Strays!!!

liz85

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OK so my neighbor has been feeding these 4 stray kittens. I hated to see them spend the winter outside so i went over and talked to the neighbor to see about catching them to get them off the street. She ran up to me and gave me a big hug and said of course. she told me she had been worried sick about tryin to get them off the streets before winter comes. She also told me that one kitten has been gone for a long time and another female(probably) has been gone for 3 weeks.

So yesterday i went to the animal shelter and borrowed a have a heart trap to catch them. Last night we caught the first male....after doing so i noticed the female had come back... We are guessing they are roughly 5-6 months old....is it possible she was out....gettting pregnant that early???? this worries me she needs to be off the streets, well they all do and i plan to do so....so hopefully...the other one kinda came around this morning for breakfast but didnt go in the trap..so hopefully tonight when its dinner time and they get really hungry they will go in....how can a kitten resist fancy feast and sardines? lol
 

ilovesiamese

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That's how I caught Mittens when she was outside. She cannot resist sardines!

Great job taking action to help those poor kitties!

I've read on here that a female cat can get preggers as young as 5 months.
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

OK so my neighbor has been feeding these 4 stray kittens. I hated to see them spend the winter outside so i went over and talked to the neighbor to see about catching them to get them off the street. She ran up to me and gave me a big hug and said of course. she told me she had been worried sick about tryin to get them off the streets before winter comes. She also told me that one kitten has been gone for a long time and another female(probably) has been gone for 3 weeks.

So yesterday i went to the animal shelter and borrowed a have a heart trap to catch them. Last night we caught the first male....after doing so i noticed the female had come back... We are guessing they are roughly 5-6 months old....is it possible she was out....gettting pregnant that early???? this worries me she needs to be off the streets, well they all do and i plan to do so....so hopefully...the other one kinda came around this morning for breakfast but didnt go in the trap..so hopefully tonight when its dinner time and they get really hungry they will go in....how can a kitten resist fancy feast and sardines? lol
Welcome to TCS.....cats can become pregnant as early as 4 months of age, so it is a good idea to get cats spayed/neutered as early as possible. There is a chance that the female is pregnant...however not all kittens at that age successfully mate so if you can take her to be spayed, that would be best.

You may want to try KFC chicken (without the skin) if sardines do not work. You also may want to join this yahoo group:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/feral_cats/

Katie
 
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liz85

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They ate last night and we set the trap back up this morning and they havent come to eat yet....it is raining out so im guessing that is the reason....they come to eat as soon as the neighbor lady puts the food out and calls here kitty kitty....but then again she has been doing that for 3 months now and they know her...so im hoping either later in the evening if it stops raining their tummies will out weigh their afraidness of the trap...i feel so bad for not doing this sooner
but i guess better late than never. I wish i could tell them how good they will have it inside the house lol they can just be good for nothing lazy contented house cats the way it should be...but i guess i just have to wait til they get hungry....since hte only food is in the trap....

how long are cats pregnant for ?? it cant be all that long...
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

They ate last night and we set the trap back up this morning and they havent come to eat yet....it is raining out so im guessing that is the reason....they come to eat as soon as the neighbor lady puts the food out and calls here kitty kitty....but then again she has been doing that for 3 months now and they know her...so im hoping either later in the evening if it stops raining their tummies will out weigh their afraidness of the trap...i feel so bad for not doing this sooner
but i guess better late than never. I wish i could tell them how good they will have it inside the house lol they can just be good for nothing lazy contented house cats the way it should be...but i guess i just have to wait til they get hungry....since hte only food is in the trap....

how long are cats pregnant for ?? it cant be all that long...
the average is somewhere between 60 and 65 days

Katie
 
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liz85

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GREAT NEWS!!!! Caught a male tonight....i heard him rustling around and figured he was tryin to get at the sardines from the other end...i waited a little while to make sure he was really in there....and there he was yayyyyy

He sure did give us a run for our money once we got him in the house lol we opened the trap in the bathroom...he let me put my hand in there and pet him right away so thats a good sign...we covered him in a towel and held him for a while til he calmed down....so we will put the trap back out in the morning and hopefully get the poor female off the streets cuz if she isnt pregnant yet she will be soon lol....

thanks for all the info everyone....any other tips on calming a stray down?? i have done this before but never caught em once they are this old...
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

GREAT NEWS!!!! Caught a male tonight....i heard him rustling around and figured he was tryin to get at the sardines from the other end...i waited a little while to make sure he was really in there....and there he was yayyyyy

He sure did give us a run for our money once we got him in the house lol we opened the trap in the bathroom...he let me put my hand in there and pet him right away so thats a good sign...we covered him in a towel and held him for a while til he calmed down....so we will put the trap back out in the morning and hopefully get the poor female off the streets cuz if she isnt pregnant yet she will be soon lol....

thanks for all the info everyone....any other tips on calming a stray down?? i have done this before but never caught em once they are this old...
GREAT job!! Below is some advice to use for feral kittens....I would try it with these little ones:

http://www.alleycat.org/resources_care.html#10

Open the socializing feral kittens PDF.

