Stray Kitten

LilieB

Hi, this is my first post but need advice, I started feeding little stray kitten and decided to keep her as felt she wouldnt last too long with winter coming, I dont know how old she is, not a new born possibly about 8/10 wks old, very cute she was friendly when feeding her outside, wouldnt let me touch her but would come inside and sit just inside the door. I closed the door and have her set up in a small room, she is really well behaved, used the litter tray from the start, is eating and drinking water, but she is so shy, she is hiding behind the chair now for 3 days, will come out really gingerly from behind the chair and eat those little temptations but runs for cover if I try to approach her, I kinda feel that I have kidnapped her, anyone know how long before she will trust me or if she will come round, I have another 3 year old cat but I have kept them apart as dont know whether she is healthy, she looks healthy enough but cant get her into the cage to visit vet, and really dont want to frighten the life out of her.. i have got a worm dose which she took in food and cant get near her to put the flea thing on the back of her neck.... what do I do, also another kitten has started coming to the back door, my partner wants me to ignore it so it wont get dependant.. could it be looking for the other kitten, maybe its a family member..

MsFifers

Fair play for helping! I think you can just keep doing what you are doing and the kitten will come around.

I got a timid cat used to me by putting nice food and treats on the ground beside me, and ignoring it when it came to eat them. When it got comfortable being close to me, I then held out some food on a spoon and it ate from the spoon, and then eventually got used to being touched and ended up being a good cuddler! It took a while, (months!) but with a kitten it might go faster.

You can contact Kilkenny SPCA who will lend you a trap to catch the kitten if it needs a vet visit. You should probably keep your cat seperate from it until you can get the kitten treated for fleas etc - although you might also be at risk in the meatime!

One idea for the additional stray, is to feed it and get it socialised and advertise for a new home for it. A kitten is more likely to be adopted than a stray adult cat.

BTW - are you absolutely sure these are strays? Sometimes people let even small kittens wander around. Mind you I would feel that these people dont deserve to own kittens so you would be justified in keeping them IMHO!

LilieB

Hi MsFifers, thanks for your reply, jeez didnt even think about me getting fleas, will try again later to put it on.. thanks for the advice about ignoring it, I get way too excited when I see it coming out.. must learn to control myself, its just sooo cute.. Yeah def strays, an old man down the road feeds cats outside his house, loads and loads of cats, and their kittens etc.. like a colony,(nearer neighbours really annoyed), I was talking to him one day and he just loves them around, he doesnt let them in so they are pretty wild living in his garden and wandering the neighbourhood.. so we would often see kittens and cats in our garden, this is the first one that came and looked in the window so I felt that I had to feed it.. Partner thinks I will turn into a crazy cat lady if I start feeding another one, and that loads will start coming looking to be fed..(He really does like animals)