Tips For New Feral Rescue Kitten Owners — Part 1 of 3
By Elizabeth McCready and Rescue Kitten Maybel
Have you just adopted your first feral rescue kitten? Or maybe you’ve fallen in love with one but are unsure how to help them become confident, happy domestic cats. I’m a experienced rescue cat mom, and currently have three rescue cats. The youngest is Maybel — a five year old ginger and white former feral rescue kitten. Maybel is going to help by a very cute model and telling her story.
Maybel: “In 2018, I was a tiny scared feral kitten in 2018. My cat mom had died. I was all alone on the streets of Toronto eating grass and bugs and garbage. Then some humans put me in a crate, took me to somewhere warm with lots of food. I was there for so long! (That’s me in the picture!)
One day a new human came, she put me in another crate and took me to her home. I was scared, but loved that there were big cats that washed my ears and played with me.”
Animal services was looking for a multiple cat household with an experienced cat owner. She’s now a confident and extremely snugly cat and adores her two older brothers — Kitten (15 year old white Norwegian Forest Cat cross), and Boo (grey fluffy domestic — full of love, fun, and mischief). Maybel comes when she’s called, wakes me up for pets (at 3am!), and no longer hisses when I pick her up.
Here’s some tips to help you and your new feral kitten have a wonderful, safe, and happy life together.
1. Be Patient and Calm
Maybel: “For the first few months I was really scared. I only felt safe to eat if I was under the sofa and my new human mom wasn’t in the room. She figured out that under the sofa was where I felt safest and put my wet food there. Eventually she’d sit still on the other side of the room when I was eating under the sofa and that didn’t feel scary.”
Yes, your new rescue feral kitten is extremely cute! But everything is new for them. They’ve likely never seen a couch, a bed, or heard a dishwasher. Everything is new. Think about how you would feel if you’re suddenly on an alien planet with giants. You can help them by being very patient and calm.
- Put some really tempting food out (tuna is always a good bet) and sit very still 10+ feet away with your back to them. For the first few weeks you might even have to be in another room with the door open.
- Let them hide. Cats are prey as well as predators. Hiding makes them feel safe. Even confident happy cats like to hide.
- Make a commitment to be in it for the long haul. It will likely take months or even a couple of years until they’ve really settled in.
But it’s so worth it!
2. Provide Safe Hiding Places
Cats love hiding and being up high. Just take a look on the internet of all the funny photos of cats squeezing themselves into tight places, enjoying being in cardboard boxes, and even balancing on the top of doors.
Cardboard Boxes — Free or Inexpensive and a Favourite
Maybel: “I love boxes! Look at me in a shoe box right by the sofa. That helped me feel safe coming out from under the sofa — eventually.”
Shoe boxes are great for kittens (and big cats too)! If you don’t have shoe boxes just ask a local shoe store if they have some (share a photo of your cute new rescue kitten(s) with the staff), or ask your local grocery or liquor store if they have a couple of spare clean boxes. If you’d like something to match your home decor, Ikea, office supply and other stores have inexpensive decorative cardboard boxes. Don’t be upset if your kitten scratches or chews on the boxes, that’s just their way of saying *”This is MY box!”*
Cat Beds and Soft Furniture
In addition to hiding, cats love to be warm, cozy, and having places to pounce on toys (and other cats) from. Soft cat or dog beds, cat caves, and tunnels are favourites. Put them in a variety of places around your home so cats can chose where they want to nap and play.
Maybel: “I know you can’t see me, but I’m hiding in the cat cave in the picture. I fell asleep after playing with the catnip birdy.”
Cat Tunnels
Tunnels are great to have out all the time, but most of them can be collapsed to store in a closet if you need the space. Many pet stores have tunnels. The white one in the photo is from Ikea. Of course Amazon and other online retailers carry cat tunnels.
Maybel: “I love, love, love my cat tunnel. I’m there every morning waiting for the dot dot [red laser pointer]. The rest of the day I like to wait for my brother Boo to go by so I can surprise him!”
There’s so many things you can do to help your new feral rescue kitten(s) become happy, snugly, and confident cats. It will take a while, likely over a year until they’re really settled, but it’s so worth it! Join Maybel and I for the next two articles in this series to learn more tips for new feral rescue kitten owners.
Maybel: “I’m soooo very, very cute aren’t I? If you have the patience and kindness to adopt a feral kitten or a very scared rescue cat, one day you could wake up to your cat being as cute and happy as me in this picture!”
Bonus: A Children’s Book Recommendation
If your cat or kitten likes to hide in boxes, here’s a wonderful children’s book from New Zealand about cats around the world doing all sorts of things like singing and dancing, flying airplanes — but the author’s cat likes to hide in boxes.
Author’s Note: This series of articles is being done as part of Hacktoberfest 2022 for the open source project PetMe “A Platform that allows animals to be adopted, donated to pet lovers, and provides emergency medical care to stray animals in need.”
