Need help, ferals in IL

I live in Indiana and if I had a car I would take them because my mama cat is about due now and I'm sure she would make a lovely foster mama for them. But I have no way of getting to you or the babies and I'm afraid that a train ride would terrify and be completely impossible.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k156/Sannasol_83/PICT3514.jpg

Let's see if I can post a pic, I hope it will work. Although the pic is of bad quality, hopefully someone will be able to see approx. how old this kitten is. My own kitten is around 13 weeks and is smaller in size than these feral kittens.

ms_joshica, thanks for your suggestions, I emailed you in private.

Originally Posted by sannasol

Hi,

I've been a lurker on the forum for a while, and now I'm looking for some advice. We live in an apartment building with a backyard facing some trees and bushes (where a racoon family of 5 lives BTW). Two female cats live there too, they are being fed by the neighbours. Both of them had a litter around 4 months ago, and there seemed to be 3 kitttens from the two of them. Two was adopted out to friends to the neighbour family, and we took one into our home. Sadly, he had genetic problems with his colon and did not survive.

OK, so that was the background story. Now, just a couple a days ago we saw two kittens outside our glassdoor, probably looking for something to eat in the trashbag. We've been feeding them a little every day since then. It's only the kittens that come up to our floor (the stairs are outside the house). Me and my husband would like to try and do what is best for this little colony. Is TNR the only way to go? The kittens are approx 4-5 months of age and seem to be semi-feral, they let me sit next to them (with the seethrough door inbetween) and talk to them while they are eating. I have tried to find the right resources but feel a little lost. We live in the nort west surburbs of Chicago, in DuPage county. I found a shelter nearby that did only accept kittens under the age of 10 weeks or friendly ferals. We can't foster the kittens or the mamacats right now due to different reasons. Are there any possibilites of finding foster homes for feral cats? Or is just TNR better?

We found out that PAWS Chicago offer free spay/neutering on ferals, that's
quite far from where we live though. Are there any low cost spay neutering closerto Dupage county?

I'd really appriciate any advice on what to do and information on shelters or other organisations nearby that I could contact. All four cats are beautiful (of course) and deserves a good life and I feel it's my responsibilty to do something if I can.

Click to expand...

Given their ages....I would really suggest that you TNR first and then try to find them a foster. The concern I have with trying to place "semi ferals" is that there are LOTS of friendly kittens right now who need homes....oftentimes ferals do take longer to become socialized which is why TNR is provided as the most humane treatment for feral cats. I would also encourage your neighbors to trap these two mom cats and have them spayed so that they can no longer have litter after litter after litter. Feeding alone will only encourage more intact males and also will create a stream of kittens that will either need to be TNRed or placed into homes. With the situation of kittens in shelters...it is truly best for these 2 girls to be spayed.

Below is a list of low cost clinic in IL:

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

To find out more on TNR..you can go here:

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

Katie

Originally Posted by ms_joshica

I live in Indiana and if I had a car I would take them because my mama cat is about due now and I'm sure she would make a lovely foster mama for them. But I have no way of getting to you or the babies and I'm afraid that a train ride would terrify and be completely impossible.

Click to expand...

ms joshica....these are not necessarily kittens that have been around people before and I would really recommend that these kittens are first TNRed before you agree to accept them. They need to receive a first exam to rule out any diseases....I would also not recommend placing kittens who are feral (even semi feral) in with your expecting mom (that would probably stress her out). If you have a seperate room to work on socializing them..then fine...but I would read up on socializing feral kittens:

http://www.alleycat.org/resources_care.html#10

Katie