Feral mother and kittens living in my garden! Need some advice!

First, a tiny intro about me and my place:

about 2 years ago I moved back into my parents place, they are getting old now and wanted me back to help run my dad's business.

With some of my savings we built an extension to my parents place which is an entire bachelor pad with a modern kitchen and bathroom.

I live in this pad... and I WANT A KITTY!

Sadly my old man, who just turned 80 a month ago (and a bad ass grandpa too!), hates cats!

Before that, when I was young, we had a cat called Lucretia that lived with us for 17 years... he still hates cats... even though he opened quite a bit to Lucretia!

Actually he just hates having pets in general.

He is a stubborn one, and bit weird too!

So I couldn't convince him, Until...

Last week Friday, mid-morning, my mom came rushing into my place telling me there are kittens in the garden.

Now this is interesting! I said. So I quickly went to take a look.

Yep, there kitties in are garden!

My father, been the bad ass grandpa, wanted to chase them out!

Luckily my mother convinced him, cause it made me happy (and lately my life has been bit depressing), and my dad want to see me happy these days.

SCORE!!!

Now they are living right in the corner of my garden where tall trees cover a very bushy area.

So thick, I never really been to that corner in the garden, even when I was a kid, that is how thick it is!

The plan I have right now is to trap them nicely, like in my house.

Then take them to the vet to be spayed, treated and bring them back.

Then I going to give some to my friends who love cats and wouldn't mind one, but we will try too keep at least one or two.

For the past 6 days now I have been feeding them to establish a bit of trust.

They are still scared of me, but they don't seem to run away as quickly as before when they see me.

They are still shy.

And the mom gives me funny looks, but that just her protective instinct.

She hasn't hissed at me yet nor has she decided to move the kittens, I think she wants to see if she can trust me.

I also built a shelter for them:

a large cardboard box with entrance, which I covered with bubble wrap for insulation and some plastic sheets to make it water proof.

My parents were impressed, it does look safe 'n snug, though crude looking.

Don't worry, I did put an old towel inside for them to sleep on, which I rubbed on myself before hand.

I put it in deep in bushes near their nest.

But I not going to check if they have moved in or not, don't want to upset the mother too much if I keep on invading her nest.

Now I would like to know any other tips or advice if I am doing the right thing.

This is all new to me and feral cats, so feel free to criticize!

Oh yes, I guess you want know what they look like.

The mother is young, I'm pretty sure because she looks small.

She has the white tuxedo areas on her chest and paws, brown coat with black spots and stripes and stripy tail.

Beautiful cat, I going to definitely adopt her if possible.

I reckon that she could be a stray which became feral, as I said she hasn't hissed at me, but I could be wrong.

The father I've seen, cause he was in front of the bushes a few times about a month ago, obviously protecting the nest.

Very mangy looking character, white and brown patches with black stripes.

He seems like a real veteran cause he looks around 6 and has few scars.

I haven't seen him for a while and I hope he is not one of those nasty toms.

So far I have counted 4 kittens:

A stripy kitten with white patches on its muzzle and I think paws, this one is always by its mom.

A white kitten with brown patches on ears and back with black stripes, looks like the dad. this one is a bit of a loner.

Another with kitten with grey patches on top of its head and back. this one is my moms by default.

And a black and white cat, which looks a mask-and-mantle type. he seems to be friendly and usually together with the grey and white one.

Phew! that was quite a bit for me to write!

Oh thank you for taking care of these little ones.
You seem to be on the right track, have the right instincts. I would continue building trust by feeding them.
See if you can engage them in play--a feather at the end of a wand is ideal. If they go onto a flat surface like cement, you can try rolling a ball with a bell in it, a lot of kittens love that. And see how they tolerate being brushed lightly with a feather. The goal of course is for them not to be afraid of you--much easier to place into a cat carrier for a trip to the vets.
ANY idea how old these kittens are? If they are two months or two pounds, they can be spayed. Where do you live--country? Some countries prefer spaying / neutering cats when they are six months old. But by then they could have already had one litter.
Once you're ready to start trapping, let us know and we have lots of ideas. Ideally you'd trap them all at once.

Oh my gosh I have so much to say!

First thing is to determine their age. This is huge because it will tell me where they are at mentally.

You can describe to me how they run, are they too fast if you were to chase them down? Or are they trying to run but you could catch them, and are still a bit clumsy?

Once we know this we can go from there.

Ok, I guess they are around 5 weeks, since that is the age when they come out into the open.

I'm aware as this is the best time to show the kittens some human contact or they will be more feral and harder to domesticate.

I going try to video them with a hidden camera when the eat tomorrow morning.

I will try to make some toys as you suggested.

I live in the suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa. The process for cats to be spayed is well before 6 months in SA, sometimes they spay at 7 weeks old!

Yes, we have a big feral cat problem here, so I am trying to help out. I will go to local SPCA for the kittens to be spayed. They will also put a microchip in them too so they are registered.

