My female cat has decided to run off somewhere with her kittens

this female cat has been living at my house for a few months and ive been feeding her and letting her stay in my back yard/under the house. She has made herself a home here and just gave birth to two kittens, they are 6 days old and i have been keeping an eye on them 
Thing is, out of nowhere she has decided to move them somewhere else now. It was raining/storming for 3 days straight and not once did she bother to move elsewhere because where she was nesting was behind my garage and there is little shelter there, so i had to put a tarp up so that the rain wont get to them as much. Now today/tonight it didnt rain, and only now shes decided to move which seems odd to me because she knows shes getting looked after here and gets plenty food and water. I was just wondering if anyone here has had the same experience and if there cat has come back with the kittens at any point back to the "nesting" spot.  

I'll move this to the Strays and Feral forum. :bigthumb:

Aw, how kind of you to care for her. And sometimes it takes that one pregnancy to learn how important it is to trap them and have them spayed if you're going to care for them. :heart3:

Outside cats often move nests. They do this if they feel threatened in any way.

At this point, the best thing to do is to continue to put out food in the same place and at the same time you did before. She may come to eat, even if you don't see her. And she'll likely bring her kittens around when she begins weaning them. :nod:

As we trap, spay/neuter, and return the cats to where the were trapped for release, we've had very few pregnant females. But we have had cats we didn't know about show up with kittens. The family has disappeared on excursion as mom teaches kitties how to hunt, but in our experience, they do come back.

If you can't foster the babies once they're 8-10 weeks old, and work to get them adopted out, I'd work on finding a foster network - or a shelter with fosters - that will be able to take them. I'd also search for a low-cost spay/neuter program. :nod: Spaying her is the only way to stop the cycle of homeless kitties. :heart3:

I second what Laurie says . Thanks for caring for this mama and her kttens. It is very common for mom's to move the kittens, especially to keep any "predator's" off of the scent of the nest and if something she feels is threatening them. I hope she comes back and you are able to TNR her and her kittens so they won't all start breeding hno: Let us know if you need any suggestions in the trapping department :bigwink: and hope she comes back soon

Thanks guys means alot you gave some good replies. The original plan was that i was just going to keep an eye on them and look after them until 5-8 weeks i was going to bring the kittens in to my house and start looking after them here till i could give them away to good homes. But now that the mother (Missy) has run off with her kittens and looks like they are long gone because i looked everywhere round my house where they could be but no sign oh them anywhere so i think they are pretty far away because ive been tapping on a tin of cat food and usually Missy comes running out. So unless they decide to come back, i cant look after them or do much now =/ i just prey to god they they will all be ok and safe. Just sucks as well because i was looking forward to taking care of them as i was for the last 7 days hah i love cats i love animals and this is my first little "rescue" i was able to do but it is much harder with strays or ferals and i would of loved to bring Missy and her kittens into my house if that were an option but unfortunately it couldnt of been because Missy was very protective with her kittens and wouldnt allow anyone near them let alone touch them or even let anyone touch her for that matter hahah it was very rarely that Missy would let me pat her at times so yeah, it has been one crazy (cute) little experience =) i just hope they come back soon 
By the way.. sorry for my essays. This seems like a pretty cool forum site. 

Well, she has no reason to come back if you don't put the food out.

BUT... if you don't plan to spay her when her kitties are raised, it's best you don't put the food out. :heart3: It really is best not to feed stray/feral cats if you're not going to be trapping them to have them sterilized. :nod: :rub:

And as far as the kitties go, when rescuing, it's really best to try to move the pregnant mom inside to a room of her own to have the babies inside OR to just then wait until the kittens are about 8 weeks old before trapping them to foster them. They make much better pets if reared by their mom and taught their "kitty manners." (In fact, they really should be left with mom until they're 12 weeks, but that rule of thumb works best if they're born inside and being handled by a human from day 1 or 2).

And when it comes to ferals/strays, the best way to "move them" around is with a trap. If you ever face the situation again, the first step in rescuing is trapping and taking the kitty to be spayed or neutered! If too far pregnant, then you can release her in a safe room in your home to foster her and her babies when she has them. :nod:

A final thought for future rescues, or if she turns up with her kitties... when adopting out kittens, it is always best to charge SOMETHING, and we've found it's very important to both have an adoption application (check vet references at a minimum!), and an adoption contract. We can provide links if you need them. You want to know they're going to a home that's serious about wanting them and will be able to take care of them. :nod:

Vibes she and her babies will be OK!

