2 Pregnant Strays Please Help!

[Chele0909]

Hello I stumbled upon this site after scouring the interweb high and low for anything even remotely similar to my situation with no luck... Its quite the situation and I'm Praying someone can help and fast... Here goes.
About a year ago my family and I purchased a home on a private drive. We are the 1st home on the street which means we share 1 side of our home with a mildly busy country road. Well about month and a half ago a stray (whom I've named shadow as she is black and I've mistaken her for a shadow quite a few times at night) showed up at our new home out of the blue. I have 2 small children and a shi tzu named leilani that I've been caring for while my mother has been in Hawaii on what was supposed to be vacation... She left 2 years ago... So shadow was very timid around us at first but has grown extremely attached to me. My 3 year old terrifies her as she constantly wants to try to hold her and it makes her nervous. She will come in the house at night when everyone is asleep but will not let me shut the door. She will come in and sit on the welcome rug but runs out if I try closing the (sliding glass) door. Now here's where it gets complicated. I thought she might be pregnant when she started trusting me enough to let me pet her and she felt pretty round in the belly area only. Well imagine my surprise when 2 weeks ago a cat was thrown from a (slowish) moving vehicle in front of my house! (the country road) OBVIOUSLY I brought her straight in to check her out and found that she was VERY VERY pregnant. This cat is friendly and made herself right at home inside of our house. We named her Lily and She is now our newest addition to what seems to be becoming a small farm. ( my neighbors tease that I'm the animal whisperer because whenever an animal on our private drive runs away they can always be found on my stoop and these are not the first strays we've had, we simply found a home a for 1 and the owners of the other 2) She seemed perfectly fine and a week ago today gave birth to 6 healthy kittens in my walk in closet where I made her a nice little nest in the back. Since she's had the kittens shes become very aggressive with my shi tzu, seeking her out to attack her twice. I've had to put her in a separate room rather than risk moving momma and her nest which is completely unfair to leilani as she has always slept at the foot of my bed. Now my issue is this... If you haven't guessed it already... Shadow will not come in (i have a huge basement that would be all hers and I did try introducing her to it, however she clawed her way out of my arms before I could shut the door all the way.) And even if she would I'd be worried about Lily trying to find a way to attack her since she's already shown signs of aggression towards her sitting at the slider door doing the low mean moan that cats do when they're ticked off. Sooo it is 11:40 pm on Friday. Last night around 10pm I noticed shadow had a similar discharge to the one Lilly had about 16 hours before giving birth. She hasn't left my side since except to run from the kids but the second they're gone shes right back. I've stayed outside until 1am last night worried (my kids are up at 6am! Ugh) and she has now Finally started to give little pushes every 45 minutes or so. What do I do? She is laying in the middle of my patio and wants nothing to do with any of the 3 boxes I've set up for her. I can't get her to come in but I think shes prolonging labor because she doesn't feel safe out here. (we have foxes and coons among other wild animals in the woods right beside our home. I don't want to leave her and risk her goinh off I to the woods to give birth (which is where she always runs to when the kids are out and comes from when I get home after having left)and I surely cant have the kittens being born and nursed outside! Summer nights can be very chili in Michigan... Tonight surely is. Please help! I feel like if she would just have them she would follow me into the house with them long enough for me to shut the door (although I hate to make her feel trapped I have to do what's best for her and her kittens safety) Is there a way to help induce her labor so I can try to get her kittens and her to safety before I pass out from exhaustion?

 

[Bailey2]

I'm sure someone with experience will come along soon to help you but maybe you could try grabbing the loose skin at the back of her neck and picking her up with the other hand under her body? I'm sure she would hate it but it's better than leaving her out. Good luck to you.

 

[Chele0909]

Thanks so much for the response. I worry about breaking her trust because she is so nervous around everyone else besides me and I've grown VERY attached to her. Shes like my baby. I would hate to attempt something and not succeed and have her take off and have them somewhere in the woods. I've never picked a cat up that way. I know it's supposed to kind of partially paralyze them momentarily but I also know you have to do it right or it won't paralyze them at all and I have no clue how... I think I'll YouTube it... YouTube seems to be a dictionary of random info with demonstrations these days. Thanks again!

 

[StefanZ]

If you have residents, you can train on some. Another quickie is to wrap a blanket around them, head and all.
I havent read your post as yet, will do it now.

