Building trust with a feral kitten
I rescued this little girl today. She’s 9 weeks old and was born feral. Her mum has been TNR’d but the litter were found in the town centre covered in alcohol and food. She’s had a very rough start in life and is understandably extremely timid. She shows no sign of aggression with me, she just wants to hide. She’ll let me hold her and give her pets but the moment she sees an opportunity, she’s hiding again.
My question is how can I build trust with her over the next few weeks? One of my other cats is a rescue but she hadn’t experienced any violence and was part of a farm cat’s litter, so was more exposed to humans. Currently I have her in a kitten-proof isolation room with plenty of soft spots, toys, corners to cuddle up in, and her food/water/litter essentials.
But in terms of trust-building and socialisation, my plan was really to give her space? Let her acclimatise to her new room on her own terms, checking in every 20 minutes or so just to make sure she’s okay. Giving a pet and a cuddle if she’s open to it. But otherwise just taking things very slowly and at her pace. Advice from people more experienced with feral kittens would be greatly appreciated, thank you!