kmp
Site Supporter
Hello everyone!
Hoping someone can shed some light. Me and my partner recently got an F2 Savannah, he’s 12 weeks and 5 days old, we just picked him up on Sunday evening wearing his harness. He wouldn’t come out of his carrier with us in his quarantine room (we’re using a 7x6 office with just a desk in it, because our bathroom has too much hiding space). After an hour trying to coax him out with feather wands we went upstairs to eat dinner.
I came down an hour later to check on him, he was finally out of the carrier but as soon as he saw me he hissed and hid in the corner of the room. My partner and I proceeded to stay in the quarantine room with him for a couple hours to try to play but he was crying so badly and seemed terrified of us. We gave him a break of a couple hours and read that sometimes sleeping in his room can help.
We returned at midnight to check on him and set up our sleeping corner and he was back in his carrier hissing and swatting even more if we came within 3 feet of him. We stayed in our corner trying to sleep with him until 7am to no avail. He started hitting the carrier with his paws and basically screaming at us. We left for our bedroom.
Next day he was still in his carrier. He hadn’t eaten so I put some new wet food next to the carrier and he swiped at the carrier wall as I got near. We checked in with our breeder and she said to try to get his harness off to make him more comfortable. She also said she recently trimmed his nails, he was sitting in her lap, he’s never swiped before, etc. But I’m wary if he’s been socialized enough or had enough human contact.
We were in his quarantine room Monday from 2pm to 7pm trying to play. Sometimes he’d be into the feather wands and sometimes not. When he seemed sleepy we tried to approach to take the harness off and he swiped and hissed. So my partner used a towel slowly to try to cover him like the breeder told us to. He grabbed him by the harness and scruff and held him in his lap but the kitten was so terrified and flailing and scratching and screaming and slipped out of his harness and ran away.
Later that night again we set up our sleeping area around midnight and the kitten incessantly hissed at us. Even if we weren’t doing anything. We finally left at 4am again and here we are.
It feels like he won’t ever trust us. We’ve done so much research but never expected him to act like this. We have the same litter, the same food as he’s used to, we play the radio 24/7 in his room, we don’t ever approach him, we play sitting on the ground, we talk to him and put our dirty laundry in his room so he can recognize our scent. We don’t make eye contact, we cleaned his litter box each night, we made chicken breast which he had no interest in.
Nothing seems to be working. He just constantly hisses, and not the friendly kind of hissing. He scratched my partner in the harness ordeal, and I haven’t been able to come within 3 feet of him without him striking. My partner is now getting protective of me because he thinks the kitten will attack me.
What do we do here? We’re heart broken. We’ve seen so many videos and read so many stories of other people struggle in quarantine but it seems nothing can compare to our situation.
Thank you.
Hoping someone can shed some light. Me and my partner recently got an F2 Savannah, he’s 12 weeks and 5 days old, we just picked him up on Sunday evening wearing his harness. He wouldn’t come out of his carrier with us in his quarantine room (we’re using a 7x6 office with just a desk in it, because our bathroom has too much hiding space). After an hour trying to coax him out with feather wands we went upstairs to eat dinner.
I came down an hour later to check on him, he was finally out of the carrier but as soon as he saw me he hissed and hid in the corner of the room. My partner and I proceeded to stay in the quarantine room with him for a couple hours to try to play but he was crying so badly and seemed terrified of us. We gave him a break of a couple hours and read that sometimes sleeping in his room can help.
We returned at midnight to check on him and set up our sleeping corner and he was back in his carrier hissing and swatting even more if we came within 3 feet of him. We stayed in our corner trying to sleep with him until 7am to no avail. He started hitting the carrier with his paws and basically screaming at us. We left for our bedroom.
Next day he was still in his carrier. He hadn’t eaten so I put some new wet food next to the carrier and he swiped at the carrier wall as I got near. We checked in with our breeder and she said to try to get his harness off to make him more comfortable. She also said she recently trimmed his nails, he was sitting in her lap, he’s never swiped before, etc. But I’m wary if he’s been socialized enough or had enough human contact.
We were in his quarantine room Monday from 2pm to 7pm trying to play. Sometimes he’d be into the feather wands and sometimes not. When he seemed sleepy we tried to approach to take the harness off and he swiped and hissed. So my partner used a towel slowly to try to cover him like the breeder told us to. He grabbed him by the harness and scruff and held him in his lap but the kitten was so terrified and flailing and scratching and screaming and slipped out of his harness and ran away.
Later that night again we set up our sleeping area around midnight and the kitten incessantly hissed at us. Even if we weren’t doing anything. We finally left at 4am again and here we are.
It feels like he won’t ever trust us. We’ve done so much research but never expected him to act like this. We have the same litter, the same food as he’s used to, we play the radio 24/7 in his room, we don’t ever approach him, we play sitting on the ground, we talk to him and put our dirty laundry in his room so he can recognize our scent. We don’t make eye contact, we cleaned his litter box each night, we made chicken breast which he had no interest in.
Nothing seems to be working. He just constantly hisses, and not the friendly kind of hissing. He scratched my partner in the harness ordeal, and I haven’t been able to come within 3 feet of him without him striking. My partner is now getting protective of me because he thinks the kitten will attack me.
What do we do here? We’re heart broken. We’ve seen so many videos and read so many stories of other people struggle in quarantine but it seems nothing can compare to our situation.
Thank you.
