Urgent... found 6, 2 days old kittens.. how can I help??

Hi,

I have found 6 kittens in a small storage space in our basement and I am pretty sure that the mother is around somewhere and would be coming back once she has found something to eat. The kittens are for sure not more than 2 or 3 days old..they are so so tiny..

How can i help here.. I have a cat at home and I have some experience but not with such small ones..

Any thoughts...

SunnyKew said:

Hi,

I have found 6 kittens in a small storage space in our basement and I am pretty sure that the mother is around somewhere and would be coming back once she has found something to eat. The kittens are for sure not more than 2 or 3 days old..they are so so tiny..

How can i help here.. I have a cat at home and I have some experience but not with such small ones..

Any thoughts...

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OK, so its not real emergency as you are pretty sure they arent abandoned and with the moms care.

So the question is, how much you want and can help them?

Could you take in the whole family, momma and kittens?   If so, we will talk you forward and together with you discuss the solution.

Could you take in the kittens, but not momma?

None of this, but you are willing to help in some way?

During the time, help momma take care of them... So she has water food and perhaps even litter nearby, but doenst feel disturbed nor threatened..  And also so the neigbours dont get disturbed - you dont want neigbours whom get sour over the situation.

Hello StefanZ..

I am hoping that the momma is around.. the reason I think I am sure is that they are not more than a couple of days old and I don't think all could be abandoned.. I have seen the momma around but there are several worries

1) the momma seems to be a kitten herself, she does not look more than 7 months old, I know their instincts take over but the place the kittens are kept is secure in a way but not the most secure.

2) there are other stray cats including big males who frequently visit the place and my house cat too sometimes gets anxious with it.. I am worried that this poses a threat to the kittens and the momma

3) the neighbourhood is pretty safe otherwise - no neighbor problems expected

4) I am not sure if I can take in the entire family including the momma - not sure how my cat would react, hence I am thinking how can relocate these kittens in a safer place and provide for the momma or is it ok to let them be for some time till they are two weeks old and provide in some way.

5) I can may be take in a couple of kittens - how old do they need to be before I take them? How do I introduce them to my cat and what to feed them... never worked with kittens in the past hence no idea... my cat also showed up on our door 7 months ago and was already a year ago and we took her in

I do want to help in some way making sure all 6 make it

Hi @SunnyKew

How long have the kittens been on their own? Mother cats won't leave their kittens for more than a few hours at the most when they are that tiny. If they've been on their own for longer than that you should do something now. They're too vulnerable on their own outside and they can't go long without Mom's warmth and milk.

Kittens born outdoors don't stand much chance of surviving even if you do provide food and shelter. It sounds like the mother could really use your help too.

Could you get them to a no-kill shelter? The kittens could easily be socialized and rehomed. Even if the mother is a bit too wild to be rehomed you could adopt her yourself as your outdoor cat once she's been spayed. 

If the mother is around and you can still see the kittens you could trap her and bring in the kittens now. If you try to move them to a safer place  she will just move them back again. The best thing to do is bring the whole family in even if you have to crate her or keep her confined to one room until her kittens are older.

You can use the kittens as bait to catch the mother in a humane trap. You have to put one kitten in a carrier with the door of the carrier up against the closed end of the trap. Cover the carrier with a blanket so that the mother has to go into the trap to get to her kitten. Once she has stepped into the trap and triggered the door, cover the trap with a blanket to keep her calm, then bring her inside.

Hi @norachan

I don't know if the mother has left them and not returned.. I found them in the morning when I opened the door to the storage. It's like a small wardrobe in our basement where we keep some stuff, I realised that it has a small opening.. big enough for a small cat to go in..

So when I opened the place to take something from it I found the kittens and mother was not there.. about 45 mins later when I open it again she was not there... but after that I have not checked it yet but plan to do it in a short while once it's dark outside..I don't want to frighten her if she is inside with them.. there is no way I can find out without opening the door of the storage space..

I am looking for some help/shelter but here in India we don't have anything like that and only a few individuals who do something on a voluntary basis.. I am afraid that if I open the door and is she is there side.. she might scared and try to relocate the kittens which again can be dangerous

Another thing, I am pretty sure that the mother is the kitten of my cat.. we took in a stray about 7 months ago and she had a kitten.. we were able to spay the mother(the cat we took in) but the kitten just wasn't up for it and ran away from home... probably why she has come back to the place she is most familiar with to deliver the babies.. but when she sees any of us she runs away..

