pregnant stray

i have a stray i have been feeding outside and now I know why she was dumped off here, she is quite pregnant. we live in the country and lots of kitties get dumped here, I keep the ones I can, we now have several "extra" cats as opposed to our regular three. all are fixed, except for poor little Kit, as we call her. I need some advice on setting up a nest box for the kittens and trying to get her to use it, she has been living in the rafters of our garage for the last couple of months. i put the nest box right beside the food in the garage; I made it nice and soft with old tshirts, etc. What next/ She is a stray; mostly scared of people, but coming around more every day. How will I know when it is her time? She is so tiny and scared. I need to take care of her, but I don't know how. As soon as little Kit and the kittens are old enough i plan to vaccinate them and get little Kit fixed; I like her and she can stay at my home for as long as she wants. The kittens I hope to find good homes for. Any help???

You could fix her what you think is the best bed in the world, and she will go off (as nature indicates) to a small dark place where she knows her and the kittens are safe. Your best bet is to trap her using humane traps (available at most vets, animal rescue clinics or feed stores) Just fill it with wonderful stinky cat food, set the catch and once she is trapped then if you can, take her inside to a room that can be closed off and work with her there. If she were an older cat, my instinct would be to leave her be, but with irresponsible pet owners, most strays are being bred sooner than they should be and problems arise when giving birth.

I know exactly what you mean about people dumping cats. Just this weekend a man drove out near our place, dumped a box in the middle of a field and drove off. Inside the box was a scared mom with 4 kittens! The mom and one kitten got away, but the other three have been rescued and are now being bottle-fed. A farmer got the license number of the car that left them, though I doubt any punishment will be metered out. If you can trap this momcat before her kits come due, that would be the best thing (in a perfect world) But sometimes the world is not perfect and you have to do what you can with the limited resources at hand. Just don't be upset when she shuns your nice soft bedding and opts for another place to have her young.