- Joined
- Dec 6, 2020
- Messages
- 253
- Purraise
- 218
Hello, back in late February, I noticed a small stray/feral cat around my house. She resembles a kitten that I rescued a few winters ago (she screamed bloody murdered to be let in while I was cooking chicken lol). This kitten ultimately was adopted by a family member, so I've had a soft spot for this new cat that's been wandering my yard - I think there could be a family relation somewhere.
Skipping forward to May, my neighbor mentioned that he discovered that this same kitty gave birth to kittens in his barn and had started feeding the kittens as they grew older (I had tried to feed the mama in her pregnancy days but she never came). He offered the kittens to us if he could manage to gain their trust and catch them. Mama had moved her kittens a few times, but I had managed to coax mama to eat at my house and then she would come back to the barn.
Unfortunately in late June/early July, he had a failed attempt to catch the kittens. He managed to most of the kittens by hand but they got free as he was bringing them inside. He said that the kittens would only eat if he's at a large distance since that incident.
Now, a male orange tabby has been coming around. I've seen him a handful of times. I have suspected this may be the daddy cat. My indoor boy (neutered) is absolutely terrified of him. He started trembling when he first seen him through the window. Both my cats (I have a spayed female too) haven’t really been bother by the mama cat except to stare. The orange cat at one point saw me through the living room window and body slammed the window. Then he proceeded to spray along side of the wood.
A few days ago, we woke up at 5:30 am to our boy cat howling and screaming. We saw the orange tabby outside and scared it away. On our security camera, the orange tabby was body slamming himself several times against the living room window with a puffed tale. He scratched a hole through our screen and left scratches all over our siding. Thankfully, our windows our double paned, so there was no way he could get inside. Later in the day, we saw him again terrorizing our male cat. My husband went outside and chased this cat away. He hasn’t been back since.
Obviously, I feel terrible for the orange cat, but I can’t have him scaring our cats and damaging our property. In another life, I would have tried to TNR him, but I really can’t have this cat near the house. I am also worried for the mama cat too and the kittens. She has totally disappeared for the past couple weeks and my neighbor said she’s not coming back for food - I suspect she’s left the area because of the orange tabby.
Is there any chance that the mama and kittens will come back? I’ve been checking Nextdoor, Craigslist, etc. to see if anyone in the neighborhood has managed to catch mama and her kittens.
Just curious if anyone has had similar experiences and what the outcome was? I really want to have hope that mama and kittens will come back. There’s so many dangers in our neck of the woods (coyotes, foxes, hawks, etc.). I was going to take one of the kittens and that family member I mentioned in beginning was going to take 1 or 2. Mama seemed like such a sweet cat albeit afraid of me.
Skipping forward to May, my neighbor mentioned that he discovered that this same kitty gave birth to kittens in his barn and had started feeding the kittens as they grew older (I had tried to feed the mama in her pregnancy days but she never came). He offered the kittens to us if he could manage to gain their trust and catch them. Mama had moved her kittens a few times, but I had managed to coax mama to eat at my house and then she would come back to the barn.
Unfortunately in late June/early July, he had a failed attempt to catch the kittens. He managed to most of the kittens by hand but they got free as he was bringing them inside. He said that the kittens would only eat if he's at a large distance since that incident.
Now, a male orange tabby has been coming around. I've seen him a handful of times. I have suspected this may be the daddy cat. My indoor boy (neutered) is absolutely terrified of him. He started trembling when he first seen him through the window. Both my cats (I have a spayed female too) haven’t really been bother by the mama cat except to stare. The orange cat at one point saw me through the living room window and body slammed the window. Then he proceeded to spray along side of the wood.
A few days ago, we woke up at 5:30 am to our boy cat howling and screaming. We saw the orange tabby outside and scared it away. On our security camera, the orange tabby was body slamming himself several times against the living room window with a puffed tale. He scratched a hole through our screen and left scratches all over our siding. Thankfully, our windows our double paned, so there was no way he could get inside. Later in the day, we saw him again terrorizing our male cat. My husband went outside and chased this cat away. He hasn’t been back since.
Obviously, I feel terrible for the orange cat, but I can’t have him scaring our cats and damaging our property. In another life, I would have tried to TNR him, but I really can’t have this cat near the house. I am also worried for the mama cat too and the kittens. She has totally disappeared for the past couple weeks and my neighbor said she’s not coming back for food - I suspect she’s left the area because of the orange tabby.
Is there any chance that the mama and kittens will come back? I’ve been checking Nextdoor, Craigslist, etc. to see if anyone in the neighborhood has managed to catch mama and her kittens.
Just curious if anyone has had similar experiences and what the outcome was? I really want to have hope that mama and kittens will come back. There’s so many dangers in our neck of the woods (coyotes, foxes, hawks, etc.). I was going to take one of the kittens and that family member I mentioned in beginning was going to take 1 or 2. Mama seemed like such a sweet cat albeit afraid of me.