Pregnant stray/ semi feral situation

Good morning everyone!

First I want to say that this is a wonderful site and I have been lurking in the forums for the past week and have learned a great deal. However now I have a bit of a situation. I am a college student in Los Angeles, CA. I grew up with dogs and even a parrot but I have zero experience with cats.

About a week and a half ago a pregnant cat (in my avi) took up residence on our porch. She was very vocal and hungry so I fed her sardines and tuna and then learned that I should be in fact feeding her quality cat and kitten food. I've been feeding her both canned and dry food. In this time she has warmed up to me and she lets me pet her and even seeks out attention from me.

However, she is still very skittish and will run away whenever she feels scared. If I leave the front door open she will come in but just a foot or two and she is very attentive to the door being closed on her. In the past week she has gotten huge like she swallowed a bowling ball. Normally we have warm weather out here, but the past few days have been bad with storms and our porch isn't entirely covered. I put out a covered cardboard box with a smallish opening and towels inside as well as a plastic bin on its side which helps shield the wind. But she still sleeps in the chair.

Yesterday I was trying to lure her inside the house as the weather was getting pretty bad. I had the screen door propped open but the wind slammed it all the way open where it hit the wall (not her) and scared her and she ran off and it was pouring rain and she disappeared and then I had to go to class. Later she came back and ate a little dinner but not much; she then licked her vagina for about 10 minutes and then walked off. I haven't seen her since. I usually feed her around 7:30 or 8am and I haven't seen her since about 9pm last night.

Okay, so I know cats are usually able to take care of themselves, but I am freaking out. I don't know if she went off and had her kittens in the cold or if something happened to her. It's not raining right now, but it will pick up again later.

-So if I see her again is there a way to tell if she had her kittens?

-If she's still looking extra wide how do I get her in my house? I'm scared to try and pick her up even though I want to when I'm petting her.

-Should I try and throw a towel over her and pick her up? I seriously have no idea how to trap a cat without an actual trap.

-If she looks like she had her kittens what do I do if anything? My roommates and I want to adopt her, but as an animal lover I'm clearly the most vested in the situation.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Ps. I've been calling her Miss Kitty because she is pretty small and dainty

Its a situation without definite answers as there are so many possible variations, you must play it by ear, Have your eyes open and take the chance as it comes.

The one sure thing, is you DO want to help her, and are also willing to adopt her, if it turns possible.  That is a good and firm start...

Yes, throwing a towel over her and wrapping up may be a good way to catch if you dont have a carrier or humane trap....  Much better than trying to hold by force along the "catch as catch can" style.  As this is a sure way to get scratches into bits, and she may get hurt in her condition.

Wrapped up they usually cease resistance.  And in any case, cant scratch you up as easily...

Have her room prepared, with a little hide place in a cat igloo or sideturned cardboard box, litter, food, water, scratching post.  Nesting place...   Best with double doors, so she cant sneak out between your legs.  Well inside, after she cools down and realizes you arent mean to her, she will almost surely accept the situation and cooperate.  welfare of the children is more important for moms than "freedom".

If you see her and she is visibley thinner, she had kittens outside.

Now, finding them may be tricky, if she doesnt want...  With a little luck, you can try and talk sweetly to her, she perhaps will lead you to the nest.   The first time she will prob lead you astray, but if you proceed....

After all, you ARE her main food source...

Have a carrier with you (or such a plastic laundry box with lock on).  If you find the kittens, you can probably collect them carefully inside, and the mom will follow them back into your house.

Something like that....

If you dont find them, she will surely come with them to you when they are 5-7 weeks, and this is ok too. the problem is, its much easier to foster them into sociale family cats if you foster them inside, then these 7 weeks used to live outside...   So if possible, try to bring them in as newborn (mom will accept the situation you are handling them and fostering them, if you are respectful to her).

I will give you guidance as you come with more reports and questions, but you can look at the threads in Stray and Ferales forum too, as this question recures there now aand then.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply!

I still haven't seen her, but I've been leaving dry food out just in case (although I know a feral from down the street comes to eat her food)

My landlord just told me he thinks the cat and kittens are under his house. My roommates and I live in the main house and behind that are two small houses and the whole property is fenced off. Hopefully they are all there and are okay. I will keep you updated and post any pictures!

Update & pictures!!!

Yesterday was a bit of a struggle, to say the least! Long story short, Miss Kitty found a perfect nesting place but in order to get to her I had to climb the fence into the neighbors yard, walk 5 feet and then climb back over onto our property... When I first saw her she ate an entire can of kitten food, poor thing!

