Feral momma & her kittens, need advice!

[WarszawaScream]

Hey y’all! I’m new here, and I need a little advice. …maybe a lot of advice.

Momma Missy, who’s a petite little ~1 year old white and tabby girl, showed up on my porch in February or March so I started putting food out daily, and as time progressed she looked mighty pregnant but I never saw any kittens. Found out in late June that she’d had them in a neighbor’s yard 4-5 weeks earlier, so I went over there and trapped Missy and her four babies, brought them home and put them all together in a large dog crate in the basement - litter pan, constant dry food, water, wet food 2-3 times a day, petting the wee ones and handling them as often as I can. (Missy did an AMAZING job with them - cleanest bills of health I’ve ever had for wild-born kittens, the vet said there’s not a flea or ear mite among them!)

So the little ones - the Tiny Turks I call them (named Reno, Rude, Tseng, and Elliot; any Final Fantasy 7 fans will get the reference) - are about 8 weeks old now, and they get lots of playpen time with toys but now they want to stretch those growing legs and roam and explore. Our basement is fully finished so that’s no problem, hubs let them out two nights ago to run around and play with them with a wand toy. Problem being that last night, Missy ALSO came out. Missy is semi-social in that she would lick treats off my fingers and would let me be right next to her when she ate - BUT now that she’s out of the kennel, it’s like she’s right back to square one as far as socialization. Lots of hissing, growling, hesitant to come within three feet of me.

This morning I was able to wrangle the Tiny Turks back into the kennel before work, but there was no hope of getting Missy back in there. I checked on my Kitten Spy Camera when I got to work (I have a Wyze OG cam set up to watch the kennel - HIGHLY recommend them for feral caretakers, $30 on Amazon!) and the kittens are all sleeping, but poor Missy is crying because she can’t get to the babies.

SO here’s where I need the advice - what should I do? Should I bother trying to get Missy back into the kennel? Or should I just leave the kennel open and let the kittens roam free so momma and her babies can be together? My major concern is the socialization aspect - when the kittens are out and about they dart away from me (probably because they’re afraid I’ll lock them back up, which is valid), and Missy is just WILD right now (and that’s probably because she’s still a semi-feral cat, she’s protective of her babies, and she’s got a whole new environment to get used to.) I’m absolutely stopping to pick up a Feliway diffuser or two on my way home

My end goal is to get the kittens ready for adoption, and I would genuinely love to keep Missy - I think she’d be great gal pals with my five year old girl-cat Perry. I also plan on keeping one of the kittens, the little girl Reno… annnddd possibly her twin brother Rude. (Hubs needs to warm up to that 2-kitten idea.)

So yes, please hit me with any knowledge, advice, and experience you guys have. I have so much feral and socialization experience, but this is my first time with a feral momma and her kittens and I’m feeling like a fish out of water.

Thanks in advance!

(Obligatory photo of Missy and the Tiny Turks attached - please excuse what the kennel floor looked like, that was RIGHT before the daily scrub-down and boy howdy they created a disaster that day. As kittens do.)

 

[Kris107]

My first thought was you need a smaller space. Do you have a bathroom or small bedroom? I think a whole basement might be too much space - too overwhelming. If they are in a smaller space and you spend time going in there with mom and kittens (they prob will be better together) then you can socialize with all without them having a lot of space to run away from you.

 

[WarszawaScream]

My first thought was you need a smaller space. Do you have a bathroom or small bedroom? I think a whole basement might be too much space - too overwhelming. If they are in a smaller space and you spend time going in there with mom and kittens (they prob will be better together) then you can socialize with all without them having a lot of space to run away from you.

That’s a great idea, thank you! For a few days the main area of the basement is the best I have - the basement bathroom, which is set apart from the main area by the laundry room, is currently the holding/recovery room for my TNR efforts. BUT I only have one cat that’s a TNR priority right now (he happens to be the father of these kittens) and his neuter appointment is this Monday morning, so if all goes well then I can scrub down that bathroom after I release him on Tuesday and usher momma and the babies in there. (If I get them into their carrier and bring them in, momma should hopefully follow their cries.)

…and actually now that I wrote that out, I realize that if I put momma and the kittens in the bathroom first, then I can use the main area of the basement for the lad’s TNR holding/recovery. I’ll see if I can get them in there tonight!

 

[Kris107]

Awesome! And bless you for doing the TNR work! It is SO needed!

 

[WarszawaScream]

Awesome! And bless you for doing the TNR work! It is SO needed!

Thanks so much! I was raised my whole life with cats and taught to see them as family more than pets, and also had a strange childhood obsession with and talent for trapping (I blame Looney Tunes lmao, I mastered the drop trap by the time I was 8) - those two combined made me a TNR natural. And I’ve got the backing and support of the director of our local animal shelter/animal control, which is SO so helpful; he’s full of great advice, backs me up when I need a Bad Cop to my Good Cop, and gets me as many spay/neuter vouchers as I need. Absolute best case scenario for our community cats here.

As far as Missy and the Tiny Turks, I have a small update - I tried very hard to lure her back into their kennel last night, but she 100% is on to me and won’t go in there unless I’m upstairs. Likewise with trying to lure her into the bathroom; she is smart as a whip and wouldn’t go in. But we DID make some progress otherwise last night; I plugged in two Feliway-style diffusers (it’s a different brand but I’ve used them for years) and it seems to have made a decent difference in just a few hours. Missy came out of hiding and would let me sit very close to her, and the kittens have all cooled their jets and are back to letting me pet and snuggle with them. The area of the basement that they’re in is only about 15’x10’ (even smaller if you account for all furnishings and kitchen appliances), so I have my fingers crossed that this may actually work out with them being free-roaming in that space.

…and if not, I’m still putting the food into their kennel so hopefully after a few days she’ll be so used to going in there again that I can just shut the door on her and move her into the bathroom. We will see what happens!

 

[WarszawaScream]

Hey all! Just wanted to drop an update - I never did get Momma Missy back into the kennel, and there was no luring Missy into the bathroom either, so we let them have run of the living room area of the basement - it actually turned out fantastically! The kittens have absolutely bloomed with all the room to run and jump and climb and explore, and they’ve gotten so friendly and loving. (And brave, god help us lol - even my most skittish boy has found his cajones.) Momma’s feral so I didn’t expect much from her in sociability, but she’s also done great; every now and then I get treated to a leg-rub while I’m getting their food together, and she’s stopped hissing at me any time I get within three feet. And last night I found her lounging in the middle of our three-seat couch like she owned the place, as opposed to hiding under a shelf or the TV cabinet, so I’d say she’s feeling more comfortable lol.

Thanks for the advice, it really helped soothe my first-time-fostering anxiety. I gotta give these little guys more credit for their adaptability and stop thinking I’m going to scar them for life XD