Is It Possible for Mommy Just to bring them to Me to Feed?

Actually- 40 degrees is not that cold LOL LOL for cats. Especially since she will be stressed and overheated from being that way. You don't want her to get too warm . I think the garage is a perfect idea and place for her to recover. This is what I do for the female feral spays. I bring a small carrier to the vet along with the cat in the trap. When they are done with surgery - they put the cat inside the carrier so when the cat wakes up she is inside the carrier. When I get home I have a large dog crate all set up and place the carrier inside of the dog crate. I take the door off of the carrier and the cat is still so out of it and is just too scared to move anyway. Then I close the dog crate door and leave her be for the night other than putting food in after about five hours. They usually let you feed/water and clean the litter box over the next twenty four hours. I usually release them after a couple of days. IF they are extremely stressed the day after the spay, I might release them early. But it is best to keep them for a two nights and then release in the morning hours. Good luck, Gloria AND even if a kitten goes in the trap with her - so be it. Then you can get that kitten done too at the same time.

Feralvr said:

Actually- 40 degrees is not that cold LOL LOL for cats. Especially since she will be stressed and overheated from being that way. You don't want her to get too warm

. I think the garage is a perfect idea and place for her to recover. This is what I do for the female feral spays. I bring a small carrier to the vet along with the cat in the trap. When they are done with surgery - they put the cat inside the carrier so when the cat wakes up she is inside the carrier. When I get home I have a large dog crate all set up and place the carrier inside of the dog crate. I take the door off of the carrier and the cat is still so out of it and is just too scared to move anyway. Then I close the dog crate door and leave her be for the night other than putting food in after about five hours. They usually let you feed/water and clean the litter box over the next twenty four hours. I usually release them after a couple of days. IF they are extremely stressed the day after the spay, I might release them early. But it is best to keep them for a two nights and then release in the morning hours. Good luck, Gloria

AND even if a kitten goes in the trap with her - so be it. Then you can get that kitten done too at the same time.

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Normally 40 degrees isn't considered "cold".    But you've gotta remember - we're in the desert - and we feel cold at 60 degrees.   These cats here endure up to 120 degree days - I don't know how, but they do.

But I get what you say about her possibly being overstressed and overheated so the 40 degrees may be just fine to her.  In the garage - so she won't be on the concrete floor, I'll put something down between her cage/carrier and the floor.

Thanks for bringing up the carrier idea - I had, faintly, remembered the small carrier inside the large carrier or kennel - the cat runs into the smaller carrier to hide when they get the food, water, and/or litter changed.

So, what you're encouraging me to do is dig that kennel out of Buddy's room, disinfect it ( leukemia virus) and prepare it to receive a smaller carrier with Pepper. ugh

I'll evaluate that against just keeping her in the trap for her time of recovery, because the trap recovery seems to have worked for me.  I have a divider that inserts into the trap to divide the cat from the part that I need to attend to.  But - there are advantages to using the two carriers, probably more advantages than keeping her in the trap.  I'm thinking here. 

This evening we're experiencing extremely strong winds - called hurricane strength.  Their food was trashed.  I can't leave it outside - sand covers the food - so, I propped the garage door (the side door, not the large door for cars) open and put food inside the door where the sand won't get to it as easily.

It occurred to me that this is a good step in getting the kittens familiar with going into the garage, as well as Pepper, so it won't be as strange to her and them.

So, tomorrow I'll begin the preparation of the carriers, and try something new - hopefully this wind will have subsided because I will need to wash the kennel outside and I don't want sandy mud all over it. 

That's all for now - gotta go give Buddy (Leukemia) some personal attention for the day.  

This is Buddy - the kennel is behind him.  I use the kennel to confine Buddy (his second home) when I need to go into his room and vacuum, etc.. Lately he has become a little more accepting of the vacuum and doesn't panic as much and doesn't need the kennel to hide any more.



I'll have to take it apart to get it out of the room, ugh!  It's so big, I don't know if I'll be able to find a place in the garage - but will definitely make an effort to use it.

Thanks, I guess.    Maybe you can tell, I'm kinda tired.  

Oh, re: kitten altered with mommy - they say they won't take two - the rules are one cat per family, per day ????  I'm thinking that they might make an exception if I cry.

Wow, those are some logistics. But since the kitties aren't weaning... maybe best to keep her in the trap in the garage, as you normally would??? :dk:

GloriaJH said:

Oh, re: kitten altered with mommy - they say they won't take two - the rules are one cat per family, per day ????  I'm thinking that they might make an exception if I cry.

