Pics of Raku

Sicy, I haven't been able to pet her, but she will eat the food even if I'm just a foot away. My other ferals that I take care of won't let me get within 10 feet. My best guess is that someone owned her mom, let the mom have kittens, and then for whatever reason dumped them all in this business area. It would make sense that the mom (who looks like a purebred) must have been owned, because you're just not going to see too many purebred ferals. Also, there are at least two others that look exactly like Raku, so that's why I'm guessing that the whole family was dumped. Most likely Raku recieved some early socialization, but spent most of her life on the streets. This is my best guess from what I've seen.

Hissy, I'm trapping her tonight, and bringing her to my friend's house. I REALLY hope she doesn't give birth between now and tonight! By the way, now that I know my friends are excited about this rescue, it shouldn't be a big deal to leave Raku with the kittens for the full 12 weeks.

Good luck Glentheman20 catching Raku , hope and pray she will go into the trap .

Positive Feral Catching vibes coming to ya from Colorado!

Woohoo! The cat's in the bag! Well, she's in the friend's bathroom, anyway. Thanks for the positive vibes and prayers, I'm now a believer in board magic.

I got to the feeding site at about 8:30, armed with a live trap and stinky sardines-in-oil. As soon as I pulled up she came running out, as usual, but when I set the trap up she seemed a little cautious. Last week I had her eating out of the trap (with it wired open) and she was totally comfortable with it. But, being a cat, she somehow knew that something was different. After I had the trap ready I walked away, but instead of going in she followed me. It was like she was saying, "Okay, nice trap, now where's my REAL food?" So, I went back and put in some kibble, hoping that the sound of the kibble hitting the plate would make her more comfortable since she was used to that. Strangely enough, the last two cats I've trapped I got by just putting kibble in. The underlying guideline of trapping cats is consistency, consistency, consistency. She went around to the back of the trap, sniffed, looked at me, and then finally went in. She was eating the food, but the trap didn't go off at first. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking of rushing the trap to try to get her to quickly try to escape and set off the trap, but I didn't want to scare her. However, just a couple of seconds later she shifted around and it closed shut. I got my old car shade so I could cover the trap. She was doing the normal thing, bouncing off the walls. She calmed down pretty quickly, though. On the way to the house, I put on some classical music. Don't know if it calmed her down any, but I heard it can help so what the heck.

When I got to my friend's house, they were all ready for her. The youth pastor guy came out, and the first thing he noticed was how cute Raku is. Oh yeah, since I got a good look at her, I realized she is one good looking kitty! His girlfriend came out and also cooed over how pretty she is, and Raku actually reminds her of an old cat she had (she loves Siamese). They cleared out the cubbard in their bathroom, which is actually pretty spacious. I put the litter box by the toilet, as far as possible from the food and water. They put a towel in the cubbard for bedding. The whole time she was looking around, not hissing at all (probably too scared). We all noticed that she seemed unusally calm. After everything was ready, I closed the door and opened the cage. She came out right away, walked by the litter box, went behind the toilet, and ended up hiding behind the hamper. It was not ideal, because that was right next to the door, which I would have to hold open wide to get the trap out of there. But, she was content to stay where she was, and I got out and closed the door. My friends are excited about it, and looking forward to the kittens. I'm so relieved that so far everything has worked out. When I get a chance I'll get some pics. Thanks so much for everyone's support and advice.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!!

I'm so glad it went so well!!!! And I am a total believer that cats sense when things are up.... but you're right, consistency is the key.

She was probably just scared - but so many cats so often seem to know you're trying to help them. This seems to be especially true of pregnant females.

We'd love updates, as you know, and again, congrats! I can't believe her new or temporary "mum" was a vet assistant. You really can't ask for a better situation.

YIPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW - have you been working on trapping the other cats yet? Or were you waiting to take care of Raku before embarking on that project?

yea yea yea

Way to go Glen!

Laurie, unfortunately the other project fell through. Because the cost of a neuter in Milpitas has gone up from $5 to $30, the owner of that building is no longer willing to do it. I pointed out some other resources for them, like Fix our Ferals, but at this point I'm not sure what they want to do. Basically, all the low cost programs in the California Bay Area have dried up (at least for this month, I'm not entirely sure how the funding works). I called all of the vets listed as low cost and they all said that they aren't doing it for now. However, the co-owner (the wife) said if they were only going to neuter the one female in the colony, then they might go for it. I'm kind of washing my hands of that situation for now. It sucks because they are still feeding all of the cats, but I've done my part in explaining the TNR process and giving him some options. They gave me their number, so I can keep up with what's going on.

For now, though, I'm going to shift my focus to Raku and the two black ferals I haven't been able to get yet.

Hey Glen , maybe you should go with spaying the female . At least she would not have any babies any more . Then you can see how you can manage the others . Just an idea to think about .

Just caught this thread - also have worked with ferals for the last 10 years.

Please have your friend be very careful with Raku during and after her delivery. I have seen a non-feral mom attack and bite a stranger that tried to approach her kittens the day of her delivery. Raku will be stressed in her new environment, and her behavior could be unpredictable. Labor can be very painful for a cat and you don't know if Raku has ever experienced this before. A first time mom doesn't fully understand what they are going thru with labor and birth and are often stressed out.

I have seen feral moms abandon their young as early as 10 weeks. They can go into heat when the kittens are as young as 8 weeks. As long as they are inside your friend's house, pregnancy and early separation shouldn't be an issue, but if for some reason you need to put her back outdoors early, suggest you get her neutered ASAP. Kittens can be fully weaned at about 6 weeks, and they only nurse longer for comfort and nutrician. The earlier you start feeding them kitten food, the earlier you can start to get them away from their mom.

