Is it the right thing to re-home my kittens
Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:10 am
Hi all,
Struggling with my beautiful kittens at the moment and I'm starting to wonder if I'm the right home for them.
We adopted two kittens from the same litter from our local rescue back in November. They were strays and were taken from their mother very early on. One of the kittens was actually left in the field when the rescue collected them because they couldn't find her. Three days later they got to her.(this one is called Lilith)
So when we got them home we expected them to be nervous and to take time to get their surroundings. Eventually we got them both spayed and then waited until the beginning of Feb to let them outside. Neither of them were interested at first but within a few weeks one of them (Mavis) was having a great time she was going in and out using the cat flap and wasn't having any issues. She now rarely comes back in which I expected for a younger cat. Now we have one of those cat flaps that read microchips because there is a big bully cat nearby who comes into anyone's house so we wanted to make sure they were safe.-this is just for you to understand it is harder to get in through the flap than it is going out. The other kitten, Lilith loves the outside she plays and runs round and it's great but she will not go out the flap, she will only go out the door if we open it.. she comes in through it fine but going out she just will not do even now. We've tried holding it up, coaxing her through, she's seen her sister do it and she does go through it herself but only back in... We are in a neighborhood where we can't leave windows open or doors so the cat flap is their only option outside in the day (at least 9hours a day cause of work) at the moment I've kept the litter tray but ideally this is something I want to get rid of. Does anyone have any advice on how to get her to use the flap properly?
Now second and more problematic question. Both of the cats are exceptionally nervous more than we expected but not only that if other people come over and try to stroke them the kittens attack and they are incredibly viscious. They run from me if I'm just walking through the house they sprint into walls, doors anything really just to try and get away from us and I am worried that they are going to hurt themselves and that this is an awful environment for them. I've tried calming sprays but they don't seem to work and we don't have any other pets or scents for them to react to.. I'm concerned that they would be better suited to a farm environment where there is less human interaction and more outside exploring for them. They seem to be a lot more feral than we were anticipating and than we were shown at the rescue.. does it sound like they shouldn't be with us, in this environment that at the moment is very upsetting to them?
I have spoken to the rescue and they will be letting me know some advice soon but I'm just covering as many bases as possible. They are lovely kittens but i would hate to stress them out just to keep them with me. Their mum was rehomed to a farm and seems to be settling in a lot better than the kittens but that could just be age..
Any help, advice or similar situations would be amazing!
Thank you so much in advance x
Struggling with my beautiful kittens at the moment and I'm starting to wonder if I'm the right home for them.
We adopted two kittens from the same litter from our local rescue back in November. They were strays and were taken from their mother very early on. One of the kittens was actually left in the field when the rescue collected them because they couldn't find her. Three days later they got to her.(this one is called Lilith)
So when we got them home we expected them to be nervous and to take time to get their surroundings. Eventually we got them both spayed and then waited until the beginning of Feb to let them outside. Neither of them were interested at first but within a few weeks one of them (Mavis) was having a great time she was going in and out using the cat flap and wasn't having any issues. She now rarely comes back in which I expected for a younger cat. Now we have one of those cat flaps that read microchips because there is a big bully cat nearby who comes into anyone's house so we wanted to make sure they were safe.-this is just for you to understand it is harder to get in through the flap than it is going out. The other kitten, Lilith loves the outside she plays and runs round and it's great but she will not go out the flap, she will only go out the door if we open it.. she comes in through it fine but going out she just will not do even now. We've tried holding it up, coaxing her through, she's seen her sister do it and she does go through it herself but only back in... We are in a neighborhood where we can't leave windows open or doors so the cat flap is their only option outside in the day (at least 9hours a day cause of work) at the moment I've kept the litter tray but ideally this is something I want to get rid of. Does anyone have any advice on how to get her to use the flap properly?
Now second and more problematic question. Both of the cats are exceptionally nervous more than we expected but not only that if other people come over and try to stroke them the kittens attack and they are incredibly viscious. They run from me if I'm just walking through the house they sprint into walls, doors anything really just to try and get away from us and I am worried that they are going to hurt themselves and that this is an awful environment for them. I've tried calming sprays but they don't seem to work and we don't have any other pets or scents for them to react to.. I'm concerned that they would be better suited to a farm environment where there is less human interaction and more outside exploring for them. They seem to be a lot more feral than we were anticipating and than we were shown at the rescue.. does it sound like they shouldn't be with us, in this environment that at the moment is very upsetting to them?
I have spoken to the rescue and they will be letting me know some advice soon but I'm just covering as many bases as possible. They are lovely kittens but i would hate to stress them out just to keep them with me. Their mum was rehomed to a farm and seems to be settling in a lot better than the kittens but that could just be age..
Any help, advice or similar situations would be amazing!
Thank you so much in advance x