Really wanna help them but without too much stress

Ok, so I have checked again and the mother is not there.. the kittens are cuddling up and trying to stay warm but I don't know if they have been fed.. what is she has abandoned them.. how do we help these 2 day old kittens

Check on the in the morning. If she's been there and fed them, they'll have full round tummies, tight skin, and will be quiet and contented (but also active and responsive). If she hasn't fed them, they'll look sunken, have loose wrinkly skin, and be squally and restless, or, if it's been too long, lethargic and not very responsive. You can also set little "traps" to see if she comes there, like putting a string across the entrance of the nest or putting flour on the floor so you can see her footprints.

SunnyKew said:

Ok, so I have checked again and the mother is not there.. the kittens are cuddling up and trying to stay warm but I don't know if they have been fed.. what is she has abandoned them.. how do we help these 2 day old kittens

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If you are sure they are abandoned - OR want to help them but not the momma - you simply collect them, take to your place, and handraise them as orphans.  In our Preg and Kittens forum there is lotsa of info.  Im btw one of the advisors there.

Handraising 6 kittens isnt easy, takes time, patience, effort and love, but it can be done.  Quite a few of our forumites, also newbes had done it.  Emergency has no law, no?

Turning in to a shelter?  Just if this shelter works with such small kittens.  If they dont work, the risk is big they will be pts as soon you are outside again.

But If you are willing to get it a go, you may askthem if you could be their foster home for the kittens.  You do all the everyday care, they help you with vet contacts and costs, and perhaps even food and litter costs.

The ideal is if you can take the mom in too!   Most moms do cooperate in these situations, once they understand you are helping them. You being the best practical chance for her children.  The welfare of the children is more important than "freedom".  So its for humans, so its for cats.

Also in this variation you can try to get cooperation from a shelter as mentioned above.

This you can do in two ways, now when you know where the kittens are:  the safest you trap in a human trap the mom, take her to the beforehand prepared room, collect the kittens, take them to momma, and let momma coold down several hours...   Etc.

The other way, is you collect the kittens, etc, and hope momma comes after them - by herself because she knows where the kittens are - or by taking her in a trap...

How is your resident?  Is he healthy, fully vaccinated, used to go outside?  If so, you dont need to overdo the quarantine, and heshe may perhaps even be a foster parent?

If not - you have them in a quarantine, and they are NOT allowed to meet your resident - perhaps not before they are 5-6 weeks and its time for socialization.

That is the variations, I think - think it over and plan on...

ps. Last scenario - you do nothing much, just make sure the momma has food water etc.  You perhaps prepare some better nest for her.

She may stay here with her litter, she may move them...   No quarantees given.

The only scenario with fairly good security is if you take them all inside.

Willowy said:

Check on the in the morning. If she's been there and fed them, they'll have full round tummies, tight skin, and will be quiet and contented (but also active and responsive). If she hasn't fed them, they'll look sunken, have loose wrinkly skin, and be squally and restless, or, if it's been too long, lethargic and not very responsive. You can also set little "traps" to see if she comes there, like putting a string across the entrance of the nest or putting flour on the floor so you can see her footprints.

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If you take this tryout, and it comes to this situation - its of course RED ALERT, and if you want to save them, you must act immediately.

So read on beforehand some on what to do to handraise weak kittens.  Get home  kitten mothermilk replacement or full fat goats milk (or at least make sure where to get in in a hurry).  Get home some glucose sugar source - alike white caro sugar.  You can smear some of it on theil lips and gum, it gives quick energy...

Get home a needleless syringe of 1-1,5 ml...   Heating pads - may be made from micred socks filled with rice.

Some bought or homemade pedialyte may be handy.

A scale, so you can weight them - and can notice any changes.  Also knowing exactly how much they are, its easier to compute how much kmr or goats milk they shall have...

Ah, you are in India.  so no Walmart, but still, also in India there is most of the necessary things and gears.

Goats milk is as said ok. If you can get if raw - its excellent, as long you are sure its clean and from healthy goats...

Buffalo milk is OK.   But we dont recommend common cow milk.   Although I strongly suspect raw cow milk from India old type cows is less dangerous the the cow milk fromm "our" modern, high producing cows.

When they get a little older, is plain unsweetened youghurt good, cheese.

Minced meat is good first adult food for kittens - but NOT raw port.    "bi-products" from chickens, alike heart, liver, kidneys etc, is good and nourishing for cats.

The very best thing you can do now is to put food and water near her kitten nest, then leave her be.

I think she hears when you are coming around and disappears.

If those babies when you found them were quiet, cleaned up and piled up, she has not abandoned them.

An abandoned litter will look different, not piled but rather scattered from seeking momma.

