Kitten season is here with a vengeance!

Joann just called me to foster a mom cat and her kittens. We'll probably be getting them Sunday or Monday. Well, a friend of mine just called frantically, one of the ferals she hasn't been able to trap just deposited 3 kittens on their doorstep. My friend moved them to the shed, and now Momma cat won't go near them. I'm not sure whether she did the right thing in moving them. She lives 350 miles away, but it coming up here friday night. If I have her bring them over, and get the foster earlier, would the mom cat let them suckle? Poor Boo isn't going to know what to do with another female cat and a bunch of tiny kittens! Tiger and Jorin'll probably be like "Cool! Playmates!" if I let them nearby, which I won't. I'll probably keep mom & kits in the bedroom with us. Either way, I'm going to take the kittens from my friend in and care for them. It'll be a lot of work, but if they turn out as sweet as Tiger and Jorin (who were hand-fed from 1 week old)it'll be worth it.

Let me move this to the Feral Forum for you. Myste I also deleted the duplicate post.

The problem in moving the kittens is that mom will be picking up human scent on the kittens and be unwilling to go near them. The kittens need to be kept warm (especially if mom is not near) so they need to be taken inside and bottle fed every two hours if mom ignores them, otherwise they could all perish. You might be able to integrate the two litters together if they won't make to many for the mom cat, but you will have to blend the scents by rubbing all the kittens repeatedly with the same dry washcloth. Good luck!

Ok. I told her to try to get some KMR or something similar at Wal-Mart or an emergency vet if she can find one. it's kind of hard where she lives. Can she feed that glop stuff if she can't? will it give them enough to get through the night? can she use a heating pad to warm them? If it wasn't a 6 hr drive, I'd go and get them now. They're coming up on Friday night, and I'm going to have them bring the kittens then. I'll call Joann and get the mom & kits on Friday morning.

.bad news...they got kitten formula....but when they got back, 2 had been attacked by something and were dead.... At this point they were so heartbroken, they just put the survivor back where momma cat had it when we started all this....she has basically gone right to it. They can't catch the momma yet, and I don't know that trapping her right now is a good idea. She's had at least 3 other litters that they know of. Would it be best to take the kitten now and try to trap mom? I've possibly got a surrogate momma coming over this weekend as soon as needed, probably monday, but can get her sooner.

I really have no expertise on this subject and have never even dealt with a ferrel cat but...Just my opinion...I would take the kitten indoors and bottle feed it until the surrogate mother arrives. That way it will be safe from whatever harmed the other two kittens. Then deal with trapping the mother cat later if you still feel it is necessary.

Ginger

I am sorry to hear this. Mom must not have been around when the animal attacked her kittens or she would of fought tooth and claw for them. The kitten has better odds to survive with mom. Raising newborn kittens by hand is demanding, time-consuming and unless you know what you are doing, it is very hard to do. I would leave the mom and kitten together and try to capture both of them and bring both inside.

Shows how much I know about ferals-LOL!


Ginger

Myste - any update? I had to leave town for a few days, and I was heartbroken when I read this thread! Such a sad story.

If the kitten is still with mommy, your friend should definitely put food out to feed the mom cat to encourage her to stay around. If that happens, once the kitten is about 12 weeks old, the mom cat should be trapped and spayed to prevent future litters.

If the kitten is being taken to give to you to be with a surrogate mom, the other female really ought to be trapped and spayed or she'll go back into heat again...

Need help finding resources for your friend? Please PM or e-mail me if you/she need help finding a trap or someone to help trap, or spay/neuter resources, etc.




Laurie