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LDG said:

Wow, those are some logistics. But since the kitties aren't weaning... maybe best to keep her in the trap in the garage, as you normally would??? :dk:

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I agree with Laurie, then, make it easy on yourself. It sounds like that has worked for you very well in the past. :nod: AND it is only for a day or two... I totally get that "tired" feeling.

WOW - your kidding about one cat per family!!! That is a new for me. I have brought in four at once before There will be nothing you can do if the kitten gets in the trap with mommie. I guess crying would help at the vets too :rofl: Give it a go and let us know how this all turns out. Your a great lady, Gloria, for all you are doing for these kitties..... :heart3:

Tonight, March 21, 2012 I was able to capture the first kitten.

My stomach is in knots.

I withheld their food, and put a few pieces of raw chicken inside the trap, along with some of their regular Trader Joes canned chicken.

They circled the trap, started to chase a bug inside - almost releasing the trap door,

Then, showing little respect, climbed on top to take in the view.



I STILL HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THE MOMMY!!  She's the one I wanted - but I knew one of the kids would be the first takers, but I still hoped.!!

I think this is the one that I have - and it's probably a male - hoping for a female, but, oh well - will find out tomorrow.



He/she is a lot calmer than the calico I trapped in January.  

I have to be at Animal Samaritans before 7:30 a.m., it's first come first served, and they only take 5 a day.  ugh!

We've arrived at the Animal Samaritans around 7:14 a.m. - to help make sure that we are one of the first five selected for surgery.  I will pay $25.00. today I donated another $10 towards their spay/neuter program.  The feral born get altered and a rabies shot.

I really am very tired from all the work involved - caring for the others, and keeping him/her separated from the other usual inquisitive cats.  I got into bed around 1 a.m., and had a restless night trying to get to sleep.  Then this little one began crying around 5 a.m. - my heart was breaking hearing the little cries and I couldn't get back to sleep.  

Finally, it's 6 a.m., and time to get up and get ready to get to the hospital!

That's no fun, either - a lady came in with an orange tabby to be neutered. He started visiting her house, but she can't keep him - she already has 6.  She told the story of how wonderful he was - he even allowed her to bath him, & clip his nails!  I had to leave knowing that, at last resort, she will be trying to take him to our new Palm Springs no-kill facility, willing to claim that she can no longer keep him because of ?allergies?, or something ---  - my heart breaks more as she unzips the carrier and there's that big beautiful gentle yellow/orange cat - in need of a loving family.

Well, me having to release this one - who seems to have a very gentle disposition - is going to be difficult enough - I will be feeding and caring for it, but it will have to stay outside with all the unknowns.

I'll post later, after I pick him/her up at 2 pm, and report the sex. 

It's a girl!!  Ok, now I need a name.

She's home, in a quiet location, and looks good.  Looks like her clipped ear may have bled a little - hope there's not a problem if she breaks off the scab.

Now I have to refresh my memory on feeding, water, and when it's safe to release her.  Stitches on the inside, glue on the outside.

Update for Thursday night, 3/22/12 - approximately 8-10 hours after her surgery.

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She had her surgery on Thursday, sometime between 8 a.m., and 12 pm - guessing here because I dropped her off about 7:45 a.m., and picked her up around 2 pm.  She was not groggy when they brought her out, but calm.

I put her and her trap inside my husband's bathroom.  I put a carrier inside the tub, and a towel over the carrier, with the door of the carrier tied open.

I put a litter pan in the room - with Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter.  

The after surgery instructions were to withhold water until 8 pm., and no food until the next day (!). ( I still put down water a little earlier than 8 pm, and gave her a little canned food around 11 pm.)

I opened the trap door and left the room.  A little later I checked the trap, and sure enough, the kitten got with the program and was now inside the carrier in the tub.

Things were coming along really well.  We had a sliding screen door over the door opening, with the door slightly ajar - allowing for air flow and still private for her.

About 12:30 a.m., I headed for bed after feeding all the inside cats, and the outside cats.  That's when the fun started.  Our oldest cat had managed to open the screen door - I didn't notice until I started for the closet and saw a little gray kitten face looking at me.  sigh - a big sigh!