Also on an interesting note, South Africa Wild cats are becoming endangered, because they are interbreeding with domestic cats in the rural area near the city!

And some of these wild genes have filtered through into the city cats over the years.

A friend of mine at the local SPCA told me about this.

Still, you can tame this cats since the Africa Wild cat is the original cat species.

I had a friend who actually tamed an abandoned Wild cat, looks like a small leopard, but very friendly!

I wouldn't be surprised if those kitties had some wild genes in them, they could be quite interesting!

They are too fast!

I can forget about catching them, for now.

Its still early days, I want them to get use to me.

I want to try trap them in my own place.

Trapping them in cages is the last option, which I will do if all else fails.

Okay, so based on 5 week old kittens, they are very young and plenty young enough to tame completely rather than taking your time to allow them to become a bit social, but with this, you will not be taking their fear away young enough.

So time is very important right now.

The first thing is to put canned food out in a dish, and make sure they can eat it. If so, they are big enough to take away from mom.

If you have an area of  a cage you can put them in, this is good, although they will tame MUCH faster if they are seperate, since you can be handling one, then they get relaxed, but the minute they are back with their siblings, they forget everything they just learned, feeding off each others fear.

grabbing a kitten by it's scruff who is this small but feral is a cinch. You will simply grab their scruff while eating, pushing down towards the ground, get a better grip, take a towel and start wrapping the kitten in it tightly like a burrito.

Be sure the wrap is snug around the neck with arms under it or they will squirm until they get free.

Once wrapped they can be held, packed around with you, talk, touch the face, kisses, whatever.

Do this for at least 1/2 hour.

Okay I will be right back.

Sorry about that. Anyway you will want to do this at least a couple times a day, the younger they are the faster they tame. 

Mom and dad need to be trapped and fixed badly. Dad's description means he is fighting other unneutered male cats, and they fight to do serious damage, spread diseases and cause real injury to the other cats.

With knowing this, he may already have contracted fiv or felv, from fighting, which then would be passed on to mom and then the babies.

So it's very important they get fixed as soon as possible.

You Are Gonna Love This!


I was sitting nearby with my back turned, but there was a camera at my back, I was reading a local newspaper.

Beautiful!

They have never been so close!

I don't see the other one, I fear he is gone, have not seen him in 3 days, he did seem weak, took his time to follow his peers.

PS. Sorry for the abrupt ending! My cellphone camera ran out of disk space, I spent approx. 100mins there. Had to trim out the most non-active parts.

The stripy one ate first and reported back.

Then the black and white one explored around to give the "ALL CLEAR" signal.

Then the rest follows.

How wonderful to be able to see them all! 

I'm so thrilled you've found this site..  You can see there's lots of support here.   To be able to see them is such a bonus!  To me they look older than 5 weeks

The little black and white one loves his food.. And the grey and white (your mum's?) couldn't decided whether to eat or play. 

.

This isn't my area.. I just wanted to say good for you!

Let's see what the feral experts have to say.

Great video, they look healthy and good.

They are older, approx 10 weeks. Which means, scratch what I was telling you about taming young kittens, this is an entirely different ballgame here.

Slow process of gaining trust.

Coaxing them out in your presence is the first step, which you are doing already.

Patience and time with them, nothing you can rush at all, they have the upper hand here

Continue doing this, then when they seem fairly comfortable coming out of hiding when you are there but with your back to them, turn around, start talking. Soft, quiet voice, non threatening, soft singing even.

The idea is to build their confidence with you, slowly but surely you will gain their trust.

If you notice in the video, they watch mom, they feel safe with her, and what she decides is safe. This is why the are feral, it is a learned behavior from mom.  The key is getting mom to feel safe and show her you can be trusted, you mean all good things, food is the first thing, the way to get noticed!

You do have adoption homes lined up and waiting for them?  Swell.  The problem here is, if they wait for the usual cuddleable, sociale kittens, they wont get them, as your kittens are already 10 weeks and still very shy...

These are surely possible to socialize and adopt out, but they wont be these typical socialites.

Now, I myself dont think its a drawback with a shy home cat.  Shy home cats DO have a big charm of their own.  When a shy cat gives you his trust and love, you KNOW its you he loves, not because its thursday and he will want pets from practically anybody who seems friendly.  When he lie down between your knees, you KNOW its YOU he want to be friendly with. Because he does have several other nice sleeping places, and also a sleeping place near the heat element.

When he accepts your cuddles and pets, you KNOW he wants / accepts them from you.  Because otherwise he just goes away, or even swipes at you.

Him running and hiding when he hears a guest is on way in, is no real problem for anyone, right?   

Etc.

So talk it through with these your friends, if they really want a shy cat and are welcoming it.

IF they do, an alternative may even be, you catch the kittens as soon you reasonably can, and they themselves continue with fostering.  It is often easier to foster just one alone shy kitten, than a bunch of shy kittens....   They friends can of course look at this our forum, and gets advices and tips from here...