 

[StefanZ]

OK, I see. You can train on your little dog if you wish, otherwise you do have these two possibilities: Grab the neck, and or throw a blanket on her.
Possibly showe her into a carrier, if you have. If you dont have, you may perhaps use something else, alike a laundry basket?? And put on the blanket on the top...

Good luck!

ps. As next step get a Feliway diffuser, to keep the first moma a little calmer and a little less tensed up.

 

[Sarthur2]

Chele0909

What is the situation now with the outdoor cat? Are the kittens here?

The other mama cat is reacting normally to perceived threats. Do you have a spare room with a closet?

I would move mom and her 6 kittens to their own room for now. Put mom's food, water, and litter in there.

 

[Chele0909]

Thanks for all the responses I was falling asleep on my patio last night and finally went on at about 2 am... Shadow wouldn't let me any where near her with a blanket in my hands (i think shes still upset about me trying to bring her in the day before.) I know she's nervous about the kids. However she was not on my patio when I awoke this morning but did come running from her usual spot in the woods within 2 minutes of me calling her... Pregnant belly and all. I do not have a spare room upstairs. We have been slowly remodeling the basement on our new house during winter months as my husband owns a lawn care and snow plowing business so winter months are much slower. His office is the only room that is finished with a door. The other spare room is just framed out and drywalled that is where I had Lily when I first brought her in. I wasn't sure of her temperament and I was sure that she was very pregnant so I figured she would want her space so I had set her all up on an old mattress with a few old blankets in that room and put a few different boxes throughout the basement with old sheets and towels in them and kept the basement door 1/2 open and left her food, water and liter box down there and my plan was just come down and give her wet food every morning however she ended up in my bed the first night... Soooo yeah that's how she ended up in my closet with her kittens. She kept going on there and under my bed so I made sure the kids looked under the be all the time so she wouldn't have them there and I waited till she wasn't looking and used some bed pads we have from potty training our daughter through the night and I laid them in the bottom of the closet and sure enough that's where she had them. Anyhow... I have since washed everything that was set up for Lily in the basement but was planning to pretty much do the same for shadow except keep the door fully shut. And just sneak down to love on her as much as possible and pray to God my kids don't find out she's down there because they can be sneaky themselves. Anyhow... I'll keep yas updated as we progress here..

 

[Chele0909]

Oh also quick side note... I thought shadow was an all black cat but noticed that she has single white hairs scattered throughout her fur.I'm wondering if this could be a sign that she's an older cat? I can't get her in to the vet until Tuesday and my hubby loves animals but refuses to pay the almost cripple dollar amount for emergency vet services (which I can't say I blame him) and I'm just a bit worried because I noticed the vaginal discharge similar to lily's before she gave birth late Thursday night and she still hasn't given birth although I did see her push a few times last night. I'm worried that she may be having trouble because she's an older cat. She seems VERY lazy but still eating and drinking quite well (actually drinking a bit more than usual and eating smaller amounts but much more often... About 3 tablespoons of dry food every hour and 1/3 can of wet food around 8am again around 1pm and again around 6 pm) I'm just wondering if this discharge is normal this far ahead of birth?

 

[Sarthur2]

What color is the discharge? Does it have an odor?

Cats do have discharge on and off in the days preceeding labor and delivery.

 

[StefanZ]

IF she is older she had also several litters, so dont worry too much.

 

[StefanZ]

So she is inside now? Good.

 

[Chele0909]

She is not inside yet. She will not come too close while the kids are around and they've been outside most of the day. We've just finished dinner and she had her wet food while the kids were in eating. I plan to try putting the blanket over her tonight to bring her in. I will keep everyone posted. As far as the discharge no odor and I did get pretty close to smell because I had read elsewhere that if there's an odor there may be cause for alarm. The discharge was slightly cloudy or creamy with a pinkish color like it had blood in it, however I have not seen any more of it since early yeasterday... Maybe 10 or 11am. I was sure that discharge meant she was in labor because I noticed Lily cat had a very similar discharge about 8-10 hours before giving birth. (could have been longer if it started in the night but I noticed it at 7:30am when I got finished making my kiddos their breakfast and she went into labor around 3 or 4 pm)

 

[Chele0909]

