hi again. this is a repost of my intro thread containing my story with our feral cats. i'm reposting (as suggested) just for any sort of feedback or advice, but i hope to learn lots as i read through already posted threads. thanks for any help!
hi all. i'm new.
that's a line i'm sure you've read over a hundred times already.
anyhow, hi again. i'm kae. i joined your forum because i was looking for a good source on how to get help and learn more about cats.
for the past couple of months, my family has had a small family of (feral) cats living in our backyard- a momma and her 4 kittens. they were pretty well behaved, and we tried our best to get them to trust us, but the momma cat was always hesitant. we gave them food to eat and water to drink and just watched over them, making sure each one was okay (as best we could) and not lost or separated from the family too long. it was a nice period in time, watching them together, taking care of each other and play and grow. we soon got attached and named them all, even if they didn't consider us trustworthy people. our backyard was their home; it was where they slept and ate, played and socialized with each other. it was wonderful times.
the our neighbor's got 2 rottweiler dogs whom they let roam all over their yard. the dogs were very sweet to us, but frightens our family of cats to no end. eventually they moved to our front yard, and go back and forth whenever the dogs weren't around. we didn't want the cats in the front yard; it was too dangerous because of speeding cars in our neighborhood streets.
and then, tragedy occured. after a happy wonderful weekend, the following Monday morning my mom discovered one of the kittens dead on the road in front of our house. we were all crushed. and it totally broke up the cat family. after that, the momma cat disappeared for 2 weeks. the remaining 3 babies stayed in our backyard, eating, playing, sulking, sticking together, basically. i thought that maybe the momma cat didn't know about her deceased baby, and went off looking for him, telling the others to stay here safe. i don't know.
i was probably wrong, because after 2 weeks she returned, tired and hungry. her kittens were playing with each other as she returned and they saw her. she went straight for the food and began eating, and as they each approached her one by one, she turned on them. she hissed at them to stay away, and she even swipped her paw at them. i was unbelievably angry when i witnessed this and scared her away. her kittens must of been confused and upset. i know that her smallest one was probably emotionally hurt, because he was the one always hanging with his momma back before the accident. he's the most shy and frightened one now, of everything.
since then, the kittens know not to go near their momma if she turns up. they raise their backs to her. if anything, they're pretty vengeful. she came back another time and we gave her food, but she was scared of me (since i chased her away), and she just sat there, looking at it. her 2 older kittens saw her and saw the food, and watched her, and after she momentarily walked away, they jumped from their spots and ran to her food and furiously ate it. it was like they wanted to finish it before she came back so she wouldn't have anything.
anyhow, this is so long, i aplogize.
at the moment, we're training the kittens to trust us more. we're planning on trapping them, and we already have an appointment for them to get nuetered and spaded at the Feral Cat Coalition. we started feeding them indoors, so that they would get used to us and the noises inside our house.
the momma cat doesn't stay here anymore, but she comes back occasionally for food. i feel sorry for her because she's lost so much weight since her disappearance. we still feed her, but she never stays long enough to finish. we want to keep the kittens and train them to become domesticated, so they can be safe and live inside with us. we also plan on trapping the momma cat to get her spaded, but we're probably going to release her again. she's not too trusting of us, but my mom wants to keep her. we're unsure what to do with her yet. we want her to have a home, but it's probably too late and too hard to tame her. and i'm not sure her and her kittens living together under our house would be a good idea anyhow, since they no longer get along.
anyhow, so that's my long story! i'm sorry it is long! hope i didn't bore you all. so basically i'm here to learn more about cats in general.
thanks for your time!
