Feral Kittens
Feral kittens are homeless cats that were either born in the wild or abandoned at a young age. While feral cats of any age have the possibility of being tamed, the success rate is much higher for young kittens. The goal of taming a feral kitten or cat is to prepare it for adoption or keep it for yourself.
How long should feral kittens stay with their mother?
It is important that you never take a feral kitten away from its mother in the first 4 weeks of its life, as this is an important developmental stage. If kittens are separated from their mother too early, they will be too susceptible to disease.
How to tame a feral kitten?
A feral kitten can be tamed with the following steps: Establishing comfortable home, Brief handling, and introduction. Taming a feral kitten can take 3 to 6 weeks depending on how well the kitten adapts. While the taming process may be very stressful and sometimes painful, it is important that you stick with it and do all you can to support and tame the kitten.
Establishing a comfortable home
You should get a feral kittens its own kennel with a nice, comfy place to sleep. You should also provide a nice clean litter box. We recommend getting a kennel that has food and water bowls attached to the door so that you don’t have to risk your arms reaching into the kennel. In the beginning, it is extremely important that you keep the cat away from other pets and humans. You should also have the cat tested for diseases at the vet in this first stage. After around 2 days, you can move on to the next phase.
Brief Handling
You should start handling the kitten with a towel. You should approach the cat from the back, and if it stays calm, you should gently pet its head. We recommend speaking softly to the kitten, and afterwards you should reward the kitten with a treat. We recommend starting with canned food as a treat. As you repeat the handling over the next couple days, you should try to introduce brushing the kitten. This can help remove parasites from your cat and can also help the cat trust you. After a couple weeks, if you notice your kitten is becoming more and more comfortable, you can move on to the next phase.
Socializing Feral Kittens
If you are taming multiple kittens, at this point you can start to introduce them and initiate socializing. This means you can let them play together in a common area. Make sure this is indoors, in case one gets frightened and can’t run outside and disappear. If the kittens start hissing at one another and you think they are about to get hostile, immediately separate them. As the kittens get more and more comfortable with each other, you should start introducing them to other humans.
Adopting Feral Kittens
If you are putting your feral kitten up for adoption, make sure your kitten is at least 8 weeks old. You should also introduce the kitten to other humans before handing them over to the adopting family so that they are used to other humans.
