Candytuft will be leaving tomorrow. He's getting neutered in the morning, then will most likely be put up for adoption once he has some time to recover. Writing this makes it seem like a simple statement, but reaching this moment was not a sure bet.

Candy, 18 days ago.

I didn't know we'd make it. Candy was one of the nastiest kittens I've dealt with so far. He still has a knee-jerk reaction to hiss, but it doesn't mean anything now. It's like a person gasping when startled, instead of a person flipping out and punching you in the face when startled.

Candy, 8 days ago.

Candy, today.

Someone liked to watch the weather report with me. I'm not sayin' who.

Happy, at last and loving life.

I'm by no means a professional feral kitten socializer, but here are some thoughts/tips:

Most important-“tough love”...sequester the kitten away from all animals and people. You will be the only one he/she sees for the next few days, until he/she is socialized.

A little shy for a moment or two? Don't worry, Candy!

1. GO SLOW. Don't expect too much and don't talk a lot to the kitten at first, it's just another thing that can cause a fearful reaction. If you do talk, keep it to a whisper. Don't move too much or too fast until you feel the kitten is comfortable with you.

2. The toothbrush was the key (I attached it to a wooden stick to make it longer-keeping my hand safe and allowed the kitten to stay at a comfortable distance). It's small, not threatening and it really made a big difference. Candy loved the feeling of being brushed even if, at first, it scared him. Within a short period of time, I encouraged Candy to come closer to me to get brushed, then snuck my hand in to replace the brush. He got scared, but quickly loved being petted, as it reminding him of the touch of his mama.

Candy LOVED eating raw (today's meal included some dehydrated chicken treats crumbled on top).

3. I gave high value treats off a baby spoon (again, a tiny sized item that is not threatening) attached to a longer wooden spoon. A raw diet is a high value treat. I used ground raw rabbit (sorry!). You can use ground turkey, chicken, duck, quail, venison, not beef. Make sure the meat also has the proper nutrients added. There are many pre-mixed brands of raw food out there.

4. Chicken baby food with no rice is also a good treat. Encourage the kitten to come closer to you as you feed the treat. Also, KEEP THE KITTEN HUNGRY. Don't leave out tons of food. When you bring the treat, the kitten will start to come out to see you, knowing there will be food. Always have good food on you the first few days until the kitten is more confident.

Silly boy!

5. With Candy, I began to realize he was all bark and no bite. His hissing was a sign of fear, but after a few days, there was aggression. As much as I could, I didn't react when he hissed, I either distracted him with a toy, or petted him until he forgot to be hissy. Once he was getting petted, he was so happy, he would not hiss.

6. Have no expectation of outcome. Just let the kitten go at his/her own pace. You'll be surprised at how fast they move along-far faster than you expect!

I hope these informal pointers help you with your feral fosters. Cats CAN change if you give them the time and are patient, but also know when to give them a push to challenge them on to the next step.

I hereby award you, little Candytuft, the first ever, Good Kittizenship Award, given only to feral kitties who meet the following criteria listed below.

Concatulations Candy! You've become a very friendly little man. I hope you'll find yourself a happy home, full of love and you never have a sad or difficult day for the rest of your life.

You're supposed to use a “high value” food and only give it to the kitten when YOU are in the room and you provide the food. The problem is figuring out what is a high value food. Apparently, this flavor was not a big hit.

Candy plays hard to get. I play “eat your damn food!”

A hiss here or there, but not bad. Candy is willing to investigate the food, even if it means she needs to hiss at it as she does so. If I time it right, I will take the food away if she hisses and only bring it back if she is not hissing.

Candy is less fearful of the spoon, but it still takes effort to get her to come to me. She needs to be able to smell what's on the spoon and granted there's not much food on there to create much temptation. I end up bringing the spoon close, but moving it slowly away once she gets a good sniff or a tiny taste.

Chicken baby food is a winner!

Candy will definitely come towards me if I have baby food on the spoon. I worry that she's not getting enough nutrition so I do supplement the baby food with other canned or raw, yes raw food (she goes crazy for the raw!).

I was able to get Candy to put her paw on my (covered) leg today. She hissed when she touched me, but she did it. She didn't attack me. I just sat there quietly and sat still. I hope that being calm around her will keep her calm. Tough to do when I also feel tense that she might lunge at me, but so far, so good.

How can this kitten look at me like that, then hiss? She is so cute, though, right? She's only inches away from me, but no. I do not pet her.

I gave Candy more challenges. First, I added a small scratching post to her crate. She was VERY interested to smell it and walk around it. Since my original brush was just too big, I took a toothbrush and taped it to a wooden spoon. I rubbed the bristles against the newspaper lining the crate and she responded well to the sound. She wanted to investigate, so I slowly brought the brush closer. I scratched it against the sisal on the post and she stretched, then began to climb up the post to get the toy. She also began to forget to hiss quite as much.

