I guess some small part of me was hoping the kitten's initial behavior was due to the stress of the day. Alas, not so. His behavior is fear based, but he chooses to sit and hiss and growl and swat versus retreating. He will retreat, too, but only as a last resort.
I've dealt with hissy, skittish kittens before, but never something to this degree. Hearing a full on cat grumble growl coming from that tiny of a throat is just wrong. The only way I was able to reach into his cage this morning and change his food and water was by dropping a towel on top of him (which quieted him down and kept him from moving).
For right now, he's in a secluded part of the house (the garage, actually) to keep his stress levels low and the dogs away. He keeps crying, but there isn't anything I can do about that. :/
My question is, how long should I keep him secluded? Would it be better to bring the cage inside so he has more exposure to things, or will that just make things worse? On a similar note, should I be taking things on his basis (don't interact with him if he doesn't want to interact with me), or should I do some forced interaction? (Picking him up in a towel and holding him, or something, or wearing gloves so I can clean his cage without needing to toss a towel on him?)
Also, how soon should I start to see improvement? Or, in other words, when will I know it is a lost cause? He's only around 6- weeks old or so, so I'm assuming he can learn to come around in a few weeks? However, trying to find a home for a feral kitten/cat is going to be...impossible and if he continues to be too fear aggressive (weeks later)...humanely euthanizing is probably going to be my only option. I wasn't sure at what age they were too "engrained" in their behaviors to not be able to make much progress, or if there was no way to know until you try.
I've dealt with hissy, skittish kittens before, but never something to this degree. Hearing a full on cat grumble growl coming from that tiny of a throat is just wrong. The only way I was able to reach into his cage this morning and change his food and water was by dropping a towel on top of him (which quieted him down and kept him from moving).
For right now, he's in a secluded part of the house (the garage, actually) to keep his stress levels low and the dogs away. He keeps crying, but there isn't anything I can do about that. :/
My question is, how long should I keep him secluded? Would it be better to bring the cage inside so he has more exposure to things, or will that just make things worse? On a similar note, should I be taking things on his basis (don't interact with him if he doesn't want to interact with me), or should I do some forced interaction? (Picking him up in a towel and holding him, or something, or wearing gloves so I can clean his cage without needing to toss a towel on him?)
Also, how soon should I start to see improvement? Or, in other words, when will I know it is a lost cause? He's only around 6- weeks old or so, so I'm assuming he can learn to come around in a few weeks? However, trying to find a home for a feral kitten/cat is going to be...impossible and if he continues to be too fear aggressive (weeks later)...humanely euthanizing is probably going to be my only option. I wasn't sure at what age they were too "engrained" in their behaviors to not be able to make much progress, or if there was no way to know until you try.