We may have rescued two kittens this morning! (Sorry, no pics yet.)

[bbernardini]

I was taking some trash out before leaving for work this morning. I accidentally made a loud noise with the can, and two little kittens came running out of nowhere. They were very jumpy-aroundy, so I suspect they're pretty new to the world. I got my wife's attention, and she brought out some food and dishes. One went for the food right away, and the other gave in after a minute. We were unsure what to do, so we moved the dishes to our side of the yard (there's a small strip between the two houses), and decided that if they kept coming around and appeared to have nowhere else to go, we would contact the local no-kill shelter.

So I went back in the house to finish getting ready when I hear meowing. I look out the door, and one of the kittens is standing on the front step yelling at me. It kept getting closer, and it was soon joined by its companion. We opened the door, and they came in rather quickly. (Did I mention it was in the 30-degree range this morning?) We whisked them away from our other cats and put them in our guest room with a litter box, food and water. Now we're just waiting to see if anybody comes looking for them. Quite frankly, if somebody was cruel enough to let these little kittens out in this weather, I don't think they deserve them.

That's my happy story for the morning. If they're still there when I get home, I'll take some pics and share them.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. Sounds to me like you've been adopted. Is there a possibility

that they are feral kittens who have gone wandering on their own? I have wound up with kittens like that before.

[davsand]

3. I doubt a feral would have gone in the house willingly.

If those kittens were WANTING to go in the house, I'd bet they have been pretty socialized to humans and are not ferals.

Literally I have had feral kittens with their eyes newly opened spitting and trying to hiss at me (It is kinda cute actually because they just kinda go "Phhhht" when they hiss as babies!) Anyhow, the point I'm trying to make here is that a cat is capable of being "feral" from birth onward. They stop being feral due to exposure to / contact with humans...



Laura

[Arkansas Granny]

5. Generally, that is true. However, I once had a litter of kittens born

under my house. I didn't know how many there were, but I could hear them and saw a stray cat making regular trips in and out. The mother so wild that she would simply disappear whenever she saw me outside. I put food out for her because she looked so thin, but she wouldn't even approach the dish if she could see me.

When the kittens were about 6 weeks old they crawled out from under the house through a vent opening. Fearing that my dog would discover them (and not knowing how she might react to them) I went out and picked them up to bring them in the house until I could reunite them with their mother. You would have thought that these kittens had been handled and petted every day of their lives. They were calm and affectionate and cried to be let out of the box I put them in and thoroughly enjoyed human contact.

As it turned out, I never saw the mother cat again and can only think that something bad happened to her. I wound up keeping two of the kittens and found homes for the other two. I had the two boys for many years and they were two of the most laid back cats I have ever owned and never showed any of the feral behavior that you would have expected considering their beginnings.

[zanne]

7. If you handle a feral kitten early enough, they can be house pets.

The feral mother's instinct is to teach them to fear humans. That's why it's so hard to go near the kittens if the mother is around. But if they can be held and petted by human hands, they can be saved from a life out in the cold. We have a program at the Women's State Prison that takes feral kittens and loans them to the inmates so they can get human attention. It works like a charm. Two of the kittens who were born in our carport graduated from that program and were adopted right away. I got the name of the inmate who trained our little guys and sent her some flowers.

[Inchworm]

2. awww

You and your wifey are indeed good people!

:hug:

[stuntcat]

4. very lucky kitties

I'm so so glad that you're the ones who found them! :hug: They could grow up to be very important now.

[Arugula Latte]

6. AWW! Thanks for helping the kitties!

:applause: :yourock: