How I Tamed a Feral Kitten - Step by Step! 

“The Social Box” is what I’m going to call any party that my friends drag me to from now on.

i was expecting a priest to walk in on a foggy night... "hello Lilith, I am Father Merrin"

"Lilith is very jumpy, but the cheese gets her attention." - Extremely relatable tbh

I've always thought of crates as cages, because people tend to stick their pets in there while they're asleep, at work, or just don't want to deal with them. But the Social Box method is the best use of a crate I've ever seen! That is so smart! I am amazed. This is wonderful information. Thank you!

I guess a big part of the success is that the kitty in the box witnesses from the start how relaxed the other cats are around humans. Nobody's fighting, everybody is happy, relaxed and playful. This shows her that there is no danger.

Its nice to see people like you that are helping feral or scared cats learn to trust humans and be friendly. It definitely gives them a leg up for adoption. Ive got 8 fur babies myself. Love the little buggers

This is very helpful. My boyfriend and I just today adopted 2 feral kittens that are bonded. No one really wanted them because of how shy they are so we wanted to give them a chance. I've been looking online as to how to help them become more comfortable and social. This video will help!

I'm a 65 year old Guy! I have always loved Kitties! I've been around Cats all my life! Both my Mom & Dad loved Cats! My (Maternal) Grandma loved Cats! I adopted a Black Girl Kittie from the Municipal Shelter about 6 years ago! I think she may have been a Feral. She's still a bit wild, but she loves attention!

This woman is a feral kitten whisperer with a proven successful method of socialization.

LOOK AT THAT BACKYARD !!!! absolutely gorgeous. your cats are nice too

Bless all of these sacred precious cottony miracles of love mmmwaaahhhhh

My recently adopted feral kitten loves watching your video and kissed the phone

Maybe not this year, but that 100K play button is going to happen. This episode is a gem.

I had lots of feral cats and kittens. It almost boils to down to the "Two F's". Food, and Fun to socialize a cat. Never force a cat to interact with you, other humans or other cats.They usually work it at their own pace.

So nice to see you're back making videos! I've been told the ideal time to socialize a kitten is 4-8 weeks. After that it gets harder, but not impossible. I've seen other people who foster cats take in kittens this age and spend as much as 3 months getting them socialized, but it always works out.

With this social box method, my boyfriend and I have rehabilitated a 4 month old stray kitten and he now has such a wonderful life. Thank you so much!

Thank you, Caroline. You have proven once again that with a heart full of love, a gentle touch, and the proper techniques, a scared kitty can be turned around into a wonderful family pet. God bless you for all the lives you have saved, & will continue to save. 🌺🌼🤗🌸🌻

Lilith is such a pretty girl. Thank you for helping her find her inner snuggle bug!

I adopted two scared kittens from the Humane Society and brought them home where I have two 12 year old kitties. They had their own room with a screen door so they could see the house and interact with the older kitties safely. After about four hours both kittens were walking around like they owned the place, tails strait up and very confident. I never thought that would happen so fast.

Awww. She did the one eye blink she loves you and isn’t going anywhere.

Even in the same family they can be VERY different. The second oldest one in this family is Miss Midnight the Spoilt Feral Queen of the Cat Tree. She was a three year old feral who HATED the indoors when she had to be caught (her kittens were here and then needed her and she wanted to keep raising them). Her kittens needed my help. It took her six months of living here to go from "hell no" to "yes, touch me". Her youngest sibling is Mr Greyson the Feral, he's pretty friendly with me. Just one litter before him are Miss Grey the Feral, Miss Mittens the Feral, and Miss Raven the Feral. Living here since November 2021, Miss Grey has come around, she recently started rubbing against my hand, like her little brother does. Miss Raven isn't too hot about touching, but, doesn't run away from me anymore. Miss Mittens has been playing the "tough girl" act. Until she got sick with really bad flea anaemia, she would always run away, hide, hiss, growl and even fight me if I tried to touch her...Even tho I knew she had fleas, I couldn't treat her for them...until she got sick. Trip to the vet and even the vet knew she was in trouble. It was bad and he was expecting her to die. But, I figured that if she was willing to fight it, I would do what I could (I didn't have thousands of dollars to have her hospitalised and transfused and everything). That she allowed me to pick her up and put her in a carrier to take her to the vet without a struggle was proof of just how badly the poor girl was feeling. She was hypothermic, so I stayed up all night in the cat room with her on my lap covered by a blanket to help her keep warm. She also started allowing me to touch her and even flea comb her. She goes into this box that is high up so I'm not towering over her and allows me to touch her. She hisses less at me. She even allowed me to put flea medicine on her. She would NEVER allow that before! She is still standoffish, but, not like she was before. That night that she was on my lap all night after we came home from the vet? She would look up at me, then I would see her drift off to sleep and she would start dreaming for a while then wake up and look at me again. This happened four times. After her fourth sleep, she looked at me weird like she was thinking "what? WAIT A MINUTE!" ::HISS:: and she ran off and hid.

