Help need for feral Mother and 5 kittens

Hi there,

around 3 days ago my mum discovered 5 kittens in our garden and we assumed it belonged to our neighbour, however, we soon discovered that it belonged to a feral cat mother. My mum and grandad both think that the kittens are around 5weeks of age however they still feed from the mother. I have been providing wet cat food mixed with some cat biscuits twice a day for the mum to eat, to ensure that the kittens can survive as well. The mum often leaves but she always comes back to feed the kittens. Usually I leave the food where the kittens play but yesterday, the mum was there so I couldn`t go to place the food as she will hiss and is very protective of the kittens. So  I went inside the house and brought out the tin of cat food and put it on a container away from the container, and although she hissed at me, suprisingly she came towards me and ate the food. 

I am just unsure of what to do next. I was hoping to trap the mother cat and get her neutered once the kittens are able to eat solid food because I am scared that if I take her away now, the kittens will go hungry. Also, we may keep a couple of the kittens and find homes for the rest of them but I have seen on some sites that you need to dedicate a spare room for the kittens to stay in but we don`t have a spare room to put them in. Do we get a kitten pen or something?

Oh and I don`t know if this is important but a kitten was playing by itself and when my mum tried to get close to it, it began hissing so it seems to have adapted to  some wild ways.

I know nothing about cats, especially wild ones lol and I am only 15 so some help would be appreciated.  

Getting mom spayed is a great start.  If the kittens are five weeks old, you can probably trap her within the next two weeks or so without harming them, as they are probably starting to eat solid food now.

I would keep a close eye on the kittens and if any seem to be wandering (or disappear) round them up.  The kitten who hissed has simply learned from mom to be afraid of humans (who look like big, bad predators).

The kittens are actually at an ideal age to socialize but being able to confine them is going to make the job a lot easier.  Any rescue nearby you can work with?  They may have a foster home available.  (Pretty unlikely but possible).

If you can get a kennel or crate of some sort to keep them confined, that will help with the socializing.  A large crate can fit into the corner of a bedroom or perhaps you can dedicate a bathroom to the kittens?  I once fostered a litter of five week olds in my bathtu!  They couldn't climb out because of the slippery sides and I was able to provide a bed and a small litter box for them.  They ended up being the easiest litter I ever socialized!  Once they graduated to the entire bathroom, they were ready for their new homes.

Keep feeding the wet food.  Mix in water or kitten replacement milk (or goats milk) to make a slurry for the kittens.  If you can get kitten food, it will help them all grow well (and mom needs the extra nutrients, too).

Thank you for helping them all.

aha thank you! I was thinking I wouldn`t get a reply lol. at least I know I can put them in a crate somewhere as well! Saturday, me and my family except my brother are going on holiday for a week so I will make sure to ensure my brother the important of watching them as this may be the  stage where the kittens begin to eat solid food. I am going to see if I can get a humane cat trap. Luckily, we have discovered them whilst the summer holidays because I wouldn`t be able to watch them as much during school time. 

Hi there,

me and my mum has been really happy because when we first found the mother cat and kittens, they used to stay hidden in the corner of our garden but now we have noticed that all of the kittens have been playing everywhere in the garden! I have two little sisters so there is a toy tunnel in the garden and we have even noticed the kittens going through! the kittens still run away when we come outside but the mother just sits there and remain calm. she is fine to eat in front of us. I am starting to think that the mum is a stray rather than a feral so there may be chance of her adjusting to home life and being let inside as well as the kittens! what do you suggest? if she does turn out to be a stray, after I get her neuteured should I allow her to be socialised in our home and if so, should she be with the kittens or seperated? she seems to trust us more than the kittens.

AmeishaBritneyx said:

 
Hi there,

me and my mum has been really happy because when we first found the mother cat and kittens, they used to stay hidden in the corner of our garden but now we have noticed that all of the kittens have been playing everywhere in the garden! I have two little sisters so there is a toy tunnel in the garden and we have even noticed the kittens going through! the kittens still run away when we come outside but the mother just sits there and remain calm. she is fine to eat in front of us. I am starting to think that the mum is a stray rather than a feral so there may be chance of her adjusting to home life and being let inside as well as the kittens! what do you suggest? if she does turn out to be a stray, after I get her neuteured should I allow her to be socialised in our home and if so, should she be with the kittens or seperated? she seems to trust us more than the kittens.

