Reunite mom and kittens or not?

nekochan

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Last night I took in a litter of feral kittens. I was not able to catch the mother, however I am going to see if I can borrow a trap to try catching her today.
The kittens are probably 3-4 weeks old.

I am not sure if I should try to give the kittens back to the mother (in a large dog crate inside the house) or just keep them away and continue to bottle feed the babies and TNR the mother right away? The babies were already hissing and spitting at me when I caught them, and the mother is VERY wild/feral.
 

browneyes106

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It's good you trapped the kittens at a good age. I think it would be better that you continued bottle feeding them and have them mom TNR. The kittens will need to be socialised and tamed to adopted out. How are the kittens doing with bottle feeding?
 
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nekochan

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Well the first night I couldn't find any kitten bottles (pet store was closed) so I was using a feeding syringe until yesterday afternoon. Then I got a kitten bottle finally but they won't drink from it! They prefer the syringe now. I am going to keep trying to introduce the bottle. They are also eating canned food mixed with formula so I think they will be ready to wean soon.
 

cc12

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My kittens were eating canned at 5 weeks. So if you can eek out another week you will be fine. I would not return them to her. They deserve a chance as a domestic pet and good care. Streetlife is tough for cats. Many don't last very long.
 
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