Should I catch 4 week old feral litter

sarahp

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There's a couple of feeding stations at DHs work that I set up, and have people there looking after, and apparently near one of the buildings, one of the cats has had kittens.

They think they're around 4 weeks old, so I would like to try and catch them. Mum is feral, and there's another juvenile hanging around apparently. I figure if they're that young, we should be able to catch them if we can find them before mum moves them. At that age, I can feed them and socialise them, and when they're old enough, and social enough, put them up for adoption.

Then I can trap the mother and the juvenile and get them fixed and vaccinated, and return them.

Do you think this is the best idea? Is it hard to catch a litter of ferals? Is it too stressful for the mother? Should I wait until they're older and TNR them all, but leave the kittens be to feral as well? I don't really like that idea...
 

cc12

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Don't leave the kittens to be feral. Outside life is a hard life for cats. Their life expectancy drops to only 2 or 3 years. The kittens can be socialized easily at that age. My two kicked, spit , scratched and hissed like something out of a horror movie. They were only 5 weeks and 6 weeks. 24-48 hours later they were purr machines laying on my chest.
Get the kittens, TNR the others and perhaps the juvenile can be worked with. Contact the Feral coalition in your area.
But the most important part is the kittens. They have a shot at life.
 
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sarahp

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I just hope they really are only about 4 weeks old - you know how people assume they're only about 4 weeks old when they're really 12 weeks old because they're just smaller than their own cat...

I might pop out after dinner and see if I can find them. The lady hasn't told me their exact location, but I have a general idea, so maybe I'll have a poke around.

How protective is a feral mum? Will she try to go for me, or just abandon her babies?
 

roxsam

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I would def say catch the kitties and later TNR the other ferals! In November I caught a litter of three 4 week old feral kitties. I never saw the mom, but from my experience the mom's tend to run away since they are fearful of humans. We caught them with our hands using really thick welding gloves! We did not have any trap to use and I was afraid the mom would move them and I wouldn't find them again. So we went with the gloves. They were very mean but we managed to get them all in about an hour.

Good luck! Socializing is very rewarding..just remember to have a lot of patience!!!
 
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sarahp

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I went to see if I could find them this morning (the lady hadn't got back to me to let me know where they were). I found them within about 10 seconds! They were all away from the nest playing and wrestling. Unfortunately they're about 8 weeks - they saw me and bolted back to the safety of the generator where their nest is. Mum came out and hissed at me, and they all went into hiding.

So I'm going to go out with some traps tonight and see if I can catch any of them. If I can at least get mum, I should get at least some kittens - hopefully all of them.
 

roxsam

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Awesome! Good luck with the trapping and socializing!

Let us know how it goes
 
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