We have been feeding feral cat for several months and have built some trust with her, can stick hands in bowl with her, has even licked food off of my finger. She likes for me to sit and visit with her in evenings before she leaves to wherever she goes off to, but she is scared to be touched. Thought she was pregnant recently with nursing nipples and the apetite of a full grown tiger. We built her a house with entrance and exit, insulation, and straw. We put it up against the house behind some bushes in hopes that she would use it and have her babies here, so that we could tame them and find good homes for them. She didn't go near it. Moved it on the porch, where she eats, and now she does lay in there sometimes. Last week in the middle of mealtime she stopped eating abruptly and started meowing loudly and took off briskly. I thought okay, she has had her babes and she must hear them crying for feeding time. Same thing happened the next day,so me and hubby followed her. She was quite cooperative, she stopped ever so often, waited for us, rolled around and meowed, acted quite happy to be leading us to her treasure. She lead us to the end of the culdasack and to the woods, then stopped and laid down and just looked at us. I guess she just took us for a walk. The next evening she didn't show up until after dark, she had just started eating,when I saw a little flash of furry lightening run thru the front yard and she took off after it. She took off without eating so I checked on her 15 minutes later and when I opened the door she was curled on the doorstep and I thought I saw a flash of a tiny tail. Told hubby the next morning because he feeds her something on his way out the door for work every morning. Sure enough a kitten flew out of the little house we built and ran thru the railing and jumped off the porch. We haven't seen a kitten since then. Don't know for sure how long ago she had them and don't know if they are weened yet. We would like to have Bootsie (mommy kitty) fixed and try to tame the kittens but not sure how or when to go about it. Does anyone have advice or experience with the best way to handle this. I don't even know how many kittens she has.
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Help feral cat had kittens don't know where they are
- Thread starter missymae
- Start Date
Now when they are movable and no longer at their nest, it is not easy. Even if you would find the nest. In practice you must hope she will come forwards with all her kittens to you, her main food source. They do usually do this, when they are 5-8 weeks.
The trick is to catch her when she is still high preg. In this situation, after she has cooled down from the shock and realizes nobody is evil, they do accept the situation and do copy... I mean, to foster such a semiferal high preg / mom with small kittens is thus in much easier than foster a wild and shy semiferal.
So you know for next time!
Tx for caring!
Good luck!
The trick is to catch her when she is still high preg. In this situation, after she has cooled down from the shock and realizes nobody is evil, they do accept the situation and do copy... I mean, to foster such a semiferal high preg / mom with small kittens is thus in much easier than foster a wild and shy semiferal.
So you know for next time!
Tx for caring!
Good luck!
They have small traps for kittens, so you might try using one of those. You are sure to catch one or two and can just keep trying until you have them all. Definitely trap mom ASAP. She may already be pregnant again, so she needs attention. If the kittens are mobile, they can eat on their own, so kitten food left out for them is good. Thanks for helping them.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
Thank you, to both of you for your responses.
At first we couldn't figure out if she was pregnant or nursing, so we were afraid to catch her, for fear of leaving defenseless starving babies behind.
I think she was almost a kitten herself when she first came to us. This is her 1st litter and she is a very devoted mom. I hope she forgives us, we have become quite attached to her and would be heartbroken if she lost trust in us and reverted back to completely wild.
We had hopes of eventually taming her at least to the point of being able to give her the lovins she deserves. I no she wants it, she just doesn't know it yet. She is very vocal when we talk to her, and she rolls and flips around on the ground and rubs up against the steps and porch railing so much that sometimes she loses her balance and almost falls off. Silly kitty, we love her already.
The other problem is that once the kittens are caught, the only place we have to keep them is outside on the front porch in a wire dog cage 42 long x 28 wide. She will be able to see her babies caged. I can't put them in the house. I have a large neutered Maine Coon type tomcat rescued about 7 months ago, a hyper foxhound type diva princess dog we rescued 4 years ago, and our dear sweet 90 lb doberman/husky mix boy that we have had since birth (he is almost 12 years old and has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only has precious months left with us).
At first we couldn't figure out if she was pregnant or nursing, so we were afraid to catch her, for fear of leaving defenseless starving babies behind.
I think she was almost a kitten herself when she first came to us. This is her 1st litter and she is a very devoted mom. I hope she forgives us, we have become quite attached to her and would be heartbroken if she lost trust in us and reverted back to completely wild.
We had hopes of eventually taming her at least to the point of being able to give her the lovins she deserves. I no she wants it, she just doesn't know it yet. She is very vocal when we talk to her, and she rolls and flips around on the ground and rubs up against the steps and porch railing so much that sometimes she loses her balance and almost falls off. Silly kitty, we love her already.
The other problem is that once the kittens are caught, the only place we have to keep them is outside on the front porch in a wire dog cage 42 long x 28 wide. She will be able to see her babies caged. I can't put them in the house. I have a large neutered Maine Coon type tomcat rescued about 7 months ago, a hyper foxhound type diva princess dog we rescued 4 years ago, and our dear sweet 90 lb doberman/husky mix boy that we have had since birth (he is almost 12 years old and has just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and only has precious months left with us).
Having rescued a mommy and her kittens, i found it was better when mommy could not see/interact with the kittens unless they still needed nursing. First of all, you want the kittens to get socialized ASAP. Having slightly feral mommy around will put a crimp in that. Second of all, mommy may try to "rescue" them and thus hurt herself or them. Is it possible to either crate mommy in a separate place or find fosters for the kittens once they are weaned?
A spare bathroom would work for the kittens as long as no one else has access to them. That way, you can work separately with mommy outside.
A spare bathroom would work for the kittens as long as no one else has access to them. That way, you can work separately with mommy outside.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
I really do not have a single place in the house that I can keep the kittens. Not where they would be isolated away from all who inhabit it.
Bootsie usually comes for breakfest and dinner. Today she came for lunch and stuck around for awhile, and kept calling out to her babies while she was there. So, this evening she didn't show up for dinner until really late. I opened the door to check for her, and she was curled up on the doorstep with her baby, which ran like a blurry flash. She however, did not run after it in a panic, as she did before. She ignored the fact that it ran, and just came to the plate to eat. I think I just passed another trust test.
The thing is, that there has only been 3 times that we have ever seen a kitten and it has been dark out, but we have only ever seen one. Is it possible that she only has one kitten? And if so, does that change the way that I should handle things?
Bootsie usually comes for breakfest and dinner. Today she came for lunch and stuck around for awhile, and kept calling out to her babies while she was there. So, this evening she didn't show up for dinner until really late. I opened the door to check for her, and she was curled up on the doorstep with her baby, which ran like a blurry flash. She however, did not run after it in a panic, as she did before. She ignored the fact that it ran, and just came to the plate to eat. I think I just passed another trust test.
The thing is, that there has only been 3 times that we have ever seen a kitten and it has been dark out, but we have only ever seen one. Is it possible that she only has one kitten? And if so, does that change the way that I should handle things?
If the baby is big enough to run away, you might not be able to socialize it all that well, unless it begins following mom's lead. You most certainly passed a trust test with mommy. If you trap them both and TNR them, they should be fine. Just be on the lookout for other kittens. It is possible she only had one (or only one survived).
