Socializing a Spicy Feral Kitten! 

C H I L L B E A T S T O S O C I A L I Z E K I T T I E S T O

Kitten is like: GET AWAY _GET AWAY_ *GET AWAY* GE- hey is that *_chicken?_*

I love how reluctantly the food-motivated kitten eats. She's eating and enjoying it but she's also mad about it.

1:40. That death stare while still licking the spoon is totally adorable.

Kitten: *HISSSES* **Baby Chicken Food Arrives** Kitten: Exceptions can be made

I know it’s not a laughing matter but I have to admit it was kinda comical to see the kitten hissing and then all of sudden started licking the spoon. 😂

Next time someone says I'm lazy I'll reply: "I'm very food-motivated."

"What are you thinking of?" "Of how dangerous you are." "I'm not dangerous."

I socialized an 8 year old cat. It took 2 years and lots of bites, but patience won. He was never a lap cat but he was a good companion and trusted me until the end (at 15 1/2). Miss ya Nemo!

Referring to feral cats as "spicy" is now my favorite thing ever 😂

Kitten: i angry😾 Kitten:*tastes food* Kitten: i lick but still angry 😾🍗

We rescued a feral kitten whose mom/siblings had been run over by a car. He was shivering and almost dead from thirst/starvation when we found him. We were out riding bikes and brought him back to our house intending to give him to a shelter, but he was so cute and funny that we fell in love with him and ended up keeping him. He play-fights with the cat we had before getting him, but they get along pretty well over all. He is now two years old and we love him so much!

Love her transition from hissing to licking the spoon 🤣😍 and the spice level 🌶🌶🌶🌶 is so cute

Cat: "I'm dangerous *mlem mlem mlem BE AFRAID *mlem mlem mlem I'm Watching you *mlem mlem mlem..

"I needed to know if she was food motivated at all." Kitten: HISS! HISS! HISS! HISS! HISS! Kitten: Is that chicken? It tastes like chicken.

I just gave our spicy feral a squirrel liver (traditional Cherokee food) and she was chill ever since. She's 9 now, got her at around 3 or so months.

This video gave us hope. We trapped a feral kitten 4 days ago. He’s very spicy!! He scratches and bites and hisses😮. It’s our first time domesticating our previous cats were not feral. We will just take it slow and steady, we know we can help him!

Kitten was like “I’m so mad and I hate you but I love the food.” It’s soooo adorable.

2 month old Franny: 🌶️ 5 month old Franny: 🍓

Beautifully explained. My daughter took a feral kitten in a rural setting, papoosed it and carried it around all day. By the end of the day, the cat was done doing feral cat stuff 😂

I'm so glad all the spicy kittens have their homes now. 🏡 🌶🐈💕

1:29 "don touch me, me angy" *licks spoon* "me less angy, but me angy"

i found a kitten on the street, who was pretty much Satan reincarnated, I adopted her and she turned out to be the nicest cat ever xD

“I needed to know if she was food motivated at all” Franny: *HISS* *HISS* *HISS* ... 👅👅👅

I don’t know why this didn’t pop up on my radar until now. I know it’s many years later … but I just have to applaud your perseverance. I’ve been doing TNR for about 30 years but have never bitten off a challenge like this. Thank you for demonstrating that it is possible.

I love the term: spicy kittens. Not mean, not hostile, spicy. Because they aren't mean, not necessarily hostile, just scared and in need of love.

Franny: “Spicy Level 🌶🌶🌶🌶”

It just takes patience and kindness. Almost any feral cat will come around.

1:25 Franny: IM HAVING A BAD MOOD BUT THANKS FOR THE FOOD!

"Stop it I hate you I hate you!" *starts to lick chicken baby food*

A feral kitten climbed into a hole under my vehicle and rode 30 miles! All we could hear was crying but we couldn't find him. During the wee hours I laid in the street with a flashlight and saw two glowing eyes but he wouldn't come near me. Finally I lured him with tuna. That was a year ago. Ari is now part of the family. Just a gorgeous, affectionate tabby.

That's so cute when she was angry but licked the spoon. Sooooo sweet. ❤️

How sweet that you socialize the cats so that they can get adopted! All that work and then someone else gets to enjoy the results of your hard work. That's really quite something.

Kitten really went "I HATE YOU I HA- this food is delectable."

When I was a kid, I ended up accidentally socialized a feral kitten in the neighborhood we lived in. I had no idea what I was doing at the time as I was very young. I just kept feeding, petting, and playing with him. Every day he'd come back for more attention and food. Sometimes with other cats from his litter and around the neighborhood. There came a point where he wanted to come into our house and my mom wasn't sure that was a good idea because of our other cats. But I let him in because hearing him cry was upsetting me. He got along well with our other cats but he did end up having fleas. We took care of that though and he became a part of the family. We took him with us when we moved from one side of the US to the other side. He was my first cat and he was a very good cat.

it’s always so funny when a kitten is being spicy but then gets a little taste of food and you can see something click in their little head like “oh. that’s actually tasty”

Cat: what is this! Human: food Cat: Disgusting.. give me more!

"I spend one to two hours every day just convincing her that people are not a threat." No joke i need that treatment lol

*hiss hiss hiss* *carefully and angrily licks spoon* *doesn't break eye contact*

Thanks to this video I was able to tame and find loving homes for 3 feral kittens! Thank you!

I usually get really upset seeing wild and scared cats, I love them so much and it's just painful to see them scare. This video ended up giving me hope and it was genuinely so sweet. I think your calm voice and the smooth grooves helped a lot.

i love the part where he’s giving her food and she’s hissing and backing up, and then she sniffs it, stops, and starts licking it. it was the funniest and cutest thing i’ve ever seen edit: it’s at 1:25

When you are so cute that being angry makes you even cuter

3:51 im dying _H.E.L.P_

Only cats can slurp baby chicken food off a spoon AND never take the “I want to murder you” look out of their eyes😂😂 gotta love those spicy kitties❤❤

"This playful body language shows she wants to engage but she just doesn't trust people yet". So relatable.

The "hissing kitten licking the spoon" has been made into a gif. It's such a great moment 😄

It's true that cats and dogs are very different, but given enough time, support, and attention, a cat can become just as loving and sociable. You have to work for it but it's there.

kitten: *hissing* --> chicken spoon kitten: *angry licking*

A few years ago a feral cat hid 4 baby kittens in my mechanic shop, soon afterward I saw the mother cat dead on the busy highway that was near my house, so I started putting kitten food and water out for them and fortunately they were big enough to eat it even though they were terrified of me, one kitten a tom was more bold than the rest and he tamed down quickly, so I put an ad in the paper and he got adopted, then another kitten tamed down so that one got adopted too, then the third kitten was also adopted, until a little female kitten was left, she was the most scared of all the litter and I thought she would never ever be tame enough to hold her and pet her, but to my surprise after her siblings were all gone she quickly bonded to me and she even climbed up my leg all the way to my shoulder one time(that hurt! because she had sharp claws). But amazingly she became a very friendly and loving kitten and she turned out to be the very best of the whole litter and she also got adopted. All 4 feral kittens found homes.

"don't be mad..." kitty: *is hella mad*

Love, love, LOVE the before/after contrast shots at the end! I lost my beautiful Baby Girl on 12/26/22 and I find these rescue/socialization videos to be so healing. I swore I would never get another cat because no other cat will ever measure up to the last, but I know I'm going to break down. This is so helpful. Thank you for sharing these stories.

"a lot of times they might be too young for revolution.." a kitty is never too young for a Revolution!

The spice level stat killed me 😹

“Playful body language” *cat doing slow flips and spinning upside down*

oh, Franny's slow blink is pure bliss after that angry first few weeks

Cats are just as lovable as dogs. You just have to earn their love and trust. You won't be sorry. Thanks for rescuing them! Help a stray if you can.

kittens tryng to be scary is the cutest thing ever

Chill beats guy: The kitten still has an issue with my hands.... Kitten: I WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU GRABBED MEHHHHHHHHH

I just really want to thank TNR efforts because when we took in a stray from the streets we found that she had been neutered and I wonder if her experience with TNR helped her not be nearly as feral as she could have been, (and it was a relief to find her neutered). She was still super skiddish, but, the moment I made first contact with her after months and months of feeding her, she seemed to recognize the gesture and bonded immediately. She lives a happy and warm life with us now, and I couldn't ask for a better cat in all the world, she's the sweetest, most gentle and loving cat I've ever experienced, and I used to be pretty terrified of cats before her. She's not at all how she was out there in the wild, the way these cats truly transform is so amazing. I actually didn't know the term "TNR" before this video, thank you for such an informative video!

This adorable bean reminds me of my current cat, Baki. She was born outside and was in the early stages of socializing when we decided to adopt her from an in law. She did not like being around people at all, but she just walked right up to me the first time I saw her. If I moved she ran, but that was a great sign to us. We adopted her and dedicated a lot of time to showing her we love her and the house is just as much hers as ours. Now she greets each of us ever morning with a loud squeak, constantly begs us for pets, and I actually have to tell her to get off my lap rather than beg her to hop on these days. I absolutely love her, and her little ear notch that gives us a chance to tell her origin story.

The little peppers that were used to describe her spiciness were so adorable.

OH MY GOODNESS SHE IS SO PISSED BUT SHES STILL LICKING THE SPOON AND ITS SO ADORABLE I AN CRYING

me with no sleep and watching this at 5:27am: Oh. One has to have globs, put spicy furball into a purrito and feed it with spoonful of liquified chimken. Yes, very angery.

I don't know you personally, but I love you! No words to express how much I appreciate what you do.