Ok so I just got the kids all settled so I could come out and check on shadow and I know I just said 20 minutes ago that I hadn't seen the discharge since yesterday but I just came out and scratched her back so she would arch and lift her tail and sure enough it's back. Its almost like a mucousy blood that's what it looks like. Like the stuff that comes out when giving birth that's the only way I can describe it. I had checked for it around 1 while the kids were eating when I brought her wet food out and didn't see any. However, now it's back. She doesn't seem to be acting like she's in any kind of pain or doing anything out of the ordinary other than being a little more cautious around me then normal. Before I tried bringing her downstairs the other night she would come up to me and snuggle me and let me rub her belly and was just 100% trusting with me. Now she is keeping a bit of a distance and even flinches a bit when I reach out to pet her. She hasn't laid down and let me run her belly at all today which has been her favorite lately. I'll sit and run her belly with one hand and up and down her neck, chin and ears with the other for 20 minutes before she moves the slightest bit. She usually just lays there with her little motor going (purring) the whole time. Hmmmm I'm puzzled... She will be in the house tonight though, just gotta figure out how to get back up the stairs and out the door without her escaping... Any suggestions?

 

[Sarthur2]

That's normal pre-labor discharge. It sounds like she could have these kittens anytime now.

You'll just have to hold onto her really tightly either inside the blanket, or by scruffing the back of her neck tightly. Scruffing disables the cat.

Where are you putting her once she's inside so that she can't get out again?

 

[Chele0909]

She will be in our basement which is huge... She'll have the entire nearly 2000 sq feet minus about an 18x18 sq ft room that we use as my hubbys office. My main concern is her getting out of the basement when my hubby is coming in and out and fighting with Lily cat. I've explained in detail that we have to be sure Lily is in our room with the door shut before he opens the basement door just in case but when he's rushing for work he's not always thinking about these kinds of things. I also worry about my kiddos finding out she's down there and disturbing her. I will be keeping a close eye but they can be very sneaky. I'm sitting outside with shadow right now waiting for my 2 year old to fall back asleep so I can sneak her in. I'll post as soon as she's in with an update. Thanks again to everyone who's taken the time to respond. This is such a helpful website!

 

[Chele0909]

Well she's in the basement exploring. I brought her down about 1/2 an hour ago and she ran back up the stairs and sat on the top step for about 3 or 4 minutes and then slowly crept down a few stairs at a time. I stayed down here and just watched for the first few minutes then walked into the office (at the farthest end from the stairs) and she came running after me... After about 10 minutes if meowing at my feet while I pet and reassured her she finally started creeping around slowly... She's definitely nervous about the change which has been one of my worries (among so many I've voiced already lol) I know cats can prolong or postpone delivery of they don't feel comfortable soooo lucky me I'll be sleeping on an old mattress we have in the basement tonight to help her get settled and hopefully put her at ease a bit. I just have to figure out how I'm gonna get out the door for blankets... Wish me luck! I may just be sleeping with no covers tonight ps I totally forgot to get a 22nd liter box when I went out today so I had to make due with what I had for tonight... Don't judge me lol

 

[Bailey2]

So glad you got her inside! Hope you get sleep tonight

 

[Sarthur2]

Relieved she is inside finally! She will adjust, and she will have the kittens soon.

Is her nest set up in the basement?

You need to make it clear to your kids that the basement is off-limits.

 

[Chele0909]

I have 3 different boxes set up for her all in a bit different lighting. One is very dark one is dark but with a nightlight and the 3rd has a floor lamp near it that is just a tinge brighter than the spot in the back with the nightlight. My kids have a play area down there for when I need to get invoices and emails done and my son has a VERY SEVERE case of ADHD (so severe that his school only allows him to attend 1/2 days because that's all his attention span allows and he is in a classroom by himself with just him and the teacher) but they normally only go down there if I do. So for now I'm just not letting on that she's down there and if they discover her I will deal with it then because I know that my son will not be able to resist the temptation if he knows she's down there. She seems to be settling as best as she can. She is still a bit nervous but she comes to me and lets me pet her when she feels like it. She did not eat at all last night but when I went down to check on her this morning she ate while I was down there. I've had my husband take the kids outside on and off so I can sneak down or keep them occupied in the other room so I can spend 15 to 20 minutes with her at a time so she doesn't feel too lonely. No kittens yet but I will keep you updated as we progress.

 

[Chele0909]

Ps my husband and I have already said that if the kids discover her we may just change the door handle to one with a key like we did on our room when Lily had her kittens, we just don't want to do it unless we have to do the kids don't notice it and become more curious