I personally don't wait 12 weeks to take them away from mom. I do it as soon as they are weaned for a few reasons: 1) I give them good kitten food at regular intervals (ferals don't always catch enough food to properly feed their weaning kittens), 2) they don't pick up as many feral habits from their moms, 3) I can work on human socialization in earnest, which gives me a higher chance of adopting them to good homes, 4) the queen that delivers at my house always abandons her kittens shortly after weaning (which is why I haven't been able to TNR her), not waiting the proper 12 weeks.

You have done great thus far - I have not been able to bring in feral moms at my house. I have gotten them into my back porch quarantine area and watched them go ballistic. For their health, I let them back outside, then work on the socialization as soon as mom brings them to us (usually in 4-5 weeks).

Good luck - this is really great of you to do all of this!

Mom of many, thanks for the advice, it's great to hear your view on things. I didn't consider that the mom might teach the kittens her ferals ways if left with her too long. I also worry that she will be too stressed to properly care for the kittens. My hope is that in the short time Raku is there she'll learn to trust us, as she trusted me pretty quickly (but that was on her terms in her territory). The person I talked to at Fix Our Ferals actually said it would be okay to take the kittens at 3 weeks, which seemed quite early but she was saying that at least the kits would be familiar with people. I won't be doing that, but again it was good to hear another view. I guess in her situation you have to get the cats in and out as quick as possible because there's always more to help. For us, we have ample time so we'll play it by ear.

I did warn my friend not to approach Raku, and to basically leave her alone because she is liable to strike out. I'm itching to get off of work so I can stop by with a full supply of kitten food and to check up on her. I REALLY hope she used the litter box!

To further explain my comment on "ferals don't always catch enough to feed their young": my current queen is given all the catfood she can eat but actually prefers to hunt for mice to give to her young.

If she is calm once her kittens are delivered and is relatively stress free while she nurses, by all means keep them together for the full 12 weeks. Just interject yourselves on those little guys as often as possible - even if mom isn't keen on humans, get those babies to love you.

3 weeks is too young for separation, unless you want to take full responsibility for feeding, elimination, grooming, litter box training, etc. It's a 24X7 job that you must commit to. We've done it when a mom died, and while highly educational, not recommended if there are other options. Imagine 4 squirmy restless bundles of fur needing to poop all at the same time, and only YOU can help them. Yup, 3 weeks is too young for separation. LOL

I found this website today on tips to socializing feral kittens. Some good information here.

http://www.feralcat.com/taming.html

Thanks for the link, I'll pass it on to my friends as well. Just a brief progress report; Raku didn't eat or drink all day! She also didn't use the litter box. I'm not shocked, though. I understand that even under the best circumstances a cat won't do anything for a couple of days due to stress. My friends went in a couple of times and talked softly to Raku, but she's just terrified. When I went in to give her more food, she was hiding behind the toilet, her rear facing me. I was pretty bummed. I hope she comes around soon. At what point should I worry? Oh, they offered her tuna, just to try to jump start her appetite, but to no avail.

Glen - sorry for being a dummy, but isn't your friend's wife a vet assistant?

Being pregnant, she needs to eat. And especially under stress, cats dehydrate quickly. I assume she's been eating or drinking by now?

Laurie, she used to be a vet tech when she still lived in Seattle. But, that's a moot point. Raku got out of their house! I TOLD them to keep all doors and windows closed because she would try her best to get out. They just told me today when I saw them at church. Apparently she escaped on Wednesday (not sure why they didn't give me a call). They said a window was open and that's how she got out. I was pretty pissed, but at the same time they were nice enough to open up their home as a favor to me so I can't really be too mad at them. It was a mistake.

This is definately the worst case scenario; she's out in unfamiliar territory and she's more pregnant than ever AND she knows the humane trap, so I don't think that's going to work again. The only good news is that my friends put out food and water, and something is eating all the food at night. They said that there aren't many cats around that area, so there's a good chance it's Raku eating it. I really hope she's staying around, though traditional wisdom says she'll try to head back to her original territory (it's about 20 miles away!). I'm thinking of making a drop trap and getting her back inside that way if she's still around. This is so frustrating; I finally was able to trap her and I actually found a place for her to give birth, and now this happens.

Well, being a Christian, I have to believe that God has a plan for this cat. I don't think I would have come this far just to lose it all because of an open window. Maybe by escaping briefly she at least starting eating again. I don't know, I'm still in a state of disbelief.

Oh No Glen- I have been following this thread but haven't replied.

I have no experience with ferals but have been breeding persian cats since 1999 so no alot about birthing kittens.

Raku is such a cutie and I'm so sorry she escaped, I would be pretty pissed at your mates as well.. I mean you went thru all that stress and then she escaped.. gawd!

I'll keep her in my thoughts and pray you catch her again.

Keep Us Updated & Good Luck

Sam

Glen , I am sorry to read that she escaped .I think it is good that your friends are feeding outsite , It may be her eating . Lets hope she is eating there . Maybe one day she will bring the kittens there to feed und you all will have a change to catch the kittens some how .My prayers are with her and her kittens

Yeah, it sucks. I put a lot of effort in to trap her and was so excited that I found a place for her to stay. However, in the three days she was there she didn't eat anything. It's possible that she's so feral that she just can't handle being inside at all. I really hope she's the one eating; if it were me, I would be looking out the window at all hours to make sure it's her eating.

At this point, I just don't think bringing her back in is the right thing to do, if she's going to be so stressed she won't eat. I guess the next best option is to wait for her to bring her kittens around and then snatch them up and try as much as possible to socialize them. I still think that it was good to relocate her, because if I can get the kittens that's where'd they'd go anyway.

Mmmmm So True.

I hope Raku is one eating the food and your friends see the kittens- Hope yah catch them.

Sam