Need advice about feral mama cat

[feralvr]

Sophie, you are right about the mud and raccoons. They seem to want to wash their paws in the water too and I always know when the raccoons have fed at my feral feeding station when I see alot of mud in the bowls. For some reason, she has moved her kittens and where? We will never know.

. I really doubt she would roam again to be bred with her kittens following along, but I guess it could be possible. It would surprise me though because doing so would put her kittens in danger and go against her natural instinct to protect them and I doubt she would do that... and why she would take them from a food source is confusing

to me. I have to wonder if she has another food source in the area, that must be the case. You did the best you could for her and the kittens and we just have to pray that they will be alright. They still might be back so I would still go out there and put a little food/water out for another week or so. Then if you still don't see them then I would just go out there each day and check to see if she has returned to eat. I hope she returns so you can get her spayed

 

[ldg]

Sweetie, like Lauren says, you did right by her and the kittens and did as much as you could.

There wasn't any reason to think they'd move away from a reliable food source - there's just no way to predict something like that.

I don't know if you're going to put the trap out or not... but in answer to your question, we've trapped raccoons and opossums. At the time we had a trap that released at either end, and we'd just open the end where their head was facing. They just bolt away. Now they'd have to back out (unless they're small) - but really, our experience is that they don't want to stick around and bother with us - just get away.

and

 

[sophiec]

Well, still no sign of them. Last week, I finally picked up the food & water bowls....along with the trap I had out there so that they would get used to seeing it. A co-worker of mine did tell me that she saw the mama cat one morning last week. She saw her go into a big drainage pipe in a ditch.



I went over to the tv station last Thursday after work to look around. You can see it 2 buildings over from mine to the right. Didn't see any cats. Someone was out back and asked what I was looking for. I told her cats and quickly told her what was going on. She said she'd let me know if she saw her. I went back the next day and left my name & number along with a photo of mama and the kittens. We'll see...........

In the meantime, I have a couple more questions about TNRing. For those of you who do TNRs, what do you do about fleas. 10 times out of 10, those cats outside will have fleas. When you trap them and put them in your car to take them to be altered, do you end up with fleas in your cars? Also, how do you approach taking a cat in to be altered if you think the cat may belong to someone in the neighborhood (who just doesn't care about having them spayed/neutered)?

 

[feralvr]

Sophie,

I got a tiny tear thinking about that mom cat moving her kittens to that drain pipe (excellent view of your work to that drain pipe area). I am sorry she moved them and am quite concerned for those kittens now..... as you must be. You are so wonderful tracking them down like that and giving out your name and number. Gosh, I wonder what they are eating

..... Again, you are doing everything you can to help them and I commend you for that

About the fleas..... And I go overboard on the subject

. If I were to trap a feral this time of year, I would first spray the back of my truck with a residual flea spray. Lay a plastic tarp down and then line that with some newspaper and maybe even spray the newpaper for good measure. When you have the cat in the trap and are ready to go to the vet, place that trap on that newspaper (cover the trap with a towel for comfort for the cat). When at the vet, you ask them there to give the cat Revolution (the best, because it deworms them, takes care of ear mites and fleas/ticks) after they sedate the cat for the spay/neuter. The cat will need another dose in three weeks if you are treating for worms. If just fleas/ticks one month apart is fine. Chances are that even if you don't spray your car first, you won't have any fleas in there anyway. Just roll up that newspaper when you get to vet and toss it out. Then shake out the plastic tarp and you should be fine, no fleas

. If you are trying to de-flea a feral that is untouchable. You can try to crush a Capstar pill (from vet) in a very small amount of wet food but they have to eat ALL of it right away. That will kill fleas. Other than that, there really is no way to treat feral's for fleas if you cannot get near them.

.

If you see a cat roaming once or twice and doesn't return, that might be someone's pet. If you see the stray a few times, it really truly might be a stray and go ahead and trap. At the vet's, they will check for a micro-chip. Most pet owner's with cats now have their cat's micro-chipped. If the cat has no micro-chip and is not neutered or spayed then I would go ahead with the TNR. The vet will find the spay scar on the females abdomen if they were already spayed.

Much luck and I am sending off many more prayers your way in the hopes that you will still be able to trap this family of cats.

 

[sophiec]

So still no sign of the black & white mama cat and her 5 kittens near work. I guess she has truly moved on.

