As kittens born in the wild, Wasabi, Ginger, and Pepper were some kind of spicy when taken into care by the Orange County Animal Shelter. They wanted nothing to do with people, hissing and hiding at any interaction. But Baby Kitten Rescue in Los Angeles specializes in helping kittens get ready for forever homes. Whether injured, ill, or spicy as heck, BKR and foster volunteer Jamie know just how to help kittens in need.
So, when they saw this hissy trio of siblings, BKR volunteered their services, and Jamie went to work on improving their social skills. And it took time and patience to turn the spice to nice!
Taming of the Kittens
Wasabi, Ginger, and Pepper had already purrfected their fierce attitudes in their short six weeks of life. They were well on their way to feral, with Jamie telling Love Meow, “The kittens were extremely terrified, unsocial, hissy and spitty. It was clear they either had no previous human interaction, or if they did, it was not positive.”
But Jamie could see beneath their toughness, sharing on Instagram, “I know that underneath their rough exterior are just scared little babies wanting to feel safe, cared for and loved.”
And she spent the next few weeks getting to know them and giving them just what they needed to become well-adjusted social kittens. The start was quite rocky with hissing and spitting all over the place, but after just a couple of days, improvement had already begun, with Jamie joking, “They are all still hissing at me, but I’m not afraid for my life anymore.”
Spice Levels
After learning more about each kittens’ personality, Jamie assigned a Spice Level rating to each of the feisty ones.
At Spice Level 1 of 5, Ginger girl is a torbie cat that Jamie describes as having a tabby head and a calico body. And though she still had spunk, she was a fearful girl who would run and hide, and Jamie determined, “Ginger is all hiss and no bite.”
Coming in at 2 out of 5, the leader of the litter, Pepper, is a mustachioed gentleman who wears his best tuxedo. This little hisser was thought to be a lady until his marbles dropped in as a surprise. No matter his sex, Jamie felt they would be fast friends as Pepper was “the first to explore and use the potty.” And while he still dealt out the hisses, he kept himself together well when wrapped purrito style!
Rated a whopping 3 out of 5 on the spice scale, “Wasabi is the spiciest and spittiest of the three.” Already earning himself the title, “King of the Side Eye,” this Siamese floof made the most significant strides, with Jamie revealing, “He’s no longer trying to bite me, so that’s progress.”
Still, she kept her bite gloves on for a while when handling Wasabi because kitten teeth hurt when they get you!
After the biting stopped, Jamie learned Wasabi loved a good swaddling, sharing, “While he is still the spiciest of the three kittens, he will fall asleep almost immediately when I put him in this position or if I swaddle him in a baby blanket.”
These little wins were actually huge gains in socializing the kittens for the forever homes on their horizon.
Spice to Nice
After two weeks of constant handling, feeding, and cajoling, Jamie earned her first purrs from the kittens. While they weren’t quite ready for endless snuggles, those sweet purrs were proof the kittens were adjusting to life indoors with people.
Day after day, Jamie kept up the work to socialize the kitten trio, and every day brought more and more wins. Though they were still skittish of sudden movements and new things, Wasabi, Ginger, and Pepper had given up their hissy ways and found they enjoyed crawling on Jamie!
“This crew has been a labor of love and it is so worth it. It’s always worth it. Every day they are becoming more and more social and comfortable with humans.”
After three weeks of patience and exposure, Jamie’s labor of love proved a success as “the spice babies are not so spicy anymore.”
Instead, they’re sugary sweet kittens who’ve found happiness in their forever homes!
H/T: ww.lovemeow.com
Feature Image: @thekittensfoster/Instagram