Help! Feral Mama with Kittens!

[Siada]

Hello, I'm hoping this site can help me out. A friend who lives out in the country had a feral cat give birth under their porch. They managed to catch the mama and got her kittens out from under the porch. As of Friday they haven’t started to open their eyes, so we suspect they’re very young. However, now that mama is back with babies, she won’t let anyone even get close. Food has to be dumped in through the top of the dog kennel and water is poured into a bowl through the sides. She’s very, very aggressive and probably extremely scared. We still haven’t figured out how we’re going to change the litterbox (or technically an old cake pan right now, lol).

I agreed to take one of the kittens, and another friend will take the others – 2 for her and 2 for her sister (sister wants them). The mama cat is probably going to end up spayed and just released. We don’t really know what else to do with her I don’t think she can be tamed. Or if so, we’re not really the best people to try it. We’re kinda just trying to do our bests with having absolutely no clue what to do. None of us have dealt with a feral cat or kittens before. My last cat was an older shelter kitty who was already tame and the most passive kitty you'll ever meet.

We tried calling a ‘local’ (three hours away) feral kitten rescue but they’re too full to take her. And our animal shelter is a kill-shelter that doesn’t take ferals. They straight up said she and her kittens would likely just be euthanized. And we also want to take them to the vet, but we have no idea how to even get the kittens away from her. We have no idea what to do once the kittens are bigger/moving around. They can’t stay in the kennel but we also don’t want the mama to run off with them. We’re also afraid the kittens will get too old and become feral like mama.

As you can tell, we’re novices. But we’re thinking that we should probably take them away from the mama after they get a little older? We can’t take care of babies, so she’ll have to do that, but when is the safest we can take them away from her and still have a relatively easy time ‘taming’ them? My friend is suggesting we take the kittens away at 6 weeks, and then we can get them to the vet for shots/checkups/ whatever. Right now they definitely have fleas and probably worms too.

I was reading online, though, that taking them away before 12 weeks is really bad, but 3 months old seems like they’d already be pretty feral, and keeping them in that dog kennel at 3 months just seems cruel. Obviously, the ideal would be to get them in a larger space (she can’t take them indoors because her husband is allergic to cats) so they’re currently on their covered porch with a heating lamp and a heavy blanket draped over the top and three of the sides.

She also cannot afford to feed them for very long, so my other friend and I are sending food her way since we plan on taking the kittens. Honestly, I’m very worried that we’re going to miss the window to tame the kittens, and they just won’t be ‘indoor’ material. But I also worry that if we just spay/neuter them and release them all, the kittens will just get eaten by coyotes. (Also that’s a lot of money for cats we’ll just release. One cat, sure, but all? It’s different if we’re going to keep the kittens as pets.)

Too, my friend really wants the kittens gone sooner rather than later. Neither myself nor my other friend can really take the mama and all the kittens. I have a 1 pet limit and she has a 2 pet limit. We do plan on talking to a vet, but I don’t know if they’ll just give a free phone consultation and they don’t open until Monday. Also, as terrible as this might sound, none of us really have the time or energy to devote to trying to tame feral cats, so we really do want to get the kittens out of there while there is still an “easy to tame” window. I know we’re not the best for this, but we’re all really trying and want to give these kittens a good home.

Thank you!

tl;dr – Feral mama with kittens in less than ideal situation. There’s no option of giving her to a shelter or pet rescue. We’re trying to figure out the best way to care for her and her kittens, while trying to tame the kittens so they can go to good homes, and need to know when we can safely (even if not ideal) take them away from their mama and get them vet-care and start trying to tame them. And really, any advice for caring for a feral with kittens.

 

[Norachan]

Hi S Siada

Thank you for trying to help them. You are absolutely doing the right thing. I don't have time to type a proper answer right now (I'm supposed to be working. Shhhh! ) but I suggest you check out these videos by an expert.

 

[Siada]

Hi S Siada

Thank you for trying to help them. You are absolutely doing the right thing. I don't have time to type a proper answer right now (I'm supposed to be working. Shhhh! ) but I suggest you check out these videos by an expert.

Oh thank you so much for these resources! And I promise I won't tell! Going to watch these now and take notes! My friends and I really truly do want to help as best as we can!

