Ferral kitten help please?

So there is a stray unspayed and neutered male and female cat that our neighbor feeds. The mom has 4 kittens. Last night I caught 2 of them. I put them in our basement. Is there any hope of 'taming' them. They're so scared right now.

 

http://www.feralcat.com/raising.html

http://www.feralcat.com/taming.html

http://www.feralcat.com/

http://amby.com/cat_site/feral.html

What are the approximate ages of the kittens? They really should be left with the mom until 5-6 weeks old to build up immunity from their mom's milk. The kittens need to be kept warm and fed every 2-3 hours. Do you have KMR? If you can capture the mom too, the better. The unspayed cats need to be taken in for spaying so the cycle of birth and unwanted, uncared for kittens will end.

I have personally taken in 4-5 week old kittens and they turned out quite well. They were very affectionate from the start even though they came from a stray or possible feral mom. The more tlc and handling you have with the kittens, the more tame they will become.

You can contact feral focus groups and cat shelters in your area for advice.

I'm sure Mary and a bunch of people here will have better info for you.

 

Caution about Feral Cats

Be careful trying to capture the mother though. Often feral cats will bite when they feel threatened, and these bites can lead to blood poisoning. (I know from personal experience from petting a feral cat that came for food)...

If kittens are under seven weeks they can usually be tamed and become calm with time. In the meantime they need a non-threatening environment and quiet movements on your part.

The mother will never be fully comfortable around humans, and while she will come for food that is not the same as trust. Those instincts must come from early interaction.

 

Please use a cage when capturing any stray or feral cats. It can be loaned through your local SPCA or feral cat focus groups. Sorry you got bitten by a feral cat Tom. My hubby got bitten by a supposedly friendly neighborhood cat with a collar on and he got cat scratch disease. :shock: We once captured an extremely feral cat named Ginger with great success with the use of a cage. I let him loose in one of our bathrooms and he trashed it. :mrgreen: He had to be secluded then tested for feline AIDS and Leukemia. Unfortunately he tested postitive for feline AIDS and was PTS by a local shelter. :cry: Sorry to digress. Yes, please be very careful when dealing with stray/feral cats.

 

Agree with whats been mentioned with the age of the kittens.
I was given a feral kitten years ago, the mom and litter mates died in a fire, the only reason this kitten survived was because it fell from the wood pile that was burning right into a puddle of water....the kitten was maybe around 5 weeks old maybe a little younger, he was extremely aggressive....admittedly I didnt have any experience with cats at all but I had to take him to a cat rescue after he kept tearing my daughter up....viciously biting and scratching her.....a lot (she was around 2 years old at the time).

 

Despite Richie being 3 months old when I got him, I was able to tame him successfully. It took approximately 5 months. I emailed this woman who rescues and socializes feral cats and kittens for help and she gave me some good suggestions: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NY499.html

Do you have a spare room that you could keep the kittens in? A basement might be too large to allow them to get used to you. With Richie, I started out just hanging out in the same room with him as often as I could. I remained quiet, did not try to approach him and avoided direct eye contact. I started leaving him some canned food and would sit at a distance while he ate. After a while I was able to get him out of hiding using a fishing pole toy. Using this I was able to remain at a distance from him. He was drawn to that toy and paid little attention to me as long as I remained quiet and didn't make any sudden moves. I did this everyday several times per day. Eventually he was getting closer and closer to me while playing without even realizing it. This is when I started to try to touch him, which didn't go very well at first but over time he began to trust me and must have found some pleasure in the short pets I was giving because he did allow it without hissing and running for cover after a while. He is 2yrs old now and I can pet him, brush him, pick him up and even kiss him on the head.

Good luck!