Update on pregnant feral in San Bernardino

Still no kittens, but there has been progress. I sent my BF a link to the thread about Mary Anne's latest feral, Whisp, so he could read some of the techniques she used to calm down a scared and pregnant feral. (And I told him, she knows what she's doing, read it NOW!)
He and his mom started reading to her, playing soft music, etc. Now, instead of hissing, growling, and trying to attack whoever walks in the room, she is only hissing once and then glaring. She is still caterwauling night and day, though.

Will continue to keep you posted!

Good! That's progress. I find that when the mother cat is about to deliver she craves more attention, and might allow touching if she trusts them at all. That extra trust is somewhat temporary though. She just wants comforting. What's happening now is probably real progress, though. Thanks for the news. I want to hear about the babies. I hope all goes well!

Just wanted to give another quick update.

No kittens yet.

She is getting a little more relaxed each day. Still hissing occasionally. I reminded BF to get Feliway, it works wonders.

He has taken pics of her and I will post them as soon as he gets back with his camera! He's due home next tuesday...

Hi Sue, how is it going? I would not reccomend touching the mom even if she is preening up her neck during labor. You will be very surprised to find out that feral moms in labor are very capable of biting very hard and then you have to sit there and take it till the contraction stops. I made that mistake years ago, thinking I had gained this mom's trust, and found out otherwise- the hard way!

What I would suggest, is you get a ruler, of a stick and put a clean sponge on the end of it (use duct tape) and when she is in labor and needs to be touched, use the sponge end of the ruler to reach out and run it with just a little bit of pressure down her back to *help* her. If she bites, she bites the sponge and neither you or her get hurt.

This is what I do anyway, and it works out well. If she growls at you, back off or if her eyes narrow, backpedal quickly for she will attack you.

Good luck! (after all that! LOL)

Thanks, Mary Ann! I will pass that info along. There seems to be nothing new to report, no kittens yet, she's still itching to get out of the room, hissing when they come in the room and then just glaring.

They're calling her "Angel", and once the litter is weaned, his mom is going to get her spayed and vaccinated, and then let her back outside, if that is where she wants to be.