You make it look so easy! Great video. I rescued 2 feral kittens and they were easy from the beginning. A couple years later I rescued 2 other kittens from the same mom (and we were finally able to catch and TNR mom), and the 2 new siblings were more difficult, especially the boy. He was so fearful and would hiss and stomp for about 4 weeks. But we could still hold him, only approaching would cause him to hiss and be scared. Well they’re 3.5months now and he is sweet, more sociable. They’re still a bit skittish when approached but I still consider it a success compared to the beginning.

Thank you, dear Caroline, for publishing another very interesting video!💖 We were waiting for it! I love your empathy for cats!

This video melts my heart and gives me so much hope and more confidence in taming my kitty. It’s only been five full days that I took Niko home, but we’ve already made a lot of progress. She’s a jumpy little baby who spent the first day hiding and getting used to me (I don’t have a social box, but we spend the day in the same room and she found a stop where she sees everything and everyone). On day three, I got her to finally play with her toys and she had so much fun. Day four was when she accepted treats from my hand, and today I could pet her for a long while. She even closed her eyes and almost fell asleep. She still goes to a “safe spot” and watches when I enter the room, and I still get some hisses, but I give her all my patience and love. This is my very first time having a cat (and it was my childhood dream), but even if she’s still a scaredy cat, I know, the progress we’ve made is huge and it will be even better as time goes on. Thank you for all the videos you uploaded about taming a scared kitty! You truly helped us a lot. ❤️

This is great. I can relate to the technique of walking up and very briefly petting the kitty, and then walking away. That approach has worked wonders for my fomerly feral or super shy cats. I also really like the idea of a social box. Time and time again, I see shelter owners and fosters provide a bunch of hiding places instead of something like a social box. The social box has a high success rate, while providing hiding places just slows things down a lot.

You are a wonderful person and kitty ally. I'm so happy that people like you exist in this world. ❤️

Lillith is a beautiful baby panther who will grow up to be even more beautiful. No way would I want to see her remain feral.

Hey!! It's kitten school!! 😄. It's good to see you again. What a sweet lil girl .. she loves cheese like my kitties do 🧀 🐈🐈. Im glad she found a furever home pretty quick. 🥰

Lovely and more lovely to have you back. Thanks and take care . More videos please. Best wishes from Adrian in Sheffield South Yorkshire England 😀😺

Lilith and stitch... like lilo and stitch. That is sooooo cute 🥲

Another successful, spicy-kitty conversion ❤

Thank you for taking the time to make this great video! I love the social box idea. I rescued a feral 5 week old kitten on Halloween from traffic and she's so scared. I believe your social box technique will be just what she needs to get properly acclimated and socialized in the coming days. Both Ellis (kitten) and I thank you for your kind and gentle approach to helping feral kittens.

Absolutely in love with her!!🤍🤍🤍 What a great and informational video!

Exorcism of Love is one hell of a bandname

This video was great! Thank you for all your hard work and patience with the kitties. I’m glad the RU-vid algorithm introduced you to me 😺

I'm considering getting a feral 1 year old Torti female from a shelter. She is beautiful and is almost a spitting image of the torti we lost last year. Thank you for this instruction...

Thank You for this it's just what we need.....so excited to get them comfortable.