I'm the only one she trusts and she let me take the kittens, which I put into a container that my roommate and I took turns holding as we climbed back over the fence. Poor mama cat couldn't figure out where her kittens were, but then as she was figuring it out (the babies weren't crying out very much) my well meaning (but not too bright) landlord came home wanted to see what was going on and his presence scared her; she ran snatched up a kitten and ran back to the nesting place. He felt bad so then he thought he could go get the kitten, I told him she doesn't know him and wouldn't let him take her kitten...which she didn't. So I waited a while and climbed back over and got the kitten and finally she came inside. Whew!

Fortunately she settled down rather quickly once she was inside. I have a pretty large bedroom with a small couch and I set her up behind the couch in a quiet corner. This morning she ate and even came up to me for petting. After she was done eating she sat in front of the box, eyes almost closed and purred. Then eventually went back in the box to nurse the kittens. So cute!

(I'm turning into a cat person!

They are so pretty! I am glad you were able to find them and get them into your house! We had a similar situation back in August- but Bub had the kittens right on our patio. I am by no means an expert, but no one else has answered in 3 hours and I know how frantic I was; three hours was an eternity.  

    If you look on the cans of food it will tell you how much food per pound of cat to feed per day. You can feed Miss Kitty whatever canned food you have but varieties made for kittens are better while she is nursing. In my opinion (not expert) you are fine feeding her canned cat food and free feeding dry kitten food. We fed Bub a full 5.5 oz can each day ( split into two meals) and kept dry out all the time while she was nursing. I have no clue about the distance of the litter box. We had ours about that close when we first got Bub. 

   A couple of things you might or might not know-

-Weigh the kittens daily. This will help you know if the kittens are doing well or having trouble. they should gain weight and not loose. If any start to lose weight you need to talk to a vet about it. It is easiest if you have a digital kitchen scale that measures in grams.

- Keep an eye out for fleas. Because the kittens were born outdoors it is likely that they have fleas. Our kittens were born on our patio and brought inside within a few hours and they still had fleas ( probably got them from mom). Fleas can kill kittens very quickly because they do not have much blood. Fleas are hard to see unless it is a bad infestation... it is easier to find flea poop. Their poop is like little specs of dirt in the cat's fur that turns red or rusty if you rub it with some water.  If the kittens have fleas you can treat the mother with frontline or advantage.  Both are safe for nursing mothers. This will kill any fleas that go on her so it will give the kittens some protection. The kittens cannot be treated for a while ( I think 2 months) so all you can do is bath them  daily in the blue dawn dish washing soap ( not concentrated) and use a flea comb to comb the little buggers out. The important thing if you bath them is to keep them warm as they dry. Also important- Dawn is strong enough to take the frontline or advantage off a cat so if you treat Miss Kitty you cannot bath her with the dawn. 

- Apparently cats can get pregnant pretty much right away... keep Miss Kitty inside until you get her fixed. 

Best of luck with you little ones and keep the pictures coming!

HelloYellow said:

 
Questions: How far away should I put the litter box? Right now it's about 3-4 feet away from the box with the kittens.

Also, how much should I be feeding her? I'm giving her Wellness kitten food (which only come in 3oz cans) plus dry food which is more for free feeding. Should she eat more than 1 can of the kitten food per day? And if so, is it okay to combine canned kitten and canned cat food while shes nursing?

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I think you can now put the litter box for wastes a little further away.   In the first hours it was wise to have it near, so she would always be very near her kittens.  Now, when she dares more, even to come to you for some petting, you can have it further away, although still in the same room.  Canned is better than dry..  If she wants more of the canned, and you afford it, give her more.   Dry more as a fill up.

Its fine to combine canned for kittens and canned for adults.  As said, canned is almost always better then dry - even good dry.  You probably could manage on common adult canned of good quality.  But with 5 kittens, and being ex-homeless she was prob undernourished...

You are giving her a superb combination.

Supplements probably not necessary.   (and too much of supplements may even be dangerous).

Later on, when they kittens are 4-6 weeks and still living off milk, then she may probably need some extra calcium supplement.

What an adventure you had!  but with some practical good thinking, and lot of good will, you and your pal did made it!   good you do have a well wishing landlord.  His good intentions and  help may be useful in other occasions.

Good luck!

I call these guys the tigerface twins. The other 2 were nursing so I didn't want to bother them.

When I'm home I leave my bedroom door open so Miss Kitty can explore, she did a little bit and she isn't as skittish. However... as I was changing the towels in the kitten box she jumped on my bed and peed!
I didn't realize how potent cat urine is. I took the comforter off and later I was laying down and she jumped on the bed and pooped! I jumped up and she jumped off. I put the poop in her litter box and covered it up a bit. She hasn't used the litter box. I'm so used to dogs I just want to let her out to use the bathroom, but I'm sure that's not a good idea.