Hi Everyone,
I am new to this site but I am needing some helpful advice...
We have had a female feral outside of my mom's old house (no one living there at this time)....we have fed her consistently every day for well over 9 months. After some time, she would come running up to my mom when she was feeding her and meow, she would let us get pretty close while she ate, but we never touched her. In the fall we were planning on trapping her but then saw her with a kitten and I didn't want to take her away from the kitten. She didn't have these in kittens in our back yard. She would feed at our house every day, but a few weeks ago, she was looking a bit larger....and we knew she must be pregnant.
Well we decided to trap her a couple of weeks ago. She was very scared and freaked out, but we put her in a empty bedroom with some blankets and boxes,etc. she was hiding in a long box for the first week, and then I took that away from her, because I felt that we wouldn't be able to socialize with her. She then went into one of those collapsable cube. We started touching her with one of the sticks with a feather on it. She would let "pet" her with the stick and really liked it, but we could never touch her...she hisses.
Then on Saturday she had 5 adorable babies. She is being a great mom, she is nursing and loving the kittens She is in a box with a blanket that we gave her and I think she feels the safety that we are providing her. She has food and water and love. We don't try to handle the kittens, we are trying to gain her trust. She lets us pet her with the stick...but hisses when we first start, but then loves it...she kneads and purrs. But again...no touching.
Our hope is that we can get the kittens socialized and adopted and hopefully get her socialized and adopted as well.
What do we do from here? Any advice you could give would be great......
Thanks!!
I am new to this site but I am needing some helpful advice...
We have had a female feral outside of my mom's old house (no one living there at this time)....we have fed her consistently every day for well over 9 months. After some time, she would come running up to my mom when she was feeding her and meow, she would let us get pretty close while she ate, but we never touched her. In the fall we were planning on trapping her but then saw her with a kitten and I didn't want to take her away from the kitten. She didn't have these in kittens in our back yard. She would feed at our house every day, but a few weeks ago, she was looking a bit larger....and we knew she must be pregnant.
Well we decided to trap her a couple of weeks ago. She was very scared and freaked out, but we put her in a empty bedroom with some blankets and boxes,etc. she was hiding in a long box for the first week, and then I took that away from her, because I felt that we wouldn't be able to socialize with her. She then went into one of those collapsable cube. We started touching her with one of the sticks with a feather on it. She would let "pet" her with the stick and really liked it, but we could never touch her...she hisses.
Then on Saturday she had 5 adorable babies. She is being a great mom, she is nursing and loving the kittens She is in a box with a blanket that we gave her and I think she feels the safety that we are providing her. She has food and water and love. We don't try to handle the kittens, we are trying to gain her trust. She lets us pet her with the stick...but hisses when we first start, but then loves it...she kneads and purrs. But again...no touching.
Our hope is that we can get the kittens socialized and adopted and hopefully get her socialized and adopted as well.
What do we do from here? Any advice you could give would be great......
Thanks!!