She's Bringing her Kittens!

As I've said before, we have about twenty ferals in our small town; and we haven't been able to afford neutering for all of them yet. Consequently, it's kitten season; and we have had an estimated three litters born so far, with no more obviously pregnant cats (knock on wood).

The cat who had her litter the earliest--sometime during the first two weeks of April--appeared at the feeding station as usual yesterday evening. Accompanying her were two, approximately six-week-old kittens! They were both torties, like their mother; and they looked healthy. Likely enough they were the only two surviving of a larger litter; she was pretty big when we last saw her pregnant.

It was just a lovely thing to see... she trusts us enough to bring her kittens to us! And at six weeks... if we can manage to trap them... they're young enough to socialize, if it's done carefully. She hasn't been trapped before... so she may fall for it. And if her kittens stick with her, we might get the whole family. Still debating on whether to try it; not my decision anyhow since I'm just kinda "along for the ride" with this feral thing around here.

Whatever is decided, should probably wait a few more days, though, to make sure two kittens are all she has, to see if she brings anybody else to get food. Sure don't want to leave part of the litter without their mom. No idea where she has her nest...

Callista....I know some trappers catch the kittens and then put them in a carrier behind a trap to catch mom. Or if you can get your hands on a drop trap, you could trap the whole family. Good Luck....1 less intact female is a good thing.

Katie

Here is a link (found somewhere here at TCS) that I saved. Lots of helpful info about ferals.
http://www.cat77.org.uk/articles/feral2.htm
Best of luck. The fact that Momma is bringing the babies out is great! And the training you are getting, Callista, as a TNR helper is wonderful, too! Someday when college is done, you may end up being the key person in your town to spur a TNR movement!

That would be lovely...

I have asked about the kittens, and it turns out currently we don't have anybody to socialize the kittens; and I can't because my roommate is allergic and my landlord won't allow pets... So it seems we will just have to let them grow up feral. I do hope we get Mom soon though; more litters will just exhaust her, and she is a slender lady already. She is next on the list, once her babies can fend for themselves.

It's not that bad growing up feral in our town, though... there are people who feed the cats--mostly the restaurant owners, but also college students and the old folks who live in the retirement community. The biggest danger is the highway... several cats have gotten hit, though some survived. Wildlife isn't too much trouble; we have raccoons and nothing bigger (well, deer; but they don't count).

Maybe the kittens can be relocated to the farm, once they are old enough. At least there the highway isn't close.

I suppose nothing is perfect with limited numbers of people and money. Still, at least they will have food to eat, and they can sleep in the shelters (doghouses and crates and things). And they are awfully cute little things... the last cold is past; and they are over the most dangerous time in a kitten's life... Let's hope things turn out well!

Originally Posted by Callista

That would be lovely...

I have asked about the kittens, and it turns out currently we don't have anybody to socialize the kittens; and I can't because my roommate is allergic and my landlord won't allow pets... So it seems we will just have to let them grow up feral. I do hope we get Mom soon though; more litters will just exhaust her, and she is a slender lady already. She is next on the list, once her babies can fend for themselves.

It's not that bad growing up feral in our town, though... there are people who feed the cats--mostly the restaurant owners, but also college students and the old folks who live in the retirement community. The biggest danger is the highway... several cats have gotten hit, though some survived. Wildlife isn't too much trouble; we have raccoons and nothing bigger (well, deer; but they don't count).

Maybe the kittens can be relocated to the farm, once they are old enough. At least there the highway isn't close.

I suppose nothing is perfect with limited numbers of people and money. Still, at least they will have food to eat, and they can sleep in the shelters (doghouses and crates and things). And they are awfully cute little things... the last cold is past; and they are over the most dangerous time in a kitten's life... Let's hope things turn out well!

Click to expand...

Callista...a couple of ideas...1. contact TNR groups in your state:

http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html

2. Contact low cost clinics in your state:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

See if you can trap mom and kittens and get them all fixed. That way even if they have to grow up living outdoors, they will no longer be able to have litters.

Another thing you can do is post about them on Petfinder and see if someone there would be willing to foster them.

http://forums.petfinder.com/

Katie

Cool! I'm going to snoop around on those sites.

Snooping completed, and I talked a bit more with the restaurant owners about the cats.

Turns out I had things wrong... the mom is actually not on the list at all... There have been problems with ferals "going crazy" in their cages; and one male died while he was being neutered, we think due mostly to stress. They are worried because the mother is 13 years old and she goes crazy whenever she is even shut into the back room of the restaurant (it is a mud room that doubles as a cat shelter) and are worried she will die of stress related problems if she is trapped; and that she may die on the operating table because she is 13 and it is a high risk operation.

I'm not sure if I agree with this but I'm not the main person making decisions for the cats. This litter was small so I hope she is going through the kitty equivalent of menopause (or at least becoming less fertile as she ages).

There is good news about the kittens though: We are going to try to catch them and once they are old enough they will be fixed and live on the farm.

They knew about the low cost spay/neuter things already but petfinder.com is a chance; so maybe the kits even have a chance to be fostered by somebody we don't know yet and be pets instead of semiferal barn cats.

Update:

Both kittens are now neutered and safely ensconced in the barn--yay!!

Originally Posted by Callista

Update:

Both kittens are now neutered and safely ensconced in the barn--yay!!

Click to expand...

Callista..it's great that both kittens are fixed...but I would try to trap and spay the mom. At 13, I'm not sure you can count on her not having anymore litters and she really deserves to spend her final years kitten free.

Katie