I think missy has abandoned her kittens OR something has happened to them. She is always here at my house or under the house now in the last few days =/ when normally she would come and eat her dinner or lunch and then go straight back to them without delay. Today i finally got to follow where she goes after she ate but to my surprise she just went back under the house just sitting there for few mins then went under the cars that are here under my carport and was just goofing round and staying here.. i thought i was going to be able to see where she has them now but for some odd reason she is just not as attentive or protective as she used to be (IF the kittens are still alright that is..). Argh well this blows hah.. i feel terrible if something has happened to the kittens. And whats worse is that i am honestly very disappointed in the mother because how can she have gone from being soo protective and loyal and caring being very attentive to her babies to go to staying round here and never going to them now. I think something seriously has happened to them or she could of abandoned them even though makes no sense.. what, she just up and leaves with her kittens one day and just dumps them who knows where, just to abandon them? And funny thing is, whether its abandoned or something bad happened, either way both are just as bad! because the kittens are done for if either one happened! naturally the kittens would not survive either way unless someone with a good heart has happened to have found them and look after them if they are still alive right now.. 
Or maybe (hope to god) they are some where safe and doing ok and she still goes to them but just lot less now.. 
Who knows... BUT there is something i was actually wondering also, if anyone here has had a stray cat who has had kittens, come to your house with the kittens to be fed when they are weaning off the mothers milk? just out of curiosity 

Aw :heart3:

It could very well be she never relocated them, but something got them.

There have been a lot of posts about stray mother cats over the years, and they will almost always bring the kittens back to the food source when they're weaning, if they're OK. :heart3:

OH no I fear something has taken the kittens hno:. OR, as you mention, it is possible someone else took in the kittens :cross:. We can hope, right??? :nod: for those little babies :shame:

I wouldn't count them out yet..  When we were feeding a stray cat with kittens, she'd hang around our house at times for a couple hours during the day without the kittens.  When they were around 6 weeks old she'd bring them to the food we put out, but only at night.  I never saw them come to eat but set up a motion sensor infrared camera that caught the action, they were coming all throughout the night multiple times.  Sometimes as early as 9pm, sometimes as late as 4am.  The mother cat never brought all of them to eat at once either, only two at a time (there were 4 total).

Laurie, so is it better just to ignore them? We have 5 cats, 4 of of whom were strays and my husband discourages any other cats from coming into our backyard (we've had as many as 7 cats). He does not want any other cats to look after. Some of my neighbors feed the many stray cats on our street, but they don't have the funds or the initiative get those cats fixed.

So are you saying it's better not to even feed stray/feral cats if one doesn't plan to have them fixed?

I don't really understand what you're saying. You're feeding 4 outside stray cats? Or you have five pet cats? Did you have the cats you're caring for sterilized?

But yes, I'm saying it's best not to put food out for cats if you have no plans to trap them and have them sterilized. You help them be healthy and strong for breeding, contributing to more homeless unwanted cats. Feeding keeps them there, where if people who aren't sterilizing aren't feeding, the cats keep looking for food, and may find their way to a colony where cats are being fed and trapped and sterilized.

You're in CT? What county? There are a lot of spay/neuter programs in CT, and depending where you are, I think some are free. As people there care about the cats, there's really no way to organize getting them trapped? Take turns transporting them to a clinic? :dk:

Primula said:

So are you saying it's better not to even feed stray/feral cats if one doesn't plan to have them fixed?

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Yes, please do not put food our for feral/stray cat's if you don't intend to follow through with trapping and sterilization. It is just not right as you are just supporting their breeding, helping them stay healthy and adding the the already huge over-population dilemma in this country. :nod:

I am also a bit confused, as Laurie is, are these YOUR cat's OR are these all cat's that you feed as strays ..... If they are strays/ferals, the right thing to do is to trap them and get them in to be fixed. Contact your local TNR organization (Trap-Neuter-Return) for assistance.