You do a great job with the kitten. I think you are so good in your presentation of the video as well. Thank you

We adopted a kitten who was turned over to the humane society at 8 weeks. She and 2 siblings were found in someone's backyard. We have a large crate but didn't know to use it as you did. Callie is now 7 months old. She loves to be petted and approaches us pushing her face into our hands. We set up a soft kitty bed on a recliner in our family room and she sleeps there a lot. Other times she is in our bedroom or under the couch. We do pet her while in her bed then walk away. She loves to spar with our 2 year old mini goldendoodle so we have seen a lot of progress. She comes to bed at night when I call her because I keep a little bag of treats on my nightstand and I crinkle the bag so she runs for the treats. I can hold her while she eats a few but then she wants down. I also pick her up a time or two during the day, stroke her and put her down. I don't see any real improvement there. Should I just keep it up or any suggestions?

You are so awesome!! I wish people could be more patient with these adorable animals. ❤

Love is ALL powerful. Play, Love. Play. Love. Nothing can resist the power - especially not the children of the kingdom. God bless you.

I tamed two adult feral cats. They have gone from being monsters to beng pushy affection hogs. I have watched several videos about how to tame fearful cats, but yours is by far the best! Kindness and patience win every time. I like your idea of using a crate so expose the cat to new exeriences as well as using a harness and lead; I shall use both techniques if there is a next time. After having both cats neutered, and vaccinated and buying them an omlet catio for the garden, with a well insulated cat- house apparently, they are nolonger 'rescues,' and have chosen their permanent home! I did not have the heart to risk that as a bonded a pair, someone would separate them, or keep them outside, when they are used to, and expect their creature comforts.

Excellent video, found it helpful for training our new kitten. And Lilith is so cute!

I found a tiny black runt crossing a busy street in the pouring down rain about 2 years ago and pulled over and chased it down and put it in my car. I love her so much; she's so little. She still looks like a teenager 2 years later; she must have been the runt of the litter and escaped. Her name is Sheba and to this day we are still bonding; it's taking longer than usual but she's worth it.

I just let them out and sleep on the floor. 9/10 times they will smell me and eventually cuddle for warmth. I also eat at the same time as them. After a day or two they get used to you. When I cook I also let them smell stuff. Be it vegetables or meat. Its a form of enrichment. I have literally never needed more than two or three days to get a cat used to me. Adult feral cats take a while longer. But with them you can use a bed with fluffy covers.

Wow.. Thank you for sharing your love & regime 💞🐱 I can't tell you how much its aided in socializing a beautiful 3 mo Male. Ive had dogs and cats as far back as I can remember. They have all lit up my life and filled my heart with so much love. Im in a 55+ mobile park. Ferals run ramped here. As of last week and yesterday 4 males have been altered. I have chosen this responsibility on my own. My family and friends have been extremely helpful 🤗💞 I cannot thank you enough. Obviously, my goal is to deter

God bless you for all you do. All of my cats that I have now were found as babies. I had to bottle feed them and now....they are some of the best babies I have ever owned. 4 years going strong. :)

Wow. Amazing view out your patio.

My cats were feral when we brought them home from the rescue. They didn’t know if they would become house kitties. We spent lots of time with them and now they love us. They come see us and they are happy kitties. One of them started purring the next day after we brought them home for the first time.

I’m using a similar technique to try to socialize an older kitten who was completely feral. I just got him today, right after his neuter, but he’s been in foster a couple of months. If I hadn’t taken him he would have ended up someone’s barn cat, which is better than what could have happened to him, but he’s just too beautiful to spend the rest of his life in a barn! He came a long way in foster and does well with other cats and even dogs. He’s terrified of people, though, as he was completely feral and being chased by kids throwing rocks when he was rescued. Who could blame him for not trusting people? He does love treats and catnip so I plan to use those to my advantage in the coming days. Right now he’s in a very large kennel with a blanket over it. It’s in a central location. He has a soft bed, food and water, and a small litter box. I sprinkled the catnip on his bed, in hopes that it might help to calm him, and left him a couple of catnip treats there as well. My other animals have come in one by one to sniff around his kennel. They can’t see each other. Going to give him a day or so before I start lifting the blanket for short periods. He’s been through a lot in his short life. I don’t want to overwhelm him. Also, the others will need time to get accustomed to him. I’m in it for the long haul! His name is Blaze. He’s a gorgeous flame point Siamese with beautiful blue eyes. Please say a prayer for us that he’s able to overcome his past!🙏🏻

THANK YOU. I gave been feeding a feral cat fir about a year. She is kitten sized but an adult. When I first saw her she was skeletal. I could see her ribs very easily. I could not stand the idea of her going hungry so I fed her. She is pregnant yet again and has been living in a comfy TOTE APARTMENT we made for her. She comes to me when I feed her has given me a Nosey Kiss on my palm. We just caught her and she is now in the house. I will try to see how she adjust to indoor lovong.

