I have a feral kitten who needs to be socialized. Any tips?

Question

I am currently in a foster program with a local shelter. About a week ago, we took in two kittens that used to be feral. The orange one became sick, so we gave him back to the shelter. The orange one was very friendly; however the black one is not.
We have set up their room in the bathroom, where neither of our two cats can get in, and the kitten cannot get out.
Anywho, the black kitten likes to hide in the corner, looking at us as we come in with big, unblinking eyes. We try to pet her, but she hisses and occassionaly tries to bite us. However, we we do manage to pet her, she seems to enjoy having her neck scratched, but does not purr or become friendly with us.

I know this kitten has potential, however she is very secluded. Any tips so that I can get on her good side?

P.S. We do sometimes read in the bathroom so she can get used to our presence. The kitten is also about 8 weeks old currently.

Answer 1

I would just ignore her until she calms down all by herself. If she is comfortable in the bathroom then she will eventually (it may take weeks or just days) become more curious than fearful.

Staring at a cat can be interpreted as a threat so it is best to just glance and then ignore her the rest of the time. If you can get a long-handled toy or two, you can interact with her while seeming to ignore her at the same time.

Hissing is a fear based request to kindly back away and the biting probably comes from being over whelmed when the hissing does not work. It just takes time and patience but it will set her up for a calm meeting with your other cats sometime in the future.

Answer 2

What I did was use an indoor dog crate and kept him in there. (with food, water, toys, place to sleep and a litter box) I would go in the room with the cage and open the door and pick him up and pet him. I would do this for an hour or so and do it about every two or three hours, as I could. You should also leave a tv or a radio on so he gets used to peoples voices and noises. Mine quickly got to the point when I opened the door he would come to me and purr when I petted him. I got mine when he was 6 weeks. He progressed very quickly. Once he got to where he would come to me I started letting him out and run around the room but would put him back in the cage before I left. I then increased the time I left him out in the room and started leaving him unattended, increasing this time as well. As I did this I started introducing my other cats to him by bring them in for some wet cat food and would let them interact for about 15 minutes at first. I increased this as well, with the coroperation of the adult cats. It is also important that you have lots of people over to see the kitten. That way he thinks people are good not just that you are. Have them sit in the room and let him go to them. We are now at the point where he gets the run of the house all day but at night has to go in the cat room because he will not let me sleep. We had a few people over the other day while he was out and he came up to them and would let them touch him a little. A huge milestone for him! I wish you the best and feel free to email me with any questions! [e-mail]

Answer 3

My ferrel cat's name is WILDER. Wilder watches every move you make with huge open eyes. He will swipe at you if you approach him. Poor thing. Although his actions make him appear wild, I believe fear is the real culprit.
I rescue only cats in need of any type of medical attention. Wilder had a severe infection on top of, but at the base of his tail. I captured him by grabbing his tail causing the scab to break open releasing the infection. Vet said doom would have been Wilder's outcome without medication.

I currently house 24 rescued cats in my home. I quarantine new arrivals, but none are separated and wondering what is happening on the other side of the door. I introduce my cats separating the new one in a "house" (a 4 foot high x 3 foot wide and 2 foot deep bird cage) I picked up out of someone's garbage. All open to new surroundings, the sick cat is protected, can observe routines, picks up the smells of the other cats, can move freely around on several shelves, and is entertained while recouperating. At the same time, the seasoned cat's aquaint themselves, but somehow realize the new cat is ill. Because of that, as the newby starts venturing outside the "house" when ready, the other cats are more curious than teritorial.

Back to Wilder. When I'm in bed (am or pm, no matter), Wilder will jump on me, his eyes fluttering very fast (but aren't wide and wild looking), and snuggle very intensly pushing as close to me as he can get. Now, he allows me to hold him, brush him, clip his nails (which he loves), and just spend quality time. Then back to his wild, run - hide - protect and defend life. All the other cats just accept him the way he is and stay out of his way.

Answer 4

I have tamed a number of feral kittens, and some do it quickly, and others take time. The first step is to get down low; in other words if you walk up to them, you are huge. If you get down on your hands and knees, you are less threatening.

Petting him will get you a feeling for how skittish he is. Just use several fingers or just one finger. I just gently put my fingers under their front paws and lifted them a bit. Not off the ground, just their front paws off the ground. I repeated that and it really worked well. Short intervals of touching repeated multiple times gets them used to handling. Hissing and spitting are usually just a bluff. But remember their claws are like needles, so be aware of where your hands are in relation to his claws.

If you simply ignore the kitten, he will figure out that being feral is what works. So you need to get him used to human contact.

Answer 5

i've found the best way to deal with an unsocialized or anti social cat is on their own terms - let them come to you when they're ready. feed them, be kind to them, try to engage them in play if they seem interested in you, but eventually they should come around once they've had a chance to settle in. it may, however, just be a part of their personality. i have a two year old cat that, although born in my house to one of my house cats along with about 5 others in a litter, has never been sociable. she rarely ever lets me stroke her; the only time she was anything that even resembled friendly was when she was in heat before I had her spayed. once she was spayed, she's as elusive and anti social as ever.

Answer 6

I have a feral cat that I found as a kitten, so hopefully I will be able to help.

As hard as it is, a lot of it is just waiting. Give her tidbits of human food or treats, and try to get her to play using string or mouse toys. She needs to learn to trust you. When I brought home Diesel (my feral) I was assuming he'd want nothing to do with me, and I was fine with that as long as I knew he was safe and off the streets.


I introduced him to my other cats, who constantly demand my attention, and he wanted to follow whatever they were doing and so he walked up to me. I ignored him at first so he could sniff me and get used to me being around without actually being in contact with him. Slowly I started playing with him, or offering him treats. He saw how nuts the other cats went for them, and realized that this was a good thing.

Within two weeks he was approaching me for attention without the other cats leading him to it, because of his three-four times weekly vet visits (he had a herniated eye), he got used to being handled by strangers, and now he is one of the sweetest, smartest, most mellow cats I have ever met. He prefers just being around me, although he likes my two best female friends and my mother enough to allow them to handle and pet him, and he'll occasionally approach my father when he comes over or my best male friend if the mood strikes him.


It is very hard to re-home a feral, because they are often one-person cats. Once they become attached to someone; they rarely ever want to be around people who aren't their 'person'.

Please just give her time, and use LOTS of positive reinforcements. Go ahead and stoop to bribing her with food. It works wonderfully. Start with just tossing a little piece of deli turkey or another tidbit like that on the floor when you enter the room, and build up to her taking it out of your hand. After she gets used to taking small tidbits on the floor; try to use a sound effect, like softly shaking a treat bag as an association that if she comes over to you, she will get a surprise.

Also bring her lots of toys. Try to find one of her favorites by bringing home lots of jingly ball toys, fishing pole toys, those round toys that have a ball the cats can chase but not get the ball out of, etc, and then inviting her to play with you. It’ll take some time, but it usually works.

Good luck with the kitten; I sincerely hope this helps!

Answer 7

I would say that it will take time and patience to get her socialized. She's still pretty young so she does have a chance to become used to being around people but it will take some time.

Answer 8

it just takes time a toy that u play with the kitten helps like feather on a string.start giving her treats by hand too. she will learn to accept you betteralso if you can hold her so she hears your heartbeat helps too

Answer 9

this is what i did with my kitten who was feral . i wore leather gloves and long sleeves while picking him so when he bit or tried to scratch i would not feel it and he got used to it after a short while and i have had no trouble since then