How To Socialize 7 Week Old Feral Kittens
All bites are serious.
How to socialize 7 week old feral kittens. Several organizations recommend not to take a cat from the wildness if they are all grown up already. If bitten seek medical attention and quarantine the kitten. 8 12 weeks of age is manageable but will take a little longer. Community kittens can be socialized fairly easily if they re handled at an early age 8 weeks or under.
Over 12 weeks you will need to have patience if the kitten has never been around people. This post will discuss feral kitten behavior and what it means for someone who discovers that they have feral kittens living nearby. Common traits with feral kittens the first thing that you will notice is just like a feral cat these little guys are not socialized to humans themselves. If it was being fed at a feral feeding station it will already have learned that people food good.
Feral kittens over 8 weeks of age can be safely spayed or neutered as long as they weigh at least 2 pounds. You want to introduce them to a small space at first like a room and not your entire apartment or house she suggests blocking off areas at first like babyproofing that you don t want them to turn into their clubhouse she suggests closing off the underparts of your bed as well at least for a while. Feral kittens that are between 4 to 10 weeks old are especially suitable to socialize. Even if your intentions are the best you can harm the cat.
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 feral kittens usually. Introduce toys into your play when the kitten is 6 or 7 weeks old. Kittens who are 10 12 weeks old may take longer. For health and nutrition reasons you should wait until the kittens are at least 4 5 weeks of age before taking them away from their mother.
Avoid cat toys that have loose parts or things that could be eaten such as string or feathers on a wand. Kittens who are 5 8 weeks old will take approximately two to four weeks to be socialized. We recommend that unsocialized kittens over 8 weeks of age be trapped neutered vaccinated and returned to the colony. Taming kittens over 12 weeks can be difficult but each kitten is.
Once you ve spent enough time with them that they let you hold them hold the kittens as much as possible.