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"Taming Feral Kittens"  

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 Feral vs. Stray Page

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Written and Published By DiAnna Pfaff-Martin

 Founder

 Animal Network of Orange County

 and

Community Animal Network

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Defining The Terms 

     Definition: Feral Cat (provided by Best Friends Catnippers L.A.

"Feral cats are the offspring of stray or abandoned pets, raised without human contact and living typically in colonies where food and shelter are available. They lead harsh lives, shortened by malnutrition, disease, trauma, and high kitten mortality. Feral cats are often seen as a public nuisance and make up a large portion of the animals euthanized by local control agencies."

Is Taming Possible?

Yes if the kittens are trapped early enough.

Best 4-6 weeks

Good 6-8-9 weeks    

OK, But Time Consuming 10- 12 weeks.

Very Time Consuming 12- 14 weeks

Very, Very, Very Time Consuming & Difficult,   14 + weeks

Almost Impossible* 16 Weeks +

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Understanding The Terms

Some people call any animal born outdoors a feral. Not true.

A kitten that was found outdoors and "Bottle Fed and Hand Raised" is not a feral.

 A "Pet Quality Kitten" - a kitten that has had human touch from and early age and loves people.

A "Shelter Quality Kitten" - Often born to the family, and often born in garages and allowed to run indoor and outdoors without a lot of human touch. Many can be more aloof and independent because they have lacked a close connection with people. 

A "Feral Kitten" - Runs and hides from people and will not change unless the animals receives many hours of human touch, becomes accustomed to people other than it's caregiver.  and is rewarded with canned for .

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The Importance of Touch

A pet quality kitten has grown up with touch and runs up to people

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Trapping Kittens

Set the trigger of the trap to a light trip. Do this by having just the edge of the tripping mechanism touching the trip bar.

Do not chase them.