Stray or Feral under shed

Hello, I had a situation with a stray or feral cat and her kittens today, and I am wondering if my family did the right thing. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

The story:

We have a very large dog (American Akita) and she found something underneath the tool shed. When we locked up our akita, we saw nothing underneath the tool shed (save for an old tire, some leaves, perfect dry spot for strays really...). When we scooped the tire out we saw a kitten inside! It's ears were folded in so it probably was less than a week old. We looked underneath the tool shed to see if there were any more, but saw nothing, so I scooped the kitten and put it in a warm towel. When we inspected underneath again (this time with a flashlight) we found 4 kittens, and the mother (they were a dark color, so it was very hard to see them). The mother didn't hiss or anything, but she didn't come. We called some people and rescues, but it was getting late and everything was closing, so no one could help us.

When we went back to see if we could coax the mother out, both the mother and one kitten were gone! We thought she took what she could and left, so we took the three other kittens, cleaned out the leaves (we're going to put wire underneath the shed to block off access because we've already found another cat (which we now own LOL) underneath there, and we don't want anymore strays getting any ideas) and bought some kitten milk for the four kittens so that we could care for them until we found someone who could do a better job.

Well, I was sitting with the kittens and we have these french doors open that go into the yard. So here I am reading on my cellphone about how to take care of neonatal kittens, and I see a cat come up as far as the door! But when she noticed me she ran away. We assumed this was the mother cat looking for her kittens, so we put the kittens outside by the french doors and waited. 20 minutes passed, nothing. I went to check on the kittens and there were still 4. Then 10 minutes passed, and when I went to check on the kittens, one was missing! I was sitting right by the doors the entire time! So I set up my camera to record and one by one the mother cat came and took her kittens away (if you're interested in seeing the video, I can upload!).

I'm wondering, did we do the right thing? the shelters in the area take only kittens, and because I saw the mom still looking, we decided maybe it was best to let her take them back.

The second question, the first cat I saw by the french doors (which gave us the idea to leave them outside) that ran away, was actually not the same cat that came and took the kittens. Do cats in a colony help each other out? Could this have been a scout or something, helping the mother cat? Or did this just happen to be another stray cat wandering around? Or was it the father?

Although the situation has passed, I would appreciate any feedback or comments! I love cats, and I would really like to gain more knowledge so that if something like this happens again, I can be better prepared!

Thanks for your time!

Interesting.

You are thus SURE it was a cat - the mom - coming and fetching?  Sure it wasnt no predator, alike a fox?   As you did photo.

If you were eager to try and foster, that would certainly be a hot alternative.

But if you arent eager, so returning them to mom is good.  

As we see, it apparently succeed...

This with a scout is very intriquing, especielly as it seems it was an alone mom, no pooled together moms...  But perhaps they were two anyways.  Or even the tom could have helped and protect - isnt not that unique they live in family groups, mom, dad and the children.  Theoretically they arent supposed to do so, but quite a few of our forumites witness, they may do so.

So, in the end analysis.

You did right here, as everything ended well.

What remains, is if you can possibly continue to help this little family, perhaps with food, with time also other care -  spaying  the mom, taking in the kittens for fostering and adoption when they get a little older...

StefanZ said:

Interesting.
You are thus SURE it was a cat - the mom - coming and fetching?  Sure it wasnt no predator, alike a fox?   As you did photo.

If you were eager to try and foster, that would certainly be a hot alternative.
But if you arent eager, so returning them to mom is good.  
As we see, it apparently succeed...

This with a scout is very intriquing, especielly as it seems it was an alone mom, no pooled together moms...  But perhaps they were two anyways.  Or even the tom could have helped and protect - isnt not that unique they live in family groups, mom, dad and the children.  Theoretically they arent supposed to do so, but quite a few of our forumites witness, they may do so.


So, in the end analysis.

You did right here, as everything ended well.

What remains, is if you can possibly continue to help this little family, perhaps with food, with time also other care -  spaying  the mom, taking in the kittens for fostering and adoption when they get a little older...

Click to expand...

Hi Stefan! Thank you for your response. We're sure it is the mother, or father. I've attached a photo of it when it came for the kittens. We left food around our yard but each time it went to take the kittens, it jumpped over the fence to an unknown location. We're afraid our dog will harm them, and because we don't know where she moved them, we're afraid to trap the mother. Still, we will continue to leave food. She made 4 trips to get all the kittens, and each trip took 7-12 minutes.

Glad the mum got her kittens back, I would love to see the video!

I am glad too evamilly! I posted on the site because we were unsure if we did the right thing.

