I cannot stand the mess from the small cage of the kitten in the living room anymore. It gets really mess outside, with litter and uneaten food spreading all over the place. And I also it’s time to release the kittens into a bigger area.

So it’s time for me to clean the third unused room of my house, that I use as a store room at the moment. Phew! Seems like a lot of mess that I need to tidy up.

So the effort to clean this store room is a joint venture between me and my housemate. So we start the process, putting my stuffs in a box (and my housemate did the same thing). Take all the boxes out the room for a while, mop the floor, let it dry, put the box in, and arrange all the “furniture” for the kitten to hang out.

And walla…. We finish with tidying up the room.

Guess it will be a happy moment for the kittens too as they no longer being locked in a small cage.

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I have to agree that taming my two feral kittens with food is such a powerful thing. They tend to relate my giving food with building a trust in themselves that I mean no harms to them.

And today, it is just another momentous day when the 2 kittens start meowing when I got back from work, meaning they hungry and asking for food. So that means, both fear me no more.

As usual, at this same moment, Oyen is also meowing for food. It is just another thing that I experiment today, to let them eat together. So, I prepare two bowls of food – IAMS adult chicken flavour for Oyen and IAMS kitten chicken flavour for the kittens.

And look at them eating together. I feel like crying you know to see how both of the kittens got this far on the 4th day.

I left all of them finishing the meal, and got into my bedroom, and get ready to take shower. But before that, I went outside first to see how all are doing, when I saw this happened.

I guess the kitten said – hey bro! That’s my food bowl. LOL. It’s kinda funny to see Oyen is eating from the small bowl with kitten food, and the orange kitten is eating from the large bowl with adult food.

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Day 3 with my quest of taming the 2 feral kittens. I’m sticking with bribing them with the food, by means of feeding to their mouth using spoon. At first, both are reluctant to get nearer, so I left the food in the food bowl. The kitten came closer and eat, then I start feeding the spoon to the their mouth again, until they eat from the spoon. While they eat, I just stroke the kitten’s head, signifying that I’m not a threat to them.

Well, day 3 seems to make a big progress, especially the white kitten. He doesn’t fear me feeding the spoon in anymore, and I started to put the food on my ficker, and let he lick it off my finger. Now, if I stretch the toy into the cage, the white kitten play with me, and that is really a big progress.

Looking at the kitten used to my existance already, so lets experiment a bit by using Oyen. I guess I want to test 2 things

• How the kittens react with Oyen being nearby
• What Oyen’s reaction when left together with the kittens

My early experiment shows that, Oyen loves the kitten. And here is Oyen, licking the orange kitten.

And this is Oyen again, playing a parenting role here. Hehehe. He just looks like a mother cat (for a male cat). Yes. The cage is quite messy. But what can you expect when leaving 2 very active and energetic kittens inside a small space with litter tray and food bowl inside? They ended up messing the litter and left over food all over the place.

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Day 1. The 2 feral kittens from Perlis that brought home, they do show a little improvement. At first, I can’t even go near their cage, and they start to growl, hiss and even spit when tried to look at them.

But, I kept sitting there, and the most effective bribe in taming them is food. I want them to think, when there is me around, then there will be delicious food. And I feed them using spoon. At first, they seem so reluctant to come nearer. But I guess hunger overcome their fear.

I kept the cage in my living room, and with me and my housemate moving around a lot there, they slowly come to the idea to accept human as part of their lives, and tonight, they no longer growl or hiss whenever I set next to their cage. But still, my attempt to touch them resulting the hiss and spit.

Oyen also has been a great help. From afar, what I can see, the kittens has no problem with Oyen being around. I guess Oyen should calm them a little by acting a role of foster mother.

What can be more joyful to see my 3 cats sleeping together. I bet Oyen can’t wait for the kittens to be tame enought that they don’t have to be kept captive anymore. And I also truly can’t wait for that moment to come too.

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Feral, according to dictionary.com refers to

fe·ral
–adjective

• existing in a natural state, as animals or plants; not domesticated or cultivated; wild.
• having reverted to the wild state, as from domestication: a pack of feral dogs roaming the woods.
• of or characteristic of wild animals; ferocious; brutal.

So feral kitten is one that is born in the wild and has no human contact, and the main diference of this kitten compared to a domesticated kitten – fear of human.

My friends know that I want to adopt another cat/kitten, to accompany Oyen at home. It just happened to be that one of my friend’s mother just has something that I want. A stray female cat in my friend’s mother neighbourhood (in Perlis) gave a birth to 3 beautiful kittens.

Being a strayed mother cat, no one really fed her, and her kittens. So my friend’s mother ended up giving the food to the cat, but at the same time, really wish that someone will adopt the kittens.

My kind housemate, who happened to go to Penang, actually went to Perlis, and bring back 2 kittens to KL. The other one is MIA, and can’t be captured by my friend’s mother.

This is the first kitten,

and this is the second one.

Not much of colour variation here. All of my cats are orange on colour. LOL. But put that aside. My love for cats that counts.

How Oyen take this? Well I’m suprised that he takes this really well. At first, I thought he will hiss at the cat when seeing them for the first time. But it happened that Oyen really got interest in them, and starts to sniff them around.

From my readings on the web, it can take up to 4 weeks to tame feral kittens. I will keep the kittens in this cage until the condition improved. One may think it is cruel to leave them in there for so long. But hey, you have to be cruel to be kind. And based on my reading again, I shouldn’t be tempted to release the kittens to soon, as once released, they will hide, and continue to have their feral lifestyle in my house, and will not settle.

And this is something from the web:

How to Tame a Feral Cat or Kitten
Difficulty: Moderately challenging

With a little patience and time, a feral (or wild) cat can be tamed into a loving pet. Younger cats are more apt to adjust quickly: 6-to-8-week-old kittens typically take two to three weeks to adjust to a domestic environment.

• STEP 1: Enclose the cat or kitten in a small space at first’a bathroom or bed-room works best.
• STEP 2: Turn out the light if the cat is terrified; this often has a calming effect.
• STEP 3: Put a bed, a litter box, food and water in the room. If the cat is very young (6 to 12 weeks), put her in a large carrier with a grated door and small windows.
• STEP 4: Spend at least 2 to 3 hours a day with the animal. Just sitting quietly in the same room will allow the cat to learn that you are not a threat.
• STEP 5: Gently compel the cat to let you touch her. Carefully wrap a blanket around her if you have to, hold her on your lap and pet her. Stroke her coat and touch her ears, face and neck as you talk to her in soothing tones. Even if the animal doesn’t seem to be enjoying the attention, she is. Hold the cat by the scruff of the neck if she attempts to leave. (The mother cat will do this to carry or train a kitten’it doesn’t hurt, and it actually relaxes the animal.)
• STEP 6: Present special treats such as chicken or tuna, and leave them if the cat will not eat from your hand.
• STEP 7: Gradually allow the cat to roam about in more rooms.
• STEP 8: If the cat tries to run away from you repeatedly, enclose her in a smaller space and start again.

Well, I’m up for the challenge. Wish me luck folks!!!

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