Sweet Stray Gone Aggressive... PLEASE HELP!!!

I too,  agree that cats should be kept indoors and hope that whoever adopts will keep the kittens indoors as well.  Life is much safer for them inside.

I am so happy that Bella will stay with you!  That is wonderful.   My only advice for Lulu is to keep working with her and make sure you are very familiar with who adopts her so that you can check on her should they have any problems or concerns.

I do agree with that, but we keep Bella and the kittens in the garage/woodworking room, both of those places we don't use. (No active cars in the garage.) My mom and brother have very bad allergies. We also like them out there so they can keep the mice out. Both Zani and LuLu are being adopted together, by my friends that live down the road.

So, we have run into a problem. The adopters bailed on us, and now we have all four kittens and Mama with us. Now, we want to keep two of the kittens and Bella, but we are having a hard time finding the other two homes. There is an Animal Swap that goes on every now and then at our local Tractor Supply, and my mom wants to bring both kittens there. I would be totally fine with it, except these people are strangers and the types that don't care for their animals. I'm afraid somebody will just let the kittens out in their backyard to keep mice population or whatever down. They might not have any care what so ever, and I just can't imagine that happening to Zani and LuLu. It would break my heart. Especially since LuLu has been doing so well with trusting humans. Today she sat in my lap without crying, and actually purred for the first time when I petted her. I would like to keep them, but the problem is the money it would cost for the food, and the vaccinations & spaying/neutering. Does anybody have any thoughts on how a kid between the ages of 12-15 could make enough money to cover the payments? I'm just trying to figure out how I could make a deal with my parents about this.

Have you looked into what low cost options you have for JUST the spay or neuter?  Sometimes the surgery will include a rabies shot and for now that would be fine.  You can always look into the other vaccines later if needed(petco offers them).

What state/area are you in-I can look up online.  Private message me if you feel safer.
 

Babysitting/lawn care/dog walking come to mind.  if you are able to run you could offer to take the dog for a light run till it gets used to it. 

I am in the Southern Illinois area, and the vets offices that I've seen around ask $150-$250 for spaying and neutering, and that's without the shots. My family is thinking about taking the kittens with us up to Rockford (when we go back to visit family) to get them spayed/neutered there, because we heard the prices were lower.

Could you google your area and see if there is a low cost spay and neuter clinic nearby? In my area the shelters are now offering it as well. One of the shelters here will spay mom cat for free and do the kittens at low cost!

Check through your local humane society and find out if they know of places that provide spay/neutering as part of a TNR program.  (Trap-neuter-release)  My local shelter underwrote all but $10 per animal to be fixed and have a rabies shot.  I went through an agency called the Iowa Humane Relief, and even without aid, they only charge $35 per animal.  

Do some email searching, call around, and find out what you can do.  

It's so wonderful that you're taking these cats into your care.  There is hope in the world, as long as people are willing to help the helpless.

Thank you all for posting and replying to my updates! Bella has gotten spayed, but it was very costly... Unreasonable for just the spaying, but she needed to have it done. I do agree that the cats should be kept inside, but the allergies just get way to bad. The last time we had a dog and a cat (both we had at separated times), my mom and brother were always on the inhalers (they have asthma), and my mom almost had to go in for surgery in her ears because of this. She was also admitted to the hospital on her birthday because she broke out in hives from our old cat. The cat is now with our aunt, and very happy. So this is why we have to have the animals outside. But we try to keep them as safe as possible; we have a doggie door for them, and my dad has made it small enough so only they can get through.we board up the doggie door at night, and keep them inside during the night, and when there are storms. On very hot days, we block off a part of the kitchen for them so they don't get all over the house, but can still be nice and cool. I have been online searching for places, but haven't found anything. My mom and I have been asking around, and there is a vet office that does spaying/neutering for a lower price, but taking them up to Rockford to do it would still be cheaper. We got a sight of the father of the kittens, and he is one BIG tomcat. He has a very gorgeous coat, just like LuLu's. Beaux is the biggest, he certianly gets that from his dad. All the kittens are getting bigger and bigger each day, and I can't believe that they're already 3 months and 11 days old! They all get to go outside with mama, and LuLu has gotten a talent for climbing trees...  We try and get her not to do it when we catch her. I'm just grateful that she hasn't gotten stuck yet. I will be trying to post pictures, just trying to figure out how. 

Ok! Figured out how to post pictures. Here are some of Bella before the kittens:


 she loves to stick her tounge out!!


 I just love her facial expression in this one! 




 Vampire Kitty! :3

The pictures of Bella on our door mat were taken the first time I met her. 

Here are some of the delivery of the kittens!


 Zani, the first kitten. He is now fluffy and spazzy, just like his mama.

 Zani & LuLu


 Mama with all four kittens: Zani, LuLu, Beaux, and Blackie.


 LuLu's gorgeous coat.

