Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 6

I caught the third kitten – the little black one with the coppery sheen – about an hour ago. I am happy. One more to go. I had to make huge adjustments in my tactics. The kittens are too switched on at night: they are wary and they know all my tricks. I nearly caught the black one last night but miscalculated and it leapt out of the cage before a I had a chance to shut the door. So today I decided to go there in the middle of the afternoon when they are all lounging about and having their cat naps.

I saw the black kitten sleeping in a small fenced off grassy area. Its mother and three other adults were resting under a silo. I had my noisy dogs and my noisy sheep with me, which I quickly locked into an empty shed. I thought by now the kitten would have leapt away and hid like its tortie and white sister but it was in such a deep sleep state that it was twitching in its dreams. I thought to myself, It can't possibly be this easy but I'll try anyhow. I quietly picked up the cage and approached. I am not the lightest of people but I do have a "cat like tread" to quote one of the lyrics from Gilbert and Sullivans' Pirates of Penzance. I set the cage down right beside it, thinking that at any time it would wake up and dart away. It didn't. It just lay there and slept – the little cutie. I even got worried and checked to see if it was breathing. Yes, its little chest was moving up and down ever so slightly.

I then gently leaned down and picked it up without incident and just placed it into the cage before it had a chance to register anything. The kitty was very quiet and still half asleep I think because I didn't hear a sound or feel it move at all, as I walked back to the cat's safe room (the old gym). When I got there I just deposited the cage on the floor, opened it up and stood back. The kitten tentatively walked out and then  scooted into the furthermost corner. I wanted its sibling to see it so I left them some food in a dish to lure them out. I sat there watching them for a few minutes and left. I am about to go back after I finish this blog post. And yes, I have let my dogs and sheep out of the shed.

These feral kittens are the cleverest I've ever come across and, because of that, the socialisation process is painstakingly slow. I fully expect to have it play out for another week or more, although the other two are coming along day by day. I still have one more to catch and I have no doubt she'll be extra cautious when I'm in her vicinity. 

This is extremely stressful for me (as well as the cats). The final denouement to the story that is being played out here is that I will need to find people willing to adopt them in pairs and who are willing to accept kittens slightly older than the usual 6 to 8 weeks. Feral kittens and cats do better in pairs, and these ones are growing rapidly, now that they're not competing for food from their elders. They are looking very clean; their coats are shiny; they are playful with each other; they are intelligent; and they are graceful. Now we need to let them trust and bond with people and other animals, and let them set forth in the world with loving human companions to look after them. That is my greatest wish for them.