When you are fostering feral kittens you need to learn to live in the moment and think to the future all at the same time. Everything you do is going to have an effect on how a kitten turns out in the end. That's a lot of stress isn't it? Yeah, I am not big on stress. I like things simple. So here is how you do the seemingly contradictory act of living in the now and thinking to the future.
Right now my kittens are in a crate. I am enjoying each tiny little sign I see of their improvement...and they are tiny signs. If you did not know what to look for you might not see their improvement at all and get very discouraged. The progress my girls have made in the last day or two are as follows: They will now both willing come forward about an inch to sniff my outstretched finger. Any time a feral kitten willingly approaches you, even if it is an inch is a huge step. They only stay hunched down and freaked for a few minutes after I open their cage. They are quickly up on their feet and over to the food dish or spoon of baby food. They are playing with the toys in their cage when I am in the room. Both will allow me to pet them. One does not like it, but allows it to get the baby food. The other one tolerates it enough that I can get in a few strokes even after the baby food is gone. All of these are awesome signs.
The major breakthroughs they made tonight is that both kittens were not only playing with a toy, they allowed me to reach into the cage and pick it up and play with them! And finally, the braver of the two actually crawled from the cage onto my lap to get the baby food. She bolted back into the cage once she finished the food and realized where she was but she willingly climbed on to me.
This is where the thinking to the future comes in. As the girls have gotten more comfortable and more playful, a light has gone on in their head. They are realized there is a world outside of their crate. Right now they are torn between it being scary and wanting to explore it. I can see them pushing their noses up against the crate and looking at the room beyond. The one kitten getting brave enough to step on me to get to something outside the crate in a sign that they will soon want out of the crate.
But here is the thing - they are not ready. They are not social enough to come out. If I let them out they would bolt to the corners of the room and come no where near me. To get close to them I would have to chase them which will set them back way too much. So they will stay in the crate. But I understand they need exercise so at least once a day I take the litter box and water dish out out the crate and give them the whole crate to run and jump and play without fear of making a mess. I sit right next to the opening of the crate so I can stop them from getting out and so they realize the only way out is over me which means being touched and snuggled.
A few volunteers at the shelter I foster for have mentioned that my socialized ferals seem really friendly in the cage, soliciting attention to get out but are more nervous once out. This is true of most socialized ferals, but mine learn from day one that if you want out...you have to let mom cuddle you.
Of course, escapes are inevitable, especially if you have more than one kitten. They are small and they are quick. Which is why I am now starting to play with my girls with a laser pointer. I run it all around their cage and they chase it like mad. They are not quite ready to try and bolt out of the cage, but if they develop a fondness for the laser pointer (or wand toy) now, it will be a huge help when an escape happens.
I mentioned above that chasing a feral kitten should be avoided at all costs. But what do you do when your feral kitten has made a jail break and is lose in the room other than chase it? Easy. Make it chase something. Once the kitten has explored the room enough that it is calm enough to try to play, start having it chase the laser pointer all over the room while you sit near the crate (or a carrier if needed). The kitten will get wrapped up in the game of chase and at some point you will be able to get the kitten to chase the light right back into the crate where you can quickly shut the door. One feral kitten safely confined with out being terrorized and without a bleeding foster mom. Mission accomplished.
This will not work all the time. Some kittens don't like toys. Those kittens I would lure close with baby food and then grab by the scruff. Others catch on really quickly to the laser pointer trick and will chase it everywhere in the room but slam on the breaks if you get close to the cage. But all in all as long as you use a little forethought and get the kitten to like the laser pointer BEFORE it starts trying to escape this trick works well.
As for the next challenge - what happens to the process when you suddenly toss another kitten into the mix? Stay tuned to find out.
p.s. Bonus points to anyone who is old enough or geeky enough to get what the title is a reference to. :)
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