Mama cat and three kittens

Hello! On Friday, Nov 9th I discovered a mama cat and her three kittens on my front porch. They kept their distance when I went outside - the kittens hid in the bushes. I put out food and made a little shelter on the front porch. They started visiting regularly and eventually started sleeping in the shelter. I loved watching them through our front door.

My husband and I were making progress with the mama cat. I would bring out some soft food in a little dish and set it on the front walk. Each time I'd be a little closer to the dish and last time she ate it while I was just 3-4 feet away. Then one day she came into the garage after I got home from work!

We were trying to work up to luring them into our laundry room so that we could find homes for them. We might have kept the mama cat or one of the kittens.

BUT then a big snag happened! An orange tom started showing up. He seems much wilder than mama cat. Once he showed up, mama cat stopped sleeping in our shelter. I've seen her stop by a couple times for food, but haven't seen the kitten at all. I've been chasing away the orange cat - I don't think I could tame him anyway. Yesterday I didn't see mama cat at all.

I'm so sad! And I don't know what to do. Should I stop putting food out so that the orange cat will go away? But then mama cat may stop coming, too. Should I setup a new shelter in the back of our house, hoping mama cat will go there? I've seen her in the backyard and she seems to have setup shop somewhere behind my neighbors house. (We live in a wooded rural area.)

Do you think mama cat will return? It's been so nice out, I'm sure she's finding enough mice to keep them fed.

And will they survive the winter if they don't return? We live in Minnesota.

Thanks.

If she will return? Very possible, she knows you are friendly.

If they will survive?  They may. Cold is not the main problem, food is.

It mama is a real feral and survived winters - almost surely.

If she is dumped and gone shy - not so sure, maybe...

You can try with the alternative shelter position.

About the tom.  If it is possible for you to trap him and neuter, please do so. Dont foster him if you dont have possibilities, TNR is surely OK for him.

Lesson here?  Fostering outside is nice and good, but risky: you can be interrupted by some yellow tom or anything else.

Safer is to catch them when you can, and foster inside.  

Keep us updated!

Welcome to our Forums!

Good luck!

Thank you! Very encouraging feedback. I hope she will return as it gets colder again. My husband and I will be home over the long Thanksgiving weekend, so there will be more chances to see her if she's around.

I've taken in three previous strays. Two of them followed me right into the house, so they were easy. The third one took a while to win over, but he showed up in the spring, so it was easy to hang out outside and get him used to us. Eventually we lured him into the laundry room and shut the door! He freaked out at first, but adjusted. A friend adopted him. (And yes, I took steps to see if they had homes. Got them checked out by a vet before mingling them with my cats.)

Anyway, a mama cat with kittens is a new experience! I was afraid that if I tried to grab mama cat she would run away and not return. The kittens are really good at hiding and run away as soon as we come outside. Capturing them isn't easy. So I was trying to win them all over first with food and just hanging around them until they trusted us enough to approach them.

We live near farms and are in a secluded area. So I'm guessing some of these strays are barn cats and some may be abandoned.

Kittykisses said:

Anyway, a mama cat with kittens is a new experience! I was afraid that if I tried to grab mama cat she would run away and not return. The kittens are really good at hiding and run away as soon as we come outside. Capturing them isn't easy. So I was trying to win them all over first with food and just hanging around them until they trusted us enough to approach them.

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You are right. It IS a dilemma without clear cut answers! 

What is the optimal is one thing, but how and when to do it may be another thing...

And sometimes you dont even clearly know what is the optimal, as several variations are possible, with dangers, pros and contras in every one.

The only to do is  do your own best (which you do), and hope.    

Good luck!

Kittens are WAY harder to catch than I ever would have imagined. Mama cat did return and we tried to capture her and the kittens - long story short, we failed and now she's gone again. Orange cat has been returning and we've been feeding him. We will consider trap, neuter and release with him. He seems like a nice cat, but I get the feeling he's been on his own for a long time. I don't know if he'd make a good pet.

I'm hoping mama cat will return again.

It's quite possible that momma is staying away simply because that Tom is hanging around. Momma is going to be very protective of her kittens and keep them hidden. Once you TNR the tom, I'm not sure keeping him around is going to help in your attempts to catch momma and kittens. She's going to see any other cat as a threat to her babies. Is it possible to set up a new feeding area for him away from the house? It's a tough situation. Not sure how to deal with it.

Good luck to you though, your doing great.
 

Katluver4life said:

It's quite possible that momma is staying away simply because that Tom is hanging around. Momma is going to be very protective of her kittens and keep them hidden. Once you TNR the tom, I'm not sure keeping him around is going to help in your attempts to catch momma and kittens. She's going to see any other cat as a threat to her babies.
 

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Ooops! You have a quite correct remark, Katluver.  If the tom isnt really friendly any mom with kittens will avoid him as fire. He may be a real threat for the  kittens. Especielly if it is a territorial, dominant tom.

Although the mom can often protect the kittens and if necessary chase away the tom, it is a hanging danger.  So onless she does beat him up and chases away immediately, she will tend to avoid all near contact. Not risking he sneaks in and harms her children.

Yes, the best remedy is to spay him asap, taking two  flyes in one stroke.

We opened our garage and all the cats - including the orange tom - started taking refuge in there. It seemed that the mama and the tom had some sort of understanding. Anyway, one night when all the kittens and their mama were in the garage, we closed the doors. We've been working with them every day. One of the kittens is already playing with me and will sometimes let me pet him. It's taking longer to win over the others, but they are getting better. I'm trying to lure them into the laundry room so I can close the door to that room and get them out of the garage. We'll probably keep one of the kittens. We'll find homes for the rest. I haven't seem the orange cat in a while. The mama and kittens clearly have worms, so I'll get them dewormed as soon as I can.

Thanks for the input!

Here is a photo of them before we got them inside:


Did I mention that the mom is a calico polydactyl, all the kittens are manx, and the calico and grey kittens are also polydactyl! Quite a mix!

For anyone still interested, we've successfully brought the kitties into the house. They've been in my laundry room for a couple of weeks. I'm treating them for lung worm and round worm (ugh). The kitties have come around pretty quickly. I can pet them and even pick one up (for a second). Mama has been pretty resistant but I was able to pet her a little bit yesterday and today.