other history. I picked one very timid girl (on reflection they were all quite timid).

Shes been with us for 3 days now and has spent all 3 hiding under the sofa. Shes been enclosed in the small room to feel a bit safer with her food and litter tray. I’ve spent hours sat on the floor trying to coax her out with treats and toys. She ventures out by creeping around the edge of the room but darts at the slightest noise and doesn’t come back out again. I managed to coax her with some very small bits of chicken but the second I touched her with a little stroke on the head she hissed and growled at me and darted back off again.

When she came back out she sat about a food from my hand growling and hissing, I sniffed and she darted off again.

Any tips gratefully received. I don’t think she’s used to being touched at all.

Poor little cat! All I can say is that some cats and kittens take time to trust. We adopted two rescue cats (both older kittens) last December. The little girl was originally quite trusting, but it took 2-3 weeks to get the boy out from under the sofa. Now he’s the friendlier one, but only with me. You’ve had your little cat for such a short time, and she’s still so young. I bet all she needs is love, and a couple of months.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing but it will be a long and slow process. It’s likely she will be trusting of you but still scared of anyone who visits.

Make sure lots of soft teddies in the room too

Hadn’t thought of that, off to get squishmallows from DDs room!

I adopted two kittens that had been born in a garden shed. They managed to get under my cooker and it was hard to get them out, but once I did I put them down my jumper, and kept them there as much as possible. Maybe it helped that they were a pair, but they relaxed, became very bonded to me and lovely adult cats.

She might be a bit hissy for the jumper !

Took weeks for my 2 ex ferals to stop hiding behind (or in!) the sofa when they came home, and that was after a year at the rescue. But in time they both became very affectionate & Boycat ended up a real cuddle monster - I'd be sitting there & suddenly realise that somehow 6kg of large panther had crawled up me & was snuggled against my chest without me noticing.

Now he's no longer with us, his sister has taken over cuddle duties but very much in her terms i.e. she summons me to her favorite places and I have to go there & cuddle her.

All you can do really is take it at her pace. Sit with her, chat to her, put treats on the floor near where you are sitting. Eventually she will come round, if only because cats are very curious creatures by nature, and learn that the giant hairless pink thing isn't actually a monster trying to kill her but a source of nice food. Once you get to that stage you can go on to touching, stroking, scritching etc.

Put some gloves on and handle her. Ignore any hissing and spitting. I wouldn’t leave her to ‘settle in on her own’ because with a cat you suspect to be feral it’s really important to just pick them up and force the interactions - gently and kindly of course!

lots of treats and toys and handling is the way forward

Our boy and his brother were born in a garden shed. Eventually the lady whose shed it was brought them in and had them neutered when the weather got really cold, by which point they were about nine months old. The people who owned the mum cat didn’t want them. One cat became very dominant and ate all the food, so her vet said to rehome one of the pair - and here we are. He was just past one and quite hissy, hid a lot, and was a proper little food thief. Having just lost our lovely gentle girl cat to cancer, I had moments where I wondered if we had made a mistake. It took him a few months to be truly “our cat” and come out of his shell, but now he is a cheeky, funny, cuddly wee fella who turns three in January, and we love him so much. I was on my own when he first came here (DP was away with work for a few weeks) and I just spoke to him constantly, saying his name all the time, which I think helped - just nonsense, “now Louie we will go and make a cup of tea” type stuff, and even reading aloud to him. He also liked to hang out in the kitchen so I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor in there with him and the radio on. In retrospect he was very shut down because now he absolutely HATES the hoover and will go out in the rain to avoid it, but at the beginning I was hoovering every time he used the litter tray and he didn’t much bother.

Thinking that this time two years ago he was (almost) still in his shed era with no nightly brush and chicken yoghurt before cosy bed by the radiator actually breaks my heart!

How can we possibly give informed advice without A PICTURE!!

I agree put on gardening gloves and try to hold her close to you until she relaxes. Ignore the hissing. Keep just sitting in the room with her and offering bits of chicken. Over time she will realise she is safe. Do not let her out or she will be gone.

