If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion
and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with their
fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: Marylyn
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:22 AM
Subject: Re: socializing barn kittens
You may want to get a laser pointer (Office Depot, Wal-Mart etc) to use with
the little ones. Just be extremely careful with their eyes. Some cats love to
chase the dot and, since these are motherless, they need some training in
hunting. Like it or not, they may return to a barn and need skills there that
house cats don't use. If the male has been neutered at such a young age he
will have a particularly rough time.
PS: You are doing great. The ones who have come to live with me were grown
and feral. I've worked with a lot of semi-ferals and throw-aways. It is
difficult but extremely rewarding. Again, check with with Dr. Maier for really
good ideas. She does a lot of this work and you already know her.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of
compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with
their fellow man.
St. Francis
----- Original Message -----
From: Caroline Kaufmann
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:11 PM
Subject: RE: socializing barn kittens
They are actually doing really well so far. I have one sitting in my lap
right now napping, but when I starting typing on the keyboard, she woke up a
little and just follows the cursor with her eyes! But no freak-out or
anything. I also discovered the other night that they will nap while I hold
all 3 of them together wrapped in a blanket- the "kitty burrito"- while I work
on the computer. They love to watch the cursor being moved by the mouse!
I would say at this point they are tamer than ferals and I guess that is
why I used the term "socialization." Tonight, I've had two of them lick turkey
baby food off my finger-- they are such suckers for food- little fatties, so I
think that is huge! And the black one, whom I have never heard meow- only hiss
at me- meowed at me tonight AFTER I PUT IT BACK IN THE CAT CONDO! Looked right
at me and meowed... a bunch of times. So I gave him more baby food- which he
ate.
On that note, I was told many times by the initial rescuer of these kittens
that they are all females. The vet clinic that did their fvrcps, wormings,
etc., marked them as all females. I thought all got spayed yesterday. But
since I have had them, I kept calling the black one "him" and "he" and "bud"
and "lil guy" and had to correct myself a lot. Well, apparently not b/c I was
right. I am one of those people who just gets a sense of sex with cats- even
teeny kittens- right away and I am usually never wrong. So that is why this
bothered me so much that I was told they were all girls b/c I just didn't get
that from the black one. But I went ahead and named them b/c I thought, well
the 1st vet clinic said they were all girls.... But when I went to check the
black one's sutures tonight, the belly wasn't shaved and I was like "what the
H?" Low and behold, we have teeny little balls that were removed! I was so
happy-- mostly just to know that I was right GD it! But I wish I hadn't named
them. I had named them: Ladee (sounds like "Lady")- grey & white; Babee
"baby"- all grey; and Sadee "Sadie"- my black one! The double ee's are in
"honor" of Monkee of course. I thought those were about the cutest names ever
and Sadee was my favorite. I thought they would be fun to "market" with those
names! Oh well, back to the drawing board.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: socializing barn kittens
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:28:48 -0600
When you stare at them you are challenging them. I know it is fun but
you need to look at them thru almost closed eyes. You are threatening to them.
I found out the hard way. I thought you could stare down a cat like you can
some dogs. NOPE. They are CAT.
If you have men who will
exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of
compassion and pity, you will have men who
will deal likewise with
their fellow man.
St.
Francis
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