The toothbrush doesn't bother her except for when I dared to brush HER with it. She let me brush her back, but she walked away from me as I did it. She hissed, but I did it a few different times with the same result. I didn't push her hard, but I did ask her to deal with a new stimulus and she did well. Sooner or later, she might come to like being brushed and it's a great way to get her to feel comfortable being touched...I hope.

I could go hard core on her and wrap her in a towel and force myself on her, but I want to see how she'll do if we take it a bit easy. I'm trying to balance getting this job done quickly, so I can take on more fosters, and getting it done well and having a better lasting result, which will take more time.

Candy's mood has shifted a bit. She's more relaxed and seems to be very interested in new toys and the scratching post. My goal is to get her to feel happy and safe, instead of frightened and depressed. It's important that I'm consistent, too. I've asked a lot from her the past two days, so I won't make any more changes for another day or so and see how she does.

I'm sitting in my hotel room at the Crown Plaza in Worcester, MA. after attending most of The New England Federation of Humane Societies Conference (say that five times fast). The hotel appears to be located in the center part of town, right next to some glorious old churches and WPA era buildings. My GPS didn't seem to know exactly where this hotel was so I had a not-too-thrilling-drive around town late Saturday night. Needless to say, there are some parts of town that don't appear to be places where one wants to drive a BMW. Our building is newish (less than 100 years old) and I'm sorry to say a bit creepy-okay, a lot creepy.

I was trying to figure out how to explain the decor. In the “common” areas, no pun intended, it appears that someone went to an auction of many hotels that were closing and bought up everything they could. The range of styles of furnishings is from 1970's dreck to 1990's faux antiquey. There are brown upholstered lobby chairs that look innocent enough, until you foolishly try to sit in one of them, at which point your buttocks is squeezed like a tube of cake decorating icing, then squirted into a vortex that drags you downward to the ground. They're VERY tough to “de-chair” without first having to roll to the floor, as though you're on fire and attempting to “stop, drop and roll” yourself to safety, after which you quickly stand up, brush yourself off and try to appear normal.

I know I should talk about what I learned at the conference, but the scent of lye? soap? was so strong in the hallways and guest rooms that it seared my sinuses a bit and caused me run to the window to crank it open to gasp a gulpful of freshish air.

The rooms have been updated and they are relatively nice. The caveat is the fabric wall paper behind the bed NEEDS TO BE VACUUMED! It's covered with dust. I can see where the wall was wiped down and where it was not. It would be a very bad choice for someone with cats. That is for sure.

I'm trying not to write a whiney beyatchy review, but I believe that the crunky location, the equally crunky, err, dreadful food, the overly lit lighting and the overly warm conference rooms, just left me feeling drained and gassy (no meat for us meat eatin' folks and all dem healthy veggies go straight to “fumes.”). I also couldn't help but compare it to BlogPaws, which was a lot of FUN, high energy, a great location and good food.

Maybe that was the problem? It was the energy of the folks at the Conference? Yes, I should blame myself first, so blame me, but then blame..what was going on? I did not feel the warm welcome or the general friendliness I've felt at other conferences.

I took classes on Infectious Diseases, Working with Adopters, Social Media for Shelters, and got to see this new way to quickly socialize feral kittens. It ONLY takes a few HOURS. I'm somewhat suspect of this procedure, but it sure seems to work. I'm going to plug it so you can check it out. Fearful to Friendly. While I feel the author is on to something, I do warn you that the web site is not too informational and it points to buying a DVD. We saw some of it, and with all due respect, it's rather long and needs some editing. If you can glean the info from it with the soundtrack turned off, you're golden. I think there is valuable info there, but I would love it if it could be presented more succinctly and professionally. That said, if you can turn a kitten or cat or dog around really fast, it's worth the money and the tedious sound track.

I also learned that I'm basically f-cked. Between having coccidia and ringworm in my house, the only way to get rid of it is really to BURN the house to the ground. The ringworm will live on in HAIR for YEARS and the coccidia is not killable, if that is a word. I'm not going to get my panties in a bundle about it. It's too late. What is done is done. My cats, knock wood, are fine, but the next litter of fosters I get will be the test subjects. They say to treat the kittens for Coccidia if we had it in the foster rooms, but I am reluctant to medicate kittens unless they really need it.

I also learned to listen more to potential adopters, to not judge them first (yeah, like I'm going to be able to do that!) and speak less AND that for a few bucks, I can drive a mile and get a really BIG grilled cheese with HAM sandwich.

