HELP!!! I adopted a stray but she won't stop crying

Hi, two nights ago I adopted a stray cat who is one years old. She had had 2 babies in the last 10 weeks. The cats were found in my friends shed. I wanted to adopt the babies but they ran away before I can adopt the whole family. It's my first time adopting a pet and she won't stop crying tonight Is the second night I have her home. I brought her to be vaccinated tonight and will soon bring her to be spayed. I need some tips and advice because I'm unsure of how to make her happy again I feel very guilty hearing her crying. Help!!!

Cynxo said:

Hi, two nights ago I adopted a stray cat who is one years old. She had had 2 babies in the last 10 weeks. The cats were found in my friends shed. I wanted to adopt the babies but they ran away before I can adopt the whole family. It's my first time adopting a pet and she won't stop crying tonight Is the second night I have her home. I brought her to be vaccinated tonight and will soon bring her to be spayed. I need some tips and advice because I'm unsure of how to make her happy again I feel very guilty hearing her crying. Help!!!

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I keep thinking she is crying over her lost babies poor momma. I'd still try to get the babies trapped at least they may still be in the area of your friends shed.

Yep I agree she's looking for her babies. Can you take her back to the area in a carrier and keep her in the shed, she'll call them and you probably won't have much of a problem finding them. If the shed has a door that'd be an easy way to trap the kittens. Also food in the shed would make it easy to trap them. Try to give her lots of love to help her along.

Before you take her back, try setting a humane trap with some smelly wet food at or in the shed. It may attract the kittens. If they were old enough to run away, she's probably stopped nursing.

Her calling may be fright at her new circumstances or she may be in heat again. When their babies get big enough, cats usually don't pine over them. She may also be a vocal cat, used to talked about how she feels.

I would keep the same routine as much as possible. Allow her time to adjust. Visit her often and talk softly to her. Sit on the floor and read out loud.

But, please try to trap the kittens. They should be young enough to socialize and you can find homes for them. If they are left where they are, they will continue to breed and your friend will have a yardful soon.

Thank you for helping them!

Thanks for your responses, they're all very helpful. Yes we have been keeping close lookout for the babies but still no sign of them. My friend thinks that the mom was trying to to get rid of the babies since they were getting older which may be the reason they left. Then again it's hard to tell.

I think setting out smelly wet food in a drop-trap near the shed is the best way to find the kittens if they are still around. 10-week-old kittens in the wild would likely still be nursing. Just keeping watch for the kittens isn't going to help them, but they'll be likely to find the food as they'll be hungry.

I agree that the mom is either in heat or calling her babies.

I agree with the smelly food live traps for the kittens. I would leave them out at night because the kittens don't seem to come out while you are watching. Maybe cover them with a tarp/sheet/blanket so it looks like a hiding place that has some food. At 10 weeks, the kittens probably have not gone that far. You may want to check with your friends neighbors to see if anyone adopted them or started feeding them.

Yeah the thing with where these cats were found is that everyone knew they have been living in my friends shed for the last 10 weeks without moving, so all the neighbours along with my friend have been feeding them. They leave the food there but they haven't returned in 2 days. Do you think that my cat might adjust to not having her babies? Because there is also the option of one of the neighbours having adopted them. My cats (the mom) was not always stray however, I believe my cat was first living with a cat hoarder so she is litter trained and is happy to be in a home she is very accustomed and happy around everyone she meets it's just that at night she's sad.

However when it comes to the kittens my friend said that because they were born in the shed they have never been around people and they would usually hiss if anyone went close and they don't socialize.

Yes, eventually she would adjust to not having the kittens around. It make take awhile, it may not depends on her. I would definitely check with the neighbors for your own peace of mind. If food has been left out and they are not coming back, it sounds like they found a new home. At 10 weeks they are not going to be that skilled at hunting. Someone else may have trapped/caught them and taken them to a nearby shelter as well. I would check with any kill shelters around immediately and then the no-kill shelters to find out.

Her crying may be due to being in heat as others have said, so spaying her would stop that.

Thanks for taking in the stray mother cat.

Good luck,

Jim

Momma kitties typically adjust to their babies being gone fairly quickly, usually within a few days she will stop looking for them.  However, she may still have milk and that will be uncomfortable as it dries up, she may have gone back into heat and so she is crying to get out, and she may just want to go outside - sometimes outside cats do not adapt well to being inside (but that doesn't mean we stop trying).  Please do not let her out again until she is spayed! 

I hope you are able to catch the kittens.

It takes about 3 days for mom to stop crying for her kittens, HOWEVER, the loss of them will immediately throw her in to heat again, which is surely going to cause her to cry at night, so I highly suggest getting her little butt spayed ASAP.

She will end up escaping and mating again, sure as anything.

Her kittens are still there, they will not roam.

Just set either a drop trap or 2 traps with tuna and tuna water, this will get them to the traps, but do not put the 2 traps where they can see each other, otherwise you risk trapping just one while the other one witnessed it and will be frightened away.

Mom being tame, she is a great influence on the kittens taming down, they watch and learn, but you will still have to work with them regardless, by 8 weeks their mental development has reached a point that their fear of humans is set in, and will need some strong, consistent taming down right away for the best results.

Thanks for the advice guys, I will be bringing her to be spayed in, 10 days. The reason for this is because I brought her to get her vaccines and meds for worms last night and they said she needs to wait 10 days before going back after vaccine

Make sure you keep her inside. 

We have a stray tomcat, broke through the screen and jumped out the second story window, then opened the window himself and jumped out again and has opened the window at least twice more (but the child locks are engaged so he can't get it open far enough to get out).  So when I say make sure you keep her inside what I really mean is make sure she doesn't pull a Great Houdini

I rescued a cat with 3 kittens, the first night in the house she cried all night it was so very sad to hear. She longed for babies. I caught the first kitten and Josie was content but i couldnt sleep. Over the next days i caught the other kittens and all 4 were content i took them to them to Cats Protection and they were homed. Find her babies. Put food in a cat trap with patience and hope they will come. Thinking about it put the mother in a cage or cat trap and maybe the kittens will come to her i wish u all the luck. X

I agree with what someone else said, check with your neighbors to see. Otherwise, leave wet food out in a humane live trap to see if you can catch them that way. Make sure she gets spayed, as it could be because she is in heat as well.

It's important to find those other kittens IF they are still out there, to at least take them to a rescue or TNR them, to avoid the reproduction of more kittens. I'd see if you can borrow two live traps, and put them both in the shed if there is more than one.

C cynxo

Have the kittens been trapped yet?

Thanks for all the advise. Minou(my cat) is actually getting better at night, she doesn't cry as much I believe she is just in heat. We are getting her fixed next week. As for the kittens I'm so sad that we tried to trap them and left food out but they never came back the food always goes untouched. We spoke to the neighbours and they haven't seen the kittens, I believe someone has adopted them. Thanks for all your concern all your tips really help as it's my first time rescuing a cat and there's nothing more rewarding

Thank you for the update!