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.