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I think play is sometimes overlooked as a tool in taming a wild kitty. I believe play can be the most powerful tool you have with a cat. Food is a good offering, but a cat will ignore food completely if they feel under threat. Toys are enticing in a special way.

Twice in the past 24 hours I have taken a feather toy on a wand to play with Magic, and she has already let her guard down a tiny bit. She loves it; she wants it. She’s willing to lower her guard enough to play with it, even though she knows I’m there, fairly close, and she knows I’m the “engine” behind it moving.

A lot of ground work has already been done for this. Magic has lived here for two months, and she has already come a long way. She already has enough trust to turn her back when she has the toy. But if I took a step closer, she’d be gone. Cats know exactly what their boundaries are.

It’s usually said that if you don’t tame a feral kitty by the time they’re eight weeks old, your chances of being success go way down. It’s said that you might as well just forget it with an adult cat.

Magic is 3 or 4 years old.

But then I think about our Jiro, the feral kitty we found and trapped in our back yard. He was a full year, and truly wild. He was quite frightened of humans, and being in a strange new place. It took months of patience, but he is now a happy lap kitty who really loves his family and his life.

Magic could go to a barn home, but I don’t want her to have to make that transition as winter is coming. So I will accept the challenge of Magic. I’ll keep her through the winter and we’ll see what happens.

All four of our current foster kittens have left on new adventures with their people. It’s a bittersweet time, but I’m so happy that the adopters are both lovely people who know cats.

Little Gem and Midnight went home with Ashley last week, and Ashley sent pics of them looking pretty comfortable in their new home.

Captain Jack Sparrow and Princess left today with Joyce, their new forever person. They will be loved not only by Joyce, but her granddaughter and her family, who will come to visit. She is looking forward to meeting them, and has already renamed Princess – Princess Royal Kitty is much more impressive! I think it suits her (shown here).

Magic, the mama kitty, has been very wild and shy. She feels safe in the Jiro Palace – the corner cage – so even though the gate has been removed, she stays there almost always when the humans are in the room. I think she’d live in a tree if she could – her favorite spot is the small, narrow shelves on one side. She lies on one of the top two shelves, where she feels safest.

Every so often she will come out even if I’m in the room, as she did this morning. She kept checking, to be sure I stayed in my chair and didn’t make any threatening moves, but she walked around, played a bit with the kittens, and looked out the big window.

I still hope she will become tame – confident that I don’t mean her harm. She takes treats, and sometimes will even let me stroke her flank with two fingers. It’s slow going, because she’s been a wild thing all her life. But on Saturday she stayed out in the cat tree when I came in, and she actually played with a toy – the wonderful Da Bird. It’s pretty irresistible, and she quite liked swatting it, and tolerated me swinging it around. Progress!

This morning I sat in the “safe chair” and got out the crunchy treats that three of the four kittens love. Cap’n Jack was left out, but he was still eating the canned food on the plate, so I didn’t feel too bad.

The friendly Little Gem was already in my lap. I gave her a treat, and – as soon as Midnight heard her crunching it, she rushed over and was soon in my lap too.

Then Princess came over by the chair. I held my breath, and decided my goal was to lure her to come up. She has been so shy, she’s leery of just being near a human. But she loves two things that humans provide: toys that move – and food. I showed her the treats, and then didn’t look at her. She did it! She climbed up and at first perched on my knees, but was soon pushing in with the other two for treats. A first!

Even better, she would sit down and look at me when she wanted a treat. We have been working on that. It’s hard for a wild cat or kitten to look into your face. So freakin’ scary for them! So whenever Princess would look up towards my face, I would click my clicker and drop a treat near her. After a couple of days, she got the idea, and decided that looking into my face wasn’t so scary after all! More than that, it gives her a way to ask for something that isn’t grabbing or meowing. I’m proud of her!

In the video you’ll also see Little Gem, who was settled very happily in my lap, gazing into my eyes. It seems to me every litter of kittens has a whole range of reactions to humans. In every litter I’ve had (unless they were born here), there were one or two kittens who were seriously scared of humans, but there was at least one in each litter who thought that humans were simply fascinating and not at all scary. In this litter it’s Little Gem.

Princess and Captain Jack should be adopted together. They spend a lot of time together, and seem to get confidence from each other. They also battle together furiously and seem to never hold a grudge.

Princess got her name by being rather dainty in many ways – although she gives as good as she gets when wrestling. She’s also pretty shy, but starting to be more trusting of humans.

Captain Jack Sparrow is a sweetheart, and quite loves petting and attention. He loves to play, especially with feather toys – or his sister.

They will be a pair of magnificent kitties when they are grown – with beautiful, long fur and pretty color and markings.

It’s amazing that Midnight and Little Gem are sisters, since Gem has short hair, and Midnight and her two siblings have long. Midnight and Little Gem are the two black kittens in the litter, but Midnight is a little fluffball and Gem is a kitten version of her mom, who is a sleek black panther. They hang out a lot together quite a bit.

I would love to see them go to the same home, because they’re buds.

Midnight is friendly, but a bit shy. She’s affectionate, and will be snuggly when she gains confidence. She will also be a magnificent kitty when she’s grown.

Little Gem is not shy. She is outgoing and curious and loves attention. She will mature into a sleek and affectionate house panther.

I’m pleased to introduce you to all four of our foster kittens. Cap’n Jack, aka Captain Jack Sparrow, is a handsome fellow, and very sweet. He is starting to feel ok with humans, and that petting might be worth getting used to. Little Gem is just that. She is a plain old black kitten, a little scruffy looking – but she is a stealer of hearts. She has the most endearing personality, and is quite brave and curious. She has found humans interesting and appealing right from the beginning. Midnight is beautiful. She’s somewhat shy, but coming around. Princess is very shy, but a lovely and playful kitten.