Pregnant stray/feral cat needs desperate help

Hi.  I live in New York and we have a small cat colony around here so I know this is to be expected.

My husband's family and I have been feeding a heavily pregnant stray cat. She gets quite close and is very calm, so I think at one point she was at least owned by someone, but she's somewhat cautious so I don't think I can grab her. She's probably about 2 weeks or less til she's due!

I'm wondering if anyone could give me some ideas on what I can do here in terms of getting her some help. To be honest, we've already taken in one stray kitten from these cats and he had Giardia but on top of that he was the only 1 of his 4 siblings to make it.

I know Animal Care & Control are not an option as they're known for putting down cats (and kittens!) who aren't adopted.

I do have 2 good-sized crates but nowhere to keep her away from my 2 cats or somewhere quiet so she can have them in peace. Perhaps I should try this?

If anyone could advise I'd be so grateful, she and her babies deserve a better life. Few of them make it out here and even fewer rescue organisations here seem to give a darn.

Best is if you can take her NOW, before she has delivered.  She will probably cooperate, she understands she needs some safe place for her children.  I suppose she knows you somewhat as a friendly human?   You probably dont need a human trap.  It should be possible to rig up a carrier with food inside.  Or even, if you lay a towel around her and catch her this way...

Dont try to just grab her with your arms - she may scratch you severely, and her kittens may get hurt if you fight...

You do have these cages.  It should be OK for now, if you dont have a spare room or bathroom, a big dog cage is OK now, and until the kittens are about 4 weeks.

I agree any city shelter is dangerous, unless they DO have waiting foster homes ready...

Keep reporting and asking!

Good luck!

Hi AmyRose.

Did you talk to the local no-kill shelters in your area? Do a google search for them. They would be the best people to give you advice as to what your options would be and they can provide a trap so you can catch her. Keep in mind that, even though they are no-kill, it's been my experience that they will abort unborn babies. So be sure to clarify that upfront before you actually bring her in.

In your case, if you can get the mom cat in the trap and provide her with a home until she delivers and for about 7 weeks after, then you should be able to find good homes for the kittens. Regarding the mom, it will be harder to find her a home unfortunately. She should be spayed for sure. Then you can determine if she is adoptable or if she is truly feral.

The no-kill shelter will probably suggest TNR (trap/neuter/release) for all of the cats in this colony. In other words, you would need to trap EACH one of the cats in the colony and bring them in to the local clinic to be spayed or neutered. In my area, it costs $25 per cat but they may be able to do this in your area for a lower cost or at no cost. During the spay/neuter surgery, they will also cut off the tip of the cat's ear so he's easily identified as a cat who has been spayed/neutered. Then, if he's truly feral and not adoptable, and if someone in the neighborhood will commit to providing him with food and water on a daily basis, they will suggest releasing him back to the area where he was originally trapped. In the winter, you can put out shelters to protect them from the cold. TNR is not ideal but it's the best option I can think of since there's such a lack of good homes for cats, especially feral cats.

I recently captured three feral cats in Chicago using cat traps that I borrowed (free) from a local cat shelter. Trapping the first two was fairly easy but, for the last cat, I had to use a different type of trap, called a drop trap, since he was too smart to get into the same trap that captured his two buddies. The drop trap worked really well and I caught him on my first try with it. Now have the three "feral" cats in one of the bedrooms at my apartment. My other two cats, who I've had for thirteen years, have the rest of the house. It's actually not as chaotic as it sounds. Both sets of cats are pretty calm and are not too concerned about what goes on over on the other side of the door.

I had hoped to find homes for the three ferals, but the shelters around here will not take in feral cats, even though these are very nice, sweet, gentle cats who have used their litter boxes from day one. So I'm working with them, encouraging them to be less afraid of humans. In six months time, I will have them re-tested for all cat diseases and, if they pass, I'll see if I can find someone to adopt them or I'll try combining them with my 13-year-old cats. (I'm waiting six months since that is the incubation time for these diseases.) The "ferals" let me pet them now and two of them have even purred. It's been an extremely rewarding experience for me, something I had not planned on. You may find that this is true for you as well.

Best of luck!

Very nice good debute post, Cat Wrangler. Tx!

Welcome to our Forums!

Thanks for the information. That's inspiring me to take her in myself as it's better chance for her and the kittens than they'll have out there.

I've been asking around but the only response so far is this one:

"We don't adopt out you only have to do that only if she is lap friendly. I can have her spayed and that would solve the kitten problem."

... "problem".

Cannot believe how hard it is to find a decent rescue organisation around here and we've already had bad experiences with them when trying to get help or adopt out. It's so disheartening.