How to Socialise a Feral Kitten - Part IV

The Feral Kitten Socialisation Process – The First Two Weeks

The time to start establishing physical (touch) contact is when your kittens have begun to relax in their new home. They know when their food is coming, they know every nook and cranny of their room intimately, and they start to become curious about you. One clue as to their being relaxed is that they are cleaning themselves comfortably in front of you. Another sign is their body language – they may keep you at a safe distance but they walk around, rather than slink close to the ground or make a mad dash to their closest hiding place. 

You need to be subtle rather than overt or aggressive when you want to make your way into a feral kitten's heart. You do so by engaging in play behaviour. You can walk around the room with a long piece of string trailing from your hand or pocket. The string should be tied to a small object that catches their eye as it moves. They will become transfixed by the movement to the point of either sitting and watching it or actually stalking and pouncing on the object. 

My favourite tool, as described in the previous post, is to use a ping pong ball. I just sit on the floor and roll it side to side until it catches their attention. Their ears will invariably perk up and their eyes will grow wide. Sometimes they forget themselves and walk up closer to you to investigate. That is the perfect time to engage with them by batting the ball towards them. Aim to roll it between their paws. They may jump back slightly but usually they will test the ball with their paws. If all is clear from their standard and perspective, they will start batting the ball themselves and chase it around the room.

Socialising a feral cat or kitten is an act of expansion. By that I mean that you start off small and then build step by step so their physical play territory expands, and by virtue of that, the physical boundaries between you and the cats diminishes. You can actually start a game where you bat it to the kitten and the kitten bats it back to you. You will need to be the leader in the game and keep returning it to the kitten so that you are both participants in the same game with each other. It is not uncommon for the kitten to become so engrossed with the ball game that he/she will indiscriminately run towards you and even sidle up to you in order to get the ball and ultimately forget that he/she had previously perceived you as a threat. If that's happening, then count it as a major step in what I call your "conquest by kindness" technique, although "conquest" may be too loaded a word. Let's just say strategic in that you are working with cat psychology.

The other thing you can do is to leave various size boxes around the room, or alternatively, canvas shopping bags or the old fashion shopping paper bag. Cats love exploring these objects, and will often climb inside and make themselves at home. This will perpetuate the notion in their world that this is an environment in which they can interact yet still feel safe.

The best way to make that first physical contact with a cat is while they are eating. Once you have established the daily routine and they begin to anticipate all the elements, begin to progressively sit closer to their feeding station every day at meal times. Once you reach the stage where you are sitting alongside them and they are comfortable with your presence and continue to eat without being hyper vigilant or running away, then slowly extend your hand towards the kitten or cat. You may need to do this in increments – at first the kitten may run or hide, or maybe it will shift position or maybe it will stay there. Depending on how the kitten reacts, never try to force a touch on them. The best time to do this is when they are still hungry and fully engaged in chowing down their food. When you reach a point where you can stroke them, just do one move. Touch them gently on the back of the neck and run your hand down its spine and through to the tip of the tail. If the kitten/cat doesn't resist or shirk, continue in the same way. After a while he/she will start purring, and begin associating you with comfort and pleasure.