Here is the video! We thought the mother cat was very stealthy so we tried to put appropriate music


We live on a hill next to a parking lot for stores, so we get a lot of animal traffic, and our fence is made out of brick so we don't know where they went. We'll continue to leave food and water, but we have other animals like raccoons and coyotes. Is it a good idea to keep leaving cat food out for them with animals like that around? We don't want to put the cat and her kitten in danger.

Also, we wondered if it was feral? Or a stray? The entire time we recorded I was sitting with my back turned on the other side of the door. Would ferals even come this close to a home?

yarka said:

 
I am glad too evamilly! I posted on the site because we were unsure if we did the right thing.

Here is the video! We thought the mother cat was very stealthy so we tried to put appropriate music

We live on a hill next to a parking lot for stores, so we get a lot of animal traffic, and our fence is made out of brick so we don't know where they went. We'll continue to leave food and water, but we have other animals like raccoons and coyotes. Is it a good idea to keep leaving cat food out for them with animals like that around? We don't want to put the cat and her kitten in danger.

Also, we wondered if it was feral? Or a stray? The entire time we recorded I was sitting with my back turned on the other side of the door. Would ferals even come this close to a home?

Click to expand...

Thay could, not in theory, but in practice they do....  

A tip re leaving food, is put them somewhere where its not difficult for a cat to jump up, but difficult for others to get up.  Perhaps on a little table, with the legs well under the table, so rats and others cant climp up upside down...

Also, a cat usually learns when the food is there.  Have it one hour out, and fetch in when the cat has eaten...

I live in the UK so I have no idea about raccoons and coyotes and the times they come out to eat, I'm sure someone will know the answer to that one. It would be a good idea to try and feed the family of cats. Fab video

Racoons and coyotes are nocturnal, so dusk to dawn is when they usually do their hunting. But coyotes treat it as more of a hard and fast rule, since they usually have to travel further back to their dens up in the hills, racoons are much more likely to live in town and be wandering about during the day.

Hello, I just wanted to post a follow-up on the kitty for those interested.

The kitty came back numerous times after it took babies so we decided to give it food daily and see where it was going. After feeding it daily we saw it would head back to an area in a parking lot that was owned by a local hardware store. There were plenty of places for it to hid the kittens, so we were unsure where to even start. We decided if we show that our area will be a stable food source, maybe it would bring the kittens back to eat when they were old enough.

We spotted kitty daily, we're unsure if it's the mother, but it's the cat that took the kittens in the video, so we assumed it was her. She'd often come during the day, and finish all the food in the night. We started to give wet and dry, and everything would be gone by the morning. We were unsure if it was all eaten by her!

Today we met some of the hardware workers when we were out walking the dog. The hardware workers looked odd. They were all sitting around the area we saw the kitty go when she would finish eating. They told us they were trying to catch a cat because 4 days ago they found some kittens when they were moving the big crates around! We said: well, we have been feeding the mother! They let us borrow a humane trap, and the kitty was caught within a few hours. They just came to take her away to reunite her with her kittens. I'll follow up again when they confirm if that's the mother, but we're pretty sure, as it looks exactly like the one in the video. The odd thing is, her ear has a little clip mark, so we're wondering if she was TNR. The left ear isn't completely clipped off, but it does have a snip that I've seen some ferals having.

Oh I forgot to ask, does she look feral? I think she just looks scared. When we caught her she freaked out and spilled the water, but when we got her inside she calmed down. As we were waiting for the workers to show up she ate and drank the water, blinked at us, sniffed our fingers, and even let us touch her with our fingers (tho the last one was just a little touch). When the workers came she growled at them LOL tho, but overall I think she was just agitated. Thoughts anyone?

Thanks!

Ahh it's fab she keeps getting reunited with her babies! I doubt she is feral if she let you touch her, more likely stray. What are the hardware workers going to do with them?

evamilly said:

Ahh it's fab she keeps getting reunited with her babies! I doubt she is feral if she let you touch her, more likely stray. What are the hardware workers going to do with them?

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They were bottle feeding the babies since Monday and want to take care of them all (spay and neuter) until they are ready to be adopted. They're all cat lovers and they had been trying for days to lure the mother out by using the babies as bait, but she wasn't coming around. She was however coming around to eat our food, which was probably why she didn't try to eat the food they left her lol! Right now they said she's too agitated (they brought her home), and they're worried she might hurt the babies (we still don't know for sure if they're her babies, but the cat we caught is the same one from the video). They're going to take her to the vet soon and see what's up. Maybe her milk is gone because the babies were taken away?

Ahh glad they were feeding the babies! keep us posted on what happens