Kittens in the bathroom

dunnyboy69

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Background....I live on a farm and work next door in a communal office space. All very rural!

At about 5 o'clock this afternoon (about 6 hours ago), I got a call asking whether my cats had kittens and, if so, whether one had disappeared as a little black kitten had been seen in the hedge between my farm and the office. I answered 'no' - I'm currently without cats (other posts on this subject elsewhere) - but I had had a few presents left on the farm recently!

Anyway, I offered to lend them my trap to help catch the kitten and offered it a safe barn for the night.

Fast forward 6 hours and I have 4 kittens in my bathroom. There are 2 black ones, 1 b/w one and 1 tabby, the first caught (this was the one that made us realise there was a whole family). Actually caught the last 2 together!

A mother cat has also been seen and we believe there may be one more tabby kitten. We are estimating they are 9-10 weeks old - reading through posts on this site over the years, this seems to be the time when Mum lets them venture out. They all look healthy - the tabby is a bit of a runt, I'd say.

Upon catching the first one and realising there was obviously a family around, I immediately kitten proofed the en suite bathroom, put in a couple of litter trays, some goats milk, some food (I only have adult stuff at the mo) and have gradually been adding kittens every hour or so.

The kittens are clearly terrified (only one of them, the first black one, made any squeaking for mum noises) and I've been in the bathroom to check for them and three of them are huddled together in one corner with the black and white one hiding behind the loo. They haven't touched the food yet.

I'll answer the obvious questions first: yes, am still trying to trap Mum and any remaining ones and no, I don't want to keep them! I think the plan will be to try and get them to the vet in the next 48 hours and get in touch with a local shelter. Am sure they are inundated but if they won't take them then I'll take the onus and see how we go untik I can find them good homes. Given that the kitties were going for wet food, am sure they are weaned and I guess I should try to spend as much time with them as I can. How long till they warm up to me? I reckon 4-5 days ..... but I might be miles out. I must dig out the wand toys!

Any and all recommendations accepted! Am sure we are doing the right thing here....I love ferals (am about to adopt 2), but if a cat can have a good life, it should have it and so while I don't like the fact they aren't with their Mum at the moment, at least they are safe. I suspect Mum is pretty feral....now her I might adopt!
 

feralvr

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OH GOODNESS!!!! Never, ever a dull moment for you over there on your farm! I think you did absolutely the right thing for these kittens and how wonderful of you :hugs: to offer to help. OH I do hope that these babies will soon settle down and become friendlies. They must be terrified and rightly so. Make sure you have some places for them to huddle together. Even leaving a carrier or two (with the door taken off) makes a great hideout. They need a place to feel safe like that - to get out of sight, but so you can easily reach them for pets. They must learn to trust you and this could take quite a few days - yes :nod: Offer them lots of canned kitten food - any kind will do. You definitely have a busy week in store and keep us posted here on these kittens. :vibes::vibes::vibes:
 
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dunnyboy69

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And now there are 5 and that, I think, is the lot. No 5 is another tabby with white socks, caught overnight. The biggest of the lot, I reckon.

Developments:

1) they are eating like troopers.

2) they are pooping well, too

3) they certainly had fun in the bathroom last night. Went in this morning and found a few things that I hadn't kitten-proofed in the rush (loo roll, new bottle of shampoo) lying on the floor.

4) they don't seem quite as 'hidey' as they did last night, but still seem fond of a good hiss

5) sounds like no room at the inn with local rescues, so I think the onus is going to be on me until they get adopted. Fortunately the office space next to mine where they were found (although I think they are have been on my property too) is going to put a note round to all 100+ tenants so this may help

6) chatting with the local rescue, they are (quite rightly) keen that we trap the mum. Moreover, it sounds as if this Mum may have already given them the slip this year. A few hundred yards away from the farm is a small hospital/ hospice. Back in march/ april, a litter of two day olds kittens (tabbies and blacks), were found with a b/w mum in their grounds. Mum scarpered and couldn't be caught and the kittens were hand-reared and are thriving. Fast forward about 4-5 months and a litter of similarly coloured, 8-9 week old youngsters with a trap-savvy b/w mum have been found. Two and two doesn't always make 4, but I reckon it might do this time!

7) even if the shelter can't take them, I have them on tap for bits of advice - they are saying no need to take them to the vet unless worried and to think about worming once they are tamed up a little.

How should I handle them? Should I spend as much time as I can with them and wait till they come to me, or should I get a towel (and a suit of armour!!) and 'force' pet them?
 

catapault

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Oh what fun you're going to have! At that age - 8 / 9 weeks - I would think they'd tame down fairly easily.But  I'd be concerned that watching one kitten being "force" pet would scare the other four and freak out the "pet-ee"

Sit in the room. Sitting makes you smaller = less threatening. Read to them (Wanda Gag's Millions and Millions of Cats maybe? No, I'm just kidding) Let them get used to your voice.

Scrunch up a piece of paper around a string and toss it for them to play with. Pull the string so it moves in fascinating and enticing ways. O.K. to leave the scrunched up paper in the room but not the string - you don't want them to eat it - and silly young kittens will eat anything.

Have some yummy treats on the floor not too close but not too far from you. Put a sweaty T-shirt under their food bowl so your scent and good things to eat get associated with each other.

And - very important! - take pictures! We want to see pictures and since kittens grow and change so fast you'll want pictures as keepsakes.
 
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dunnyboy69

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Some bittersweet news.....actually, no, it's good news!

I'm getting my two new outdoor ferals today from a rescue about 100 miles away. When we spoke last night to discuss details, I mentioned to them my predicament with the 5 kittens.

They have agreed to take them! 

This is generally wonderful news as every local rescue has said they are chock-a-block. My only misgiving is that, having spent a lot of time with the kittens over the last 36 hours, I know I have made huge progress (see below) and part of me would have loved to continue this. But they are going to a rescue that has more time to dedicate and so all should be well - even if the rescuer did say, when I said the kittens were about 8 weeks old, that this was often too late to tame them properly. I told him my progress below and he started to change his views.

Progress has been as follows:

* At a group level, far less hiding. A few times when I've gone in, rather than being hidden away the kittens have been huddled together on the soft cushion chair on top of the scratching post

* Individually, this morning I have had 4 of them eating from a spoon and 2 of them have eaten from my fingers without any biting. The bravest one is one of the black ones (I was about to say the black lad - I have a feeling all or the majority are male, but I may be miles off, I'm saying this with no authority!) who, whilst I was feeding three of the others from a spoon - they were hiding behind a cave bed and creeping out to eat from my spoon - was tucking in with gusto from the bowl itself 2-3 feet from a prone me! I realised at this point that he/ she has a few little white hairs on his chest.

* one of the two tabbies - the runt, I think, and the first one captured - is the only really timid one still

I have some photos of them from the traps that I'll upload and before they go to their new home today, I will try for some more pictures.

No luck yet capturing Mum. Fingers crossed.
 

revenwyn

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As far as the 8 week rule, I have successfully tamed kittens far older than that. The ones I tamed were 5 months.
 
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