Semi Feral w/Kittens Living in My Garage

Last summer my widower neighbor trapped a feral kitten and released it inside his fenced back yard; I did not become aware of the kitten's owner until Thanksgiving.  It didn't take long for our new furry friend to find the food inside my garage left there for the feral we had taken in several years earlier (but regrettably had to put down late summer).  Thinking it was a stray, I started leaving food out twice a day.  She would come over, eat and run back across the street.  Having a soft spot for animals, I decided to try and tame her (could tell she - even though at the time checking her bottom for gender was totally out of the question - was rather young).  A watch from afar turned into standing beside the dish, to a touch, then to a rub and finally to a pick up and hold over the course of a few months.

When the weather started changing, my husband and I let her stay in our garage every night.  But, when morning came, food was eaten and door opened, she returned across the street.  In mid-January with 5" of snow/sleet on the ground, she walked across my garage floor and I noticed her sides were expanding - assumed at that time gender was female!!  She has been in my garage 24/7 since that time.

Knowing absolutely nothing about kittens, I found this site and started reading.  I knew time was drawing nigh but my only sign was just a mere flutter of movement now and then; so slight I could barely feel it.  Late in the day on February 21 I noticed just a touch of pinkish liquid on her bed blanket.  I knew she wasn't licking anything off because she was so large she could no longer stretch that far!  The first was born just after 10:00 pm and the final around midnight.  I did have to help one little buddy.  It came out feet first and she started her cleaning process on the back end.  It became apparent she wasn't going to make it to the head before another one decided to come into the world.  I picked it up, cleaned its mouth out, partially cleaned its face and laid it beside her; she was busy with number five and ignored it.  It had let out a couple cries but was struggling for breath.  We were sure we would lose it, however, the next morning all five babies were safe and sound.   

They are still in our garage inside a clean nesting box of sufficient size with a heating pad on one side of the box which is turned on low and tucked underneath a couple layers of fleece blanket.  One, unfortunately, now has a URI but has been to the vet, on meds for a couple days and already much improved.  The cat isn't mine, but my neighbor has already been informed that Zoe (yes, I've even named her) will be going in for a fix, my treat!  The Human Society has agreed to take the kittens for placement in either permanent or foster homes assuming, of course, I can give all of them up. 

I felt compelled to pass along a huge "THANKS" to all of you for your participation on this site; I found everything I needed right here to prepare me for this adventure!!

NCgardener said:

 
Last summer my widower neighbor trapped a feral kitten and released it inside his fenced back yard; I did not become aware of the kitten's owner until Thanksgiving.  It didn't take long for our new furry friend to find the food inside my garage left there for the feral we had taken in several years earlier (but regrettably had to put down late summer).  Thinking it was a stray, I started leaving food out twice a day.  She would come over, eat and run back across the street.  Having a soft spot for animals, I decided to try and tame her (could tell she - even though at the time checking her bottom for gender was totally out of the question - was rather young).  A watch from afar turned into standing beside the dish, to a touch, then to a rub and finally to a pick up and hold over the course of a few months.

When the weather started changing, my husband and I let her stay in our garage every night.  But, when morning came, food was eaten and door opened, she returned across the street.  In mid-January with 5" of snow/sleet on the ground, she walked across my garage floor and I noticed her sides were expanding - assumed at that time gender was female!!  She has been in my garage 24/7 since that time.

Knowing absolutely nothing about kittens, I found this site and started reading.  I knew time was drawing nigh but my only sign was just a mere flutter of movement now and then; so slight I could barely feel it.  Late in the day on February 21 I noticed just a touch of pinkish liquid on her bed blanket.  I knew she wasn't licking anything off because she was so large she could no longer stretch that far!  The first was born just after 10:00 pm and the final around midnight.  I did have to help one little buddy.  It came out feet first and she started her cleaning process on the back end.  It became apparent she wasn't going to make it to the head before another one decided to come into the world.  I picked it up, cleaned its mouth out, partially cleaned its face and laid it beside her; she was busy with number five and ignored it.  It had let out a couple cries but was struggling for breath.  We were sure we would lose it, however, the next morning all five babies were safe and sound.   