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I think you may continue as you suggest, its a good plan.  She is either a stray, or a semiferal whom is ready to accept humans.  The exact really doesnt matter, as long as she is willing to accept tyou and your help.

As she accepts you, the best is surely to let her be together with the kittens.  So the kittens will both get theirs mom, and the socializing from you.  

Today, I went outside and put down some water and cat food under our porch so they can be sheltered. I went near where the mother cat was with her kittens and I was gesturing her to come to and asking her to come. Surprisingly, she actually came to me and followed me outside the garden and I led her to her food. However, as she was doing this she was growling, hissing and meowing at me as if she had mixed emotions. I was a bit scared but I acted confident to get the cat to trust me. What does it mean?

Other than that today though, she hasn`t hissed at me since the first time I went close to her to feed her.

Also, me and my family are going Isle Of Wright tomorrow except my 20 year old Brother who will be feeding the cats. however, he is only going to feed him but not interact as he works a lot and won`t have time. When I come back from the holiday, will the progress Ii made with the cats be forgotten or can I resume from where I was? we will be gone for one week.

Also, the kittens are still extremely frightened of us. The mother cat seems most comfortable with me at the moment, as we can see she followed me today and let me feed her without hissing at me as this morning, my mum went to feed her and she was hissing at her.

Sorry this is long, Ii just remembered earlier in the day before the mother cat followed me to her food, I was sat on my trampoline and playing music and she cam in front of the trampoline and sat down and started meowing at me ( I am unsure why) so I`m a bit confused if she is starting to tame and be more comfortable or if that`s just her behaviour.

I am starting to doubt whether she really is a feral cat but the idea of her being a stray is heartbreaking! My mum said she is not going to let the mum inside once we neuteur her and capture the kittens but she can be an outdoor cat but I just feel so guilty leaving the mother cat outside as I am beginning to grow attached to her and I feel as if she is slowly getting used to me.

She may have been worried you were going to hurt the kittens.  Moms are very protective.  From your description, she does sound more like a stray.  I don't think she will regress while you are gone but the kittens may have begun to wander.  How old do you think they are?

I would plan on trapping the kittens and beginning the socilization process and trapping mom and getting her fixed as soon as you return.

The kittens are around 5 weeks as they started eating solid food a few days ago x

OK!  You'll still have time.  They start leaving mom at around 12 weeks but can wander away sooner, so please be prepared to trap everyone when you get home.  Make sure you brother keeps up the routine of feeding, too.  Establishing and maintaining that routine is critical.

Thanks so much for helping them all!  Have a nice vacation.

Honestly I thougth they were already catched according to your plans.  But if you are going away a full week its probably best they are where they are, with the bro keeping to give them food.

Its only an advantage if they see more humans being friendly with them, and giving them food.

Observe, time is beginning to run for you, if you want to have easily fully socialized kittens.   Plan on trapping them asap you manage efter your return, dont let more time go by.

Ifs fully possible to socialize older kittens too, but it takes more time, and they may remain to be pets shy of any visitors.

So I came back today a couple of hours ago but it was dark so I couldn`t see them

However, I will be checking on them in the morning but I am slightly annoyed as I walked into the garden and it smelt so I told my mum and in my little sisters play tent, they had pooed which my brother hadn`t cleaned so guess who will have to do that tommorow... lol. I have no clue how as I have never dealt with pets but I will try .

but now that we are back, we aren`t exactly sure how to trap them? I mean, do we trap the mum first or the kittens? are the kittens meant to be trapped seperately or together? because having 6 individual cages may be a bit much and how would I get them into their own individual ones? my mum doesn`t want to be the one who does the trapping process so is there a place we could call who could come and trap the mum cat and the kittens for us?

Sorry for so many questions, I am just completely new to this lol x

Before you begin trapping, have a plan.  See if you can contact the nearest rescue group - isn't there a Cat's Protection Society in England?  I am unfamiliar with the specific groups but I know there are many there.

In any case, try to contact one and see what they offer in terms of help.  It may be guidance, loans of traps or actual trapping.  Do that first because if you trap and then aren't sure what to do next, you'll be in a fix.

Even if you find a group, you will most likely have the majority of work to do.  You'll have to decide where mom will go once she's fixed - back to your yard or inside your house?  Or perhaps, if she' turns out to be friendly enough, find a home for her?  All these possibilities should be considered, so you can make the right decision for her and the kittens. They are young enough to socialize, so will you be able to do that and then find them homes?

