what would you do?

Hello everyone,

This morning I was walking one of my dogs and I saw a kitten walk across the road, She is very young and it was around the same location that my dog found a kitten last year ( Kabuki) I am not sure if it was abandoned by it's mom, got lost or is just walking around. I have seen the parents around for years, They aren't feral but they aren't indoor cats either. We live in the country. The mom appears to be a torty like Kabuki and the dad is an orange tabby. I left the cat there because I wasn't sure if it was lost or just wandering. I guess my concern is,
do I just leave it, or do I get it. I am not sure if it will survive without human intervention? Here is Kabuki's story http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=198068

thanks

David

Our theory is always rescue first (if you know it's not a neighbor's cat or something) and ask questions later. You can always put up posters and a small ad in the local paper to see if it's someone's pet.... and create flyers to get her adopted while you foster him/her.

Frankly, we'd be doing what we do - putting out food for the ferals/semi-ferals/strays, and trapping them and getting them spayed and neutered, treated with Revolution & the rabies vac. The low-cost clinic is a looooong drive for us, so we worked out a deal with our vet and a payment plan, because income is tough these days.

When we can't afford even that, we stop feeding them.

I have been going back several times a day in search of the kitten and I haven't seen them, we have had lots of thunderstorms and huge amounts of rain, I hope she is ok

David, if you can afford the follow-up care- vet visit, neuters etc...then start putting out food near the location where you saw the kitten. Make sure you are feeding in a secluded area and not in the open. If it is dry now in the area- you can sprinkle a good amount of cat litter around the food so you can see what is coming to eat- looking at tracks etc- plus if it is the kitten eating, he or she will use the litter for a potty spot. J ust use plain clay litter not the clumping kind not good for the environment. Here is an article I just wrote. I hope you find it helpful for "next" time. Sadly, there are always "next" times.

http://www.catscenterstage.com/kitten-outside.html

WOW great article, I can afford to spay and vet another kitten. It is the same mom as Kabuki's The line about the Tom Cat is scary, I have seen him once with the mom. I will set out some food and some non clumping litter and see what happens, The kitten is old enough to have stopped nursing I believe.

thanks again, off to see if I can find the kitten

GREAT article, MA! Got that one bookmarked.

David - good luck!

so far nothing, no food gone no footprints.

Since it is night... Can you just take the kitten? Can you afford to adopt it? I would hate to have something bad happen to it...

Carolina, the kitten is no longer there, he's trying to attract it back with food.

Originally Posted by LDG

Carolina, the kitten is no longer there, he's trying to attract it back with food.

Click to expand...

Oh sorry Laurie, I missed that... Oh... I hope it is ok

I went back this morning, no footprints, and no food gone, I switched food and have my fingers crossed. Because of the area, the kitten and mom could be deep in the woods. The sad thing is with my last stray, I never saw any littermates at all. No more grown cats other than the mom and the dad. I fear this batch won't last. I suspect in the winter the parents have a home and the kittens just freeze to death. It is so sad

I don't know about the freezing to death. It doesn't get as cold here as it does there, but kittens born in spring, if they can find food, tend to make it through the winter. Cats are pretty resourceful. Sounds like the bigger threat is when they're young from the unneutered toms. They'd also be likely to be forced to move on to other territory by their mom once they're around 12 weeks old or so, so maybe they just move on....

I see no real point moving the food closer to the woods, but MA may disagree with me. We basically just feed racoons and skunks with food out late evening, so we can put food out up until dusk otherwise there's no food left for the cats to eat.