They are still in our garage inside a clean nesting box of sufficient size with a heating pad on one side of the box which is turned on low and tucked underneath a couple layers of fleece blanket.  One, unfortunately, now has a URI but has been to the vet, on meds for a couple days and already much improved.  The cat isn't mine, but my neighbor has already been informed that Zoe (yes, I've even named her) will be going in for a fix, my treat!  The Human Society has agreed to take the kittens for placement in either permanent or foster homes assuming, of course, I can give all of them up. 

I felt compelled to pass along a huge "THANKS" to all of you for your participation on this site; I found everything I needed right here to prepare me for this adventure!!

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I will read on more closely later on, but as an advice for kittens from semiferale moms - if you DO have foster / adoptions homes lines up, it may be wise to take they early, at 5-6 weeks.  At that age they are much easier to foster and socialize, than later on.

Its one of the few exceptions from the holy rule of absolute minium 8+ weeks.

The other exception is essentially dire need of saving what can be saved. Ie sheer emergencies..

Of course, if mom is friendly and they are nicely socializing with you, its not the same hurry.

Awww! You are so kind to care for Zoe and her kittens. It's wonderful to hear that you have found all the information you needed here on TCS!

Please post pictures of Zoe and her babies for us, and feel free to ask any questions you may have. [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Zoe has been such a good mom and I am very proud of her!  She and I have really bonded the past couple of months.  I'm considering her mine now as I know my neighbor (who is 65+ and lives alone) will not care for her the way she has been cared for here.  I do think, however, that she may be feeling a bit threatened as she moved one of the little ones into an empty flower pot today!!  Fortunately my husband was home and found it very quickly.  Nor is she doing very well with me giving medication to her crying baby.  I have tried to explain to her what's going on, showed her everything I'm doing and I sit next to the nest while administering the meds.  Any other ideas?

What you are doing is the absolute right way to go about things. Zoe will just have to get used to it. I'm glad your husband found the baby in the flower pot today. Zoe has found herself a wonderful home with you! She is a very lucky cat! The babies are so cute! I love the picture of the baby leaning on Zoe! Does Zoe have a tag on her ear?

The ear does have a little split.  It was like that when she showed up; assume it happened while she was out in the wild - ?  I'm thinking she was in the 5-6 month age range when I started feeding her.  She was starved and would eat one can of Fancy Feast and two fairly large helpings of dry food at one sitting.  When we learned that my neighbor had trapped her, he told us he had been giving her a few table scraps and she had been staying on his open, but covered, back patio.  She hasn't had any shots yet either and I will also take care of getting those.  We have a 6' "play yard" (which will be donated to the Humane Society when we're finished with it) on order; it should be here tomorrow.  We plan to set that up in the garage for Zoe and babies so they will have plenty of room.  They are already sticking their heads over the edge of the nest and looking around.  Legs are getting much stronger too so I'm expecting them to get a lot more active very soon.  They will be three weeks old this weekend and I am worried somewhat about the switch to solid food.  I work full time so I will only be able to give the KMR/solids mixture twice a day (maybe three times if I give them a light meal very late evening).  Will that be sufficient?

NCgardener said:

 
The ear does have a little split.  It was like that when she showed up; assume it happened while she was out in the wild - ?  I'm thinking she was in the 5-6 month age range when I started feeding her.  She was starved and would eat one can of Fancy Feast and two fairly large helpings of dry food at one sitting.  When we learned that my neighbor had trapped her, he told us he had been giving her a few table scraps and she had been staying on his open, but covered, back patio.  She hasn't had any shots yet either and I will also take care of getting those.  We have a 6' "play yard" (which will be donated to the Humane Society when we're finished with it) on order; it should be here tomorrow.  We plan to set that up in the garage for Zoe and babies so they will have plenty of room.  They are already sticking their heads over the edge of the nest and looking around.  Legs are getting much stronger too so I'm expecting them to get a lot more active very soon.  They will be three weeks old this weekend and I am worried somewhat about the switch to solid food.  I work full time so I will only be able to give the KMR/solids mixture twice a day (maybe three times if I give them a light meal very late evening).  Will that be sufficient?