They may be crying/squeaking, some might seem quiet and laying off alone, while others will cry and be squirmy and look like they are struggling a bit.

It is VERY rare for a momma to abandon her kittens, very rare. If she does abandon them it won't be a pile of babies, but she will do funny things, like putting a baby here, and another there, sometimes mauling one or two roughly, etc.

If you provide for her so that she does not need to go away from them, she will protect them from tom cats bothering them. She has a great, private spot to care for them it sounds.

She will need fresh water and dry food there at all times, and once a day please feed her canned pate cat food. This is what the kittens will learn how to eat first too, and she needs the wet food to help keep her well hydrated for nursing.

Once they are coming out of the wardrobe, they will have learned by watching her eat and using the litterbox and will mimic this.

At about 4 1/2 to 5 weeks old you can trap mom and get her little young butt fixed, and take the babies then, be sure to handle them plenty to socialize them, and they can go to their own homes.

Thank you all.. I am going to try and keep a watch.. I really hope she has not abadoned them.. but she is just a kitten herself..  @Willowy   thank you for the idea of putting flour on the floor to check for her paw prints... i just did not think of that.. I have done that and now that its night time here, I have left the place and I hope I see some paw prints on the flour in the morning tomorrow. If I do find it, I will provide for food and water within the wardrobe.

However, we do have some tom cats that roam the area.. I have spotted a big male recently which looks like has scared away the rest of the toms. This scares me.. can tom cats be a threat to these little kittens?

When I checked in on them in the evening, the mother was not there but they were all squirmish and were gasping ..mouth wide open and repeating it a few times.. I think I also did here some sounds from them when I sprayed the flour a shortwhile back.. can kittens so small (perhaps 1, 2 or 3 days old) make a noise?

I wish I could take them all in but that is ruled out as I leave home for work everyday and return only in the evening. My house cat (ex stray) is fully settled and she is spayed and fully vaccinated too, I am sure she wont be too much of a problem if we were take them in but it aint practical. yes once the kittens are little older I could take a couple in at the time.

@catwoman707  the kittens pretty much look like what you mentioned, the looked clean and piled up..but a few looked restless too and were moving a bit on each other. There is only one entry to the wardrobe, a small tiny hole on the side.. dont think its possible for her to run away when she hears/see us come.. but we are making sure that we dont intrude too much.. I guess in the morning we will know if she is around with the pawprints on the flour.. I wil provide for the food and water.. my only concern is that the mother will not allow to be caught to spay her.. I am pretty sure she is the kitten of my house cat who came to us as a stray 7 months ago.. I was successful in paying my house cat at that time.. worked pretty hard with the kitten (the mother now) to socialize her.. she came to us about 8 weeks old.. but when i tried to put her in the cage to take her the vets she resisted so hard and ran away.. never to return home.. but I have seen her around very frequently.. Whenever she sees me she runs away.. perhaps with the memory of being trapped, but I hope she will be accomodative this time...

I am hoping that all the kids survive and that we are able to spay/neuter all of them... they are so cute

@stefanZ .. i wish we had more provisiona here in India..

And i hope it does not come to the stage where i need hand feed the kittens and that the mother is close by and taking care of her young.. will know by the mornimg tomorrow..

I will try to make sure that they get the best...

SunnyKew said:

 
Thank you all.. I am going to try and keep a watch.. I really hope she has not abadoned them.. but she is just a kitten herself..  @Willowy   thank you for the idea of putting flour on the floor to check for her paw prints... i just did not think of that.. I have done that and now that its night time here, I have left the place and I hope I see some paw prints on the flour in the morning tomorrow. If I do find it, I will provide for food and water within the wardrobe.

However, we do have some tom cats that roam the area.. I have spotted a big male recently which looks like has scared away the rest of the toms. This scares me.. can tom cats be a threat to these little kittens?

When I checked in on them in the evening, the mother was not there but they were all squirmish and were gasping ..mouth wide open and repeating it a few times.. I think I also did here some sounds from them when I sprayed the flour a shortwhile back.. can kittens so small (perhaps 1, 2 or 3 days old) make a noise?

I wish I could take them all in but that is ruled out as I leave home for work everyday and return only in the evening. My house cat (ex stray) is fully settled and she is spayed and fully vaccinated too, I am sure she wont be too much of a problem if we were take them in but it aint practical. yes once the kittens are little older I could take a couple in at the time.