Another variaton here is, they get themselves such a typical, friendly, sociale kitten or adult cat, who become their resident.   And later on, when they get this adopted shy semi-ferale kitten, they will have a cat ambassadeur to help with fostering.    This is the easiest way to foster for an  amateur who does have good will and love, but dont have the dedication and patience to invest in the shy fosterling.

A couple of ideas, eh?

10 weeks old already!

Oh dear!

But they seem to becoming on nicely.

I going to get a cage soon to trap them inside, friend from the SPCA will help out too.

Once neutered and vaccinated, they will stay with me until I find homes for them.

But I want the mommy! she is so beautiful!

btw. I doing another video, but I am not going to upload yet. I will upload a video with all the best bits from other videos.

They are obviously well and happy in your garden! But you do need to trap them soon or they will not be tameable. And you may not know, but there is every chance that the momcat is already pregnant again. You said the father was hanging around earlier - well, male cats unfortunately do not stay around to protect their offspring - they do not know the litter is their's. Their only instinct is to mate again with the mother as soon as she is able to. So you really must try and get her to a vet to see if that is the case. Talk to your friend at the SPCA and get things moving as soon as you can.

jennyranson said:

They are obviously well and happy in your garden! But you do need to trap them soon or they will not be tameable. And you may not know, but there is every chance that the momcat is already pregnant again. You said the father was hanging around earlier - well, male cats unfortunately do not stay around to protect their offspring - they do not know the litter is their's. Their only instinct is to mate again with the mother as soon as she is able to. So you really must try and get her to a vet to see if that is the case. Talk to your friend at the SPCA and get things moving as soon as you can.

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Yeah,  I do agree.   Although there ARE tom fathers who may help and protects, or even participate in the care takin. Not the most common but not unheard of.  

Many forumites had reported this.   But the most probable here is he courted the lady.   And even if he DID helped with protection,  as I want and choose to believe as you do, he very probable also "did his male duties".

Otherwise he would still hang around and help to protect.

So a spaying asap is in order, even if it also means abortion.  

Not nice, but these cat foetuses cant survive, if they come outside more than a couple of three days before delivery.  Unlike humans.

So, essentially, they arent alive as yet, even if they are palpatable.  Its no sin to abort them.

StefanZ said:

 
Yeah,  I do agree.   Although there ARE tom fathers who may help and protects, or even participate in the care takin. Not the most common but not unheard of.  

Many forumites had reported this.   But the most probable here is he courted the lady.   And even if he DID helped with protection,  as I want and choose to believe as you do, he very probable also "did his male duties".

Otherwise he would still hang around and help to protect.

So a spaying asap is in order, even if it also means abortion.  

Not nice, but these cat foetuses cant survive, if they come outside more than a couple of three days before delivery.  Unlike humans.

So, essentially, they arent alive as yet, even if they are palpatable.  Its no sin to abort them.

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I remember a few years ago at farm far out in the rural areas, a friend of mine stayed there for a while and got a kitten.

He had the kitten spayed when it was 4 months old. It was already 1 month pregnant mom... 4 MONTHS OLD!

Believe me, I plan to trap them by the end of next week the earliest. Just need some cages.

Anyways here is another video:


Short and sweet.

Getting closer!

If you have just recently started feeding this family, mom looks awfully thick for a feral, bet she's prego again.

catwoman707 said:

If you have just recently started feeding this family, mom looks awfully thick for a feral, bet she's prego again.

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I agree. And when she has the new kittens she will throw the older ones out of the nest to fend for themselves. In Nature only one or two kittens normally survive each season - if all of them lived then the worlds would be even more over-run with cats than it is. So you need to trap these babies before they are forced to leave to live on their own and fall prey to accident or predator. I would start to get them used to your smell - put an old T shirt or some socks under their feeding dish so they associate your smell with food - it will make them less frightened of you when you catch them.

Ok,

So I have mailed many feral rescue organisations here in South Africa.

All of them claiming have their hands full because:

"Winter is coming"

Sorry for the Game of Thrones pun, but winter is coming to the southern hemisphere, it explains the thick coat on the mother.

Cats are not stupid!!!

This mother had her kittens before it got cold in SA. She is looking after them before and during the winter.

I seriously doubt she is pregnant, she would be a silly to have kittens again during winter, especially when she is looking after this lot.

BTW. the diameter of the bowl is  +/-10cm or 4inches.

Unless SA kittens grow quicker and thicker than normal, I doubt those kittens are 10 weeks.

My friend at SPCA says that video is deceiving in kittens age.

I hope you guys can prove me wrong!

anyways got 2 videos uploading on YouTube.

First one has the mother still breastfeeding the kittens before eating.

Second one is about still feeding family, but the grey/white decide to play with my camera and takes it down!

I'll post when the videos come online!