“There are new kittens in the office that are now part of our socialization program”, the volunteer coordinator sent in an email. When I went to go visit them, I was shocked at the level of fear these four showed — Luigi, Powder, Danny, and Josie. Danny is by far the most fearful. It is almost impossible to even touch him. I thought they were just trapped. I was wrong.
This Is What Happens When Someone’s Heart Is Bigger Than Their Capacity
On the first day of socializing, I thought, “Wow. These babies are in tough shape.” They are older kittens now, and after five weeks, socializing feral kittens because infinitely more difficult. Reducing the feral population is vital however, so attempting to socialize these babies is crucial in the fight to reduce the feral population. Recently, I listened to a webinar hosted by the ASPCA regarding feline behavior that I found extremely useful.
https://www.aspcapro.org/training/webinar/feline-communication-0#video-player
Last Saturday I did the evening feeding, which includes hand-feeding Luigi, Powder, Danny and Josie. Danny was terrified of the spoon, so I dug my hand right into the (nasty) wet food. The adoption counselor was there doing an adoption and told me that these babies were rescued at three weeks of age, but never socialized. That was in November 2021. An opportunity missed for sure, a disservice to them, and now they are struggling. On the bright side, at least the rescuer finally came to his or her senses and surrendered them to us. Their are almost six months old now, and this is an uphill battle our socializers took on full steam.
Making Progress
Last Saturday when I was working with them, Luigi, Powder, Josie and I practiced scruffing. Up and down, up and down. To this day, I still cannot touch Danny. I have the evening feeding tonight, so I am praying the other socializers have made some progress. When I scruffed Luigi, he let me put him in my lap. No burrito roll necessary. Same with Powder. But a funny thing happened with Luigi — he started purring. Now, I am in a quandary as to whether this was out of comfort because he was comfortable, or just anxious. I’d love to say he was happy, but my gut says otherwise. Powder I can now touch and handle, but I had to start him with the “toothbrush”. The hopes with this technique is that it feels like his momma’s tongue cleaning him. I can say with confidence that this worked. Fingers crossed that tonight I can handle Danny, or at least pat him.