 

[Sarthur2]

Relax! No decisions have to be made at this moment because these babies do not even have their eyes open yet. Consider your options carefully over the next couple of weeks.

For now, they need to stay with their mama until they are 5-6 weeks old if possible. The earliest they should be taken is 4-5 weeks. The longer they can stay with mom the better, but in cramped quarters such as a dog crate, long-term will not work. Mom will need a break from her babies and the kittens really need room to begin to explore and socialize and move around more beginning around the 3-week mark.

Therefore, is there a spare room or basement they could be put in? That would be more ideal than a cramped crate. Their mom may become more tame during this time too, depending on her personality, trust issues, and her caretaker. But she will only tolerate being crated for so long, and she may go into heat again and act crazy.

The babies will not turn feral that young, even if they are fearful when first taken. At such a young age they will adapt to humans very quickly - usually within a few days or a week or so.

The mom may soften, and an effort should be made to acclimate her to humans, but otherwise, you are correct that she should be spayed, vaccinated, and released rather than euthanized.

Take it a few days to a week at a time. Hopefully you can make this work for all concerned. Thanks so much for caring, and also for planning to rescue and adopt the babies eventually.

The very earliest to take the kittens is 3-4 weeks, if you must, because they will have their baby teeth and can begin to learn to eat on their own, though it will take patience and maybe some bottle feeding. It’s not normal that young, but with a feral mom it may be what you must do. It really depends on how the feral mom acts and adjusts.

Keep us posted!

 

[Siada]

Relax! No decisions have to be made at this moment because these babies do not even have their eyes open yet. Consider your options carefully over the next couple of weeks.

For now, they need to stay with their mama until they are 5-6 weeks old if possible. The earliest they should be taken is 4-5 weeks. The longer they can stay with mom the better, but in cramped quarters such as a dog crate, long-term will not work. Mom will need a break from her babies and the kittens really need room to begin to explore and socialize and move around more beginning around the 3-week mark.

Therefore, is there a spare room or basement they could be put in? That would be more ideal than a cramped crate. Their mom may become more tame during this time too, depending on her personality, trust issues, and her caretaker. But she will only tolerate being crated for so long, and she may go into heat again and act crazy.

The babies will not turn feral that young, even if they are fearful when first taken. At such a young age they will adapt to humans very quickly - usually within a few days or a week or so.

The mom may soften, and an effort should be made to acclimate her to humans, but otherwise, you are correct that she should be spayed, vaccinated, and released rather than euthanized.

Take it a few days to a week at a time. Hopefully you can make this work for all concerned. Thanks so much for caring, and also for planning to rescue and adopt the babies eventually.

The very earliest to take the kittens is 3-4 weeks, if you must, because they will have their baby teeth and can begin to learn to eat on their own, though it will take patience and maybe some bottle feeding. It’s not normal that young, but with a feral mom it may be what you must do. It really depends on how the feral mom acts and adjusts.

Keep us posted!

Thank you for the response! I've been watching the videos mentioned above and getting this advice directly has helped so much. You're right, we're moving very quickly, but I think we all sort of panicked since none of this is our specialty. I can talk to my friend about maybe a guest room/bathroom her husband won't use. I'm not sure how severe his allergies are, but my friend felt safe enough to have kittens on the porch.

We're worried about cramped quarters too, but hopefully we'll have a few weeks to figure that issue out. I'm going to tell my friend about using a spatula to get the kittens away from mama (from the video) and putting a box in with her.

Honestly, we're all kind of afraid of the mama and she probably senses that. But it's really good to know that the kittens won't be feral that young and that, if need be, taking them away at 6 weeks is still safe - even if not ideal. I'm still watching the video Norachan linked me but your post and their videos have really helped calm me down and educated me a lot.

I'm making a list of supplies to send my friend's way, and when I can make it back over to her house, I will bring more blankets from my house. If we can tame the mama that'd be great, but I totally agree, getting her spayed and vaccinated is way better than euthanizing her. My friends and I all agree on that.

We may be novices, but we really do want what is best for these babies and their mama, so we're willing to do as much as we can. They deserve it. I will definitely keep you up to date. They're at my friend's house so I won't get to see them daily, but I'll be in contact with her.

Thank you again for all of the advice! I'm about to turn in for the night, but truly, thank you.

