I really should know what to do but...help?

So one of the local strays has a litter of kittens behind my neighbour's garage and my DH just called wondering if they should move the kittens because the neighbours also have a big dog. Momcat is well known to all of us but VERY skittish, possibly feral.

For how many of these threads I read, I really should know what to do, but I think my brain's frozen up. Should we try to catch her? Should we try to bring the kittens into our yard? The neighbours are very worried about thier dog hurting the kitten... help?

Are you able to easily reach into the nest to grab the kittens? Can you trap the mom?
If the dog can't easily get to the nest, and if mama kitty can access it without being attacked by the dog, the best bet would be to let them stay where they are. Could/would your neighbors be willing just to contain the dog

Well...mom's moved them under our garage. This is a step up since the dog can't get them, but a step down since it means we can't get them either. At least it's probably the safest place for them. Mom's tiny. I doubt she's a year and there seem to be 3 kittens, maybe a week old. I got her to eat a can of food while I sat there, and she carried the last kitten to their new nest passing within an arms length.

So is it feasible that if we put food out for her we can convince her to trust us enough to bring us the kittens or is that just wishful thinking?

While I caution that we're in a very safe area for animals, what we do is put out kitten food for mom (we have to pick it up at night because of wildlife, but we put it out early and pick it up around dusk). We also keep water out.

Mom brings her kittens to eat the food when they're old enough. That's when you have to make the decision - start trapping or.... ???? We work from home, so we spend time outside, and kittens usually friendly up even if mom doesn't. They should stay with mom for 12 weeks, but better to take them a little earlier because they're more easily adoptable at that 8-10 week old age.

If you're SURE you know where the kittens are and ARE able to get to them, you can trap mom, set her up in a spare room, bring her the kittens, and care for all of them until the kittens are adoptable - then get mom spayed and release her back outside if she's too feral.

Otherwise, at around 8 - 10 weeks, when they're still really cute stage but fully weaned, crate or trap the kitties and foster them or get them into a foster network to get them adopted out, and trap mom to have her spayed and released.

If they are where we think she's settled them, they're completely inaccessible.

I guess we can put a bit of food out for mom and see if she comes and eats and hope she brings the kids. I worry more because 8 weeks from now puts us well into fall and those little guys aren't going to be very old when the winter starts to set in...ah well. Do what you can and don't borrow trouble, right?

If we can get them we will. Mom let me get close enough to see that she has an injured ear. No idea how bad it is, but she seemed less worried about me after 1 1/2 cans of food and she hasn't come out since, so I'm guessing she's full for tonight. I'll put everything back out before I leave for work tomorrow.

A regular source of food will keep her coming.

And you're right - do what you can given your circumstances. If you're in a position to nab them to foster, do so. We live in the RV with 8 now, so we either have to have someone ready to foster or we just have to work on finding them homes while doing our best with them outside.

Originally Posted by LDG

A regular source of food will keep her coming.

Click to expand...

It certainly did that.

Mom ate 1/2 a can of wet and about 4 servings of dry today. She ate everything I left down for her while I was at work, then she showed up to eat within a minute of me shaking her refill food and calling her when I came home. I hadn't even made it back to the porch yet when she appeared and she ate while DH and I hung out on the porch then curled up on the bricks near her food bowls and dozed while watching us for a good 20 minutes before heading back under the garage where she took the kittens.

Would it be better to keep feeding her the same dry as ours get (adult) or to pick up a small bag of kitten food for her?

As a nursing mum, kitten food would be really good for her.

When they're ready, she will bring them to the food, definitely! She sounds like she deserves a home too - she does not act like a feral (though feral moms can get friendly when they have kitties and you are helping them).

Well, Momcat is officially the oddest little stray I've had in the yard.

She comes by every day to eat, but she seems to be a grazer...she'll wander out 3-4 times during the day, munch, lounge on the garden slabs, then vanish. She seems very comfortable in the yard, but so far doesn't seem to want anything to do with people.

Is the grazing odd? She's the only stray I've seen who doesn't wolf down her food...and she did for the first few days, but she seems to be eating a much more reasonable amount. She's the only stray who hasn't made it inside within a few days, so I'm not sure this is normal or not...

Could be she's a feral that grew up around friendly people. We've had a few of those. They didn't quite trust people, but had obviously been fed fairly regular by who-knows-who, and never scarfed down the food, but knowing that at least dry food is out to nosh on all day, they eat more in sync with their natural instincts, which are many small meals a day.

Makes sense.
Most of the strays in our area would likely fit into this category. One of the houses down the road used to 'rescue' (put out tons of food, trap as many cats as possible on the screened in porch, wait for kittens, then sell the kittens ). They were shut down a year or so back, but the result is a number of strays in the area who are okay with being fed by humans, but have had zero socialization.
If nothing else, I hope Momcat can eventually get comfortable enough that we can grab her and the kittens, even if she's never social, at least she wouldn't be out there having more and more kittens...