Taming Feral Kittens to Tackle the Mice on my Early Medieval Farmstead - Anglo-Saxon Cats

The Anglo-Saxons kept cats on their farmsteads to keep the mice at bay. A few weeks ago, a feral cat brought her litter of kittens to the hedgerow near my house.

This felt Godsent, as I had just began pulling my beetroots, to find them ravaged and chewed by mice, with many ruined. The mother cat had perhaps been attracted by the many mice on the vegetable patch. Or perhaps she was sent by Freya!

After leaving food out for them for two weeks, and unfortunately seeing the disappearance of two kittens in the litter, I decided to catch and tame the remaining two kittens, as they were approaching 8-9 weeks, meaning there were only a couple of weeks left before the mother might leave them to fend for themselves, if they survived that long.

I have now had the kittens around 4 weeks, and have been playing and handling them each day to socialize them as quickly as possible. When I first picked them up, they were already past the age of easy socialization, but I have been able to get to the point where they trust me.

Romulus and Remus were fitting names. The orphaned twins suckled by a she-wolf. One destined to slay the other, as perhaps these brothers might have done, had they been left to natures will, to struggle for their own fate.

Romulus the Red; Bold and Brash; Embodied Roman Audācia; took to my hand in a matter of days.

Remus the Grey; Watchful and Tempered; Embodied Roman Virtus; needed a little more convincing.

Romulus was particularly quick to take to me, and I found he was purring at my touch within a week or so. He now likes to crawl into my lap and snuggle in whenever he can. Remus was and still is more cautious, and although he now purrs when I stroke him, he only likes to be stroked when he is very relaxed, and at other times is more standoffish and independent.

I have already grown very attached to them, with their different personalities and raucous playing; tearing around in the straw on the floor and climbing up into the rafters, wrestling and pouncing. At the moment they are enclosed in the house to help with the socialization process and to solidify the house as their territory, but I am looking forward to letting them out again when they are old enough, at 4 to 5 months, and watching them grow on the land. They will hopefully be very useful to the farmstead too, as mice hunters and deterrent!

To those of you concerned, while I have filmed this video from an Anglo-Saxon perspective, I am of course taking them to the vet for vaccinations and neutering, and they have a secure hutch as a safe, warm place where they can sleep.

With thanks to:
Herknungr, Musician, playing “Rujani".

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