Charlotte loves Owen

It has been about a week since my wife and I caught one of the feral kittens in the yard (named Owen), and he has been showing quite a bit of progress. Our cat Charlotte absolutely loves him, and here she is giving him a bath;

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We also managed to catch Owen's brother, another orange kitten we've named Cope, who is also starting to relax a little. We're going to try to catch the two female kittens that are still out there, but if we can't do it this week the window for us being able to catch them and socialize them is probably going to be closed.

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Lovely photos. Glad you've succeeded with those two and hope you catch the others.

I took in a starving skin and bones feral kitten, maybe four months old last fall (rural area, there's a feral colony about ten km. away)that had taken to playing with my own cat. Took about six weeks of feeding and and coaxing before I could pet him, another few weeks before I could pick him up and start cutting out some of the matts (longhaired kitty) and treating his eye infection (cleared in a few days with antibiotic ointment).

Considering how old he was, he's done very well. He's still frightened of every other human, but he lives in the house, likes to be cuddled by me, likes sleeping in my lap, and is good friends with other kitty.

Going to the vet, though, is a bit of a nightmare for all concerned. Fortunately, he seems to be a pretty healthy little guy, though he's very clumsy for a cat - I speculate that might have something to do with weeks of starvation as a kitten.

OMG that is so cute!! As a cat lover, I know that their personalities are sometimes not condusive to sharing owners or space ;) so, you're lucky that your cat has taken on a care for role for the little ones. Precious!

KAS

awww, isn't it great being a mammal? :)

My current cat was given to me by a co-worker who brought her in from his yard after a week or so of watching her as she hung around. But she wasn't feral - just abandoned. About a year old, totally affectionate, and when I took her to the vet she'd already been spayed.

Many years ago I took in an abandoned kitten. The cat who already owned me, Blob, (about 3 years old at the time) also decided to adopt her.

For the first 24 hours she was in the house, Blob would hiss when he saw her. After a couple of days I noticed that they had started to play together. After a couple of weeks I came home late one night and found them cuddled up together asleep in my bedroom closet.

They became great friends- I was amazed to see how Blob would patiently tolerate Feedback's pestering him to play; they would conspire together to raid the kitchen garbage at night and Blob liked to groom Feedback like Charlotte with Owen.

They were good buddies until Blob died at the age of fifteen and I think she grieved for him as much as I did.

Funny how these things work out sometimes.

By Ktesibios (not verified) on 13 Sep 2008 #permalink

Ktesibios,

Blob!! That is so cute. Our cats are 'Kiwi' and 'Meow Meow' LOL but, Blog would better discribe our fluffy, overwieght siberian Kiwi, had I thought of it!

KAS

Wow, that's great. Even bringing a domesticated cat into the house with others can be stressful, wondering if they will get along. Good for you (and them).

Very nice pics!

What is the window for socializing them? I picked up a couple of feral kittens last summer, but they were only about 7 weeks old--I thought they were a week older. They are completely trusting & affectionate now and have integrated pretty well with my other cats.