Hi everyone,
I am really hoping for some guidance. I live in Spain in the country and for a few days in the summer fed a few feral cats in our garden. One was a beautiful black cat with lovely markings and clearly very young. They only popped by a week or so then vanished. Fast forward to October/November last year and the cat appeared again. As I live in the countryside, feral cats are common.... The Spanish love animals but there are no real shelters. I started to put food out regularly and Jinxy (our name for her) would come out of her hiding place, have a chat and eat. We have not touched her but she does look at me constantly and is always meowing at me - is that a good sign?
The reason I am emailing is that she obviously went into heat 3/4 weeks ago. Being a dog person, I was a bit slow off the mark with what mating actually was until I saw it a few times. There is no doubt she is pregnant but as she is feral and I have nooooooo experience with cats, all I can do is read and research.
I have people interested in the potential kittens and we will take at least one but what can I do in the meantime? I have two children, one age 3 and one turning 1 in a few months....husband works away, open plan house..... What can I do to help her? I don't want to trap her and then have my son scare her, we have a garden shed, can I encourage her to have her kittens there? Any help would be great, although I haven't even stroked her, she is a gorgeous little cat and I want to do what I can.
I am really hoping for some guidance. I live in Spain in the country and for a few days in the summer fed a few feral cats in our garden. One was a beautiful black cat with lovely markings and clearly very young. They only popped by a week or so then vanished. Fast forward to October/November last year and the cat appeared again. As I live in the countryside, feral cats are common.... The Spanish love animals but there are no real shelters. I started to put food out regularly and Jinxy (our name for her) would come out of her hiding place, have a chat and eat. We have not touched her but she does look at me constantly and is always meowing at me - is that a good sign?
The reason I am emailing is that she obviously went into heat 3/4 weeks ago. Being a dog person, I was a bit slow off the mark with what mating actually was until I saw it a few times. There is no doubt she is pregnant but as she is feral and I have nooooooo experience with cats, all I can do is read and research.
I have people interested in the potential kittens and we will take at least one but what can I do in the meantime? I have two children, one age 3 and one turning 1 in a few months....husband works away, open plan house..... What can I do to help her? I don't want to trap her and then have my son scare her, we have a garden shed, can I encourage her to have her kittens there? Any help would be great, although I haven't even stroked her, she is a gorgeous little cat and I want to do what I can.