 

[Sarthur2]

The Kitten Lady videos are excellent! Thanks to Norachan for posting them!

 

[Siada]

Hi all! Small update! I ran all of this by my friend as well as the videos. She can't have them in a room in the house because of her husband (he doesn't want them inside because of his allergies), but her parents don't live too far from them and have a spare bathroom that they're willing to house mama and her babies in (with the promise we'll take the kittens off their hands in 6-8 weeks) so they'll have more space to roam about as they get older. Then, mama is going to go to the vet, get her shots and get neutered, and then taken back to my friend's house and released. Not sure where else to let her go, but she probably lives close by so that's where we think she'll do best. Unless, of course, she seems tame and able to find a home. But right now, she's very, very much not friendly, so the plan is to spay/release.

Thank you all for the help! According to that video, the mama seems to be able to be taken away from the kittens as soon as they're weened/eating on their own, so I think we might try to get her to the vet once she can be released, and then keep the kittens together for as long as my friend's parents are willing to allow, before taking them to their forever homes. My friend and I agree it would be ideal to keep the kittens together for a longer time so they can learn better socialization, but her parents are being very nice taking in the mama and kittens since keeping them in the kennel on a porch is less than ideal, so we don't want to abuse their kindness. We'll just work around them, and do our best to make sure the kitties are given a great start to life. I am going to do more reading on how to help a solo kitten socialize since I'll be taking only one. Maybe there's some place that does "kitten playdates" like they do for puppies! Our neighbors also have a cat-friendly dog that the kitten can meet so she/he will get used to other animals too.

Any advice on helping a kitten socialize is appreciated too. I plan on going over to help with the kittens as much as I can, and expose them to being held, touched, groomed, etc, and do whatever I can to help my friend's parents out. I'm very glad to have watched those videos, because the kittens definitely seem like they'll be fine leaving their mama once they're weened and won't be depressed (nor will mama be depressed to leave her babies). I'm also going to do more research on how to bathe/groom a very young kitten and get some of those fleas off them. And get them used to nail clipping (whenever it is safe to do so). I also ordered a scratch post that I'm going to take over for the kittens once they're older, so they can start getting used to one of those! I also may or may not have ordered a ton of toys already too. >.< Their eyes are just starting to open today, so, according to a thing I found online that means they're like 5-6 days old I think!

Again, thank you all for the help! I really appreciate how helpful and friendly you've all been. When I get updates on the babies I'll update this thread.

 

[Sylvia Jones]

What Great news Please keep us updated Thanks for helping moma and babies

 

[Siada]

Hello, I am so sorry for not updating sooner. Sadly there ended up being complications with three of the little ones, and despite getting them to the vet they were just too sick and didn't make it. I wish I could have been there more to help with their care, but I know my friend did her best. We've decided that we're going to keep the two surviving kittens together and agreed my other friend will take them. I'm a bit sad, but keeping them together is important. Mama is still very aggressive and feral, but she's got a vet appointment for next week to be spayed/vaccinated and then once she's recovered, she's going to be released. The kittens will be 6-7 weeks old next week and the vet said that they should be okay without mama and since they're being kept together, should be good to go home with my friend.

In other news, this experience has inspired me to become a foster myself. Right now I can't foster in my rental, but we'll be moving to another complex next year, so we'll look for a place that would allow us to foster kittens. I think I want to start with older kittens and then slowly test the waters with younger ones that need more care. Losing 3 kittens was very hard, but if I can help to save even just one kitten's life and find them a good home, I really want to. We're also going to look into adopting a cat from a local shelter, maybe another older one like our first boy.

Sorry this was such a sad update and a late one. It's been about a week now, but I just didn't have the heart to post it yet. Thank you all for the help though, I've learned so much in such a short time.

 

[Norachan]

I'm sorry to hear that some of the kittens didn't make it S Siada It's actually very lucky if a feral mother manages to raise one kitten a year, so that fact that you saved two and found them a new home together is actually pretty awesome. Don't be discouraged, you've saved two lives and you've also prevented a lot of future suffering by making sure the mother cat gets spayed.



I'm really excited to hear that you are going to be fostering in future. This is a wonderful way to help local shelters. You're right, it can be heart breaking but knowing you've saved a life makes it all worth while.

Please check back in and let us know how things go.