What a great video! You are a great person!

Thank you for this. It will make my next cat a much happier cat. Your approach is scientific and matches what I've seen in my own efforts to socialize the 17 cats I've owned in my life (8 of them are still alive and in my home).

Thank you for taming this fierce little beastie. I'll integrate it with my future dealings with feral kitties.

WOW

God bless you for all you do.

Lovely little cat.😻

What a sweet girl.

Wow, this lady is really a pro

Good to see someone who understands cats

You are such a good person

Thanks a lot sister . I am more inrerested about this topic to learn . (Praveen from India)

Thank you, great info 🐾🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐾

You did an amazing job. In!such a short space of time. .i am 2 years down the road and they still show skittish tendencies. .

Very helpful, I have just taken on 2 kittens that are feral and need taming before re housing them into their new forever home. I think I made a sensible start. I have hd them a few days and kept them in a big run and fed them will and hang about talking to them a lot. It's clearly time tomorrow to start touching them a little and keep going with special treats. Thank you

I just adopted another 2 kittens a few months back. I went with the same method I did the last 2. I move right to playing. A kitten cannot be scared while playing. Then I might introduce treats. But food motivation isn't as great as people claim it to be. I have much better and quicker success with just playing. They cannot resist a string going by them no matter how scared they are.

I took my cat in when she was aged about 9 months. My friend had been feeding her. She stayed in the front bedroom and I took food and the litter tray but we didn't make progress so I put her food at the top of the stairs and moved it down over a few days. Now around 7 years later she loves being outside, all day and night sometimes, only coming in for food and to say hello. Definitely only wants cuddles when she's ready, quite rare really. If I follow her on the garden path she still stops, turns round and hisses at me. Don't follow me. If somebody knocks at the front door she races outside through the back door. Not a people cat. I don't mind, she won't get hurt by kids.

I found a feral kitten and his mom at my back door in the dead of winter last year. His Mom was born outside she would hiss and growl at me. I felt so bad for them both and i started feeding them. The mom wouldn't show him any love. I felt so bad for him... But he seemed so lovable... scared and scidish. There was snow outside and it was very cold outside. The mom disappeared and I had to capture this adorable kitten. I put his plate of food in my kitchen and bam he came through the patio door and I shut the door really fast. Well he freaked out of course... poor thing.. but before I captured him I made sure every door was closed to every room. I had several litter boxes set up. I had already purchased a tall cat cage that had shelves in it... I attached a litter box to the side of it and I left cat food and water inside of it. I tied a string to the cage door and sat there in the dark on the floor. Bam the kitten went inside the cage and I pulled the string and the kitten stayed in his cat condo for a few weeks. I would pet him play with him and pick him up just like you show in your videos. He loved watching RU-vid videos for cats... this is another great idea to bond with the kitty...plus temptation treats. I put a collar on him that has a bell because he use to love to hide once I set him free. Now he is domesticated... the best cat I've ever owned. He loves to play... So darn lovable and he always uses his litter boxes. I had him neutered right away. He doesn't spray my house doesn't smell like I have a cat. Yes it takes time and hard work. But this makes you love the kitty even more. My kitty I named Lucky...but I'm really the lucky one. I learned so much from your videos ... and other videos on youtube. Thank you for your videos=)

I socialized an adult feral. It took months. I think she had human socialization during that crucial kitten phase..but ended up on the streets, and became feral over time.

I was a foster home for three feral kittens.... I turned theml into mush balls.... It was very rewarding

Pretty kitty.

I like your Miauhaus t-shirt! 👍

I’m using a cat tree with a blanket draped over the top level as the social box. It’s working pretty well! Two days ago I adopted four month old black kittens, brother and sister. Tom and Molly.

