Feral Kittens Disappered

This is my first time posting but have been lurking for a while. Anyway, a mama cat and her kittens

have been living across the street from me behind a fence in a extremely heavy brush area.

I first noticed her a couple of months ago and knew she was nursing but she was extremely

emaciated. I fed her a lot and brought her back to health.

Then the kittens started coming out from under the fence and I knew she had weened them. There

were five and I fed them too. We have a TNR program here and contacted the Humane Society.

They said they wanted the kittens to get a bit older before they could fix them. 2 LBs is what they

said they need to be. So I let some time go by and contacted them again and they passed me

off to our city. They do it too I found out. Anyway, they came out, spotted one of the kittens and thought

he was too little and wanted to wait another week or 2.

I felt they were just blowing me off. So I decided to order my own trap. It is on its way. BUT, we

had a storm 3 days ago and she moved the kittens. She has done this before but has always brought

them back. This time she only came back with 2. Where are the other 3?

She lays around on my neighbors porch all day but no kittens in sight. Last night I spotted one

that she left behind and actually saw her come back for him.

So today she was under my husbands car but only had the 2.

I am so worried about the other 3. I have been feeding and caring for them since she weened them.

I would say they are about 12 weeks old now. I want to trap them but don't want to trap her alone

for fear they will just wait and wait for her to come back. Does that make sense? I watched

the one kitten she left behind and all he did was stay behind that fence and cry for her til she

returned. He wouldn't come out and eat or drink water.

I am wondering why the others don't follow her back here. It's breaking my heart. I am so attached

to them.

One of the cats my neighbors left when they moved gave birth. After a few weeks she started bringing her kittens over daily to where I was feeding her, probably to introduce them to reg food. One by one they disappeared. I was upset, she would call for them and they wouldn't come. I suspected that the guy hired to clean out the barn (of the neighbors that moved) took them. I hope they received a good home. Only thing I can say after 3 years of caring for the strays outside is that we can help make their live easier, but if they don't live inside we can't protect them completely. There are so many hazards in the wild. I adore my three who live on my property, but with four inside, I just can't bring them in. I worry constantly. You've done your best, good luck. I hope you find them.
 

I do know your worry and concern. We are all in the same shoes as feral caretakers. Honestly, it is hard to say what happened to the other three. I am sorry about that. I would absolutely go ahead and start trapping the mom cat and the two kittens. Otherwise, she will be getting pregnant again very soon OR could already be. :shame: We do the best we can for these little families. I do hope that you will see the other three or are somehow able to find them. It is possible that something has taken them :sobbing: either the storm somehow separated them. Makes my heart sad too.

Well its been 4 or 5 days now. The other 3  kittens are still missing. The mama and 2 kittens are really coming around

a lot now. We have had more severe bad storms and I have worried so much about them since the other 3 went

missing after the last storms.

Anyway, I got the trap in today. Husband tested it and it works great. Just need some advice first. The

the mama and kittens travel together. I can only get one at a time. If I trap one and the others see this, will

they flee never to be seen again?

Also what is the best setup for them. Should I keep them apart or put them all together in a large cage before

and after the spaying? Anything else I should be doing or need to know.

Thanks,

Melinda

I am sorry about the other three missing kittens. Such a worry now that they have been gone for so many days... :shame: I think at this point, I would try to make friends with those kittens and snatch them up first, if you can. You can use a medium carrier and start feeding them in that crate. Once they are comfortable eating inside the crate with you sitting nearby, just shut the door. Hopefully, you will get two kittens at the same time. :cross: Then you can concentrate on trapping mom. You can even set up both the trap and the medium sized crate. Just bait the trap and start feeding in the crate. I think you will have much luck in getting this little family inside. Again, sorry about the other three... OH here is an article that will definitely give you some more suggestions and advice. http://www.catnipchronicles.com/may2012/laurie.htm Keep updating and much, much luck with the captures. :cross:

Ok. I finally got my trap in. I trapped the mama. Good thing too because a tom has been coming around her for the last few days now.

She must be in heat again. I trapped him too. He's in a cage in the garage. He looks really rough. His face is pretty bloodied. I guess he has

been in a few fights. He's getting fixed with her on Monday. I have not seen the 2 kittens since I trapped her this

morning. Hopefully I will catch them too before Monday.

She's doing really well. I brought her inside. Haven't attempted to touch her but she's quiet and just chilling in the cage.

I'm wondering if she was someones house cat at some point in her life. I have been treating her for fleas for the last few months

so I don't have to worry about that. I just put capstar and program liquid in her food when I knew she was eating alone at

my front door. The kittens will be different story. But I have revolution for them when I get them trapped.

Wish me luck on getting the kittens. Hopefully they didn't take off for good since I took their mom

Hopefully someone else in your area traps/adopts to.  I was at the vet and got talking to someone who turned out to live blocks away and had been seeing my "missing" spayed feral.  She had set trap then released her seeing her ear was tipped.  Good job on the 2 you got-he getting Fiv/FELV tested?  Make sure to note he needs a clean up of wounds so they give him extra attention before he wakes.

Thanks yes, I was going to ask them to do the tests. It's the humane society thats doing it. They do the spay/neuter for free. Hopefully they will do it.

I feel they just do the bare minimum but I could be wrong.

On healthy looking ones I sometimes do just the neuter but any cat who looks worn/older I run it Fiv has shown up a few times so far and they were sickly and feral.  Though it is not an automatic death sentance if there is supportive care available.  I figure this is most likely its one shot vet visit and don't want cat to suffer.  Ends up hitting 150 or so if negative and bit more if positive to euthanize.

