Is it ever too late to socialize a feral kitten?
HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!
Now isn’t that just the question among all of us interested in humane management of our abandoned community cat overpopulation?? Most expert feline trappers, and those who also try to socialize kittens say that 16 weeks aka 4 months is the cut off for ability to socialize a truly born feral kitten. That means the kitten’s mom has not been an indoor/pet cat and that the kittens have never been touched by a human hand.
Mom L and Dad P and I are not experts by any means. We just wanna share a quick story about the little introoder who is now occupying Mom L’s office; and a very noisy little introoder he is!!
Meet Pipsqueak. You will notice right away that he has a problem in his right eye. He was neutered by our partner at Contra Costa County Animal Services and returned to Mom L and Dad P and me, TKS and KK to recover him from his neuter. Right away we all knew that this kitten was not a feral kitten at all. He purred when Mom L first scritched his cheeks!!
Pip, as he is known to family and close friends, is about 16 to 18 weeks old. He has never known the touch of a human hand. He is part of a small, but growing colony my Paw It Forward effort, Project Delta View Cats, has taken on to try to contain colony growth in our beloved city of Pittsburg, CA.
There are seven kittens between ages of twelve weeks to sixteen to eighteen weeks old and a one year old adult male, two adult males of unknown age and one mom cat about two to three years old. But this little colony in the making will make another story.
Let’s get to our latest foster castle guest, Sir Pipsqueak. Here is the quick story of his GREAT CAPTURE!
We were trapping at three residents homes, all close together. That night we trapped Pip, his sibling Rocky and his uncle from last year’s litter, George. More about them later in another post.
Pipsqueak was neutered on a Wednesday, and by Friday of his surgery recovery, Mom L knew we had to foster him until we can learn more about his eye condition. Remember, Pip is at least sixteen weeks old, never touched by a human hand.
Here he is within eight hours of being brought inside into Mom L’s office for treatment and loving on him.
And now for his progress today.
Pip even has a new Pink Buddy, Squish!
Pipsqueak has a long road to becoming a happy indoor kitty, but he is on his way. Now our problem is what to do to get him adopted during COVID 19! Our animal shelter is closed to kitten intake and our Project Delta View Cats is totally about Trap, Neuter, Return aka TNR. So we do not have fosters not any path forward for adoption for this darling little mancat, Pipsqueak. We only fostered to observe and treat his eye. We never expected him to be such a love bug with a large purr motor. TNR is a very bittersweet endeavor.
We also do not know if Pipsqueak my need his eye removed, so there is the cost of that surgery to face as well and recovery from that. Please do sent you very bestest POTP to our sweet castle guest Pipsqueak.
