Found kittens...

Question
I found some kittens living in my garage.  They had been there like a day and I haven't seen their mother.  I've decided to keep them but I'm curious if there is a trick to get them to warm up to me, or maybe something I can do to make them not be so aggresive? I just don't think they're used to people. Is time the only answer to this?!

Answer
Hi Nicole!

You've got yourself some feral kittens, the good news is that as kittens there is hope to get them to warm up to humans and kudos to you for taking them on!  The key is time and FOOD!  ;)

You should use the food as a tool, associate yourself with the food and they will come around to you.  You should keep them inside your house otherwise a week from not they will not be there when you go out to see them.  It is also much safer for them inside.

Start by keeping them in a bathroom, this is a small enough area that there should be no place for them to hide when you come in.  Don't grab at them, the key is to let them come to you.  When you feed them for the first few days go into the bathroom with the food, oops forgot, you shouldn't free feed otherwise you're defeating the purpose and the food will not be associated with you.  Go into the bathroom with the food and for now put the bowl downas far away from you as possible, sit at the other end of the bathroom and let them eat.  They may be too nervous to go to the bowl the first few times so you need to wait about twenty minutes if they have not eaten by then take the food bowl and leave them be, always take the bowl with you, then you can try again for the evening/morning meal, they should get three a day as super young kittens.  Eventually their hunger will overide the nervousness of humans and they will eat.  As you do this start moving the bowl closer to you everytime you feed them to the point that the bowl will be right beside you.  By this time they should be somewhat trusting of you although still nervous.

This is probably going to take about a week.  The next step is to attempt to pet them while they are eating, very gently reach out while their minds are consumed with the food and start petting, depending on how things are going this would be when you would attempt to start to cuddle with them.  After some success with petting while eating gently take one of them up after the food is gone and cuddle it, scratching behind the ear but never pet the belly (It's a trust thing), watch the body language if the kitten is super stiff and wide eyed cuddle for a minute and then rest the kitten on your lap and let them walk/run away.  Don't hang onto them for too long, they need to be able to go when they want to in order to learn that pets and cuddles are a good thing and that they can leave if they so choose.  This will eventually lead to the kittens coming to you.  It is VERY important to do this with feral kittens as if you don't they will never trust humans.  

Once the kittens seem a bit more comfortable with you you can graduate to letting them in your bedroom but I wouldn't let them run the house for quite a while.  You need to be able to get your hands on them, if they hide all of the time their behavior will never be changed.

I hope this helps, you can also try doing a search online for 'raising feral kittens' there should be more tips for you there :)

Good Luck!

Natoma
Chenza Maine Coons
www.chenza.com