Socializing is the process where you very gradually help the kitten or cat to fear humans less and less, to be comfortable with, and even enjoy interacting with humans. Feral cats or kittens are completely afraid of all humans. As I said, this is a survival technique the adult feral cats teach their young. My feral kitten Zen was 5 months old when I trapped her Thursday evening, September 28th, 2006. Generally 5 months is "old" for a feral kitten to begin her socialization process. Zen is a reminder that there are always exceptions to every rule, and that each cat or kitten is a unique spirit that will progress at her own rate.

I learned right away that the only way I would ever see more than her silouette under the bed was to take away her food dish and only feed her in my presence. That way her hunger became larger than her fear of me, and she realized bit by bit that I wasn't so bad. I spend 3-4 hours with her every day, in two sessions. The first time I fed her I had to slide a tupperware top with food into her hiding place with a back scratcher. Then I'd lie on the rug and watch her eat it. The first times the tupperware was so far into her hiding place that I could only see part of her head as she ate it, but even that was a big, exciting step. Then gradually I put a second and third tupperware with food closer to the exit of her hiding place so she'd be coaxed to come and eat those.

Then gradually the first tupperware top was in the hiding place but the second and third were out in the open, as shown in this photo above, probably taken after a week and a half of working together. It took a lot for her to come out in the open at all, but her adoration of wet food helped her master her fears.

As I said I spend about 4 hours per day with her, sometimes just reading as she comes and courageously eats. All those hours have been a sacrifice, but it has really paid off. Here below are some photos taken 10/20/06 just THREE WEEKS after she was trapped and spayed. I'm so excited with her progress. In the three photos below she is playing in between my legs as I sit on the floor. Those are my jeans, torn at the knee, that I haven't got rid of yet.

These pictures were taken the first day I used a certain toy with her (a pole with a long strip of fabric with feathers on the end). When these pictures were taken I am moving my arm to make the feathers of the toy dance up and down above her head. I had to wait three weeks for her to get comfortable with me moving (my arm and/or an object) this much.

At first, every time I moved at all she'd go back into her hole. Then the only movement she could handle without bolting was a slow reach to give her more food. Over days I had gotten her comfortable eating closer and closer to me by placing the food dishes closer and closer to me as I sat upright on the floor. Again, wet food really helped more than the dry though I gave both. The food dish between my knees was something we worked up to during the second week. I only put wet chicken or turkey food in that dish, so she would return again and again to eat there.

At the time of this writing, three and a half weeks after trapping, October 24, 2006, she will still run into her hole if I move my legs at all while she is touching or near them. My toes are another story. She likes when I wiggle my toes, and will come and bat them. She used to just stare at them when they moved.

Special Socialization Update - Thursday November 2nd, 2006

Today Joan the cat behaviorist from TreeHouse shelter called me back and it has really helped me make huge steps with Zen already. It's so cool, I put it here on the socialization page. Joan said she is not a fan of the "touch my hand" game I've been playing, because cats generally use a paw to swipe at something or to push it away. She says she sees lots of the "worst case scenarios" where cats are too aggressive with their paw. Soooo, although Zen's paw touch is adorably and consistently all pad and gentle now, I tried her suggestions....

She said that me touching the kitten's cheek is the best thing because cats have scent glands there and they get pleasure when we rub there plus it's like her marking you as hers with her scent which is a bonding for them. I can see how in human psychology a handshake is a bonding and I was wrongly assuming that works for cats, and the person rubbing the cat's cheek is cat psychology for pleasure and bonding. ALSO she said that to work up to rubbing the kitten's cheek with my hand I can pet the air near her cheek, after I let her smell my hand. Also before trying to make contact with my hand I can rub her cheek or top of head using the pole (with the fabric and feathers) that we usually use to play.

Joan explained to me that a cat perceives parts of its body as more or less vulnerable. For example the top of head and cheeks (cheeks have scent glands/causes pleasure/bonding) are the most OK for a person to touch. Then for later the sides of body also have scent glands so touching there causes pleasure and bonding so they are next as OK. Joan said that since Zen is constantly purring now when she eats from a dish on my thighs that she is very ready for me to try all of this.

Sooooo, long story short I really tried all of the above and by the end of the second feeding Zen was sitting on my legs letting me pet her cheeks and top of head and side of neck/shoulders with both my hands. YEAH!!!!!! I wanted to get that far by Christmas and we got there about 50 days early!!!! :-) One extra thing I did was to lightly grind up dry catnip onto a blanket next to me so she could smell it, lick it up, and get her catnip happy effect before I tried any of the touching. She loves that. Also because I ground the dry catnip in my hands, both hands smelled entirely of catnip. I'm sure this twofold catnip strategy helped me when I had her smell my hands then tried to pet her with my hands.