Hi Caroline. Hope things are going well for you, your family, and Kitten School during these crazy times in the world. Lilith is absolutely adorable, and I am glad she found a Furever Home. Thanks for what you do for all kitties big and small. You're amazing :-)

I've just adopted some fairly jumpy and hissy kittens from a rescue. I'm sure these methods will help!

Thank you for the advice. I have a semi-feral polydactyl that is coming around to socialization. The social box idea is where I’ve gone wrong. Thank you again!

With this kitten I recently rescued I tried everything and nothing was helping. Finally I had to just wrap him up in a blanket like a purrito and force love on him until he finally gave up fighting and realized he wasn't dying. Now he comes to me and purrs and wants to make biscuits.

Great job!

I used to keep a small cage for feral. That way the new feral could observe the clowder and the clowder could observe the new cat.

Thank you for your advice. I recently trapped a 3 month old kitten living in our backyard. My husband thinks she was born under our gazebo deck because there was a large hole dugout at the back of the ground level deck and he said that a kitten could not have dug that. No sign of any other cats (we had been at cottage in summer), but she stayed within the confines of our fenced yard and only came out in evenings. She was looking pretty rickety so I began feeding her for about 3 weeks, and putting food in a live trap for 1 week. We trapped her just in time before freezing, as it snowed the next week. She has only hissed once, but she is very fearful. She is starting to come to me and play a bit, but she hides a lot. She seems to already know one of our dogs. I think they met in the yard. She is not at all afraid of her. But we live in the country and our dogs live outdoors in heated dog houses within kenneI enclosure, although they do often have free roam of the yard and come in the house, although they prefer it outdoors unless -20 or more. We will have to try the social box as she will not come out of the back porch room unless I carry her out and she runs back at first chance. I leave her indoor kennel open during the day. In the evenings I turn on a nightlight for her and turn off other lights. Although she comes out of her kennel, she will stay close to it. We have a pop up dollar store pet house that she often sits in or behind. When I put the nightlight on she will move to her kennel where her bed is and I close up the door because my husband doesnt want her running free during the night, assuming she would even do that because she is so scared. We bought a leash for her yesterday but have not tried it yet.

Thank you so much for this. I have 3 cats one being feral that I got yesterday. I'm going to try these techniques. Thank you

This video was an eye-opener for me. I have three feral kittens that are now almost three months old. I’ve had them for a month and one kind of tamed himself. His brother is getting a teensy bit better but his sister will not let me touch her. The rescues in our area are all overloaded with kittens, which is why these ones are at my house. I’ve never fostered kittens before, however, and had no clue how to socialize them. Now you’ve given me some great ideas. Thank you so very much!! Where did you find your kitten harness?

That's an awesome set up! Kitties everywhere, with enough space. I will foster one day soon. I need to get a house with a backyard, first.

thank you for all the tips! I just adopted this black kitty which is feral. She has had no interaction with humans or animals (except her siblings). So, this is all a big change for her. I will definitely be using the social box method.

I just subscribed. Loved the Lilith story. What a great beginning.

Thank you

Tamed = “Ive decided your demise will be timely, human. The time is not now.”

Very nice tutorial! Thanks. Black kittens are my absolute favorite!

Good information.

Are you watching “Leave Her To Heaven” in one scene? Love that movie!

Excellent video amen! Oh, my rescue kitty likes mozzerella & cheddar...nice. Trying to rescue a new jet black stray local cat in our RV park at this time. I'm totally not sure yet how to acclimate mine and the potentially new indoor cat. They're both females. Thanks for sharing, James, Rescue Kitty😺 & Snowvan!

Amazing! That was like magic. Well done!

That kitten looks like my kitten! So cute lol

She’s a fabulous foster and that So wonderful! And also Just so you all know. Cats are 100% lactose intolerant. No cat should ever have any dairy.

I wish I was this good with pets

I got to say this seems the best way I have yet seen someone make the cats more comfy and able to be handled. great job

She is soo pretty

Good thing Brian has a mask on, in case the cat scratches him.

7:24 pretty cool that you got Hermes Conrad from Futurama to do your outro

1:08 - In fact, a psychologist would called this "Systematic Desensitisation". It comes from B F Skinner, I believe.