Taming Feral Kittens

The only difference between domestic and feral kittens is FEAR

We have established that domestic and feral cats are the same species, and indeed there can even be both domestic and feral cats in the same cat family. An abandoned cat will give birth to kittens which will grow up feral unless they are rescued soon after birth; otherwise, this is the start of a feral cat colony. It follows that the difference between domestic and feral cats is the direct result of their lifestyle and upbringing.

Read more in our article: Feral or Domestic? That is the Question

Whereas domestic cats are born and raised in the security of a human environment and used to being handled by people, feral kittens are born "in the wild" and hidden away by the mother. If unnoticed for several weeks they will develop their inherent wild instincts, regardless of whether the mother cat is feral or domestic. Once exposed to the outside world they will react aggressively or elusively towards anything unfamiliar - including humans. To become domesticated they have to be tamed, to be taught to live with humans without fear and finally to trust people to the extent that they can be handled as pets.

Question: how long does it take to tame a feral kitten?

Answer: this appears to depend on the following factors:

• The kitten's age at the time of rescue

• Its previous experiences and traumas

• Time available, intelligence and commitment of the "tamer" (fosterer)

The kitten's inherent personality - the siblings of a litter usually show varying degrees of tameness when they are first rescued. This often changes during the course of adjustment; the shyest often overtakes the others and becomes the most affectionate. It is hard to say whether this is the result of the extra attention that it inevitably receives or inherited temperament and disposition that only manifests itself when the kitten has calmed down.

The age of a kitten at the time of rescue is the most important factor…

A playpen provides adequate living space for a litter of kittens

 If rescued new-born or up to 4 weeks of age feral kittens are practically as tame as their domestic born relatives. Both may spit faintly at anything unfamiliar, but they can be easily held and handled. After that, a kitten may grow "wild" fast (even a 4-week-old can already back away from a rescuing hand, but it is not able to run faster than a human). 

A 5-week-old kitten can be quite elusive but if held closely, kept warm and cuddled intensively it usually calms down within a few days, provided it has not been chased during its rescue. Taming is made much more difficult when the kitten’s first impression of a human was a “monster” charging after it causing fear and panic which it will need time to forget. If a kitten does act aggressively it is very important to hold it as soon as possible. This is best done by picking it up from behind (or lightly scruffing it) wrapping loosely in a towel and holding it close to your chest which usually calms the kitten down very quickly.

Unless they are found in an enclosed space in a safe corner where they can be instantly and swiftly picked up, feral kittens should be coaxed into a kitten trap baited with food rather than chased around. (If there is more than one animal to be trapped only a manual trap is safe, as one kitten eating can trigger an automatic trap door, which can hurt or even kill others on their way in).

Kittens of around 6 to 7 weeks old grow big and wild fast and therefore need to be handled as soon and as intensively as possible. It is useful with kittens of this age to try to hold and cuddle them the very night they are rescued if at all possible. At this stage they may still be acting passively because they are utterly surprised, and we can use this ‘frozen’ attitude to handle them before they regain their determination and defend themselves. For extra comfort and to discourage it from struggling, wrap it loosely in some woollen material and hold it against your chest. Gentle stroking from behind with the thumb up the forehead and down between the ears is especially soothing and effective.

Once the kitten is totally relaxed in the arms it can start little investigative walks on your lap, still stroking with the hands to reassure it and also to control it should it suddenly leap out of reach. After each short excursion the kitten is returned to the pen. 

Kittens over 8 weeks of age are usually too fierce to be handled straight away and if they are 9 to 10 weeks or older a step-by-step taming programme will be required, unless previous feeders have gained their confidence on site by handling and stroking them. This is more likely when the mother cat is ex-domestic because she will bring them closer to humans and is more relaxed when she sees her kittens being approached. 

The taming course needs to start at the earliest opportunity and even if very young feral kittens are taken in and reared with their mother, they need to be separated from her for short periods of time to be handled once they are 3 to 4 weeks old.

Confinement

It is essential that newly rescued kittens be confined in a kitten pen (see MDC Exports). If a feral kitten is old enough to walk or crawl it will most certainly disappear behind or inside furniture. Fearful of humans it will squeeze itself into the most unsuitable tiny spaces. resist the urge to follow it around making comforting noises; this will only result in scaring the frightened creature even more. In order to tame a feral kitten, they should be kept in a playpen, hospitalisation or queen's cage, so that the optimal regular feeding, handling and litter training can be controlled. A very young kitten out of reach behind furniture can become dehydrated within hours. If allowed to hide away, the kitten will take much longer to tame down.

Step by step taming

During its taming (or learning) process the kitten has to deal with three major problems

1. The new human environment with its smells, noises and activities

Even an initially frantic kitten will soon recognise that its playpen is a safe zone from which it can observe all the activities in the room without being directly affected and will calm down quickly. Covering the pen can also make the cat feel safer.

2. Humans approaching it

If the cage is placed at floor level in a busy area of the room the kitten will get used to seeing humans at their full "threatening" height. 

3. Being touched and held

Within the safe confines of the playpen, with the kitten within easy reach, it is easier for the tamer to acclimatise the kitten to being touched and handled. Not being able to run away, the kitten will soon lose the impulse to do so. Before we dive into step-by-step taming one important warning:

NEVER TEASE A CAT WITH YOUR HANDS!

Some people think that we tame a cat by playing with it using our hands. They imitate the cat's fast frisky movements in front of the cat's face and feet, provoking the cat to lash out, scratch and bite, unaware that playing, for a cat, is also part of the process of learning to hunt and kill. Playing with a cat in this way only teaches it that human hands are “fair game”. The use of cat toys is always advised.  