The reason I asked in an earlier post about taking a cat to be spayed or neutered if you think they belong to someone follows:

Backstory.......I own a house in another city that I do not live in (yet). Back in 2009, I lost my job and was unemployed for just about 1 year. During that time, I still went to my house in the other city because I have 2 outdoor cats there that adopted me. Foster has been "with me" since sometime around 2002 for sure. When I would get to my house, he would never be there. I would have to call and he would come in a few minutes. I discovered that he was hanging out on the back porch of a house that was behind mine, but 2 houses over. The house directly behind mine and the one next to it were vacant, so I would wander into those yards while calling him and eventually I saw him coming from the back porch of that house. One afternoon I was out in that yard calling him and the lady was outside. Foster came running and she asked me if that was my cat. I told her yes and she said her young daughter had been feeding him. He gets plenty of food from me by the way. Anyway, they eventually got a cat...a little black one. He would still go and hang out with that cat. I think he's pretty much stopped that now.

Back to the present (about 4 weeks ago)............when I pass by my house in the mornings before work to feed my 2 outdoor cats there, I had been noticing that there was this black cat literally trying to steal food. I would go in the house, get the food container and go out on the back porch and put food in their 2 bowls. I would go back in to put the container away and when I would come out, she would be at the bowls eating, but when I walked out, she bolted. She would stay around the corner and when she heard me get in my car, she would creep back to the porch. If I opened the door, she ran. It was as though she was starving and desperate for food. She was rather skinny also. One of those morning as she ran away, I noticed that she had milk in her.....so I realized that she had kittens somewhere. I often found her hanging out at the back of my yard where my property meets with the property of the house behind me. The neighbor in the back, their wood fence is falling apart and they haven't repaired it, so the cats are free to roam into my yard easily. Anyway, back on the 18th of June, I saw her hanging out under the house next to the one directly behind mine and eventually, 3 little kittens wandered out. I got out a cat toy and they took to it immediately. Each of them growled something fierce when they got it in their little mouth.

I got these photos.


This solid black one is a little boy.








This black & white with the well defined white between her eyes is a girl.





That is mama at the bowl.





More to follow in next post.........

 

[sophiec]

OK....so when I leave that house to head back home, I usually drive around the back street. Eventually, I saw the mama and the 3 babies in the driveway of the house I suspected they belong...which is the same one where Foster used to hang out and the same one where the lady told me she got her daughter a the little black cat. So them being in the driveway pretty much confirmed for me that it was the same cat. They obviously didn't get her spayed.

So that was why I was asking about bringing in cats to be fixed if you think they actually belong to someone. I think even if I talked to these people, they wouldn't have her or the babies fixed. The kittens are 2 boys & a girl. What should I do?!!!

More photos I took this past Saturday (2 days ago).....








This is the other little boy, with very little white between his eyes, different from the little girl.....and he has a black chin.









Mama hiding under the corner of the house.

 

[feralvr]

You sure have your hands full lately with all of these mama's and kittens

. Well, I would definitely talk with those neighbor's if you can. Mama and kittens do need to get spay/neutered or they will be breeding eachother by the summer's end.

. If you cannot reach the neighbor, leave a posted note on the door with you number (if you don't mind giving out your number) asking them if you can assist them in getting these cat's TNRd. They are beautiful little kittens and mom is gorgeous too. They deserve better than that for sure. They look to be very hungry and I even wonder if that neighbor is caring for them

. This is always so upsetting to me when irresponsible people get a "free" kitten and don't get it fixed and then let that unaltered cat roam adding to the cat overpopulation problem. All of those poor kittens being born into a life of uncertainty.

If you don't hear from them after a couple of attempts and the cat's look uncared for and unwanted, then I would go ahead with plans to start trapping and find homes for those kittens. They look sweet enough and would be easy to socialize and deserve a chance at a better life in the safety of a home. Much luck to you Sophie, you certainly are a cat champion

 

[sophiec]

OK, so I went to the house yesterday where I think this cat family belongs and sure enough I was right. The mama cat, whose name is Dora, is the same cat from a couple summers ago. Anyway, I asked if they planned to get them spayed/neutered and she told me they couldn't afford it. I even explained to her how if they are not fixed, it would be a never ending cycle of babies. I wished I knew those numbers by heart of how many cats can come from one unspayed female in a seven year span, but I just couldn't remember the number. I told her about Spay Nation since she was unaware of the organization. You can get a cat done for $40, but it has to be in a trap, not a carrier. Even after I told her about the low cost of $40, she still told me she couldn't afford it when I asked if she did the mom I would take care of the kittens. My gut didn't believe her, but what can you do?! Anyway, I asked if they planned to keep the kittens or wanted to find homes for them. She told me her niece wants one of the kittens and her grand daughter wants to keep the others......so no home finding task for me. She also told me that Dora had 4 kittens, but one of them died early on. I asked her if it would be OK with her if I went ahead and had them all done. She said that was OK with them....what is she going to say?