Start thinking about where you will recuperate the cats once they are fixed.  Females need a few days before being released.  Males can be released after one night.  Do you have a crate or a room for this purpose?

Don't let it ovewhelm you.  It sounds like a lot but take it a step at a time and it will go well.

We have been making good progress so far as about 3 days ago, me and my mum got to stroke the mum cat whilst she was eating and she seemed very relaxed with it. we were stroking her for a while whilst she was eating until she left and had finished. The next day, when I went to feed her she came towards me and was letting me stroke her and she had been purring and meowing! she was snuggling up next to my legs and she kept rubbing her face against my hand. I was shocked to see her act so tame. She has been doing this everyday now! I have even been able to stroke the kittens but only whilst they are eating as they are still terrified of humans but I feel as the mother cat is helping. I was sat on a chair outside and she was walking through my legs. She then called her kittens over and tried to get them to follow her through my legs and try to get them close to me although they are still scared lol. She is such a lovely cat and its sad to believe she has been living alone!!

As for the trapping situation, me and my mum visited the vet the day before yesterday to ask for advice. She said to us that if we trap the mum, we can take her to the vet and she will be kept overnight so she won`t be fed and then the operation will be performed. They said she can be kept for another night to allow her to heal and that the stitches are internal so she can`t get infected and requires less healing time. When we asked about the kittens, we mentioned that we could keep them in our utility room but she said it may not be a good idea to keep them confined as they may be scared and have a negative experience so what we have been doing, starting from yesterday is leave our utility room door open during the day and keep their food and litter box inside there. We will then lock it at night and open it again during the day. 

So in the morning yesterday, I picked up the empty cat bowl and opened the utility door so I could put some food in and the mum cat turned up ( because she is hungry for food lol) so I told her to follow me into the utility room and she watched me put the food in the bowl and I placed it in in the corner of the room. She ate happily whilst I stroked her and when she finished she snuggled up to me. ( usually when she is finised eating, she likes to come to me for her to stroke her.) I then came inside to leave her alone with the kittens and as I looked through the window,  I noticed her calling the kittens inside to eat which was perfect. when it was night, my mum said she looked inside to see if any kittens were in their and said she couldn`t see any so she locked the door. There was still some food left in there bowl though. 

So today, I woke up ( my utility door has an entrance from my garden and from inside the house and the doors are glass) and I looked through the door in my house and noticed the bowl was empty and I saw a kitten sleeping. I called my mum laughing and said there a kitten in there lol. I went outside to do my routine of opening the utility room door to fill the bowl and I saw the mum cat laying down with one kitten outside. When I opened the utility room door there was 4 out of the 5 kittens that had been in there all night LOL. ( My mum did a great job of checking ) but they all seemed fine and being locked in didn`t seem to bother them and the mum cat seemed fine. As she usually does, the mum cat followed me in and watched me make the food then ate it when I put it down and the kittens came to the food too. I noticed a couple of the kittens smelling my feet lol ( I was wearing slippers) and I don`t know what that means and I stroked them as I ate. The mum came to me as she usually does after eating and snuggled up to me.

Do you think this is a good idea? we are doing this to help slowly integrate the kittens into our home so they get used to the house. Oh and I forgot to mention, my next door neighbour has a spare cat cage so she is going to let us borrow it and my mum will be working from home tommorow, so she is hoping to trap her then. I`m scared that after her couple of days at the vet, she won`t want to come to us anymore and will leave or something. Will this happen?  

Thanks & sorry this is long.

It sounds like you are making great progress and that you have a great vet!  Mom cat is definitely not feral, as she would not allow you near her or her kittens if she were.  Good news for getting her to be a housepet.  Trapping her will be traumatic (for you both ).  But she will forgive you.  In fact, when she returns from the vet, it might be a good idea to keep her in the utility room for a day or two.  If she becomes upset, she can be let outside but she may surprise you by wanting to stay inside permanently.

As for the kittens, the vet's advice may not apply, as they already seem to be comfortable inside.  Do you plan for them to be able to go outside at all or are you thinking of keeping them as inside-only cats?  Here in the states, many people's cats never go outside (and would have no clue what to do if allowed!)  All of my cats run the other way when the door is opened.  They know a good deal!

In any case, go ahead and trap mom as soon as you can.  She's going to get pregnant very soon if you don't.  A few days/nights at the vets won't hurt her and she may enjoy the vacation from the kids.  Again, keep her inside for a few days, or permanently, if that is in your plans.

Good luck - and keep us posted!

