Trapping a possible Mom

Hi everyone, I have a small population of ferals outside my house I feed. One in particular I have gotten quite partial to. I suspect she is a stray and not a true feral. She meows and the others do not and she will eat right next to me if I put her bowl on the ground instead of her cathouse. I am dying to trap her so she will not be bothered by the aggressive Tom cat in the colony. (He is much more allusive and not on a regular feeding schedulue so trapping him would be almost immpossible) The problem is she has seemed to have lost some weight in the last couple months since she 1st started comming. Her belly has alot of xtra skin but up close I cant see any teets. I have climbed through the woods through the thick brush where she lives and thought I heard kitten meows. My question is, should I trap her and look for teets and if I see them wait? She comes at 2:00pm and I'd have to leave her in the trap until 7am til I could get her spayed. That would be entirely too long to be away from any kittens she might have. Im afraid of having to trap her twice b/c she might not trust me anymore.

Do you know when the typical kitten season is in your area? In my part of the country, spring kittens start arriving in early April and continue thru mid May. If she's had kittens, she will most likely start to show up with them in the next few weeks. Now is a good time to have her spayed, as she will go back into heat probably about the time her kittens (if she's had them) are weaned.

You have a couple of options. If she is friendly, you could restrain her for a short time by scruff / holding her and feel her teets to see if she is nursing. You can wait a few weeks to see if she shows up with kittens then trap her then.

I've not had difficulty retrapping the more friendly ferals in the past, but I totally understand your concern about the possibility of trapping her a second time if she is still nursing kittens.

If it were me, I would scruff her and feel her to see if she is nursing. It might be very possible to do if she doesn't run from you when you feed her.

HI !!!! How nice of you to be caring and trying to help these cats. I would worry that she has kittens too, and if they are just days or a couple of weeks old, trapping her now would not be a good idea. She should not be away from them and if she has surgery, nursing will be a problem after that as well, the incision..... So I would suggest waiting and try to make friends with her like you are doing, just keep trying to follow her, if she will let you. Also, if you can start petting her, maybe she will allow you to pet under her tummy to feel for her teets. But, only try to touch under her tummy if she is very friendly and enjoying your petting in the first place. Don't get yourself hurt, scratched or bit. If you think she has babies, then you might be right and need to wait a bit longer to trap her.

BTW - trapping ferals and taking them into get TNRd seems to make them bond with you. Funny, I know, but I have found this to be true. They see you as their savior when you pick them back up at the vet and release them back into their territory. They start to trust you more.

Originally Posted by Feralvr

just keep trying to follow her, if she will let you.

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Are you talking to her alot, with a low and friendly voice? If not, do it. It is quite potent.
I got thinking on a coworker of mine, who was in a somewhat similiar situation. She did friendly talk a lot...The first time the mom cat led her astray 2 kilometres away... But the other time, mine coworker was led to the nest.





Friendly toms who do court use a lot of friendly voices. Other toms do take what they want. So she surely knows the difference who is friendly and who is not.

Good luck!


ps - when you are done with this project, I think your next project should be this aggressive tom... Even if it not easy to trap him, but should be done.
Observe you must have thick glovers and thick jacket, he may bite, and such cats are very strong when desperate.

Thanks everyone, I havent been able to touch her yet, but when I call her she runs right to me. I work with her a little everyday. The woods where she lives is so hard to get into b/c someone dumped a ton of branches and brush! She's been hanging in my yard for hours, if she had kittens would she be here so long? I have 3 ferals that live indoor now and Im hoping to keep this beautiful Tortie if she does well while recovering. I've seen her and the Tom hanging out (they might even be brother and sister) so needless to say im worried. Im thinking maybe I could trap her and check for teets through the cage.

AW she sounds sweet . If she is hanging out that long in the yard, I would wonder about kittens too. Just keep making friends with her, at this rate you might be able to pet her any day now that would be wonderful for her to become part of your family You have a big heart and I pray this all works out the way you want