I got KiKi out of the kitten's room (aka bathroom), and then had to take KiKi and Phoebe into the living room and close them in there to keep them out of the action.  Simon was content just to stay up on the top shelf of the cat tree and watch all the activity below and not interfere with my re-capturing activities.

I managed to close off the hall, and prepare a path for the kitten to be herded back into her room.

I coaxed her out of the closet, then from under the bed. (btw my husband is sound asleep while I'm climbing under the bed with a flashlight)

By now little kitten is scared to death. ugh!

She finally ran into the bathroom, and I closed the screen door and secured it better.  I retrieved KiKi and Phoebe from the living room, and got ready for bed.  By now I am running on about 4-5 hours sleep since Wednesday night - when I trapped the kitten.

Phoebe and KiKi settled in their spots on the bed, and we started to finally try to get some rest.  HA!

I heard some stuff being thrown on the bathroom floor.  By now KiKi has stomped over my stomach to get to the screen door, but not before Phoebe was charging the door because the kitten was jumping on the door in an attempt to free herself.  Yeh, I had to get up now because she figured out how she might be able to get that door open again - thanks to KiKi's quick lesson, I'm sure.

When I went over to the door, of course she hightailed it to the tub.  I turned on the light to find my husband's stuff pushed off the counter and into the cat litter.  No laughing please - remember, I'm past being tired.  

You might ask why I had left all that stuff on the counter in the first place - remember how tired and non-thinking I am at this point. 

I began picking up the stuff from the litter, tooth brushes, electric razor, etc.  When I got that picked up, I went over to the tub to check on the kitten - huge mistake - she lunged out of the carrier after I adjusted the cover - and, well we really needed a fast movie camera.  

She literally climbed walls, she climbed the house robes hanging on the door, managed to dislodge the door stop with the door hinge pin, jumped on top of the towel rack with all my bath salts, etc., pulling all that off and on to the floor and ran around the room several times until she ran out of steam and landed under the toilet water tank.

WHAT A MESS!

I took the bath robes off the door hook, and threw them into the sink, covering most of the items on the counter, and took as much stuff out of the bathroom as I could.  I had wash cloths all over the place.  Boy, am I glad the toilet lid was closed!  But, now I have a lot more laundry to do than I had less than 15 minutes ago.

During her run-for-her-life all I could do was just stand there, in a small space and let her run herself down as I watched, praying that she wasn't hurting herself.  I couldn't leave the room, and I couldn't get away so she could settle down.  

I picked up what I could from the room, cleaned the rest of the stuff out her litter pan, etc., and left.

Finally, rest is near.  

Now the crying.  I got up again and reluctantly closed the bathroom door so her cries wouldn't be so clear & so I could get to sleep.

This morning I haven't heard a peep out of her - I hope she's okay!  I did give her some fresh food, and hopefully when I'm able to get a peek inside the food will be gone.

Well, that's my story - I try to expect the unexpected - but, once again - a cat outsmarted me. ugh.

I'm trying to keep her in until Sunday even though the hospital instructions said I could release her today - but after all the exercising she done I have to try and be sure she is healed enough - so am waiting.

I try not to think about the other 4 that I need to trap right now - it's just too much to consider.  

Feel free to chide me for not preparing the bathroom better, I deserve it. 

Oh, poor human....

Um, is there a reason you didn't leave kitty in the trap?  I do a fair amount of trapping, and always leave the cats in the trap until the next day, when I release them.  (These are feral/stray/dumped cats.)  That way they are forced to rest.  (Now, it's different for your own love bug; in Ritz' case, I let her out right away.  She wasn't too active, but I slept on the floor with her so she wouldn't be tempted to jump up into bed with me.)

And if you are reading this:  um, why aren't you in bed

Nighty night sleep tight don't let the bed bugs/cats bite.

LOL  

Thanks, I needed that!

Well, other than stupidity, I guess I could say that it worked for the last one, so I let her out into the bathroom.  But, now that I think about it, I did keep the calico in the trap a little longer - but, I had some waste products to clean up - so was motivated in letting this one out so she could use the litter pan.  

I thought I had done the right thing after I saw that she, indeed, unloaded her large amount of waste products into the litter pan, and not in her trap.

So, I guess - since the previous feral-born worked out so well in the same way, I anticipated this would not be different - and - this one seemed a lot calmer than the calico acted and was too optimistic in this case, obviously.

But, with cats ... .  

Of course, KiKi sure didn't help.  All he was looking for was food - the kibble kind - which he is not allowed to have.

