14-week old abused kitten

He may have started feral, but most likely he has been so mistreated that he is just (in his mind) warning people to stay away. Be patient, don’t react, stay calm.

I had a cat who was determined to live with me, but who had been abused. I kept her because I knew she had no future at all with her attitude toward humans. She was “mean cat Sandy” for years.

She went to live with my daughter’s family while my job required me to be on the road for long periods of time. It turned out she absolutely adored my son-in-law. As an old kitty, she had her tail yanked by the baby. She rounded on her and put on her meanest face – the baby began crying. But Sandy never actually touched her! It was only a warning to do that again. A year later, Sandy died in her sleep. We all cried. In fact, I’m crying now, as I write.

Hi, SLK, poor little one. Hopefully the information in this very good article will help you:

http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/12527

And another useful thread:

http://www.dailykitten.com/chat/topic/28496

Plus if you click on the pink tag, ‘Socializing’, you will find lots more opinions and advice on this topic. All I can say is patience, patience, patience. I don’t believe any kitten starts out mean, and nothing could be worse than the treatment this poor baby has known all its life. This little one deserves a chance, and bless you for giving it to him.

Please be patient. This kitten needs your help and understanding, as much as you can provide.

Kittens at around 6 to 8 weeks old, start exploring in an insistent way. Your kitten hasn’t been allowed to do this.

Worse, all your kitten’s interactions with people have been negative experiences.

You will need to exert all your calm, loving kindness to help undo some of the damage that’s already been done. You are the first person the kitten’s encountered who hasn’t mistreated him. However, he’s still likely just waiting for that moment when you’ll start to mistreat him. It’s all he’s known, and he’s learned to expect that sort of treatment from humans.

He should probably only be allowed in one room of the house at this time, though it should be a room where you spend time. He should have the opportunity to watch you, and discover that being in the same room with you isn’t a bad experience.

He needs time to learn that you’ll respect his space, that you’ll leave him alone if he gives any of the appropriate signals (hissing, spitting, growling, staring, laying his ears back, etc.). He also needs time to learn that you’re around all good things (food, treats, etc.). And I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere in the site how I get kittens to respond via unsweetened, unflavored yogurt on the fingertips, while sitting on the floor with them.

I have to get to work, but please keep in mind that your poor little guy is going to need to learn to trust you – that you won’t hurt him, crate him, or mistreat him. More, that you’re the source of good things – food, treats, petting – but it’s all going to need to be on his schedule. Gentleness, kindness, and patience are all going to be needed, in abundance.

He’s learned some lessons about people already, but they’re not the ones that help a young creature learn to trust and like people. Unlearning is going to take some time, but hopefully someday all that mistreatment will just be a mostly-forgotten, faded memory.

Crating kitties or cats isn’t inherently bad, and it’s not the same thing as closing them in a room by themselves as only a portion of a daily routine – especially for their own safety.

That’s a really different situation than crating a kitten, and bringing it out only to be mishandled and mistreated. In that case, I think crating the kitten would be a mostly bad idea for several reasons. First, the kitten already has not been permitted to roam, wander, and roughhouse in a normal manner, which may cause it to be frustrated and have lots of energy to burn off. Second, the kitten probably doesn’t like coming out of the crate, since only unpleasant things have happened to it outside of the crate. So while the crate itself may feel like a safe place, exiting the crate in a calm manner is not likely to happen any day soon.

To be honest, I like Rea’s idea of having a covered, darkened, open crate available as a safe place for the kitten. But the door should be removed, if at all possible. And probably nobody should try reaching into the crate to remove the kitten.

All interaction at this point would probably be most beneficial if it helps create a calming, predictable, positive experience for the kitten. That will help earn his trust, which has been largely eliminated by the past few weeks of his short life.

Hmmm you have to be careful bringing another cat in. It could back fire completely and him and the other cats fight. It could back fire alittle bit where he becomes comfortable with just other kitties and not humans at all. It really depends on him and what has happened to him as well.Or it could work out. I would “play it by ear” and see how everyone responds.

As far as crating its not bad if you do it occasionally. Its when the animal gets stuck in a crate all the time. My mom rescued an older Persian cat a while ago. The poor thing was sweet but spent his entire 4 year life in a small cage. She had the bright idea of getting him a cat tree…once he figured up how to get up it, he couldn’t get down. He had no idea and would cry until someone came and got him. So its stuff like that, that is really bad. Lucky for us William didnt have a mean bone in his body. He just loved everyone no matter what.

shes just not used to having a kind household