Oh My gosh, Go Figure!

So I moved one of the hissy kittens into a large cage which is in a room of three cats that like me. Because two of those cats are on a diet I don't free feed them. Because I caught one of those two poking her paws through the cage to get to hissy kitty's food, I decided to start feeding him only when I am in the room too. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.... well it can work for kittens too. Only a few feedings into my new program and he is starting to purr when he sees me. This afternoon he starting purring, jumped onto the shelf where he gets his can food, and even offered me a soft meow. All without any hissing! Yay! But would the magic continue during another feeding? Well... yes, this evening he purred, jumped up to his bowl, and paused to sniff my hand. Again, no hissing! Unfortunately the spell was broken when I cleaned his litterbox. But we ended the day on a good note.

Feeling giddy, I went into the next room where his brother is. Also in a large cage but across the room from two of his siblings (in a 3rd large cage) and his mom who is loose in the room. This boy has some back up. Earlier when I came into the room I noticed that this kitten, Rudie, had spilled his dry food onto the floor so I decided to try my new "think of food when you see me" program. Rudie isn't as much of a fan of can food as his siblings. I tried a couple of rounds of using can food but he wasn't as impressed as his brother. So I decided to try just feeding him dry food while I am in the room. What Rudie does like is the feathered wand that I have gone back to using to pet him. I try to stay focused on using it only to pet him. He tries to stay focused on watching the bird as it moves about him. But..... but he has purred a couple of times while I am petting him with the feathers. It does settle down his hissing, and his fear a bit. Yay! Progress! I just might have to kick out some money for their neuters rather then using the free clip & snip feral neuters. I can live with that.