My Feral Cat Family, has gone missing

Hi All,

I hope this board is still active,

Some Back Ground,

I have been the proud owner of a feral cat family for about 7 months now, momma cat showed up in our yard in July and we started feeding her, about a month later she showed up with 4 kittens in tow. They all decided to stay, we contacted our local TNS program and successfully trapped them all and fixed all kittens and momma. Released back into our yard a week later. We re did our shed to make a cat friendly home, straw for warmth we made beds out of insulation and wood and put toys and cat box and so on in the shed, exit and entrance for the kitties also. We kept them in the shed for 3 weeks after being fixed so they could heal and realize this was there home. When the 3 weeks were up we opened the kittie doors and momma took off the babies stayed behind, mom was gone for about 3 days and she came home again. We have been feeding them 2x day wet food and dry out all day, picking all food up at night. Heated water bowl so they have the comforts of home outside. We do have cold nights we live in the northeast so winter is long here. 

New Years eve I fed the babies and momma, all the babies will stop running when the hear my voice and wait for me to feed them, JR and Fraya will come almost close enough for me to pet the others are coming around. Momma is getting better at being around me she will run but watch from afar while I put the food out. So all day New Years day no cat, this morning no sign of them being here over night. So all 5 kitties disappeared together. Is it common for them to roam away from their home for days at a time? I have never taken care of feral cats before. We have 6 kitties of our own inside that we never let out, I'm as worried about this kittie family as I would be of my indoor fur babies. 

Any advice would be helpful, thank you.

I am so very sorry all of the kitties are missing.  Is there a chance they have a second home somewhere close by with someone else who is feeding them and offering shelter?  Also is there a chance animal control was called and they were taken to a shelter?  I would start by talking with the neighbors.  Have you been outside at night to look for them?  I would also suggest posting signs in your neighborhood.

I do find it unusual that all 5 and Momma cat are missing.  I would also start calling animal shelters to see if they were picked up.

I hope that the kitties are just out on an extended play trip, but without food I would think they should have returned by now.

You are in my thoughts.

I have a feral family also. I have had a momma and two kittens for three years. They are all spayed and ear tipped. I have a set up similar to you with houses that have heating pads and warming lights, water bowl, and feeding stattion. One of mine does go off for days at a time and show up in middle of the night. We have raccoons and posums so I also pick up food at night. They do not wander much in winter when it is cold. They stay on heating pads.
Has anything in enviroment changed? We constructed a second story and a porch to their house this fall and it took them three days to go into it. The mother is the teacher and if she is a feral she will teach her babies of anything she feels is a danger. Could another animal be around trying to take up a home or get food? Mine are very on edge when a passing stray shows up. Keep feeding them. Good luck.

Yes @shadowsrescue. Check animal control. My neighbors all are familiar with my colony and know they are taken care of. One of my neighbors is my vet so I do not worry about animal control and the ear tip gives away that they are being cared for. I also live in a very small subdivison so there are only 5 neighbors to make aware and anyone who moves in gets a visit from the crazy cat lady.

The only thing that has changed is that it snowed, this is the kittens first winter and when we trapped and fixed momma the vet figured she was just under a year old so possibly her first winter as an adult kittie anyway. They hated me walking up to the feeding station in the snow it makes the crunching sound and it was scaring them, took a lot of talking to keep them from running and hiding in their shelter. Other then that there has been no change on our end. 

The animal control officer here is a friend of ours so I know he hasn't trapped them, momma is way to smart to be lured into a trap, it took us months to get her to trust us enough to trap her. With us feeding her she would of been very hard to get into a trap using food as bait.

So odd for all of them to go at once, most of the neighbors are okay with  the kitties moving into my shed, I do have one neighbor behind me that is not very animal friendly!

We are heading into a deep freeze for a few days, I'm worried they will be to cold.  There is a large cat colony a few blocks over could they have possibly gone there?

Yes. I would stake out the other colony. Is there a caretaker for the other colony? Usually a caretaker will keep track of new arrivals and maybe they have noticed your group.The first snow could very well frighten them. We had howling winds with our storm. I hope momma has them all safe.

There is another caretaker for the larger colony. Animal Dreams believes that colony produced momma cat and JR looks just like a stray male that has been in our yard who is also the male alpha of the larger colonie. He was finally trapped and fixed so we're all the cats in the large colony. I can contact animal dreams they will ask the other caretaker for me if my family of fur babies has been there.

Other then feeding them is there anything else I can do to help them home?

The only luck I have is calling them because they are familiar with my voice and associate me with their food supply. I also make no changes that may scare them and keep any intruders out. We have people dump cats in our area occasionally and if they are friendly I get them fixed and I also work with the animal shelter to find homes. My group does not like intruders and will stay away from feeding station when someone willing to fight for food shows up.

I keep calling them, they know my voice and when outside they will come around the feeding station. I just hope they come home!

I hope so too! I get very worried when mine wander. Keep us posted of what you find from the other caretaker. Look for prints in snow they may sneak in during the night when all is quiet.

I will do all of that!

The babies are home, all 5 of them. I put food out at normal feeding time last night, didn't see anything but when I went to pick it up and bring it in around 7 the plates were empty, I hadn't seen anything, but I knew it was a cat that ate it not a raccoon, because of placement, a raccoon would have everything turned upside down. 

This morning I woke and there they were all 5 of them waiting by my back step, they were hungry and looking for some food. I am so relieved they are ok!!! 

Thanks everyone for the help!! 

That is great!!! I am relieved they made it home and I am sure momma is close by. My "kittens" are 3 1/2 yrs old and they still stay and protect momma.

Momma is here with them. It is momma and her 4 babies, they are about 7 months old now. 

I am so happy for you.  I thought of you often yesterday.  When my 3 go missing I am so frantic with worry.  I wish I could GPS trackers on them.  I do use wireless surveillance cameras so I can see what happens at night. 

Thanks for updating.

Valzie said:

 
Momma is here with them. It is momma and her 4 babies, they are about 7 months old now. 

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wonderful news!!

Thanks for the kind words everyone, my fur babies are all doing well, hungry little ones which makes me think they didnt go somewhere that had food for them. I'm feeding them extra to get them filled up and satisfied.