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The switch is seldom abrupt all at once, usually they continue to nurse on momma several weeks more, so it will be entirely OK what you are planning.  

The play yard sounds awesome, but is there a reason why you cannot bring the family into a room in your house? At some point they will outgrow the play yard, and need a larger area to explore, such as a spare room where playing is safe.

Kittens do not begin to wean until 4 weeks, and, as Stefan said, it is a gradual process. There are early weaners and late weaners. I say 4 weeks because that is when the milk teeth come in. Most kittens wean more easily and readily around 5-6 weeks.

When weaning, you'll want to leave dry kitten chow down 24/7. You'll need to offer the mushy wet food at least 3 times a day - more often on the weekend. Little tummies eat little amounts about 6 times a day, but they will have dry food in between so they should be fine.

Please share a photo of the kittens in the play yard once it arrives and they settle in! [emoji]128522[/emoji]

There is a reason why the kittens will not be brought into the house (other than the fact that they didn't come from a cat who actually belongs to me and my neighbor hasn't given me permission to keep their mom).  We're, for the most part, dog lovers.  However, we have taken in one stray and one feral cat over the past 15 years.  The stray did not hesitate to use his claws on my furniture which I eventually had to keep covered; just couldn't break him.  After he passed away, I started updating the inside of my house as I could see retirement getting closer and I wanted to get everything done while I still had a steady job .  Four years worth of work from the floors all the way up to the ceiling and thousands of dollars.  In the meantime, the feral shows up and he was a total mess.  When we rescued him he only had one good eye and a face oozing with blood.  He too stayed in the garage at night/outside during the day but always around the house after he was fixed.  And, he enjoyed throwing his claws around too.  I usually had marks on my arms/legs as proof.  He wasn't with us too long before we had to put him down.  We decided no more pets.  Then, as fate would have it, here comes little Zoe who I thought was a stray.  We'll have to see how things go when the babies are gone and she's had her surgery.  My neighbor may decide he wants her back!  He has, however, given me permission to take the babies to the Humane Society and have Zoe fixed.

So, it's been a while and my little buddies are doing great - growing by leaps and bounds!  They have been in their "play yard" for a couple of weeks; but, since it has a door for mom to go in and out, they have now gotten large enough to climb in and out as well.  They come out for play time and go back in for naps and feeding.  I have been spending time with them every evening (battle scars to prove it) and have become very attached.  I am sure it is going to be quite difficult to give them up; have already told my husband to expect tears.  They are now five weeks old and we have been working on eating for the past week and potty training started over the weekend after I saw one of them using the floor!!  Of the five, three are eating really well for me.  This morning, I mixed 1/2 can of Fancy Feast Kitten with just two teaspoons of the KMR mixture and two of them almost finished it off.  The third ate a very good portion of Purina Kitten Chow soaked in water and mashed up.  The other two aren't doing quite as well.  One of them has eaten once and the other has no interest whatsoever.  The one who has no interest is a boy (99% sure) and the largest of the litter.  I have been working with them at least three times per day and have done everything I know to do.  I probably shouldn't have but I gave them this past weekend off because I was tired of struggling with them and they are probably tired of struggling with me!  I just chalked it up to them not being ready and gave it a rest.  They don't even want to lick it off their mouths.  I've been holding out hope that they will begin after watching their siblings but they don't seem to be paying any attention to them either.  Any suggestions for out next attempt would be greatly appreciated.  And, at about what age will they be ok with the dry kitten chow?  I still have it out for Zoe and one of them got hold of a piece but had a hard time chewing and getting it to go down so I decided that dish needed to be on the shelf while they were out playing.  Thanks in advance for your reply.

Dry kitten chow can go down now - 24/7. The other 2 will get the eating down soon. Of my litter of 4 last year, 3 potty trained early, and one took almost 8 weeks. 2 were eating well early, and 2 took a couple more weeks. Just give them time. They also learn from each other. Good to hear from you! [emoji]128522[/emoji]