New mom to some ferals.........

crazy cat woman

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 25, 2006
Messages
2
Purraise
0
Location
Kansas
I just found this site today and thought I'd join up to tell my story................

I built a new house out in a rural community about 30 miles south of KC. I fell in love with the beautiful woods and creek that sat behind the house. It's so quiet and somewhat secluded.
Shortly after I moved in, I spotted a white cat roaming around in the woods. I would call to her and she would just give me a dirty look and run off to the trees. ABout 6 months later, last early spring, we found three little kittens running around in our garage. They belonged to the white feral I had been watching.
We started putting food out close to the woods where we could see them. Every evening, when I got home from work, I would sit out in the yard and watch them eat, moving a little closer and closer a few days at a time.
I next started moving the food bowl closer and closer to the house, still sitting within view of them. After about 5 months of repeating the same routine, I had them to where they would actually come to me for their food bowl. I teased them with some canned food on a spoon and eventually built trust with two of them. SugarBear and StripieCat. The 3rd kitten is a male and he is spooked "Spooky" by every little thing I do, but he does come up on the deck to eat and just hang out.
SugarBear and StripieCat come in the house every night now. They sleep in our room with us. But early every morning, they go back out to the wild. We are the only human contact they have.
Today is Christmas. The "momma cat" just presented us with another kitten! I have named her "Christmas".
So here we go again!
 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Welcame! You have found the right place.

Look also a little among the other threads...

You do a great work. Next step will be to catch them - in a human trap if necessary - and let them be spayed. Otherwise you will get new ones whole time...

But at least two of them are apparently already your homecats, who you let run outside if they wish...
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by crazy cat woman

I just found this site today and thought I'd join up to tell my story................

I built a new house out in a rural community about 30 miles south of KC. I fell in love with the beautiful woods and creek that sat behind the house. It's so quiet and somewhat secluded.
Shortly after I moved in, I spotted a white cat roaming around in the woods. I would call to her and she would just give me a dirty look and run off to the trees. ABout 6 months later, last early spring, we found three little kittens running around in our garage. They belonged to the white feral I had been watching.
We started putting food out close to the woods where we could see them. Every evening, when I got home from work, I would sit out in the yard and watch them eat, moving a little closer and closer a few days at a time.
I next started moving the food bowl closer and closer to the house, still sitting within view of them. After about 5 months of repeating the same routine, I had them to where they would actually come to me for their food bowl. I teased them with some canned food on a spoon and eventually built trust with two of them. SugarBear and StripieCat. The 3rd kitten is a male and he is spooked "Spooky" by every little thing I do, but he does come up on the deck to eat and just hang out.
SugarBear and StripieCat come in the house every night now. They sleep in our room with us. But early every morning, they go back out to the wild. We are the only human contact they have.
Today is Christmas. The "momma cat" just presented us with another kitten! I have named her "Christmas".
So here we go again!
Welcome to TCS...I am glad that you have come on this site. The best gift that you can give to this white feral cat and her kittens is to borrow a humane trap and trap her and her kittens so that they can be spayed/neutered. Cats can become pregnant again while they are nursing kittens and kittens can become pregnant as early as 4 months of age. While the kittens you currently have may have been lucky to avoid becoming pregnant so far, the fact is...they all (including mom) need to be fixed. You can usually borrow a humane trap from your local humane society or feral cat group.

This is a list of low cost clinics in the KC area:

http://www.kcpets.org/index.php?PAGE_ID=3

Feeding a Stray? Neuter or Spay!
It is inhumane to feed strays without neutering them.

Feral Friends in KC
Feral Friends in KC is a support group for feral cat caretakers. (This support group is part of the Feral Cat Committee of No More Homeless Pets Kansas City)

For this support group, a caretaker is defined as one who feeds and cares for stray and feral cats by practicing "TNR," trap-neuter-return.

Many of us go about our labors of love quietly, apprehensive about interference and disapproval. However, in our contacts with other feral caretakers, we have experienced warm encouragement as we share experiences, challenges, victories, and heartaches.

We have learned helpful information. Caretakers can help one another, and we can help others get started. Our ultimate goal is to help every feral cat in the greater Kansas City area by supporting and expanding the caretaker base.

Perhaps you have feral cat experiences you'd like to share?
Perhaps you have some questions or concerns to discuss with other feral friends?

Feral Friends in KC meets the last Thursday of each month in the evening. Meeting locations vary and are announced on the NMHPKC calendar.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about TNR or Feral Friends in KC , please e-mail us at:
[email protected]

http://www.nmhpkc.org/index.php?PAGE_ID=7

Let's ensure that "Christmas" is the last little one that she presents you with.

Katie
 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Originally Posted by TNR1

You can usually borrow a humane trap from your local humane society or feral cat group.
If it is very difficult to borrow a human trap, and the cats arent totally wild (yours arent!) it it quite possible to rig up a human trap of a common transport carrier, with a little creative imagination. (dont forget gloves).

I know people who often catches homeless shy semiferals in such carrier-box-traps.
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
Hi Crazy Cat Woman!!!

What a coincidence, last April I moved from a farmette in Cass County about 30 miles south of KC. My feral adventures started when I moved to that house about 13 years ago. I started the same way as you are doing and it took me a long time to get savy about how to trap and take care of the cats.

There are resources out that way that can help you. I'm going to assume that you want to catch the mom and have her spayed. If you don't, you will wind up with lots of cats and things will get out of hand quickly. My large household is a testimant to that and I didn't really get wise until I found this site. My first "mom" showed up 3 times, each with a new litter. The ones that I didn't catch and got away subsequently brought me more kittens. You have to stop the cycle early on or it will just go on.