LDG said:

I don't really understand what you're saying. You're feeding 4 outside stray cats? Or you have five pet cats? Did you have the cats you're caring for sterilized?
But yes, I'm saying it's best not to put food out for cats if you have no plans to trap them and have them sterilized. You help them be healthy and strong for breeding, contributing to more homeless unwanted cats. Feeding keeps them there, where if people who aren't sterilizing aren't feeding, the cats keep looking for food, and may find their way to a colony where cats are being fed and trapped and sterilized.
You're in CT? What county? There are a lot of spay/neuter programs in CT, and depending where you are, I think some are free. As people there care about the cats, there's really no way to organize getting them trapped? Take turns transporting them to a clinic?

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Laurie, I was only asking a general question re feeding strays. We are doing everything we can for  our cats and yes, they are all fixed.
 

Feralvr said:

Yes, please do not put food our for feral/stray cat's if you don't intend to follow through with trapping and sterilization. It is just not right as you are just supporting their breeding, helping them stay healthy and adding the the already huge over-population dilemma in this country.

I am also a bit confused, as Laurie is, are these YOUR cat's OR are these all cat's that you feed as strays

..... If they are strays/ferals, the right thing to do is to trap them and get them in to be fixed. Contact your local TNR organization (Trap-Neuter-Return) for assistance.

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I don't know why you and Laurie are confused. I said we have 5 cats, 4 of whom originally were strays. My post clearly said that my husband doesn't encourage any other strays in our backyard as we have had as many as 7 cats to look after. In other words, we don't feed any cat that we are not prepared to take care of.

Nothing we are doing is "not right", thank you very much.
 

Primula said:

 
Laurie, I was only asking a general question re feeding strays. We are doing everything we can for  our cats and yes, they are all fixed.

 


I don't know why you and Laurie are confused. I said we have 5 cats, 4 of whom originally were strays. My post clearly said that my husband doesn't encourage any other strays in our backyard as we have had as many as 7 cats to look after. In other words, we don't feed any cat that we are not prepared to take care of.

Nothing we are doing is "not right", thank you very much.








 

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I was not implying that you were "not" doing what was right with your cat's. I certainly had no intention to make you feel bad. I was stating, generally speaking, that "the right thing to do is to TNR any stray/feral cats IF someone is going to feed". It wasn't clear to me if you had four stray cat's and one outdoor, if they were indoor or outdoor. And now I understand that you have 5 adopted pet cat's, 4 of whom were strays. Also, confusing was your mentioning that you once had seven cat's, and I know that being a caretaker of outside cat's the numbers can change at any given moment.

If your 5 cat's live outdoor's, then you have to feed them outdoor's too and that in itself will attract the strays to come around.. But if your 5 cat's are indoor only, then do not put food outside for the stray/feral cat's and they will stop coming around.

To Livy90 - sorry for getting off subject here. More for those kittens and hoping that someone just took them in :cross:

Primula said:

 
Laurie, I was only asking a general question re feeding strays. We are doing everything we can for  our cats and yes, they are all fixed.

 


I don't know why you and Laurie are confused. I said we have 5 cats, 4 of whom originally were strays. My post clearly said that my husband doesn't encourage any other strays in our backyard as we have had as many as 7 cats to look after. In other words, we don't feed any cat that we are not prepared to take care of.

Nothing we are doing is "not right", thank you very much.

 

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I don't know why you're offended. I certainly didn't mean to offend you, but your post wasn't clear at all as to whether you adopted the cats, are just caring for them, whether they're indoor or outdoor or what. Perhaps that's because all of our indoor-only pet cats were feral rescues, and we have four regular feral cats we care for outside. Do I have 12 cats? Or do I have 8? For all I knew, you were feeding four strays and had one indoor only pet or something. So no, not clear at all, and I don't like to make assumptions.

You asked a question, we answered. :dk:

You didn't answer this though:

You're in CT? What county? There are a lot of spay/neuter programs in CT, and depending where you are, I think some are free. As people there care about the cats, there's really no way to organize getting them trapped? Take turns transporting them to a clinic?

I'm happy to help find clincs if you think there's any point in talking to the neighbors about a neighborhood effort.

LDG said:

I don't know why you're offended.

 

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When did I say I was offended?

Primula said:

...Nothing we are doing is "not right", thank you very much....

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Sorry if I misread your response. When just reading and writing, it doesn't come with a tone of voice. But you "sounded" upset.

lol why is there a "cat fight" here 

livy90 said:

lol why is there a "cat fight" here 

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Cat fight Where...:dk: LOL "cat fights" happen :lol3: Hope all is well with Missy :cross: