Nursing semi-feral cat wants to go out? Need advice

Hello,

I have been homing a semi-feral cat that gave birth in our "territory", which she has claimed now, I'm sure she feels comfortable in every single corner of our house. Her kittens are growing pretty quickly and soon enough I will be able to feed them wet cat food etc, can't wait!

On the other hand the mother cat is slowly adapting to living inside but she simply doesn't want to stay in 24/7. Especially when it's sunny outside, she wants to go out and doesn't come back for hours (max 2 until now) then comes back to feed the kittens. In the beginning she only went out for bathroom, but now she uses the litter box so that no longer is the case. Now she just disappears for hours. If I don't allow her to go out she will simply get stressed, will go in front of the door, look at me with that cute face, look at the door, come to my room to invite me to follow her then go back to the door...and then she becomes restless, I pet her and she tries to scratch etc...it's like someone dependent on cocaine that is not being allowed to take it. She just needs to go out!

What would you do if you were me? Should I allow her to go out? She is not currently in heat but you never know when she could go into it. My vet told me to wait until the kittens can eat themselves before getting her spayed and keep her locked during that time, but I simply can't. It's too stressful like this, for both of us. What if she goes into heat and gets pregnant? Will they be able to spay her say a few days after her estrus if she gets pregnant? Would that be considered abort at that early stage? Could she be spayed during estrus instead? Would she abandon the kittens if she went into heat? If that happened, could I give the kittens any emergency food, like cow milk until I can reach the vet store? Do you have any idea how I can keep her inside and relieve her stress? Petting and playing with her does not work. She wants to meet her feral colony every now and then...

What can I do with the kittens? Should I release the mother back after getting her spayed? Or should I adopt her? Until now we have found a home for 1 kitten, the other 2 we don't know. Would it be better to release the mother and adopt the kittens? Or adopt the mother and try to find home for the kittens? Or simply let the mother teach the kittens the wild life (which I dont think Im going to do, in worst scenario I would adopt the 2 remaining kittens)....I've got so many questions because I don't even know what I want to do, I lack experience so any help would be appreciated. I will fill in more info if required.

What would you do in this scenario?

You got 1 semi feral cat and 3 kittens of her, she wants to go out, is not spayed.

The kittens are 17 days old.

Your budget is low, you can barely afford to get her spayed but you've finally collected the money.

You're giving the female kitten away for sure, but are unsure what to do with the 2 male kittens.

You are ready to adopt 1 cat, in worst scenario the 2 kittens and hope to find them a home in the future.

With number of people wanting cats limited, can I give the kittens to my vet so that he can sell them? Or is that wrong? Do vets even do that?

Etc etc...I live in south eastern Europe and people here simply hate cats. When I ask people if they need a cat they feel insulted and think I am trying to hint that their hygiene is low...it's sad really. The number of people adopting cats is very limited and we got a lot of ferals. I've made the "mistake" of feeding a feral and now she's become my business. We could not afford to get her spayed cause we never planned to take her inside and thought spaying a cat that lives in the streets is a waste of money, and we didn't know the consequences. Now we have to pay extra, lesson learned. I want to get out of this mess. Pet rescue organizations are in a worse situation than I am, they also lack funding so I'm on my own...ok ok I'm done ranting. If anything is confusing please ask and I will clarify, and hope I can get some good answers from experienced people. I don't wanna earn the experience like I did by not spaying the cat in the past, it was too costly.

Thank you.

It is as it is, and you do what you do.   But you yourself know the answer in most situations is to spay.   Obviously you cant spay everyone, unless you do have an organisation behind you supporting,  so it will be these whom touched your heart at most.   Its as usual, no?

Anyways, you can never help them all.  But you can always help someone.  And if you are lucky, perhaps even several.

Re getting adoption homes, when most dont like cats.   Be friendly with people. so they find pleasure to talk with you.  And so you talk a lot, how nice cats are!  You yourself got very surprised.  You took one out of pity   (are you in a catholic country?  Do you have children?  Ok, tell you wanted to make Gods Mother and the Jesus child happy, because your children could have the pleasure of this deed.     Otherwise, you just say you wanted to get a gift to your children, lern them some responsibility - whatever.

BUT after a while you discovered it was sheer pleasure to have this cats in home.  Very nice and amusing little friends...  And so on...  And how nice its to sleep having one of them lying at my feet warming up.  Helping my rheumatism too.    Create an interest, a feeling  "I want too".

Few people are attracted by a holy burden as such (although some are), most do it for the joy and pleasure of it...   Be honest, tell there is some extra work, and some worries too sometimes.  But its worth it, everything considered...   Which is perfectly true, no?  

Begin this talk with someone you know is friendly, so you get into the proper words and facials...

mom cat can get pregnant a week after giving birth. its too much on her. can you harness and leash train? maybe supervised outside walk arounds? You don't want her getting pregnant so soon again.

yep she will drive you crazy but stick to your guns. Get some toys and scratching post=get a log from outside=make sure you knock it good against a rock to get any bugs out of it that will hitch a ride.

play with her. some cats like chasing sticks and chewing on them. entertain her so she doesn't want to go out. roll up balls of tin foil. the kittens will need play as well. make sure you keep any string away from kittens and mom-if they eat it then that is something too expensive and heart breaking-things like thread and tiny string-use a wide ribbon if you must-I pull the drawstrings out of my sweatshirts and tie them together-they are wide enough that you can supervise-tie this tail onto your pants=walk around the house..the kittens and mom cat will try to pounce on it.

newspaper crinkled up in balls-toss them around.

cardboard boxes on their side=if you have packing tape and a knife-you can build a castle out of various boxes=making hidey holes for the kits and momcat.

or if nothing else spread an old sheet over your dinner table-make a cave-then use a pencil or long hard object to stick inside the cave-the cats will try to pounce on it.

I would not let her go out at all until the kittens are weaned and she is spayed.  The chances of getting pregnant again have already been mentioned.  Also, if she continues to go out, she is going to want to take the babies out too, in order to teach them the ways of the world.  That's what mama cats do.  But the world outside is full of peril. The babies are only 17 days old now -- what would you do if she went out tonight and never came home again?  You would have to hand raise those babies, or let them starve, and I know you could not bear to let them starve.  Right now, HER job is to raise those babies.  To do that, she needs to stay in your house. You are providing food and accommodations but she needs to earn that by raising those babies.  That's the deal you have made with her. Just explain to her that after she has completed this job and been to the doctor for her post partum checkup (i.e. spay) she will once again be allowed the luxury of freedom to come and go as she pleases, but not until the job is done.  Be firm.

As for what to do in terms of finding them homes in the future, it's easier to take one day at a time.  First they need to grow up, then they will need to learn to eat solid food and use a litter box, and here we worm themand give them at least one vaccination before they leave for their new homes.  We ask an "adoption fee" from the new home to help pay for these expenses.  The people who adopt them understand and do not mind paying for the convenience of having this done already.  If they are only 17 days, you do have a good amount of time to take pictures and post them in the vet office and maybe take applications if anyone is interested.  No matter what the general public feels about cats where you live, there are still some enlightened people who LOVE cats and would like tohave one and would treat it well.  Your job will be to find those people when the kittens are old enough to go to new homes.  Often people like to get two kittens together, because they play with each other and are good friends, and it is just as easy to care for two as it is to care for one, and more fun.  That would leave you one kitten inside, plus the mama who wants to go in and out.  Time will tell.  In the meantime, make sure you have mama around to raise those babies.  Hopefully she has not become pregnant again from her trips outside, or you may have more babies in about nine weeks.