I posted on another forum but it seems more dead over there, responses seem a touch low. This forum had more life and less difficulty to become back of. Anyway, what I posted over there:
So, I'm not new to cat ownership. I've never lived without a cat. Ever. My house has always had 2-3 cats.
I'm not BIG into cats, I couldn't tell you breeds or what have you. I do love my cats.
^That's my Jack and Lily, stray kittens another couple found and gave to my ex and I. Lily has her arm around Jack. Don't let the innocent looks fool you, they've annihilated my bedroom in order to assassinate a fly (they succeeded after about 45 minutes).
Anyway, my mom's dogs have been going crazy trying to get behind our shed in the backyard. We thought we had another rat, rabbit, possum, mouse, squirrel,or skunk under there again (we've had them all). Figuring to chase it out we locked the dogs inside and pull apart the trash can, tool, and wood pile my pack rat of an uncle keeps back there. We found a mama cat and her five kittens.
Mama cat was reluctant to run so we caught her and the kittens quite easily. She hissed but not much of a fight was put up. Mama cat is very underfed. I would put her a peg above completely malnourished, but definitely way below a healthy weight.
This all occurred a few hours ago. Hence no vet visit til tomorrow (technically today in a few hours). My friend is a volunteer at PAWs, the last non-kill shelter in Philadelphia, so we're going to see what they can do for us.
After putting mom and kittens in a big old ferret cage (she has plenty of room to move around, a perch to temporarily escape the kittens, litter box and feeding area) we fed her. She's got no problem pigging down food. I gave her a can of wet (what I have on hand...I'll have to make a stop for better food tomorrow as well) and she gobbled it down. I hand fed her some dry kibble as well to test out her personality. She ate from my hand and allowed me to pet her and rewarded me with extremely loud purring. She even allowed me to handle her kittens while I put the rest of the dry in a bowl and she continued to purr the whole time. I had feared she'd be feral because we do have a colony across the street and often we see cats running around.
Now I know you're supposed to feed nursing cats extra high quality food, as much as they want. But what in the case of a cat you can feel it's bones? I mean, starving animals need to be carefully regulated to not over eat and thus make themselves sick, if I remember correctly anyway. I was going to feed Mama cat a full can every 8 hours with some dry kibble snacking in between. Too much? Too little?
I like multiple opinions. Mama cat looks about 6 months herself, she's tiny and definitely not full grown. Kittens eyes look freshly opened, all five have opened their eyes so I'm guessing 10-14 days old.
^Kittens. 3 almost all black, one black with strips, and the oddball orange cat (onoes a ginger kid!).
^Mama cat chowing down. Extremely eager to eat, poor thing. Even when we caught her and put her in a smaller carrier to bring inside my uncle gave her a slice of lunch meat that she gobbled down while howling for her kittens.
So, I'm not new to cat ownership. I've never lived without a cat. Ever. My house has always had 2-3 cats.
I'm not BIG into cats, I couldn't tell you breeds or what have you. I do love my cats.
^That's my Jack and Lily, stray kittens another couple found and gave to my ex and I. Lily has her arm around Jack. Don't let the innocent looks fool you, they've annihilated my bedroom in order to assassinate a fly (they succeeded after about 45 minutes).
Anyway, my mom's dogs have been going crazy trying to get behind our shed in the backyard. We thought we had another rat, rabbit, possum, mouse, squirrel,or skunk under there again (we've had them all). Figuring to chase it out we locked the dogs inside and pull apart the trash can, tool, and wood pile my pack rat of an uncle keeps back there. We found a mama cat and her five kittens.
Mama cat was reluctant to run so we caught her and the kittens quite easily. She hissed but not much of a fight was put up. Mama cat is very underfed. I would put her a peg above completely malnourished, but definitely way below a healthy weight.
This all occurred a few hours ago. Hence no vet visit til tomorrow (technically today in a few hours). My friend is a volunteer at PAWs, the last non-kill shelter in Philadelphia, so we're going to see what they can do for us.
After putting mom and kittens in a big old ferret cage (she has plenty of room to move around, a perch to temporarily escape the kittens, litter box and feeding area) we fed her. She's got no problem pigging down food. I gave her a can of wet (what I have on hand...I'll have to make a stop for better food tomorrow as well) and she gobbled it down. I hand fed her some dry kibble as well to test out her personality. She ate from my hand and allowed me to pet her and rewarded me with extremely loud purring. She even allowed me to handle her kittens while I put the rest of the dry in a bowl and she continued to purr the whole time. I had feared she'd be feral because we do have a colony across the street and often we see cats running around.
Now I know you're supposed to feed nursing cats extra high quality food, as much as they want. But what in the case of a cat you can feel it's bones? I mean, starving animals need to be carefully regulated to not over eat and thus make themselves sick, if I remember correctly anyway. I was going to feed Mama cat a full can every 8 hours with some dry kibble snacking in between. Too much? Too little?
I like multiple opinions. Mama cat looks about 6 months herself, she's tiny and definitely not full grown. Kittens eyes look freshly opened, all five have opened their eyes so I'm guessing 10-14 days old.
^Kittens. 3 almost all black, one black with strips, and the oddball orange cat (onoes a ginger kid!).
^Mama cat chowing down. Extremely eager to eat, poor thing. Even when we caught her and put her in a smaller carrier to bring inside my uncle gave her a slice of lunch meat that she gobbled down while howling for her kittens.