Rescued Feral Momma with 4 nine day old kittens

Hi, Thanks in advance for any advice. I have a sweet feral mom cat and her 4 9 day old (approx) kittens. She is hiding in the guest room closet; and has been for 24 hours and has not eaten, drank, or peed or pooed in that time. I tried to bottle feed her kittens (didn't eat much) and put eye ointment on their eyes, since they appeared oozy. Mom wouldn't come out of closet, so I put kittens in with her yesterday. They seem to be nursing ok, but I am concerned about mom's lack of food, and especially water. Also, the kittens are lying on a ceramic tile floor, and I am worried about that. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! I have never done this kind of thing before, and am quite ignorant.

Put an old towel in a box and put it in the closet. Put the kittens in the box. Make sure it's large enough for mom to maneuver without sitting/sleeping/stepping on the kittens, but small enough for her to feel safe. Put a litter box, food, and water in the closet, and hopefully momcat will use it all when you aren't looking.

Do you know if she's truly feral, or possibly a throwaway, lost pet, or something else?

The advices above are sound. You are also seeming to do all right.

This mom is not peeing or anything is a little unfortunable as she is nursing mom, but otherwise - entirely normal. Also many bough cats are very shy the first 1-2 days, not delivering nor intaking anything.

It will be better as soon she has landed, realized nobody is threating her and her children, and the people around are OK.


Look around the other threads here on the Ferales forum, look also among threads on the Pregnant and kitten forum. Several of them are quite alike yours.

Welcome to the Forums! Please, continue to report and ask!

Tx for helping them

Good luck!

Please don't use eye ointment on these kittens unless directed by a vet. Instead, apply warm damp compresses to the eyes daily (several times if need be) and PAT dry don't wipe. Don't try and force eyes open this can damage them to a great degree.

Give mom some people food- if she is an outside kitty she will probably go with cooked mushed hot dogs, bits of cooked hamburger, cream cheese stuff you find when you forage around. Feed her these, if she goes for it, then add these bits to canned kitten food, dry kitten food and see if you can get her to take some KMR as well she will need all the nutrients. If the room is warm and the tile isn't cold, then leave the kittens where they are just put some warm bedding nearby. Most strays don't know about padded beds. Straw would be best (and yes a bit messy) but she would move them to straw before a pillow is my guess.

Is mom acting all right? Does she move slow or act like she is pain? Have you contacted a vet yet to schedule a vet visit?

She finally ate today, and the kitten's eyes look much better- no discharge now. We got her and the kittens into a "cat condo" cage (with shelves so mom can get away from kittens when she needs a break.Still supplementing the kittens with bottles of kitten formula about every 4 or 5 hours (except at night). Mom was better, but has now regressed because of the move to the cage. There is a sheet over it so she will feel more secure, and I am hoping and praying the dear cat will get over all this trauma. I was afarid of leaving her in the closet because the kittens are getting more mobile and I didn't want to endanger them. The cat rescue lady recommended the cat condo cage. Thanks for all of your suggestions and keep your good thoughts coming this way for her and her babies!

Hi and I just posted to you on your thread in the health forum regarding this feral mom and kits. Sure hope mom is nursing the kits tonight

Just wanted to add my thanks and good vibes for mom and babies!