Arista was one of a litter of three female kittens who were born in a shed.  They only came to someone’s attention when their mother was spotted with her front leg caught in her collar.

The kittens, then aged about four months, had to be trapped as they had never been handled, although their mother was tame.

As the kittens were old enough to be separated from each other and from their mother, each one was placed in a separate foster home for intensive handling to give them the best chance of finding a home with a family.

The pictures show Arista in the various stage of her bravery training - from her first day in foster care through to the first image we received from her new loving owners.

Initially, we put the kitten in a cage (we use extra tall cages with different levels) and interact as little as possible to allow the kitten to get used to a change in environment - cleaning, feeding and blinking at the kitten with no human contact. After a day or so the kitten becomes curious and the fosterer can begin to interact - putting food on the flat of a hand, allowing the kitten to sniff fingers, gradually and slowly stroking or touching the kitten to reduce the fear of hands.

The next stage is stroking the kitten in a more assertive manner, again to increase confidence and this then progresses to “hands round” a quick and gentle squeeze to prepare the kitten to be picked up.

Once the kittens are confident, they are let out and engaged in chase games to get them used to coming back to the person.  Then we start the search for a safe new home.

Taming usually takes about 10-12 weeks and our success rate is 100%.

Additional costs include food and litter - we would normally rehome a cat of this age within a fortnight of taking her in, so would not have to provide food and litter for an extended period.