How To Socialize Semi Feral Kittens

Becky robinson president and founder of alley cat allies shares a little secret about felines.

How to socialize semi feral kittens. Alley cat allies does not in general recommend trying to socialize a feral cat over 4 months of age. Community kittens can be socialized fairly easily if they re handled at an early age 8 weeks or under. Semi feral cats fall somewhere in between. Several organizations recommend not to take a cat from the wildness if they are all grown up already.

They tend to avoid being touched but may vocalize when around humans or even make eye contact. Talk to the kitten as you hold it so the kitten feels safe with you. However there is a gray area in which the personality of the individual cat comes into play. The socialization of feral kittens requires a daily commitment of time the duration of which depends on the age of the kittens and the amount and consistency of the time you spend working with them.

Many recommend using clay litter at first. Between 4 and 8 months of age if there is time and capacity and if the kitten is showing meaningful signs of social behavior the decision may be made to place the kitten in a foster home for. Hold the kitten securely to your chest for at least 15 minutes a day. Socialized cats are fully domesticated and comfortable around humans while feral cats have had little to no human contact and are basically wild animals.

Using cat attract litter will help your feral kitty identify the litter box as the place to go to the bathroom. Even if your intentions are the best you can harm the cat. We ve found the soil over the clumping litter transition to work quite smoothly. During the socialization process you ll want to do six to eight sessions per day with each cat with sessions in the beginning lasting one to three minutes.

Cats are animals that seek pleasure and attention she says. Pick up the kitten and bring it to your chest. There are a few steps to helping a kitten become socialized and they are as follows. When trying to socialize a semi feral cat who quite obviously enjoys hiding from you this might seem counterintuitive.

Feral kittens that are between 4 to 10 weeks old are especially suitable to socialize. How will a cat or kitten ever become comfortable around humans if you don t interact with them. Depending on what the cat is working on and what the cat can tolerate the length of sessions will vary.