What to do

We brought MommaKitty in the house a couple nights ago. She's the last of our "Porch Purrers" to come in. She is probably due to have her kittens in the next week or so. We have her in a separate room in the house where we also have a cage for her. She has spent the last couple nights in the cage. When someone is in that room we close the door and let her out. Although I wouldn't consider her a feral cat (she is very friendly) she must have been an outside cat because she meows constantly to back outside and wasn't too good at using the litter box for the first day inside. She makes a mess at night in the cage scattering the litter all over the place. I would like to keep her at least until her babies are old enough to go to a new home and have her spayed but I don't know if I can handle the noise and mess for that long. It is getting a bit stressful around here with the other young ones we brought in a few weeks ago and now her. I'm not too sure what I should do about her. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

What about a garage or out building seperate from you house you could put her in? When my kittens get rowdy inside, I walk to the door and ask them if they want to go 'outside'. They will go in the garage and play for hours. That is their outside. Of course, I know your Momma cat will know it's not 'outside' but maybe enough so that she will be more content. Plus, the noise and stress won't be so bad for you.

sue

She could be nesting or trying to with the litter. Make sure she has plenty of soft rags (I tear mine in strips) that she can burrow into and because she is an outside kitty, she will probably be yowling a lot. Take a radio into the room and put on soft classical music that will help to calm her down, You might want to stop using regular litter until she delivers and use strips of newspaper or (don't laugh) rabbit feed instead. The litter can cause problems so close to delivery, plus she is having to stay in a cage with her food and her litter pan and cats are fastidious creatures and hate stinky cages. Make sure you scrub out the pan daily to help her be easier with this

Sue...I thought about the garage but that is my husbands domain and he says NO! Besides there are too many things she could get into out there. It was a good suggestion though.

Hissy...You may be right about the nesting. I have found her laying in the litter box after she has kicked most of it out. I gave her a good sized box to lay in with an old blanket but if you think torn up rags would be better I'll do it. We have lots of rags! I should put them in the box rather than on the bottom of the cage, right? I will also dispose of the cat litter and use strips of newspaper, for now and maybe get some rabbit food and try that too. Hope she will use them. The music is also a good idea! Thanks a lot Hissy!!

I am hoping she will get used to being inside and will settle down and not cry so much after her babies are born.

I can't add anything, I just wanted say that I think you are a very special person to be going through all this inconvenience for a stray cat. If there were more people like you, there wouldn't be the feral/stray/overcrowded shelter problem.

Thank you, Adele, for your kind words. It's getting rather crowded in the house but I feel it is the best thing to do for these poor kitties. One of the momma cat's babies, from when she showed up, has gotten very friendly. He would make someone a real nice pet. He loves to cuddle and has the loudest purr. I hope his sisters will soon let us pet them too.

MommaKitty has her moments of meowing but the newspaper strips definitely don't create the mess that litter did...and she's using it...thank God!!

I have no big suggestions but wanted to second what Boo said. You are a special angel to take all this on -

Thanks Debra!
You are also a special angel because we all know you too have been capturing little furbabies lately. Good luck getting the momma cat!!

Hope everything goes well with your little Mom. Sometimes you can get good tips from your local animal shelter "no-kill". I work at one and we are always sending out info to people ready to help take care of a Mom ready to give birth. We will help with the spay and find homes for the kittens. Unfortunately, there are so many cats that it is hard for Shelters to keep up with the volumne. Just keep the Mom in a quite place with lots of clean linen and shredded newspaper for a litter box. After the birth of the kittens she will take care of them. Just check to make sure they are all healthy and getting enought to eat. Sometimes the stronger ones get all the good milk and the smaller ones are left behind. Hope you have an uneventful birth and find homes for the wonderful furbabies. Fostered kittens make such wonderful cats even if the mother is a feral.

What kinds of signs will we notice when it's almost time for MommaKitty to give birth? The only thing I have been able to find is that she will stop eating a day or two before. Is this true of all expectant cats? She still eats quite a bit. She's getting soooo big (because of her babies not from eating) that she seems to be breathing a little faster. It's been a long time since I've been around a pregnant cat and I don't remember much about it. I don't know why but I worry about her even though she really isn't mine...Well, I guess she kinda is now.

You know, they are all a little different. You are right, they usually will just nibble a little food rather than eat normally. They start to breath a little heavier and will get up and then lay down alot. Usually they get restless like that about 2 to 3 days before delivery. Then you can feel her tummy and see if any of the kittens are moving closer to the birth canal. They tend to get VERY active at this point. When it's really time, you will notice some very small contractions first and then comes the big ones. The only real accurate way to judge is to know when conception occured and take her temperature starting about 3 weeks from due date. When she is getting ready, her temp will drop a little.

OK, thanks. She was restless yesterday but that could have been because it was pretty warm in the room where she is. She lays around a lot. There isn't much else for her to do. We have felt the kittens moving around in her tummy. My girls thought that was real cool!
The closest guess we have to when she conceived is somewhere between the 1st and 10th of August so it shouldn't be too much longer.

I want to say it is a wonderful thing you are doing. I also give your husband a lot of credit. Not many men would be so agreeable about having so many cats in the house.


Just thought I would suggest spending more time with Momma Cat. She needs human interaction to become a pet. She needs attention and activity. I know that she is nearing delivery of kittens now, but try to engage her in gentle play.

You do not say if the mother to be is in a room with furnishings. If she is in a relatively empty room try moving her food and water bowls away from her litter and moving her bed to another location within the room.

You also have not mentioned if she had been taken to a vet. Or if her kittens were. I suggest you do this to ensure the health of the kittens in your house, their mother and the unborn kittens. She may require veterniary intervention at the time of the birth. It would also be great if she could be spayed afterwards. And the kittens too.

If at all possible, please do not return her or any of the kittens to the feral world. Those cats live such a miserable existence, as I am sure you know. If you cannot keep them all, find homes for them.

Screen the potential owners to emsure the care the cats will receive. Assure the owners that you will take the cats back, if for any reason they cannot keep them. Ask permission to visit them after placement to see if they are truly happy.

Good luck with the brood. It must be a happy, if noisy house right about now. Once again, you are truly a wonderful person.

CPrincess65...We certainly do have a house full. We had 2 and now there are 7. Wonder how many more will be added in the next few days. :LOL:

MommaKitty is in the room where we have our computers. It is a fairly small room so there isn't much room for her to actually play but she gets a lot of attention. At the moment she is in on my desk trying to help me type.

Her food and water are not too close her litterbox and she has two beds to chose from. One in the cage and one out but she doesn't seem to care for either one.

She has not made it to the vet yet but her kittens have. They are all very healthy. We are going to have the little boy neutered, hopefully, next week and will do the girls as time and money permits. I found a program that helps out some with the cost.

I do not plan on returning any of them to the outside. I am hoping to find them homes and if not I guess they will be living with us for many years to come. We may have to build them a separate play room if that happens!! :LOL:

Thank you for your kind words, thoughts and suggestions.