@catwoman707  the kittens pretty much look like what you mentioned, the looked clean and piled up..but a few looked restless too and were moving a bit on each other. There is only one entry to the wardrobe, a small tiny hole on the side.. dont think its possible for her to run away when she hears/see us come.. but we are making sure that we dont intrude too much.. I guess in the morning we will know if she is around with the pawprints on the flour.. I wil provide for the food and water.. my only concern is that the mother will not allow to be caught to spay her.. I am pretty sure she is the kitten of my house cat who came to us as a stray 7 months ago.. I was successful in paying my house cat at that time.. worked pretty hard with the kitten (the mother now) to socialize her.. she came to us about 8 weeks old.. but when i tried to put her in the cage to take her the vets she resisted so hard and ran away.. never to return home.. but I have seen her around very frequently.. Whenever she sees me she runs away.. perhaps with the memory of being trapped, but I hope she will be accomodative this time...

I am hoping that all the kids survive and that we are able to spay/neuter all of them... they are so cute

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OK, so we know IF you take them in, you dont need any quarantine, really - unless they are visibly sick.   Strays have an immunity above average - they would perish otherwise.   So ex-strays have too immunity above average.

I wonder if the gasping moves were really them trying to get in you smell better??  Possibly even try to hiss.   This can come in surprisingly early.

SunnyKew said:

@stefanZ .. i wish we had more provisiona here in India..

And i hope it does not come to the stage where i need hand feed the kittens and that the mother is close by and taking care of her young.. will know by the mornimg tomorrow..

I will try to make sure that they get the best...

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If you dont have access to needleless syringe, you can use a dropper, or even a straw.

Its easier to have control with a syringe, but the other two works too.

When I read that some were gasping, I had to reread this, worrying that some are actively dying, as this is what they will do, however, you said while piled, so this would be them getting a bit restless for mama to come feed them, if it were from dying they would not still be in the pile, so this is good.

If there is no reason for mom to leave them, having food and water nearby, she will protect them from the big tom.

But, that said, if a tom is big and aggressive enough to scare off the other toms, he is able to do severe damage in fighting, and really, really needs to be neutered.

If only there was help for you to accomplish this.

I worry after having the same thing happen at one of my colonies where I feed and had everyone spayed and neutered, all except one male Buddy, and that was my lesson on the more aggressive toms, he went after little Buddy and beat him up, biting and scratching his body and face up so badly, he was completely blinded.

I would post the picture of Buddy but it is scary and upsetting, but is also meant to show people just how serious an aggressive tom can be.

Yes, they can also do harm to the babies if he had access to them, mauling/killing the males, and attempting to mount the females, which ultimately can kill them of course.

But as I said, he won't have access to them, mom being inside the hole, she is capable of keeping him out and away from her babies.

@Willowy  LOVE the flour idea! So simple yet my brain didn't think of it either! 

catwoman707 said:

 
When I read that some were gasping, I had to reread this, worrying that some are actively dying, as this is what they will do, however, you said while piled, so this would be them getting a bit restless for mama to come feed them, if it were from dying they would not still be in the pile, so this is good.

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aha, yes, it could be some sort of "soundless" meowing - perhaps even making sound we humans cant hear, but cats can.

After all, its not unusual some older kittens cant meow, they open mouth alike meowing, but no meow we humans can hear.

And they learn to meow perhaps with time - probably adjusting the frequencies to us dumb humans.

Yes, this explanation is  more probable than my guess on them trying to catch smells - these here are a little too young to such exercises.

Hoping all is well with the mother and her babies. Please keep us updated @SunnyKew  

Hello All,

There is good news... I saw the mother sitting on the bonnet of my car in the basement and started meowing loudly when she saw me this morning and hid under the car. She is so small herself, not more than 6 months old.

I did check on kittens and they seemed fine all curled up and cozy. I quickly kept some food in the wardrobe and close the door and left her alone.. checked in about 30 mins later she wasn't under the car so I guess she would be in the wardrobe.

My question is that now that she knows that we know that her babies in the wardrobe would she move them out of fear? I am thinking of making her a litter box which I can keep in the other side of the basement and some water too along with food.

The thing is that I have some quests coming over, a lot of them in fact in about 7 days and there were will be a lot of movement at home and I am afraid this will irritate her and also that the wardrobe will be too small a place once the kitten start growing up..

I also want to trap her and get her fixed before she plans to move the kids ( if she plans to)

PS: now that I have seen her I am totally sure that she is the kid of the cat I took in about 7 months ago and she ran away from home when I tried to trap her to get her fixed.. she is totally frightened of me since the day

Managed to take a quick pic of the kittens, attaching it here.. a bit fuzzy though. The mother was hiding in my car and ran out as soon as I took the car out.. Hopefully she should return for the kids.. the kids were moving around a bit