I'm now in the bathroom on the floor, trying to console her and comfort her through this process. She was crying a little before I came in here.  It doesn't look like she's eaten anything - maybe she will later.  I've put down all the same foods I was feeding her before I trapped her - so I know she'll eat if she's inclined.

A couple pieces of raw chicken with juice, some Trader Joe's canned food, some Taste of the Wild kibble. 

Our FeLV - Buddy - was just now yowling - and she was mewing back each time.  Buddy has his own room, and he has always been very loud in there.  She might know his voice since I'm sure they were talking through the window for the last couple of months. (?)

I'm rambling - sorry - so in answer to your last sentence - I'm not in bed (it's only almost 11 pm here), because I have cat chores before I call it a night.

I have cats to feed, clean litter, and love on - all done by about 1 a.m..  Fortunately, I was able to get about 45 minutes of nap today.

I'm considering making a pallet on the bathroom floor - after all, the toilet is close by - what more does anyone need during the night?  

Only problem, my furry bed regulars might just miss my presence and take over my pillow if I'm not there. 

OK - back to getting the others fed, etc.  Her mommy and brothers are probably waiting for some more food, too.

Thanks for consoling me even tho' I sensed a little smirk on your face as you typed out your message.

oops, she's crying again, ugh.

P.S.  I'd guess it's unlikely that she'd let me examine her incision to see if she's ripped anything open.  Maybe it's a good thing she's crying, at least that may mean that she's okay and wants to get outahere!

Hope you have a wonderful, restful night.

Hope you got some sleep.

I don't have much experience with post-surgery complications, I would only see if Kitty excessively licks her wound.  "Excessively" defined as [shrug shoulders].  Maybe watch if she lays down different than before.

Good luck!  Youngems heal quickly.

Since she cried most of the night - well, I did get some sleep after I closed the bathroom door.

This morning I woke up with the idea of just releasing her into the garage this morning.

She looked good last night, and just wanted OUT!! I thought about releasing her then, her brothers were in the garage, so she could join them there.  But then, it would probably be better to release her in the morning when most of the cats are asleep and not roaming around  searching for food. (?)  I never thought of a good time to release them, but - daytime seems the best time with all things considered.

This morning her food didn't look like she touched it - so, my thinking is that she's too stressed to eat???

We have a cat door in the garage. I had it blocked open so the Pepper Family could use the garage for their safety, and nesting.  I have been feeding them in there.

So, this morning, I took the block out.  I am hoping that they will teach themselves how to use the door.

I have two litter containers in the garage.

I think the whole family was in there this morning.  One kitten was sitting on top of some shelving, watching me prepare the area for "Sadie".

I took out her food, then took her, in the carrier, into the garage.  Boy, was she telling me to hurry!! The others must have heard her yeowling before I released her - this was good to announce her arrival, I'm sure. 

As soon as I opened the door she shot out, and down the isle to the hiding places she's nests in.  (our garage is not a car garage, it's really our storage room, so there's plenty of places to have secret nests).  I didn't hear any complaining - so I guess the others recognized their sister.

A couple of times I peeked in the garage and the litter pan was being used.  That Dr. Elseys Cat Attract is great stuff!!

I've been checking in on the Family pretty often, just fed them part of their evening meal - don't know if it's been eaten yet, but I hope the little girl has decided she hungry now.

It's okay with me if they don't figure out how to use the cat door at least for one more day.  If I don't see anyone out tonight, I will assume that's the case.

I meant to take a movie of the release, but FORGOT!! grrrrr.

I don't know where I'm going to find the strength or energy to do this at least 4 more times, but if I don't, things could get a lot more out of control.  I know the two she hangs with are males, haven't seen the other one to know.  And then, there's still that mommy and getting her trapped  - not easy when there are 4 other hungry mouths to feed!

And, now, - one battle at a time even though the war is far from being won.  

ooooh, Safari crashed - will try this again ....

I just checked on them, and started putting their food in the dishes.  The usually dinner bell of dishes clanging brought one little head out to see what was for dinner.  Then another - it was Sadie's head, then another little guy wanted to see.  So that's three of the 5.  Didn't see mommy, or the other kitten.

Here's a pic of Sadie behind her brother.  Her clipped ear looks like there's a blood clot on it, I don't know, but that's what it looks like.



I'm happy to see that she had no problem getting back with her family even with all the new smells she must have had on her.