So we were walking home from Genghis the other night, and as we were walking down the alley toward the house, we heard a kitten. Those short, sharp cries that mean "Mum, where are you?"
When we got past the end of the fence, we saw him. Little white kitten, sitting on the back porch of the front building. And then he either saw or heard us, and ran off. Squeezed his way under the gate and ran out front, and hid under a bush outside the vet's office. And so I went in the house, changed my clothes, and went back out with a torch (that's flashlight to you Americans
and some cat food to see if I could find him. I found him under the bush. This is a HUGE bush, and we didn't realise just how huge until we were trying to find a 6 week old kitten inside it. Not easy.
Okay. So I had the food in a dish, and I put it down on the ground near an opening in the bush, and eventually he came out and ate a little, and I tried to grab him, but he was too quick. Tried this a couple more times, but he knew I was trying to get him and darted back toward the centre of the bush before I could get him. Then Darrin came out, and through a combination of mad chases, garden hoses, and food bribery, he managed to catch the kitten, but not before the kitten bit and scratched his arm to shreds. Well, nearly. We got him into a box (the kitten, not Darrin...that'd have to be a pretty big box) and took him inside, and we've been keeping him in the toilet room like we did with Calico and her littermates.
This kitten has not been around humans. For the first 24 hours, he'd hiss & spit anytime we got near him. We suspect his mother was a feral/stray and just got tired of him, or he wandered away, or she died or something, and somehow he ended up in our yard.
Anyway. So I've been researching how to tame a feral kitten, and we're already making progress. Once he's comfortable enough around humans we'll find him a home. Darrin says the kitten meows now whenever he goes into the toilet. And I got him to play with my braid last night, and then a shoelace. He seemed to forget I was even there, except when he backed into his water dish and it made a noise & scared him.