Tough Love: Socializing Feral Kittens (Part 2 of 3)

The Urban Cat League teaches you how to tame and socialize feral kittens to make them ready for adoption into homes instead of life on the streets.

Questions? Contact Mike at urbancatleague.tamingferals@gmail.com.

Produced for the Urban Cat League (www.urbancatleague.org) with a Partners in Caring grant from the ASPCA (www.aspca.org).

Producers: Cathe Neukum and Daniel Breton
Camera: Daniel Breton and Cathe Neukum
Music: Kim Sherman
Post Sound-Mix: Eric Shim
In-Kind Services: Ganglion Films (www.ganglionfilms.com), Neukum Pictures, Kim Sherman, and Scott Killian

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• feral
• kittens
• cats
• socialize
• socialization
• tame
• trap
• neuter
• return
• tnr
• new
• york
• city
• nyc
• urban
• cat
• league

[catclaud]

See all parts of this and help kitties near your home and in shelters!!! It's worth it!

[psychobuilding]

Wanted to rescue dumped neighborhood cats who were becoming feral; emailed numerous groups, but only Mike of Urban cat League responded.Though I have not rescued nor socialized near his #s, it's helped me rescue 22 in 3 yrs. Some feralish, most friendly & scared. His advice, "tough love" section I use all the time to get them to come to me, it just takes less time with the dumped who would no longer make it on the street.

Now socializing 3 kittens and w/out this video couldn't do it.

[dragus213]

i had a feral kitten come through my open window for a few weeks at one point. he looked exactly like one of your tuxedo cats he was very friendly but very skittish in my room if i were to put him on the floor he would immediatly jump back up onto the bed then onto my shoulders, fed him and socialised him to the point he would come in jump from the bed to the desk then from the desk to my shoulders just for some pets and he would stay there we adopted him out since we had 2 cats already

[79barkingspider]

@TheAlysonA Certain cats are relaxed by music, especially deeper bass tones and piano music. They generally hate high notes which make them anxious. I read one account of a cat that would try to put its paw over a high note singer's mouth! "Hey stop that!"

[79barkingspider]

Do you purposely provide food less often to make them more approachable when food is available? Sounds like a good idea.

[LordwalgawIsBack]

8:20 GET OVER HERE!!!!!

[LordwalgawIsBack]

8.20 GET OVER HERE!!!!!

[TheAlysonA]

@MyMoppet52, I discovered the same thing with singing, but only with one song - 'My Favourite Things' . I was feeding my kittens & I found myself singing it, something to do with "whiskers on kittens" and they relaxed to me!

[redneck00035]

There are lots of feral cat in my neighborhood, been that way for years. Caught one tonight with my hand's it's about 6 weeks old. I should have put gloves on. The last time I tried to tame a feral cat, I had two house cat that help me tame him, He was so loveable after a week, with there help. This time I have dog's and they hate him.

[Shadowz480]

@MyMoppet52 I am also trying to socialize a 5 month old and your comment reminds me of something silly that I found helpful. I sit down as close as she will allow & just start singing to her. She looks at me funny, but I've found she not only tolerates it, she seems to enjoy it. I don't know any calming songs except one lullaby, so I just make up calming songs on my own. There is an old saying that music soothes a savage beast and she is certainly no savage. Give it a try!

[SusanQ83642]

@jonsilence The very best way to handle a young, pregnant feral is to scruff them and quickly get them into a box or transport cage in order to get them home for socializing. Be with the pregnant ones as much as possible while they are having their kittens, so that you can be there to offer assistance for things like cords wrapped around necks, and breach births. They will usually trust more if you are there for them during a most scary time for them! Newborn kittens are very easy to tame ;~)

[jdrum12]

I'm preparing to try socializing 3 kittens in my yard. What kind of food are they eating and enjoying? I've been using dry food but would like to try something more appealing.