Go back and get the other two and the mother!

Obviously this probably isn’t possible so say hello to your new cat from me. As you are already doing give her plenty of time and space and she will thrive

contact cats protection to get your girl done and see if the will do spay and release on the females in the area

We had a feral cat when I was growing up- she was an adult when she turned up and I coaxed her with some cat biscuits and meals, and she gradually adopted us. It took a while though... but she must have felt safe because she came in ti iur house one day and produced 4 kittens!!

She never became fully domesticated although she did live with us and move house with us a few times over the years. Despite being born in our house and handled affectionately since birth, her kittens all behaved in a semi feral way too- a couple of them just disappeared from their new homes after a few months, and the one we kept remained a bit stand-offish.

It always felt more like they tolerated us in return for food rather than like having pets. And the adult one was constantly wormy- she was still catching a lot of prey and every time she was wormed she'd just catch them again straight away.

I'd go gently, coax and bribe with treats but also brace yourself as the feral edge may always be there!

Gardening gloves, pick her up and ignore any protests on her part - feral kittens can be very, very quickly domesticated but you have to do it before their socialisation window closes.

I used to wrap our semi-feral in a blanket with only his head poking out and basically hold him on my lap and stroke him - it only took a couple of days.

I adopted an adult stray like this but he wasn’t feral, just terrified. I sat with him lots and put the radio on and he gradually trusted me but it took a long time. He is affectionate now but still a complete scaredy cat nutball.

I think it will take time, but hopefully she'll settle. My parents and I adopted 3 kittens between us, that were born in a shed. Mine is confident. My parents two were very timid. They still are around strangers and loud nosies, but they love my mum and dad.

Kitten tax!

That is a gorgeous kitty!

Oh what a gorgeous little kitten!
No advice, just wanted to thank you for taking her in and hoping before long you are posting pictures of her snoozing on your lap😻
Do you have a name yet?

Pretty little girly!

I agree, the time to win her over is now. Leave your worn clothes in the room where she is so she gets used to your smell. Hang your PJs in there in the morning and put that days Tshirt in her bed each night.

I agree with the advice to don some gloves and gently proceed to stroke the top of her head while bribing/ distracting her with food. Once she is tolerating this then move on to holding her for short periods (gloves/ towel as necessary) followed by rewarding her with food. I wouldn't go for a full on grab/ wrap if she's currently fleeing/ hiding but once she's staying put or even coming towards you I'd be tempted to do short holds. Do all of this close to ground level or sat down, don't try and lift her up to you when you are stood up as they can find that very unsettling.

Even spending time in there not touching her could help. So read a book, make a phone call etc and she’ll get used to your presence.

Update: Shes now sleeping in her bed but still darts under the sofa whenever I come in the room but she comes back out quicker than before!

She jumped up on the sofa but then jumped straight back down again

will tolerate strokes inside her bed but not “out in the open” of the room

loves her laser pointer

attempted a very short hold sitting on the floor and she hissed and spat and ran away for 30 mins (too soon!)

I foster with a rescue and tbh hadn’t ever heard or tried the just get them with gardening gloves. The poor thing is probably very scared right now. Just keep her on the one room where she can learn to feel safe, sit with her, talk to her etc and offer treats. You should work on the 3 day, 3 week, 3 month rule. As I’m typing this I’m sat with two very scared and hissy boys, who are just bunched up in a corner, let her develop at her own lance and keep actively encouraging play and touch. It can take months and months of patience with some cats when they haven’t been around people much

I had a similar kitten from our local shelter many years ago. You could not touch her without, teeth, hissing, claws etc. I was 13 at the time. I got her in my top held her tight and ignored all of her protests. After about an hour she fell asleep on my chest exhausted. I wasn’t try to be cruel, it just felt the right thing to do at the time. From that day on, I was her person. I’m 50 now, so she is long gone, but we had such a close bond, an amazing cat.💕😔