How Long To Socialize Feral Kittens

Community kittens can be socialized fairly easily if they re handled at an early age 8 weeks or under.

How long to socialize feral kittens. With these special kitties the very best thing you can do for them is not to expect anything at all. It can be done however regardless of the cat s age or what some authors have said on the subject. First things first change your way of thinking. Your six week old rescue kitten may be purring in your lap within a few days.

They estimate that kittens under 4 weeks old take a matter of hours or days to socialize older kittens take longer naturally and kittens who are 10 weeks or older can also be tamed but it may take much longer and many times they will only tame to the person working with them and remain wild with strangers. If the kittens are eight weeks or younger usually just about anyone can socialize them by following some simple steps. Your eight week old feral kitty may be scared for weeks. Begin to hold and pet kittens at about 3 to 4 weeks of age.

Set aside time to socialize by spending time with each cat individually and exposing them to a variety of safe touch sights sounds and smells. Kittens older than two months eight weeks of age often take more time and skill to socialize. Playing with kittens can help them build trust for people. Kittens under 8 weeks can usually be socialized without much difficulty following the guidelines detailed below.

Several organizations recommend not to take a cat from the wildness if they are all grown up already. However these same guidelines are often effective up to 6 months and often even with adult ferals. At least two hours a day of play all together or broken up can do the trick it will go by fast don t worry. Your two year old kitty may come to trust you inside of two months.

Even if your intentions are the best you can harm the cat. Feral cats tend to bond with one human so they best adjust to a new home if they are socialized with other humans before being adopted out. The socialization of feral kittens requires a daily commitment of time the duration of which depends on the age of the kittens and the amount and consistency of the time you spend working with them. The best time to properly socialize a kitten is 3 weeks of age to 9 to 12 weeks of age.

Feral kittens that are between 4 to 10 weeks old are especially suitable to socialize. Kittens over 8 weeks of age who ve had no positive interaction with humans often take much longer to socialize. Placement kittens can be adopted out at 8 weeks or so if tamed and socialized to humans. Take time to socialize each of the kittens in a litter individually while you re down on their level.