Maybe you can offer to pay part of the test fee/donate some supplies or time? 
 

I certainly do with you luck in getting the two kittens :cross: I am glad you have momma AND another tomcat as well. Yeah - the life of a tomcat is rough and they are always getting into fights. Poor guy. I hope things will work out with all of the kitties. I hope that by today you were able to trap the kittens.....

Ok, I got the 2 cats back today. They would not do the tests but they did give them all their vaccines. Ear tip and tatoo on the belly. Wasn't

expecting the tatoo part. LOL. They also gave them the Revolution I left there for them. I got some tapeworm meds from my vet. I want

to give it to them before releasing them. They also clipped their nails. I think they cleaned up tom cats wounds too. They told my

husband when he picked them up that the wounds will heal so I guess they weren't that bad.

I noticed on the sheet of paper they wrote that the female was in heat but not pregnant but to keep her away from males for at least 2 weeks.

I thought spaying her would fix that. No? She's still in heat?

Well maybe her sce3nt will still attract males who may mate with her and fight over her.  Last thing she needs with stiches and all.

Clipped nails on a feral to go back outside?  That is kind of sad if you offered to pay they would not test considering if you buy in bulk for the shelter animals the tests are cheaper anyways.
 

Clipping the nails was wrong? Oh no. As far as the tests, they said we are not set up to do that.

I have done all I can do. I will keep the female in for as long as I can. I may even keep her. Not sure yet. The 2 kittens finally came

around last night. They were starving too. I will try and trap them but only after the tom is gone. I just don't have room

for all of them at the same time. I want to do this right this next time. Its the first time I have ever TNR'd. Should I say

no the nail clipping with the kittens?

Well if you are planning to do release then say no.  If you are planning to keep in few weeks to tame/rehome say yes as you will get not deep scratches.  Cats will be fine but for future if cat is going out in day or two say no as really no reason. 

You can feed in a cage cup some dry food/and add water for 2 days through bars in a cage you have setup before the return.  Can get the cups online if need alot otherwise pay a bit extra at petsmart/store.  they sell them in bird/cat/dog sized (here is what I use- http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754647&lmdn=Crates+&+Kennels  .

I put it right under the diagnol wire so i have a few inches to work with and high enough so cat won't get to much debris in it.  A plastic 16 oz water bottle works to refill and a paper plate folded to make a funnel for the dry.

Put enough litter in so box is heavy enough and should last the few days hold you need.  The get to recover barely interacted with and can take the cage to the door and open and release  if it is in your yard.

Glad that the surgeries went well. I am so surprised to hear that they clipped nail. :slant: Yeah - we never clip nails when releasing back outdoors. But not to worry, they will grow back quickly. I also use the same cups as catsallaround :lol3: Those are great and easy to clean and good to use in the dog crates when socializing adult feral cats. I always use crates first until they calm down. After they are more acclimated to you then I transfer them to their new safe room with no hiding places that I cannot reach easily. If you decide to try to socialize her, the mom cat, then we will be here to offer help in any way we can! I hope the kittens are trapped quickly. :cross:

Also with the cage cups be careful of the ones with a wire ring-cat can knock them off and make a muddy mess with litter(main reason I use non scooping litter!) and have heard of them getting heads caught in ring alog with other animals.  Personally never used them so do not know.  Also get a stick or decortive cane for moving stuff around-feel safer if I have to get the box with a real wild one knowing if they bite stick there is a lot of give as opposed to metal.  Cane I have can with house it is VERY thin and the hook easily pulls moved bowls(meds added to wet food bowls that need to come out)
 

Update on my captured felines. Mama cat has recovered from surgery. The two remaining kittens have been trapped and we have had them now for

about a week or more. The setup we have at the moment is 2 x-large cages connected together. They sleep in one and use the other

for litter food and play. We do let the kittens out to play and socialize. Mama cat will not come out.

We are going to change this setup to move them to our guest room as soon as my mother who is coming to visit is gone. It took 2 days to catch these

kittens. The first one was easy, the 2nd one was trap savvy. He watched his mother, sibling and Tom get trapped and was not going to be part of that.

But we did get him. Now we have to retrap in our house to get him fixed. We easily got his sibling last night but could not get him. He was hiding everywhere.

He knew what we were up to. He wouldn't even go back into the large cage with his mother. So one is at the clinic and one is here. He did

eventually go back into his cage with his mother after hubby left with the sibling. I thought at the time it would be easier to trap him outside his

cage than inside so not to freak out the mama. Now I don't know what to do. We would like to get him dropped off as we pick up the other one.

Any ideas. He is slick and fast.

Sorry late in seeing this!!! All you have to do is put a small carrier inside of the dog crate with the carrier door open. Use a yard stick to then guide the kitten inside the carrier, then close the door once the kitten is inside with the yard stick. :lol3: YOu might have to break down the dog crates into one so there is not much room for the kitten to run about, so he chooses to run into the carrier to get away from the yard stick. Most times, they willingly go in because it is a hiding place. Then you slide the yard stick through the slats and through the other side. Open the dog crate and reach in and latch the carrier. I hope this makes sense, but it really works. You might have already been successful in getting in trapped by now as your post was from a day ago.

It is wonderful to read your update and so relieved that you have them indoors now, safe and sound!!! Great job