New Kitten help

Anu

Hi, Today I just saw two kittens which are just gorgeous so I'm hoping to adopt them. They are about three weeks old but they are very wary of humans because they live on a farm at the moment. They hissed and fizzed a bit before I picked them up but stopped once I petted them. However when I put them back down again, they resumed. Today was only the second time they'd been handled by humans so their nervousness was understandable. However I've had wild kittens before but they were 8 weeks old before they came into human contact. One is 100% affectionate now but the other guy is still wary and doesn't like to be petted or held - after 6 years! I'd like to avoid that happening with these little guys so I'm wondering how often should I be going to pet them? Obviously I won't be taking them home for another 5-6 weeks at least but I don't want them to be still hissy at that stage.Should I be going over once a week to try to socialise them, or more? Any advice here would be appreciated - thanks

Call me Socket

Everyday if you can.... is it too far away to do that?

Anu

It's a bit far, every second day might be more feasible. Plus I'd need to talk with the farm owner and see if that'd be okay. How long should I be spending with them? There's actually 4 in the litter but I'll only be taking two so should I just focus on my two or spend equal time on all of them?

Call me Socket

Spend as much time as you can....on all 4, that way if the most confident of the litter starts to come to you after a while, the others will follow. And you won't end up with 2 friendly ones who pick up the fear from their untamed siblings, which could obstruct your progress with them. Plus you'll get to know all their personalities and it may influence which 2 you decide to home.

Anu

Thanks for that. Is it okay to pick them up while they're hissy? They stopped hissing once I did that.

Call me Socket

Personally I'd recommend you sit close and let them come to you in their own time... bring some diluted catmilk with you (1 part catmilk, 2 parts water) and try to get the mother to approach you. Where she goes, they'll go. At 4-5 weeks they'll be able to drink some too...

Anu

The mother's very friendly. She likes to be petted and held, and just purrs all the time.

The Sweeper

Would it be possible for you to take the whole lost as fosters for a few weeks, returning the mother to the farmer at the end of fostering time, keeping the siblings you want and assisting in the rehoming of the other two kittens?

Kittens raised "at home and under foot" (as the breeders say) are usually the most social.

Anu

It's not a bad idea. I certainly wouldn't mind having them. It's a very big farm though and the mother's used to being able to wander around freely, she's an outdoor cat. I don't know how she'd manage in a house with a smallish garden?

PinkTulips

Cats adapt very easily, the only concern might be if she's used to an area with no roads at all and you have main roads near you as she may not be savvy enough to cope with that, although with young kittens she may not be going too far anyway so not as much of a concern possibly.

i definitely agree, bringing them into the house is the best course of action, i took in feral kittens at 5 weeks who were all teeth and claws and they're all the biggest pets now who are very secure and friendly so it's a perfect age for you to do it.

The Sweeper

You should keep any cat indoors for at least two weeks after a move anyway, so if you take mom and bubs on as fosters you'll have to keep them indoors for the first two weeks - and then you may find she's settled in a bit - as long as the mother has a good, sheltered space away from everyone with her bubs she'll be good. Also it gives you a chance to set up litter training, as kittens who have been raised outside will be new to a cat litter - their mom will automatically gravitate towards a litter tray (well, almost definitely ) and she'll help teach them.

(Also, do you now is the farmer going to neuter the mom cat when he gets her back? Am curious - lot of farmers don't neuter their females because they want the cats around for vermin control and are happy to let them breed indiscriminately to increase their numbers. Natural selection and outdoor dangers keep the numbers down - cars, other animals, disease etc. Am interested because you're taking two kittens, and I'm curious if that's because the farmer is happy with his one cat or not.)