*Wraps kitten in blanket* Kitten: Im helpess look at me

"when someone has a deeply held belief, they're not going to change their minds after one conversation" love love love this

Kittens are the easiest to socialize.. you just have to desensitize them with positive touch. They will eventually warm up! With my feral cat I'd play rough without bite or claws.. he eventually submitted after about two weeks and was so cuddly

Taming feral kittens is a lot of work but is so incredibly rewarding. I've fostered a few for my local shelter and they're honestly more fun than already socialized house kittens. One of my resident cats is a former feral, who was caught by my neighbors when she was 6 weeks old. My local shelter friends agreed to back her vetting and I fostered her. She went from spicy to sweet in just 3 weeks. She was such an amazing kitten by then that we adopted her and today she is a fabulous family member. She has the most friendly and loving personality of all of our resident cats. She never leaves my side. I cannot imagine my life without her. ❤️

**socialized a bunch of spicy kittens** *Everyone Liked That*

I love how at 1:34 shes just trying so hard to be angry and look ferocious while licking up baby food its really cute

I was able to get my spicy feral baby to be a loving lap kitty by watching this video and others. It took us from Father's Day 2021 until January 14, 2022, he was about 3 months old when we started, for my Lemonade to accept mommy's luvins. 😍

No matter how alone I may feel, or how much I miss the cats that I have had, you, your family, and the rescue community are always an inspiration to me. You are able to show other beings that the world isn't always a scary place and you don't have to go through it alone. Will, I Thank you ❤️

1:45 "let it be clear that I will accept to eat this, very unwillingly..."

I love how there’s a “Spice Level” for kittens. I’ve socialized a few feral kittens in my life, with VERY different spice levels 😂😂. Feral cats are so sweet if you put the effort in..

Oh God Franny is utterly adorable.

1:24 has to be the cutest yet funniest thing I've seen in years.

I wouldn't be able to be a foster parent for kittens. I'd just keep them all.

the part where she first licks the spoon will forever be in my top three of Flatbush posts

Wow, you guys did a phenomenal job rescuing these poor kittens and changing their social behavior. A lot of props in this video, great job 😃😃😃!!!

Franny is such an adorable little feral cutie!

9:54 "ZOOEY PLZ ACCEPT MY FOODHANDS" Zooey: *turns to look directly into the camera like she's on The Office*

Awhh that tiny purrito 😭♥️♥️😂

i have an 18 month old stray semi feral kitty we just brought inside. she has the EXACT same behaviors. we're going on 2 months now. she's getting better. she LOVES people, she just doesn't trust them yet. cries when she is sequestered in her room alone. she is fearful of hands and feet and legs! she looks just like your kitten!🤞

Thank you for doing this! We adopted a dog who was spicy. Little guy nearly took my eye out. I had to start with hand feeding, etc too. It's been 2 years, and he's a totally different person! He comes to me for affection, and it was all worth it. Patience, dedication, and compassion is all it takes to change a life.

"When someone has a deeply-held belief, you're not going to change their mind with just one conversation." - Narrator @ 5:30

amazing how she went from hissing and being afraid at the sight of your hands to rubbing her head against your hands for scratches in a matter of weeks... really amazing to see this

Thank you for sharing. I adopted 2 feral kittens, brothers. I didn't know they were feral or even what that meant when I found out. They were born under a shed, trapped at approximately 6 weeks old. Lived with a foster Mom for 2 months, came to me at 4 months. One is doing well now at 8 months. Very affectionate, loving. The other won't let me touch him. I've fed him by hand for 4 months. I'm not giving up however some days I'm frustrated. I watch your video. It gives me hope. Thank you!

As a young kid I grew up in an apartment complex - The other silver teethed lil’ crotch goblins would torture the kittens and cats, one of them took a pair of scissors to an orange cats paw. Me and my mom would save all the kittens around the complex, we named the orange one Phoenix because they regenerate - we healed his paw and found him a new home as well as all the others (maybe kept a few 🥰) Thank you for being a kind human being

It's funny to see the super-conflicted emotions of a feral kitten. Danger! Human hand! But the food is so good! Petting by human hands feels good!

"I knew she hated me and she didn't wanna be there" Man that's how my last date went.

I love the patience and wisdom that you are sharing. Your voice is soothing as well.

So precious - every cat - every kitten. Thank you for showing us how to socialize a spicy, scared kitten

You're doing great work there. So many spicy purritos turned in to well-adjusted housecats.

1:26 "YOU SHALL NOT HUMILIATE ME!" 1:32 "OWO whats this..." licking with straight face

9:14 it went from "DO NOT TOUCH ME YOU HEATHEN" to *lick lick* "I am in pure bliss"

To have the time and patience to do this, wonderful. Good job and love Heather xx

1:27 When you a badass spitfire but you still want your nom-noms...

I love how they have a “spice level” 😂

I think I could get that guy to calm down and sit with me in a day or two. So cute.