We took in a stray, and 3 weeks later she gave birth to NINE KITTENS. I'll tell the full story at the end of this post, but URGENTLY...here is our situation, and we need advice:
The kittens are THREE WEEKS old, they've lived since birth in a cardboard box in a dark closet in our small office with soft towels, etc. with the mom (Katie McKitty) (like a VERY SMALL bedroom) and for some reason, Katie has all of a sudden decided to move some of the nine kittens to another room inside a sock drawer of an armoire.
It is not practical for anyone for this to occur, so we've put the kittens back into the box, and she keeps trying to take them out and put them back in the drawer.
I am in New York, and my partner is in PA in the home with the kittens, and she is freaking out
trying to figure out what to do because she will be gone for a couple of days. I told her to put the litter box in the office (away from the food, I know..), close the door to the office, thus, the kittens (and Katie) will stay in the room, but Katie keeps scratching at the door.
So I told her to go back inside the room and put some tin-foil on the door to hopefully discourage her from scratching at the door.
ANY ADVICE????
LONG STORY:
We are professional musicians. I have an apartment in New York City, and my partner has a home in East Stroudsburg, PA. She is there on the weekends, usually (sometimes not, if we go on tour). SEVEN YEARS ago when she first bought the house, there was a cat that would show up on our front porch with no collar, and after me putting a collar on him with a note saying "who owns this SWEET kitty?? please call..." no one called, the collar fell off, and eventually we found out that the house on the other side of the rock wall/small woods area of our backyard were the "owners" and wouldn't let him live inside the house because he peed one time (and he was declawed on his front paws
). SO whenever we were in town, he would come over, and he became our "FRED."
SEVEN years later: we came home after being gone for two weeks in late May, he didn't show up when we called him (he ALWAYS would come over, whether rain or snow). We searched for several days, put up signs, called the owner (who said she just figured he was with us, which he wasn't, so we were very worried...she NEVER even bothered to go look for him...). After four days, my partner found him in the small woods area between our homes, dead...probably killed by a coyote.
And he had no front claws to defend himself.
Forget about the massive guilt...my partner called me, hysterical, I got in the car and drove out there (80 miles), and by the time I got there, she had dug a grave in the backyard where he would jump over the rock wall from his "owners' home" and had buried him.
FOUR DAYS later, 8:00pm: we're sitting on the couch, crying, and my partner says she wishes this particular stray kitty we'd seen before would come by and visit because we were so sad.
FIVE MINUTES LATER she shows up,
PREGNANT as all can be, and I said, "She's coming in, and we're not letting her out. We're NOT going through this again..We'll figure it out later."
THREE WEEKS later, she gives birth to NINE KITTENS.
I found a no-kill shelter in NJ that would take her (with a $200 donation) but then she fell in love with Katie and the kittens, so that is on hold while we find homes for the kittens.
Now go back to the BEGINNING of this post!! THANKS FOR READING!!!!
The kittens are THREE WEEKS old, they've lived since birth in a cardboard box in a dark closet in our small office with soft towels, etc. with the mom (Katie McKitty) (like a VERY SMALL bedroom) and for some reason, Katie has all of a sudden decided to move some of the nine kittens to another room inside a sock drawer of an armoire.
It is not practical for anyone for this to occur, so we've put the kittens back into the box, and she keeps trying to take them out and put them back in the drawer.
I am in New York, and my partner is in PA in the home with the kittens, and she is freaking out
So I told her to go back inside the room and put some tin-foil on the door to hopefully discourage her from scratching at the door.
ANY ADVICE????
LONG STORY:
We are professional musicians. I have an apartment in New York City, and my partner has a home in East Stroudsburg, PA. She is there on the weekends, usually (sometimes not, if we go on tour). SEVEN YEARS ago when she first bought the house, there was a cat that would show up on our front porch with no collar, and after me putting a collar on him with a note saying "who owns this SWEET kitty?? please call..." no one called, the collar fell off, and eventually we found out that the house on the other side of the rock wall/small woods area of our backyard were the "owners" and wouldn't let him live inside the house because he peed one time (and he was declawed on his front paws
SEVEN years later: we came home after being gone for two weeks in late May, he didn't show up when we called him (he ALWAYS would come over, whether rain or snow). We searched for several days, put up signs, called the owner (who said she just figured he was with us, which he wasn't, so we were very worried...she NEVER even bothered to go look for him...). After four days, my partner found him in the small woods area between our homes, dead...probably killed by a coyote.
Forget about the massive guilt...my partner called me, hysterical, I got in the car and drove out there (80 miles), and by the time I got there, she had dug a grave in the backyard where he would jump over the rock wall from his "owners' home" and had buried him.
FOUR DAYS later, 8:00pm: we're sitting on the couch, crying, and my partner says she wishes this particular stray kitty we'd seen before would come by and visit because we were so sad.
FIVE MINUTES LATER she shows up,
THREE WEEKS later, she gives birth to NINE KITTENS.
I found a no-kill shelter in NJ that would take her (with a $200 donation) but then she fell in love with Katie and the kittens, so that is on hold while we find homes for the kittens.
Now go back to the BEGINNING of this post!! THANKS FOR READING!!!!