Hand feeding is the key to winning a kitten’s trust

handfeeding

• If the kittens are badly under-nourished or frantically scared and flying around the cage, we give them a few days to recover before we start the real work. Do not be tempted to release the kitten thinking you are doing it a favour.

• We may even decide to place the cage in a quiet corner or in a raised position initially, which is also easier for the fosterer to observe and attend to feeding, cleaning etc. 

• From day one of our taming course, and for many more to come, the kitten will receive ALL its food from our fingers and only water is available between meals "for free". We start by holding a large lump of food very still in front of the kitten, hoping it will smell it and start eating immediately. Instead, the kitten may be scared and back away or even lash out and hit the food out of our hand. In that case we make a small trail - one or two small pieces placed on the ground near the hungry kitten - leading to our hand resting flat and motionless on the ground.

Usually, kittens sniff their way along to the hand and eat from it within one or two minutes, otherwise we repeat. Soon we can hold the food in front of its face; other kittens in the pen will imitate the braver kitten and come to eat as well. When the kittens have lost interest, we take all the food away until later. The kittens very soon become used to our hands and start licking the fingers clean. After a few days they will come to the entrance of the cage to be fed and when their tails go up, we know we are making progress. 

• At this stage we can introduce the next step. We only start feeding the meal as usual from our fingers and as the kitten continues its meal from the plate, we stroke it very lightly down its side with our fingers. The kitten will look round alarmed only to find the familiar hand, which it will sniff and recognise, and reassured it will continue eating from the plate. This action has to be repeated many times and whenever the kitten shows surprise we show it our fingers in the food offering position, always very slowly to give it time to sniff and think. The kitten may begin to purr at this stage, however, be warned - this does not mean that it is now tame like a domestic cat, where purring indicates affection and readiness to be picked up.

  A feral kitten still has a long way to go, and purring may only indicate contentment, when its tummy fills up for instance. 

• With or without food we use this “hand feeding gesture” for many weeks to come whenever we approach the kitten in its cage, because it provokes a positive reflex in the kitten. Expecting food, it raises its tail and is willing to be stroked and in time it may butt against the hand expecting to be touched, a sign of confidence in the feeder. Yet, even after many months, we still start every stroking session showing the "holding" fingers first, to keep this reflex alive and wisely teach this link to the new owner once the kitten goes to a home. When the kitten has become tame enough to be released into the room, this gesture - especially when holding some tuna or other tasty tit-bit - will be indispensable when wanting to attract the kitten to approach us.

Lifting and holding the kitten

• Once the kitten enjoys being stroked, we gradually teach it to be lifted up. This involves touching it under the stomach and chest, a sensation that the kitten has to learn to accept gradually. While eating distracts the kitten we can stroke it with one hand firmly over its back and rest the other underneath for as long as the kitten will tolerate it. If the kitten frets, we stop and start again later being careful to avoid any gripping or tickling effect. 

• The next step is to gently place a hand under the chest and lift it so the front feet slightly lose the feel of the ground. This needs to be repeated several times and gradually the height increased until the kitten is used to it. At that stage we place the other hand under its back legs and very briefly hold the kitten in both hands just a few inches high inside the pen. We always place it back on the ground on all fours and comfort it by stroking before its reaction of surprise turns to panic.

• Still inside the pen we gradually pick the kitten up higher during the next few days to get it used to feeling safe and still in our hands. Eventually we lift it out of the pen for a short moment and immediately rest it against our chest for warmth and comfort, stroking gently from behind over its head and back. The kitten's head should be facing the open cage door so it can be put back at the slightest sign of nervousness. Trying to win over the kitten by holding onto it by force is not only bound to be unsuccessful, and possibly harmful, but totally against the spirit of our teaching which aims at gaining the kitten's understanding and confidence - the basis of all bonding.

Releasing the kitten into the room

• When the kitten has become tame and handleable it can finally be let out of the cage. This can be done in stages and initially when the kitten is hungry! At first it should be kept in one room to overcome any initial nervousness. Make sure all the doors and windows are firmly shut (a kitten can squeeze through an inch gap, and it can tamper with levers and prise windows open).

• This must be the same room that the kitten has seen from its playpen. In order to maintain the bond between kitten and feeder we only allow the kitten to be loose in the room for limited periods of time. We can begin by feeding the kitten on the open cage door while we are stroking it as usual and then putting the food just in front of the cage. It is most important that we do not follow the kitten around or chase it as it explores the room, as this will only make it run away from us.

• Instead we tempt it to come to us with treats and toys; tasty food held out with the familiar feeding gesture, or a toy trailed past us or onto our laps. It can be helpful to keep a small plate of attractively smelling food next to your knees to encourage the kitten to approach you. We only try to touch the kitten from the side or from behind unless it approaches us with its tail up expecting to be cuddled. During these sessions we keep a dish of food in the open playpen to entice it back inside later for another handling session. 

In its new home

Unless the kitten has been rescued very young and has become as tame as any domestic born kitten we take it to its new home with its playpen, its own little house where it feels safe and can be handled immediately. We teach the new owner all the tricks of the trade, including a short period of hand feeding to settle the kitten in fast. We encourage the owner to say the kitten's name when feeding to get it used to being called, which is helpful later when the kitten is released into the room and also very much later when it goes outside. 

REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT !

It is not only important that each stage which leads to handling the kitten is repeated countless times before the next one can be attempted. If need be, don’t be afraid go back a stage to reinforce the taming process if things are not going smoothly.

Even when the kitten has become practically tame, the sequence: SNIFF - TOUCH - STROKE - LIFT - HOLD should be repeated whenever you approach the cage as the basis of every interaction because it gives the kitten a sense of security and establishes a positive attitude to humans. 

© Cat Action Trust 1977