Minus that mats, of course. She is torn, at the moment: We have gotten four of the five kittens inside (over the last 24 hours). She seems to understand that the ones inside are safer than the one left outside. So she keeps wanting to go back out to him (which we are allowing her to do), but she also seems to want to stay inside where there is food, warmth, safety, and (most importantly) the bulk of her litter. The poor this is very agitated. I will be glad when we have managed to catch them all!
I presume the kittens will eventaully take their cues from momma and let you get closer. This whole scary world is only a week or two old to them, right? But if you can get the kittens to accept human contact, that'll make a big difference in their socialization, I'm told.
We tried the patience route with them, but have given up on that in favor of the live-trap method. We have four out of five kittens in the house, right now. The fifth will likely venture into the trap tonight, for his evening meal. I know I will be much, much more relaxed, myself, when we have them all inside. Yes, they will need much handling to get them socialized. But, we've had the four in the house for less that one day, and I've already had two of them basically fall asleep in my hands. So, I have no doubt they will adjust to human contact in a short time. The real wait is that they are less than a month old and not yet weaned. So, we will have kittens in the house for at least a couple of weeks before we can really think about placing them.
Yep, you are pretty much right on the money. I've had a few cats, over the years, that were sent out into the world before they were mature enough and it can take some real patient work with them to get them over that rough start. And if you don't, they can have some weird quirks for the rest of their lives. As for these particular kittens, we plan to keep them around until they are at least six weeks (which will be at least two, possibly three weeks from now). I'm not really looking forward to living with ten cats (ack!) for that long, but I know we want to do what is best for the kittens. Now, if we could only get that last kitten in the house, we'll be good...
my user pic is of my orphan kittie Taz. It took awhile to socialize him, he was the lone kitten and spent about 8 wks alone in a utility room at his foster home. His foster mom had about 15 other kittens at the time she was trying to place/work with.
We adopted him when he was about 3 months. He's gorgeous! and my Mother in Law even says so, so it must be true! Anyway, we were able to socialize him and he'll be 10 on Labor Day. You would never know he was feral, though he does have a few neuroses, but luckily they're mostly endearing.
We have a cat, Mayuko, who was feral for a year and half before we took him in. It took us about two years to really tame him, and he is still quite skittish. He definitely has his quirks, but I couldn't ask for a cat to be more dedicated to me. He is also an enormous pixie-bob, so we are lucky that he is a big-hearted sweetie. He could eat us for lunch, if he wanted to. Mayuko seems to remember the trauma of his feral-to-house-cat transition: e has taken to talking to the kittens under the bathroom door, in as soothing a voice as he can muster. It's freakin' adorable to see this huge cat hunched down with his nose to the door sill, burbling to a bunch of kittens. I am very proud of him, actually.
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She is torn, at the moment: We have gotten four of the five kittens inside (over the last 24 hours). She seems to understand that the ones inside are safer than the one left outside. So she keeps wanting to go back out to him (which we are allowing her to do), but she also seems to want to stay inside where there is food, warmth, safety, and (most importantly) the bulk of her litter. The poor this is very agitated. I will be glad when we have managed to catch them all!
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Fungo may not be too thrilled with the arrangement, though.
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I presume the kittens will eventaully take their cues from momma and let you get closer. This whole scary world is only a week or two old to them, right? But if you can get the kittens to accept human contact, that'll make a big difference in their socialization, I'm told.
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from what i remember, they should stay six to eight weeks if it's at all possible. and preferably no fewer than five, even if they've already weaned.
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As for these particular kittens, we plan to keep them around until they are at least six weeks (which will be at least two, possibly three weeks from now). I'm not really looking forward to living with ten cats (ack!) for that long, but I know we want to do what is best for the kittens.
Now, if we could only get that last kitten in the house, we'll be good...
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my head just exploded. haha
my user pic is of my orphan kittie Taz. It took awhile to socialize him, he was the lone kitten and spent about 8 wks alone in a utility room at his foster home. His foster mom had about 15 other kittens at the time she was trying to place/work with.
We adopted him when he was about 3 months. He's gorgeous! and my Mother in Law even says so, so it must be true! Anyway, we were able to socialize him and he'll be 10 on Labor Day. You would never know he was feral, though he does have a few neuroses, but luckily they're mostly endearing.
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He is also an enormous pixie-bob, so we are lucky that he is a big-hearted sweetie. He could eat us for lunch, if he wanted to.
Mayuko seems to remember the trauma of his feral-to-house-cat transition: e has taken to talking to the kittens under the bathroom door, in as soothing a voice as he can muster. It's freakin' adorable to see this huge cat hunched down with his nose to the door sill, burbling to a bunch of kittens. I am very proud of him, actually.
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