The Boulevard Diner, Worcester, MA

I'm looking forward to going home and getting ready to FINALLY get my hands on some new fosters! (crossing fingers)

"I'll give you $100. Just take the cat to the Vet and have her euthanized."

This is what one woman recently said to her pet sitter. She was talking about her 13 year old cat, Chloe. Chloe, a beautiful Maine Coon mix with shocking green eyes and a plush coat, who had only known this woman's home her whole life, was now being treated like a worthless, meaningless, nothing.

Chloe's owner was tired of a very common behavior problem in cats-inappropriate urination. Not only had Chloe climbed under the sheets, then peed ON her owner, she defecated on the bed, too. We know it's been going on for years. Chloe pees on anything soft. Chloe lived with two other cats. Was she troubled by them? What about her health? Would her owner even get her to the Vet for a checkup? Certainly, NOT. That would require making an effort.

Fortunately for Chloe, her pet sitter was not about to do hew owner's bidding. Instead, he took Chloe home. Since he wasn't sure he could safely keep her in his home, he chose to place Chloe in a small storage space over his garage. It's dark with just one window and a single overhead lightbulb. It's cold and damp and a bit mildewy-a far cry from the comforts Chloe once knew, but she was safe and in loving hands. That's what really mattered most.

This big, pouffy baby just fits in her prized cat bed. With a new diet, she may slim down a bit and overall feel much better.

He got her a big dog crate and put her inside it with a litter pan. She used the pan properly, but when she was allowed out of the crate, she would pee on any bedding in the room-possibly because it smelled like other cats. Everything was removed, save for one new cat bed. I went to visit her to help set up a better space. We moved the litter pan out of the crate and into a corner. Sure enough she started to use the pan perfectly for a few days in a row.

She was seen by a Vet who said she might have some sediment in her urine that might cause her to feel uncomfortable. Chloe is quite overweight. Her diet needs to be addressed. I also thought she might be backed up with impacted feces. Many years on dry food...there is no telling what sort of shape this cat is really in. We put her on grain free food. She was slow to adapt to it, but this morning I found one (I call it Kitty Crack) that she liked. With a diet change may give her additional comfort and she's on antibiotics for awhile, too.

This morning she peed on a comforter. First I thought it was because it must have still smelled of other cats even though it was washed. I realized it might be WHERE it was placed (inside her crate). She may have thought "inside the crate means go to the bathroom"...so the comforter will be washed again, but this time placed OVER the crate to give her a place to snuggle at night. I brought her a new cat bed, too. Hopefully, she will use that for SLEEPING only.

Chloe looks stern, but it's just the tabby markings on her forehead that give her that expression. She's really a sweet cat.

The pet sitter feels a strong connection to this cat. It made me sad because she may need to be placed in an only cat home and not be able to stay with the pet sitter. At her age and with this behavioral issue, she may have a long road ahead of her in a cold room with little companionship. Is it enough for her, for now? She'll live to see old age, but at what cost? How many others, like Chloe are subjected to ostracization (or worse) by their families for doing the same thing?

Working with inappropriate urination problems is very tough. I've suffered with cats ruining my home for three years! I can really feel for anyone with this problem, but to kill the animal is not the answer. It will take work to get Chloe turned around and find the right home for her, but in the end it will always be worth it to me.

It's back to Kitty Boot Camp! This week's "camper" is Malibu, a buff short haired boy with a very sleek Oriental Shorthair/Siamese elegance to his form. Originally, he was the friendliest of his litter and the most outgoing. I believe he was overlooked, giving his littermates more attention, since they needed socializing. By the wayside for too long, Malibu became timid so it's off to visit me for some alone-time to help him shake off his bad habits.

Malibu was very shy his first day. He wouldn't let me get too close, but he did surprise me by being willing to let me pet him once I, er, sort of, um, cornered him. Last night he was willing to jump onto the bed and keep me company while I folded laundry. Yes, it's my secret power over unsocial kittens-I fold laundry and ignore them! Works every time!

Malibu kitty is SOOOO skinny! I'll have to get a better photo of him one day so you can see he's almost invisible if you look at him from certain angles. He's very quiet and has a bit of licking, drooling nervous behavior to work out. I hate drooling! Two of my own cats do it and it's gee-ROSS!

In a few more days, Malibu will be joined by more big kitties. This is the point at which my Blog posts will become shorter and more infrequent due to the fact that I can't type and pull my hair out at the same time. Kittens that are over two months old do not get TIRED. EVER! Yet, I will be tired running up the stairs to see what they've knocked off the shelf, NOW or if yes, that WAS the TV set that just got knocked over and exploded all over the floor. I feel tired just thinking about it. 'Nuff said.