So I had done my research on the internet and they said that if you get a medium dog cage that it would be a good beginning home for the feral kitten you want to socialize. It's a small confined space and facilitates bribing with food yielding faster progress. Well that was not to be. She ended up outsmarting me and getting out, finding her ideal hiding spot under my bed. It's a wood waterbed frame with drawers (with regular matress) and it really is perfect for her. It has three different entrance and exit points. The tunnel going through it is shaped like the letter T with the top of the T at the head of the bed.

Finally I got over my stubborn mindset and realized I only had to keep the bedroom door closed to give her a confined space. It's bigger than a cage but I think in her case it works even better. As you will see in photos on the Socializing page, it allows her to interact even more with me when she is motivated with food, or now play. At first this is all I saw of her, the dark silouette of her body, head, and ears under the bed. The photo is actually better than what I usually saw. I took the photo by backlighting with a flashlight, then lightening it in Photoshop afterwards. Also in the photo is the cardboard of a toilet paper roll which is a toy for her, plus a bell ball which she likes less than the toilet paper cardboard. The red light in the lower left corner of the photo is a laser light she is watching intently. That's the first "game" I could ever play with her. For a week and a half she would only watch it, but it was a start.

So how do I deal with a feral kitten living in my bedroom? Four ways: no fish, baking soda, ionizer, and NPR radio. No wet fish-based food and only good quality food means her waste has much less odor. The baking soda I add to cheap clay litter which also reduces odor. I change the litter every 5 days instead of 7 as some people recommend. Finally the eco touch which I very much recommend is the IONIZER. Mine is a Sharper Image one I paid way too much for years ago. I have it baricaded behind something so she can't mess with it, but it's just about 2 feet from her litter and makes all the difference in the universe, largely detroying the scent of the litter box. Then I play NPR and local public radio WBEZ all the time I'm not in there sleeping. I believe that this makes her sleep less deeply during the day and therefore she is more likely to want to settle down more and get her deep sleep when I sleep. She does play when I sleep but it really does seem to be less since I devised the radio plan. Plus when I play with and feed her at least I am getting my world news too.