I`m starting to love the mum cat ( we named her Tyga last week because of her resemblance to one) and I really hope she is able to be fully tamed and happy with us. My mum locked up a couple hours ago and she wanted to see if any of the kittens wanted to come in again tonight but none of them were willing except the mum but we didn`t want to lock her in without the kittens. I am going to try to go outside tonight to convince them to come in.One thing which made me laugh was when I was sat next to her and she was purring and snuggling to me and my brother opened the door and scared her and she growled and you could see her body language change as she began to curve up, her hair on her back sticking up and her tail up but then she relaxed when she realised he wasn`t threatening but she still remained next to me lol. I am hoping my mum can trap her tomorrow and if not, definitelyFriday.  

Sorry I haven`t updated in a while but we didn`t get her neuteured on Friday because the vets don`t work on weekends, however my mum took Tyga today! It was pretty easy getting her into the car carrier, we just placed food in the back and she crawled through to the back so we then closed it. She was distressed at first but my mum said when they got into the car she seemed ok and was meowing. My mum said at the vets she was even letting her poke her finger through and stroke her. Anyway, the vet gave her a checkup and said she is very healthy and that we have done well for her. Also, they estimate she is about 1-2 years old. They said she is a turtoised-shell tabby cat and she was friendly towards the nurse. They said they may have to keep her for another day to let her milk drip dry as she had been feeding a little but hopefully we should be able to pick her up on either Wednesday or Thursday. I miss her already and she has only been gone a couple hours lol. We have decided we are going to keep her as a house cat and when she is back, we are going to let her inside. 

As for the Kittens,me and my mum do not have time to tame them as I will be returning to school soon and will be focusing on my gcse`s whilst my mum works full time and I have two little sisters to look after. We spoke to the vet about this and they said they will contact a no kill shelter who could help us out. I think my mum reached the final straw with the kittens yesterday, because one of them bit and scratched her. For now, we will keep feeding them but we won`t be keeping them as they are too feral and we simply do not have the time.

I am lucky that we are keeping Tyga because my mum said if it werent for me wanting to keep her, she would probably take her to a shelter aswell but she is just so friendly and lovely and she even let me pick her up yesterday! I am looking forward to her return as she will be our pet and my dad will be returning home from Jamaica on Wednesday so it will be the first time him seeing her lol. He does not like animals but he finally gave in and said we can keep her ( In Jamaica, not many people have cats and dogs as pets and can be pretty harsh to them,) so he will have to adjust lol. 

Good news!  I love tortoise shells.  They have so much personailty.  Their coloring comes the the Siamese gene, so they can be talkers.

I hope you are able to work with the shelter to get the kittens homes, too.  In the meantime, Tyga is a lucky little cat!

The vet called us earlier today and told us that the operation went well and she is ready to pick up! However, we didn`t pick her up today as we had to sort out the house ready for her so we will be collecting her tomorrow!! I am very excited aha, we have set up the house ready for her. The nurse even commented on how sweet and well behaved she has been which is amazing because when I remember to how she first was, she would hiss and growl and wouldn`t even let anyone near her! 

Also, after you told me about tortoiseshells tabbys having good personalities, I looked it up and the are aparently very opinionated lol so I will be observing her to see! 

I may also be able to take a picture of her when she is back so you can see her! As for the kittens, the vets said the shelter hasn`t got back to them yet but will hopefully soon as we just want the kittens gone asap lol. Ever since it bit my mum, my mum calls them the devil kittens looool. 

Good news!  Vibes the kittens all find homes.  Just in case the shelter doesn't come through, you may want to develop a plan to trap them and at least fix them so they don't reproduce and fill your garden with new kittens.  That will happen faster than you think!

She is here now! she did lots of walking around however she is only allowed access to half the house so we have a door where she will stay. She keeps meowing for her kittens so I feel so sad for her . She likes to jump up on the counters a lot and we just pick her up and put her on the floor to let her know she can not jump up there although sometimes she growls as she doesnt love being picked up lol. We brought a hooded litter tray to keep out the smell because our utility room don`t smell to nice (where we are keeping the kittens) although they have been using litter and we keep cleaning it everyday! She keeps going to the backdoor as she wants to go outside but it is raining heavilly and we want to get her used to inside. She seems to think my dad`s suitcase is a scratching post lol. I have just left her in the other half for a bit to see how she copes alone ( we can see through glass doors). if you have any advice for how to stop her from jumping on counters or any other tips I would like that