Cat toys. Ours loves what we call sparkle balls. And of course the old reliable laser pointer*.
A fur brush. Lots of cats love to get brushed several times a day.
Our cat is very skittish. Took a few days to get close to Mrs. FtG. Still working on it with me. She’ll come up and tap my elbow when she wants to play and will come close-ish for a brushing. But that’s a ton better than we first got her. She no longer runs out of the room when I come in.
From a Lolcat calendar: We meet again, Mr. Dot. Prepare to die.
To me, “using motivations to coax appropriate behaviors” is pressuring; who decides what the “appropriate behaviors” are for a cat? The human? I found the first video disturbing; the person would not leave that cat to eat in peace. In the second video the kitty is laying his ears back while being “petted”; that is not a sign of a happy kitty.
I don’t think you can look at a single outward sign like a cat’s ear position and infer the cat’s complete emotional state. In the linked videos, the cat is clearly becoming friendlier to humans, and appears to have learned how to use it’s cute cat behaviors to get a positive reaction (and food) from humans.
This makes the cat a better pet and appears to be a clear gain to me.
The narrator is well aware that’s an unhappy kitty, and is explaining to the viewer not to give up.
Then, at the end of that video, https://youtu.be/4gD4y99kBv0?t=238 , you see the cat accepting very vigorous belly rubbing, and the ears are not held back. The cat appears to be enjoying the experience, or at least doing a good job of faking it.
Another thing you might want to look into are diffusers. They’re plug-ins that release cat pheromones, and generally make them feel more comfortable. (Don’t worry, you can’t smell them!) My sister started using one when she adopted two adult cats, and it really helped, along with the two kittens she got last year. We also use one to help our older cat, who’s really shy and nervous.
They’re also good if you have a cat that’s not using the litter box, although you said that hasn’t been an issue. Ask your vet about them.
(They’re not a miracle treatment, mind you, but they’ll help them feel more at home. And remember, it’s only been 10 days!)
Those links were to feral cat videos, right? It is not entirely helpful to use feral cat socializing videos to teach/learn about domesticated cats like the OP’s. There are some concepts that can be extrapolated from feral to housecat behavior but it needlessly confuses the issue. Better, IMO, to find video and articles about socializing domesticated (normal) kittens and preparing your home, your family, your pets, and yourself for the bundles of joy.
For various reasons one would be far more ambitious and active in socializing a feral cat than a housecat. In the OP’s situation giving the kittens plenty of time to adjust, at there own speed, is important but challenging because kittens are so darn cute and you want to play with them.
Another thing is: before bringing the kittens home (or as soon as possible) you need to create different safe spaces (Fortresses of Solitude, in a way) around the house that they can retreat to if they feel threatened. Do not try to determine what does and doesn’t make your kittens feel threatened, just give them refuges so when they want to they can go there. Let them decide when they feel safe enough to come out and play.
Our cats love all of these. Cat toys seem to work best if the cat plays with them by itself, or if the human is one side of the room, pointing the “red dot” a ways away. Also a great cat toy, The claw sharpener with ball. They love this. They hate this. They try to kill it.
Also, my cats seem to respond to being ignored. Chase them and they go hide. Take a nap, watch TV, read a book, and the cats will come around. Make a sandwich and they will ask for some. Eat a pizza and they will try to drag off a slice.
All good points here. I didn’t exactly take in the fact that the videos were for feral cats. Thanks for pointing that out. Also, thanks for mentioning the need for safe hiding places for the cats. Socializing is important but allowing the cats to be cats is also important.
thanks everyone for the good advice. I feel a bit more relaxed about the whole thing now.
The kittens are coming along now. They still run from us, but are also quite happy to let us pet them when they are relaxing, and have just started to occasionally rub against us. We have also picked each of them up a number of times and to hold them for a few seconds. We are careful to put them down at the first sign that they want to go.
And yesterday we offered them some kitty snack sticks (the ones that are 50% meat) and they LOVED them. They started actively following us around after that.
Interesting about the laser dot beamer thing. Apparently a ban in Switzerland on the laser type just went into effect a week or two ago, so we can’t get those anymore. But I hear there are also LED beamers which I will look for.
Thanks for asking Helena330. This is actually the first time anyone has ‘remembered’ me from an earlier thread. Guess I am a real Doper now
The outdoor cats are fine. Now that summer is here we don’t see them quite as often, but the one we call Poppy comes by like clockwork in the morning and evening. I think I might offer her one of those snack sticks since the siamese seem to like them so much.
Interestingly, the catfood that we are leaving out for the outdoor cats has attracted a hedgehog (we call her Harriet). A big plump one who seems to have no fear of man nor cat. Poppy is afraid of Harriet and is quite happy to let her eat her food.
So now our family has 6 outdoor cats, 2 indoor kittens, one hedgehog, and a pine marten.
Another odd thing about our current, skittish, cat is that she is completely uninterested in people food. All our previous ones were of the “I can haz cheezeburger?” variety. I wonder if the two traits often go together, e.g., stay away from people and their food.
My Siamese have never played with toys. I’ve bought many and put them out for them to play with. I get the snooty ‘Please’ and a tail high walk by. Laser pointer? Nope. Not gonna ever chase that light.
I’m beginning to think I have myself a pair of hob-gobblings.
You don’t need to join Imgur. Just go to the site and click the “New Post” button. Then either drag and drop the files from Explorer (or Finder on a Mac), or click “Choose Photo/Video” to show a dialog where you can select the files.
The textbook method to introduce a kitten to a new home is to restrict their territory and gradually expand it as they get more comfortable in their surroundings. I guess that train already left the station, though. I wonder if that is part of the issue.
I got two littermates, approximately 3 months old, last November. One of them will sometimes sit in a lap. The other will snuggle up next to me, if he’s in the mood.
There was no socialization process though. These kittens were rescued by a guy from near his office, and they lived in his garage and his apartment with his two Great Danes, so they were already friendly and not afraid of dogs. My dog (I think he thought, when we came home with them in the carrier, he thought we were bringing our old cat back) was very interested in them, and they weren’t afraid.
This was the first time I got two cats at once who were already friends and it has really been fun. But each cat has his own personality and I’m sure that will be the case with yours.
I bought my kittens a lot of toys and a cat condo. The condo has high places, a tunnel, a scratching post, and a cat-cave. At various times they have preferred one thing or another. They also like boxes and things that look like they have tails. And the laser pointer–but I limit their time with this. It is a laser pointed made to be a cat toy and thus not damaging, should they happen to look at it. (May actually be an LED, I don’t know.)
What really gets them going though is a keyboard that someone is typing on. So far they have repeatedly turned on airplane mode and turned the screen sideways. I don’t even know how to do that sideways screen thing…but I know how to get it back.