 Blackie, my little lovebug.



 <3









 I love this photo.



 Grrr. She's a mean momma. Or at least she pretends to be!

Keep in mind the kittens can be bred and pregnant in a few weeks time!

I am one for inside only cats(I have over 20 inside only cats and asthma and have gone to ER for treatment, my mom too has asthma and 3 cats.  She also has been in ER and is on inhalers-both preventive and emergency use inhalers)  But if you choose to have them out have at least the er clinic number/know how to get there and enough on hand to at minimum have a hit by car cat euthanized.  I have had a feral get hit and my own personal ex feral.  The feral got killed on spot the ex feral Ryan had to be taken 10 pm to be euthanized as he was in bad shape.  It was around 150.

Even if not many cars many other things can make a cat sick and boy do they tend to get sick after regular vet closes.

She is beautiful and her kitties are so cute. May I ask the price you were given to fix the kittens?

Thank you! The prices I've heard around here are from $150-$250, and with 4 kittens, I don't want it to be $600-$1,000. We've even called the shelters, and they won't do it. They didn't even consider it. I'm almost certain that we will be having to take them on a 6 hour car trip, which I'm not sure how to feel about that. Any opinions and ways to transport them safely? I'm thinking of Mama in one medium sized crate, and 2 kittens in a medium sized crate. Or is that wrong? Just kind of clueless about that.

The shelters wouldn't do it even if they charged you? Where are you located?

Wow.  I just had a feral neutered at a low cost spay/neuter clinic.  It was $40 and that included a rabies shot.  I then had a $5 off coupon so my total was only $35.  Have you done a search on low cost spay/neuter clinics.  If you are more rural you might check to see if a larger city comes to your area via a mobile unit.  We have them here and they travel to the rural areas once a month and do a large scale spay/neuter.

Good luck and I hope you can find a place.  It's ridiculous when there is such a problem with people not spaying/neutering and they are charging so much.  No wonder there's a problem.

Wow I had not seen your thread before but Bella is one gorgeous cat!

Where are you located? If you are in the U.S, , the ASPCA has a database you could check of low cost spay / neuter clinics. http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/spayneuter

It would be fine to transport them as you're thinking in 2 crates on a road trip to a low cost clinic.. or else if you had access to a large dog crate you could put in the car , you could even put a small litter box in it. Usually cats are able to hold it for a trip of that length. but I like to have them in some kind of cage with a litterbox. Otherwise you could just take one along and stop somewhere, do not open the car doors, but set up the box on the floor and see if they need to use it. Maybe put some used litter in it.

and if you use crates that you can't put a box, I would use liners . you could just put in puppy pads. or three are some very good crate liners called DryFur .

Some places want each cat in own hard carrier or trap so ask.  That is done as they do not have enough cages for all the cats and the cats are left in travel cage.  I know near me the price difference is huge for some vets.  I get mine done now at a regular vet practice for under 100(nothing else just neuter shots extra.  another place near me charges nearly 2 times as much and requires blood work that is not included(you would need a exam prior to neuter day)

Idealy you need one crate per cat/kitten.  I would leave momma in seperate crate.  Kittens will huddle she may get to agitated to be in crate with a baby.
 

catsallaround said:

Some places want each cat in own hard carrier or trap so ask.  That is done as they do not have enough cages for all the cats and the cats are left in travel cage.  I know near me the price difference is huge for some vets.  I get mine done now at a regular vet practice for under 100(nothing else just neuter shots extra.  another place near me charges nearly 2 times as much and requires blood work that is not included(you would need a exam prior to neuter day)

Idealy you need one crate per cat/kitten.  I would leave momma in seperate crate.  Kittens will huddle she may get to agitated to be in crate with a baby.
 

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I agree the price range is crazy.  My regular vet will charge $250-300 for the neuter yet the low cost clinic is just $40.  Of course it's a bit chaotic at the low cost clinic and the cats don't stay over night.  But it gets the job done.  Some clinics allow you to bring them in inside a carrier or trap together, but want you to have a separate carrier for each cat after the surgery so they can recover alone. 

Thank you all for the compliments and experience with this. It really helps. I separated LuLu & Bella from the group because she was going into heat. We found a clinic closer than Rockford that would spay her for a cheaper price(I think it was around $65). My mom and I got her a crate and drove her there. Everything went fine, and now we are working on getting the boys neutered. The clinic will charge $45 for each of them. We plan to get one kitten done each month. LuLu's operation went fine and she's now healing. I will have more updates on Bella and the kittens later. Thanks!

Good job!  So glad you were able to get the girls done.  I kind of lost track - did you end up keeping all the boys or just the two?

$45 is not a bad price, especially if it includes the first shots.  That's what our low cost clinic charges.  I have to drive 35 miles one way for it but it is worth it.  I usually try to take four or five cats at a time.