Katie
 

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When you get the female, she shouldn't be so far along in her pregnancy that she can't be spayed. If she has worms, fleas and other medical problems, having babies can be dangerous, and the kittens might have medical issues. It's sad, I know, like forcing an abortion on a cat, but I shudder to think of the consequences. Bless you for rescuing those kitties
I wish that there were more people like you in this world
 
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liz85

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mom knows this is nothing new for me...i had been volunteering at the local zoo when i was little and i would bring home baby birds that had fallen from the nest that stupid kids would be throwing rocks at etc....earlier this summer it was a baby squirrel lol i am going to school to be a veterinarian too so i will be bringing my work home withe me then too lol im a sucker for stray animals
what can i say....all of our other cats and my dog were all rescued from shelters too....

we are also guessing that the mother of these cats was the mother of the cats she brought to our house a few summers ago.....we kept one of those kittens and named him Lucky.....he ended up getting feline diabetes at 2 yrs old
vet said it was very very rare cuz he was healthy wasnt over weight and young....after a few weekend trips to the vet with super high blood sugar....he passed away
I have mom talked into keeping the female cat....and one of her babies if she really is pregnant....would it still be bad for her to have the litter if we get her to the vet right away and get all that stuff taken care of??(was gonna take her to the vet anyways) but i would absolutely love to see the new little babies being born....but if it isnt healthy for her obviously i want her to be healthy as well....

ty for all the support and advice you are all awesome!!!
 

tnr1

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we are also guessing that the mother of these cats was the mother of the cats she brought to our house a few summers ago.....we kept one of those kittens and named him Lucky.....he ended up getting feline diabetes at 2 yrs old vet said it was very very rare cuz he was healthy wasnt over weight and young....after a few weekend trips to the vet with super high blood sugar....he passed away I have mom talked into keeping the female cat....and one of her babies if she really is pregnant....would it still be bad for her to have the litter if we get her to the vet right away and get all that stuff taken care of??(was gonna take her to the vet anyways) but i would absolutely love to see the new little babies being born....but if it isnt healthy for her obviously i want her to be healthy as well....
My personal opinion....4 to 5 months is VERY young to have a litter. You will need to speak to the vet first regarding whether it is even safe for her to have a litter (IF she is pregnant). I would really recommend that if you want to see a litter born, that you instead foster a cat from your local rescue or shelter group. That way, the rescue or shelter covers the vet bills and will take responsibility to place the other kittens and have the mom fixed.

Katie
 
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liz85

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so i guess we just catch her and get her to the vet....well im off to bed lol gotta get up at 6 am to set the trap again(thats when the neighbor goes out to usually feed them) lol

ty again for all the advice!!!
 

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You might want to consider setting the trap before you go to bed and put a towel inside and a large blanket over it to cover most of the trap (not the opening of course) So leave it set through the night. Then when the cat is trapped sometime overnight, he is secure in the trap and will have a little time to calm down before you come and bring him in. Then when you get up in the morning you can set the trap again for the day. You will probably catch them quicker.
 
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liz85

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we set the trap again this morning and not even 15 minutes and we had another one...a female this itime....she looks just like the first one we caught only smaller....she calmed down really fast and with little fuss of us holding her...
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

we set the trap again this morning and not even 15 minutes and we had another one...a female this itime....she looks just like the first one we caught only smaller....she calmed down really fast and with little fuss of us holding her...
Wow....GREAT!! Keep us informed of how their vet visits go.

Katie
 

tortiebaby

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One of my cats got preggers when she was just 4 months old. I didn't find out until it was too late to spay her though.(I was under the impression that cats couldn't get fixed until they were 6 months old.) Anyways, it took her a long time to have the kittens(about 9 hours), but they were all healthy and so was momma. If the female is visibly pregnant when you catch her and she is only 5 months old than I would definately ask you vet his opinion before allowing her to have her kittens because ,being stray, she may not be healthy enough and strong enought to have them at that age and you may lose, not just the kittens, but the mama too.
 
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liz85

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Well i thought we had them all....but i was outside yesterday talking with a friend and here i see two more playing in the neighbors yard lol...i guess they know where they have it good....so tonight we shall try to catch another one...would have done it this morning but i have class and mom had to go to work....i also talked to the neighbor yesterday and she said it was the bigger one(male) who had been gone for a few weeks so i guess thats good news so hopefully our female now named ( gidget) isnt pregnant...boy is named Max since he has a white M above his eyes lol
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

Well i thought we had them all....but i was outside yesterday talking with a friend and here i see two more playing in the neighbors yard lol...i guess they know where they have it good....so tonight we shall try to catch another one...would have done it this morning but i have class and mom had to go to work....i also talked to the neighbor yesterday and she said it was the bigger one(male) who had been gone for a few weeks so i guess thats good news so hopefully our female now named ( gidget) isnt pregnant...boy is named Max since he has a white M above his eyes lol
Good Luck catching the other 2.

Katie
 
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liz85

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I've been browsing on here and see that i should seperate the brother and sister as to keep her from getting pregnant from him??? We have them in a big dog kennel right now....figured they would be more comfortable together...the dog kennel does have a divider in it for like puppies and such...do you think i should seperate them???? all they do is lay by each other .....i hate to seperate them cuz its proly calmed them down knowing each other is there....
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by liz85

I've been browsing on here and see that i should seperate the brother and sister as to keep her from getting pregnant from him??? We have them in a big dog kennel right now....figured they would be more comfortable together...the dog kennel does have a divider in it for like puppies and such...do you think i should seperate them???? all they do is lay by each other .....i hate to seperate them cuz its proly calmed them down knowing each other is there....
How old are they?? At 5 months or over...you are risking a sibling mating. I would seperate them until they are scheduled to be fixed.

Katie
 

girlsetsfiyah

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I've been watching this thread for a few days now...Congrats on catching them so fast!! You're doing an awesome job so far...please keep us updated, thanks!!

PS. Pics would be great too!! (We're all suckers for pics here, lol!)
 
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