Dawn, Teresa, anybody?
Before Christmas, I dealt with a feral type situation spread across the gardens of a residential area. I managed to catch 6 kittens, all had the flu but recovered and all got rehomed. However, there was 1 of them I just couldn't catch. She was far too smart and always managed to bury herself in some brambles just out of reach. The lady whose house it is is disabled and can't bend to scoop her up, but she reports this youngster comes running when she calls her and will rub around her legs when being fed.
Yesterday, while trying to catch some of the adults for neutering, I finally succeeded in getting this last kitten.
But the thing is she's around 5 months now.
I decided it was worth trying to bring her round and am trying her in a kitten pen for a while. If it doesn't work after a couple of weeks, I'll get the vet to spay her and put her back. It'll be a shame but she will get fed and watched over.
Thing is, she seems 'frozen' to me.
She cowers in the corner but she will let me touch and stroke her. No hissing of striking out but all the time I can feel her little body shaking with fear. I tried to lift her and she doesn't like that one bit, but I know it's only 24 hours. Thing is, I need her to come round a bit as she's got a streaming nose, like all the others had, and she'll need a jab of antibiotics to help her shift it. So I need to able to get her to the vet without it being a circus.
Also, she has not tried to eat anything - not even in the middle of the night.
What should I do? Back off for a couple of days or keep handling her and talking softly?