She did comment that this was going to cost me alot of money. I'm completely aware of that, but I'm thankful that I can afford to do this. While the kittens will not be leading the kinds of lives I'd like to see them lead as indoor kitties, at least she's allowing me to get them altered so there won't be any new ones from this family. Even though her niece is planning to take one, I'll still get that one done to, because I can probably win a bet if I say that the niece will not get the cat fixed.

Anyway, I decided not to tell them that the cats will all come back with their ears tipped. And because of this, I plan to take them all at the same time. Two of the three kittens can easily be picked up....the third I'll have to trick with a toy. Mama will most likely have to be trapped since she won't let me touch her. She's started to wander closer to me, but she still won't let me touch her.

Feralrv......about the flea situation. If I had an actual pickup truck, it would be no big deal to secure them in the back, but I don't. I have a durango. When you said to spray, do you mean to actually spray the carpet in the cargo area of my car? Or do you mean to put down plastic & neswpaper spraying both as I lay them down?

 

[feralvr]

Well, you ARE a cat champion. It angers me so

about irresponsible people like that, the ones who own Dora.... And I bet you are right, the neice or whoever they were giving the kittens too, wouldn't get them fixed. Thank you for doing all of this for these little angels.

I go overboard about the flea issue in the car. First, I spray the back of my truck, I have a big SUV similar to a Durango. So I spray the back then lay the plastic down, then the newspaper and then you can spray the newspaper, but not necessary. Lay the covered trap on that newspaper. When you get to vet and drop off. Roll up the newspaper and throw out. You can get more newspaper for the pick-up later in the day. Also, shake out the plastic sheet in the parking lot at the vet and just fold it back up for later. So that's what I do and have never had a problem with fleas lingering in my truck.

Much luck to you with this new good deed you are taking on

 

[sophiec]

Well, mama and her 3 babies were dropped off this morning at Spay Nation to be neutered & spayed. Here's hoping everything goes smooth and no complications arise. I pick them up tomorrow morning and bring them back to their home.

 

[fostermommy2011]

Fingers are crossed everything goes well!!!

 

[sophiec]

Well, everything went somewhat well and the kittens & mama were released this morning. There was only one mishap and it is partly my fault. I had identified the kittens as 2 males and a female. I had to fill out paperwork and affix a label to each trap. It seems I misidentified the female. It turns out all 3 kittens were male. The veterinarian told me that the discovery had been made after the incision was made in the kittens stomach and he couldn't find her uterus. He apologized saying that even though I had the kitten mislabeled as a female, their people are supposed to check the sex of the animals before surgery starts....and no one did that. So the poor little boy probably has double the pain now.

 

[feralvr]

OMG

my mouth is hanging open!!!!!! WHAT, I cannot believe they didn't check BEFORE they started. That is just unheard of. When any stray/feral cats are brought in to be fixed/TNRd the vets NEVER take the transporters word for the sex of the cats..... I just feel awful for this kitten boy. AND, this was not your fault at all, please don't feel bad about telling he was a she. They should have checked that, the

's......

Well, anyway, he will recover. And I am so very glad all went well and they are all done. You really, really went above and beyond for the owner of Dora. It seems people like that don't care one way or another

. Makes me sad, but glad for people like you

 

[sophiec]

Sorry no update for awhile....life has me busy.

Yes, I know....they should have checked. But I still felt a little bad at the time it happened since they went by what I had marked on the traps. If I had gotten it right, this would have never happened. Oh well....what's done is done.

The kittens seem to all be doing just fine. Dora does not seem to be gaining any weight back. She's still very thin. They still come to my yard. I can get them there easily by just calling loudly if they are within hearing distance.

By the way, the owner was very appreciative of what I did. She told me thank you several times. I think she is truly sincere about it.

 

[feralvr]

Sophie, I am very glad to hear that the owner was in fact appreciative. Gosh, how could they not be, no more kittens now, because of your good deed!!!!!

I am also sure in time Dora will start to put weight on

. I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep some food down if you think they are not getting enough from their owner

. Maybe the people just can't afford these cats. You are very sweet to care for them the way you are.