Hi all,
As mentioned in my introductory thread, I am a newly cat owner. I adopted a 6 months old kitten from a shelter that turns out to be very shy/wild. She was hiding while the other cats were coming at me for affection, so I knew what I was getting into, but I decided to opt for Lily since I knew she would probably not be chosen by the other family because of her behaviour.
I don't really know her background, except that she was brought there when she was 4 months old so she might have spent her first 4 months outdoor, explaining her current behaviour.
Long story short, she's been in my house for 4 days now. I saw some improvements yesterday and today; the first day, she hide and did not eat for 24 consecutive hours, then she got out a little, but did not try to interact with me yet. I was told to leave her alone for the first few days since the move and her new life can be stressing for her so that's what I am doing. When I pet her, she is not aggressive, she lays on her back and let me rub her belly/chin and is knewding so I can tell she likes it, but I can also see she is still very fearful. She doesn't try to run, but I have to make slow moves otherwise she gets scared.
I installed my hunting camera just to track her movement to help her ''domestication''. This helped me a lot:
Day 1 : Brought her from the shelter on Friday night - she hid under my TV unit for 24 hours
Day 2 : Saturday night, I saw her quickly - I was able to bring her food and see that she was eating. She used her litter box as well. She slept on the top of my kitchen cabinet, the highest place in the room
Day 3 : She went from the kitchen cabinets to the window (between the glass & the blinds) and started meowing, looking outside. I think it's normal, she probably misses being outside...
Day 4 : Spent the whole day in her litter box - finally got out to eat when I was watching TV near to eat a little went back under my TV unit.
I know many of you will say that this is normal for a newly adopted cat, especially with her background, but my question is: When is it ''too late'' for a shy/feral cat to be ''domesticated''? I mean, speaking of age. I know a young kitten's behaviour is most likely to change with time, but what about a 6 months old kitten? I'm wondering if she'll ever be comfortable/wanting interactions with human or if she will stay wild and feral? If some of you have any suggestions on how to get her to trust me, I would appreciate.
I bought a laser and she's responsive so I guess that will greatly help, but she sill look very fearful even when she's playing.
:kittyball
As mentioned in my introductory thread, I am a newly cat owner. I adopted a 6 months old kitten from a shelter that turns out to be very shy/wild. She was hiding while the other cats were coming at me for affection, so I knew what I was getting into, but I decided to opt for Lily since I knew she would probably not be chosen by the other family because of her behaviour.
I don't really know her background, except that she was brought there when she was 4 months old so she might have spent her first 4 months outdoor, explaining her current behaviour.
Long story short, she's been in my house for 4 days now. I saw some improvements yesterday and today; the first day, she hide and did not eat for 24 consecutive hours, then she got out a little, but did not try to interact with me yet. I was told to leave her alone for the first few days since the move and her new life can be stressing for her so that's what I am doing. When I pet her, she is not aggressive, she lays on her back and let me rub her belly/chin and is knewding so I can tell she likes it, but I can also see she is still very fearful. She doesn't try to run, but I have to make slow moves otherwise she gets scared.
I installed my hunting camera just to track her movement to help her ''domestication''. This helped me a lot:
Day 1 : Brought her from the shelter on Friday night - she hid under my TV unit for 24 hours
Day 2 : Saturday night, I saw her quickly - I was able to bring her food and see that she was eating. She used her litter box as well. She slept on the top of my kitchen cabinet, the highest place in the room
Day 3 : She went from the kitchen cabinets to the window (between the glass & the blinds) and started meowing, looking outside. I think it's normal, she probably misses being outside...
Day 4 : Spent the whole day in her litter box - finally got out to eat when I was watching TV near to eat a little went back under my TV unit.
I know many of you will say that this is normal for a newly adopted cat, especially with her background, but my question is: When is it ''too late'' for a shy/feral cat to be ''domesticated''? I mean, speaking of age. I know a young kitten's behaviour is most likely to change with time, but what about a 6 months old kitten? I'm wondering if she'll ever be comfortable/wanting interactions with human or if she will stay wild and feral? If some of you have any suggestions on how to get her to trust me, I would appreciate.
I bought a laser and she's responsive so I guess that will greatly help, but she sill look very fearful even when she's playing.
:kittyball