If you want to borrow a trap, Harrisonville Animal Control will lend you a trap with a deposit (used to be $40 that is refundable). Also call HELP Humane in Belton (Main street), tell them you have a feral cat that you want to have spayed and that you would be willing to pay for the spay. I've not seen them turn away anyone that wants to do this (the president has a really soft heart for ferals).

For vets, Harrisonville Animal Clinic used to spay/neuter my ferals and are used to working with them. If you plead your case (you are fixing a homeless feral) and ask them innocently about giving you a discount, they will usually do so. I've taken so many up there over the years that they used to charge me $25 per cat. He does spays a couple days a week so call in advance to see what days he is doing surgery (usually Wednesday and Friday) and trap those mornings. The vet on Hwy 71 in Harrisonville (can't remember the name) also does feral speuters but charges more.

Once you get the trap, let us know and we can all coach you on the best way to set it and all the protocals. It's not as hard as it seems.
 

tnr1

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Oct 5, 2003
Messages
7,980
Purraise
13
Location
Northern Virginia
Originally Posted by StefanZ

If it is very difficult to borrow a human trap, and the cats arent totally wild (yours arent!) it it quite possible to rig up a human trap of a common transport carrier, with a little creative imagination. (dont forget gloves).

I know people who often catches homeless shy semiferals in such carrier-box-traps.
I tend not to recommend other forms of catching cats only because a cat can act tame to their caretaker, but still revert to being feral upon trying to be caught. If someone is bit in the process of trying to trap a cat, it can mean the death of the cat since here in the USA rabies is a high concern. I've also known of cats that have chewed through plastic carriers trying to escape. So I only recommend humane traps for first time trappers.

Katie
 

StefanZ

Advisor
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
25,999
Purraise
10,648
Location
Sweden
Originally Posted by TNR1

I tend not to recommend other forms of catching cats only because a cat can act tame to their caretaker, but still revert to being feral upon trying to be caught. So I only recommend humane traps for first time trappers.

Katie
Right you are.

If it is very difficult to get, I wrote. Ie the alternative isnt which one to choose, but to catch or not to catch.

Yes, I know even docile shy semiferals often become very aggressive (defensive aggresiveness) just when catched. So you must be prepared, AND have gloves on... They do though settle down after a while, when they see nobody is mean to them.

(And the vet is hopefully used to work with such freshly catched semiferal... He has also help of both felifriend, sleep-injections and special-boxes. And gloves. And a towel to wrap in the cat in if necessary.
)
 

catsknowme

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
11,458
Purraise
6,679
Location
Eastern California,USA
Welcome to TCS! Bless you for helping those feral kitties. I hope that there is a TNR group nearby who will help you trap and neuter the cats. My brother had a feral that was almost 3 that he managed to trap and neuter. The cat did his recovery in the house, and surprisingly did not run off forever when he was put back outside (my brother travels all over the country, at least 1-2 states per week, and is not in a position to have a full-time housecat. My sis feeds the cat every morning after dropping my niece at school; the cat nows comes inside during bad weather, and has a cat bed in the livingroom which he uses.
I tamed a feral who loves being a housecat. But I have a housecat named Andy who is just as skittish as your Spooky, even though his littermate, Amy Rose, is very friendly and confident. I have no idea why Andy is like that - he came to me as an older kitten, about 5 mos

Anyway, I hope to read more about your cats. Taming ferals is an important way that cat lovers, both urban and rural dwellers, can improve the lives of so many cats and prevent the suffering of unwanted litters
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

crazy cat woman

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 25, 2006
Messages
2
Purraise
0
Location
Kansas
Thanks for all your support and the great advise!

YES! I plan on getting these cats fixed! Believe me, they are eating me out of house and home! haha!
I do have limited income so the links you have provided me with should be very helpful......thank you!
Are any of you familiar with "foster programs"? Do they help with vet care and spay/neutering??? I would like to try to provide good care for all 5 of the ferals, but it's so expensive! I want to get them all vaccinated too.

Update on "Christmas" the new baby. I haven't seen her at all in over a week. I'm hoping that another neighbor snatched her up and took her in. She's truly beautiful! Pure white and fluffy with big green eyes! We were planning on taking her in, but she was still nursing and we decided to wait another week. They mostly stayed in the "cat house" I made for them on my deck and rarely ever left but to go pee somewhere. I'm hoping nothing bad happened to her. We do have coyotes in the area and I have even seen a mountain lion run across my back yard! Mama cat is still there. So I have no idea
I'm just trying to think positive.

Hope everyone had a great holiday and thanks again for all the help! I'll try to post some pics next time I get on.
 

momofmany

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 15, 2003
Messages
16,249
Purraise
70
Location
There's no place like home
Originally Posted by crazy cat woman

Are any of you familiar with "foster programs"? Do they help with vet care and spay/neutering???
Typically if you get involved with a rescue group and do fostering for them, they will take care of testing, spay/neuters, and vaccinations. Once you get involved in them, you lose all voice in what happens with the cats - by the rules that govern non-profits, the cats are considered in their care and you are only volunteering your time for that agency.

You will be responsible for taking the cats/kittens to adoption clinics, and delivering them to the vets. It will be their vets, not one of your chosing and they may not all be that convenient to you. Non-profits have deals worked out with certain vets and get better rates thru them. They could not afford to be in business without them.

And if you fall in love with one of them and want to keep them, you have to pay the adoption fees as any other adoptor would.

All in all its not a bad deal if you really want to help these babies and cannot afford to do so.
 
Top