Psst! Spread the word

My name is Victoria

Hi everyone.  This is my foster mom's blog, but she is busy taking care of me and my siblings plus a bunch of other kittens so I am hijacking her blog to send a message to all the feral kittens like me that are still running and hiding outside.  And my message is this - STOP hiding.  Let someone catch you and bring you to a foster mom.  Trust me.

Don't get me wrong, I was very afraid when my brothers and sisters and I were caught and we ended up with our foster mom. In fact, every time she came in the cage she put us in, I tried to bite her.  When she fed us with a syringe because we were too young to eat on her own, I tried to bite her and when I was scared and she comforted me, I tried to bite her.  But the funny thing was that she just did not give up.  She would just tell me it was ok, and that we were safe.

And day after day, she brought us food and water and clean blankets to sleep on.  If we were cold she would bring us a heating disk to keep us warm.  If we cried she would come to comfort us, even if we hissed at her when she tried.  We always had full bellies and a safe warm place to sleep and play.  The only downside was that our foster mom kept trying to pet us and pick us up.

Sydney when he was sick

Sydney cuddling with our foster mom

Then my brother Sidney got very sick and my sister Adelaide and I were afraid that he would not make it.  But our foster mom took him to something called a vet and got lots of medicines for him.  She sat with him and cuddled him and did not even get mad when he pooped on her! 

She fed him when he was too weak to eat and stayed up with him at night when he was scared and lonely.  Thankfully Sidney is feeling better every day. 

At first I thought Sidney was crazy because he wants to sit with our foster mom all the time.  He cries until she comes to get him and then purrs whenever she is near him.  And now Adelaide started cuddling with her too!  I held out for a while but could not resist and eventually I climbed up on the bed to try the cuddling and it was pretty great.

Adelaide

Yes, I am still sometimes scared and hide a lot, but my foster mom does not seem to mind and tells people I just need more time to learn to trust since I am not quite as brave as my siblings.  But all and all, life is pretty good when you have a foster mom who loves you and gives you what you need to survive and all the love you can ask for whenever you want it.

So to any feral kittens like me still living out in the world all on your own, if someone is trying to catch you and you hear them talk about a "foster home".  Let yourself to get caught.  You will not regret it.

Bye for now.  >^..^<

It's A Feral World Out There!

My foster home is a little bit specialized in that I tend to take on kittens that are a little more challenging than the average litter.  I most often take the single, orphaned kittens who need a lot of supportive care to grow, or litters with complicated medical issues, like my recent fosters, Gus, Peanut and Ali.  But one type of kitten that it is common for me to have is feral kittens.

People often think stray and feral cats are the same thing.  They are not.  So before I go any further, I will share my definitions of the two terms.  A stray cat is a domesticated cat that is used to people and at one time in its life lived as a part of a family but now no longer has a home or owner.  A feral cat is born outside, has never had socialization with people and in fact sees people as a predator.  A feral cat will likely never be safe to place in the average home setting.  A feral kitten is the same except for one important fact - it's young.  It is just as dangerous as its adult counterpart but since it is still young, there is a chance that it can learn to live with a family.  This process is called soclization.

Right now all 8 foster kittens in my house are feral kittens in some point of their socialization process.  So in honor of that, I am going to share the stages of the socialization process from the eyes of a feral kitten (interpreted by me of course)

Arrive at rescue group:  Danger! Danger!  Trapped in cage.  Too scared to eat.  Freeze and shut down.  Sleep.

Stage 1:  Danger!  Predator reaching in cage.  Run, hide, feeling cornered.  Hiss, growl, swat.  Predator leaving food?  Confused, must be trap.  Hiss growl, swat.....hungry...eat after predator is gone.  Fully belly.  Must stay alert....but sleepy and warm.  Sleep.

Stage 2:  Predator back.  Reaching in cage.  Touched sibling!  Hiss, growl, swat. Wait, sibling seems fine. Says predator is called foster mom. Predator left more food.  Eat.  Sleep.

Stage 3: Hungry.  Meowing.  Predator (foster mom?) brings food.  Opens cage and pets sibiling.   If we meow foster mom opens cage?  Meow a lot.  Wait until foster mom opens cage then sneak out and try to escape. Caught!  Hiss, growl, swat. Eat. Sleep.

 Currently my 5 four old ferals are at stage 3 of the socialization process. My 3 seven 7 week old fosters are getting close to being ready for adoption. I will share more as they progress.