Socializing a feral kitten?

No, you haven't undone anything. Similar thing happened to me last year. I had brought a rescue kitty to my house because all his siblings had been adopted and I didn't want him to spend the night in the Petsmart Adoption center cage all by himself. He was the most timid, and so, not as adoptable. I kept him in the bathroom so that I could socialize him. He was doing so well after one day, that I made a path between the bathroom and the guest bedroom so he would maybe get on the bed and sleep there. Well, long-story-short, he reverted to "timid kitty" and wouldn't come out from under thebed. I needed to catch him and when I saw a chance, I grabbed him...startled the poop out of him. He let out a yowl and, scared as he was, he chewed the CRAP out of my hand. Blood was everywhere. I put him back in the bathroom and he went under the toilet tank. I took care of the damage, then I sat down on the toilet seat and before long I was able to pick him up. So, barely a setback at all.

Just go back to what's been working for you. Yeah, you might have taken a couple steps back, but she'll recover very quickly with your continued efforts.

If you're not already feeding her in your lap, I would feed her canned food while she's in your lap at least once a day, so she connects the pleasantness of eating with you and your lap. This is similar to introducing two cats where you would rub rags over each cat and put cat #1's rag under Cat #2's food bowl and vice versa so that they equate the other cat's scent with the pleasantness of eating.

Also, I read a blog somewhere about a month or so ago where this woman socializes ferals by wrapping them in a "cocoon" and straps them to her body, wearing them for hours through her daily activities. She claims to never have had failed socialization of a feral. If you can figure out how to do this when you're at home, it's worth a try!

But, really, don't worry that you've ruined the kitten's chances at socialization.

Below are some links to sites about feral socialization.

Best of Luck. I'm sure it will go really well!

Lee

She'll probably still socialize just fine. A good friend of mine took in a feral kitten, for a while he just ghosted around but within three weeks he started to become more comfortable. Some kittens just take longer to come around.

I would start of feeding her little bits of food from hand, we have 2 kittens that were dumped, they are like little farm cats.

I left them alone for the first 2 days, going in only to give food etc. After that I started sitting in with them, I also left a t shirt with my scent on it for them to lie on. Started giving them little bits of ham by hand, it was a week before I dared lift them.

2 weeks later they can still hiss if I do a quick movement around them, however they are calm when I lift them. Sit down and play with the cat, even if its a piece of string. It will soon learn that you = food and fun!

Try letting the kitten run through the house and try laying on the floor so you are at the kittens level then just let her come to you it might take awhile but it is worth it. you can also try getting some string and pulling it on the floor because kittens Ferrel or not love to play, try not to stress her out to much or she will hide again and let her see you loving and petting your other cat and she should eventually come up to you to be loved on

Hope this helped!

Maybe it's time to remove her from solitary confinement and allow her time to actually bond with you and your other cat.

She needs love, not confinement.

Just my uneducated one cent's worth