So about two months ago we moved into our new home. We have a barn. We had many many many feral barn cats. I was able to trap them and get them fixed. There is a special neuter van that clips there ears and gives them shots and fixes them for a very very low cost. Those cats were....not nice. You could not pet them and they did not take lightly to being trapped. In all there were 14 cats we were able to fix. They were all either black short hair or orange stripes. Some of them still take up residence in the barn and they keep the mice and moles and groundhogs away. I don't feed them but during snow storms I did leave an area for them to seek shelter. We have a nice mutual relationship. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. We don't seem to notice more of them or kittens. It would be easy to tell since "our cats" have clipped ears.
Sorry this is so long. So about a month ago my kids kept seeing this small gray cat on our back porch. Sleeping on our patio furniture. I assumed it was a another feral that was very brave. So I trapped it. This cat meowed but wasn't aggresive at all. She didn't hiss or hide in the back of the trap. She was...friendly. I immediately assumed I had just trapped someone's pet and let her go. She kind of hung around and by the end of the day I assumed she went home. I have never owned a cat before so I don't really know much about cat behavior. Days went by and we kept seeing her. She never ran away. She would be on the front porch when the kids came home from school. We thought maybe someone in the neighbor had recently gotten a cat. Well she never went away and then she was sleeping on the deck when it was really cold out and she started to looking very thin and was leaving us little gifts on the porch. I called animal control to see if anyone was missing a cat. They said they could take her but she would be in a cage. I agreed to keep her and let me know if anyone called looking for her. My kids are thrilled at this point. We let her inside and she NEVER wanted to go out after that. I think maybe she was someone's pet at some point she was too friendly not to be. I bought her some really good expensive cat food because she was so thin and I have her some boiled chicken. I made an appointment to take her to the vet. So she was gaining weight. I thought she was gaining weight because she was so thin. Turned out to be pregnancy weight. :
: ironic that I was trying so hard to do my part to keep cat over population at bay and I end up with a pregnant pet. The vet knew as soon as he saw her. He said he could still spay her but that they were clearly kittens not embyros. I still wanted to go ahead with if but my husband said it seemed so cruel. We don't know how old she is. My vet explained the whole process but listening to it and actually living it seem so different. I believe she has about a week left . I don't want little tiny kittens being carried all over my house or em them wiggling away from her. I have six kids was 7 and under it would be dangerous for the kittens. I don't want to keep her caged up but is that a safer bet for them? Do I put the littler box in the crate along with some kind of dark cardboard box? Do I just stick her in there when she goes into labor? She sleeps with my three year old every night and likes her the most. I don't want her giving birth in her room. I would like for her to be in the laundry room where it's quiet ( and let's face it I'm the only one who goes in the laundry room). I feel clueless about this details
Sorry this is so long. So about a month ago my kids kept seeing this small gray cat on our back porch. Sleeping on our patio furniture. I assumed it was a another feral that was very brave. So I trapped it. This cat meowed but wasn't aggresive at all. She didn't hiss or hide in the back of the trap. She was...friendly. I immediately assumed I had just trapped someone's pet and let her go. She kind of hung around and by the end of the day I assumed she went home. I have never owned a cat before so I don't really know much about cat behavior. Days went by and we kept seeing her. She never ran away. She would be on the front porch when the kids came home from school. We thought maybe someone in the neighbor had recently gotten a cat. Well she never went away and then she was sleeping on the deck when it was really cold out and she started to looking very thin and was leaving us little gifts on the porch. I called animal control to see if anyone was missing a cat. They said they could take her but she would be in a cage. I agreed to keep her and let me know if anyone called looking for her. My kids are thrilled at this point. We let her inside and she NEVER wanted to go out after that. I think maybe she was someone's pet at some point she was too friendly not to be. I bought her some really good expensive cat food because she was so thin and I have her some boiled chicken. I made an appointment to take her to the vet. So she was gaining weight. I thought she was gaining weight because she was so thin. Turned out to be pregnancy weight. :
: ironic that I was trying so hard to do my part to keep cat over population at bay and I end up with a pregnant pet. The vet knew as soon as he saw her. He said he could still spay her but that they were clearly kittens not embyros. I still wanted to go ahead with if but my husband said it seemed so cruel. We don't know how old she is. My vet explained the whole process but listening to it and actually living it seem so different. I believe she has about a week left . I don't want little tiny kittens being carried all over my house or em them wiggling away from her. I have six kids was 7 and under it would be dangerous for the kittens. I don't want to keep her caged up but is that a safer bet for them? Do I put the littler box in the crate along with some kind of dark cardboard box? Do I just stick her in there when she goes into labor? She sleeps with my three year old every night and likes her the most. I don't want her giving birth in her room. I would like for her to be in the laundry room where it's quiet ( and let's face it I'm the only one who goes in the laundry room). I feel clueless about this details
