Need Advice & Opinions Please!!

[Kitty0619]

Hi Fellow Cat Lovers,

I hope that I am posting this in the right place, and if not then please let me know, because I know there are rules on certain forums regarding that.

I am needing advice and opinions from all the "crazy cat ladies and men" who take care of stray cat colonies. I take care of my neighborhood's unwanted and feral cats and the number of cats I take care of has recently added on 5 more babies so the grand total is now 20. I do not consider any of the cats I care for as strays because they all are my cats now. I have spayed and neutered them all, but every once in a while, a new pregnant female will come along and stick around once she realizes that this "crazy" lady will feed me twice a day. Now, I hope none of you will get offended by this, but I have no problem taking a pregnant female and getting her spayed and her babies aborted. I absolutely HATE the thought of killing those cute bundles of fur, but any kitten born is just adding to the overpopulation and if I am lucky enough to find one a home, then it could be taking the home of a kitten already alive at a shelter or rescue who's needing a home.

Anyways, about 2 months ago I had a new pregnant female start coming around, that wouldn't let me touch her until about 3 weeks ago. Once she would let me touch her, I tried everything to get her onto a pet carrier to take her to the vet, but she was too terrified to go in the dang thing. The one time I did get her in, she freaked out so bad that I had to let her out because I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. Long story short, this past Saturday night, she had 5 kittens in my bedroom closet.

I was truly shocked that she would have them in the house considering that she didnt let me touch until 3 weeks ago. So, with her and 5 babies, I have a grand total of 11 cats in my house!! I have my 5 kitties that have been rescues I've took in over the last few years, and now I've got her and her babies making the number 11. Now, my house isnt what you see on those animal hoarder TV shows because everyone of my cats use their litter boxes and I keep my house clean, but my husband is freaking out of me about having too many cats in the house. He wants me to put the mama cat and babies outside because he says if babies stay inside I'll w

 

[Kitty0619]

Pic of mama and babies

 

[ZaMM]

Your doing a good thing although Im glad she had the babies...but I am going through something similar with a stray cat that lives in our storage building for about 2 years, I make sure she doesnt go hungry and I pet her and let her come in to eat but she has to be pregnant she is huge in the belly I contemplated putting her in a shelter but damnit if I didn't get attached to her too!!! I named her swamp rat or swampy because she runs through the tall wet grass and comes out looking like a sloppy wet rat, but she is absolutely gorgeous and I just decided I'm gonna get her spayed with my two and keep her. I just don't know what to do about the kittens the shelters here have gotten a bad rep for euthanizing way too soon and I live in a county where people want dogs not cats! Any advice on that would help!!

 

[ZaMM]

Your doing a good thing although Im glad she had the babies...but I am going through something similar with a stray cat that lives in our storage building for about 2 years, I make sure she doesnt go hungry and I pet her and let her come in to eat but she has to be pregnant she is huge in the belly I contemplated putting her in a shelter but damnit if I didn't get attached to her too!!! I named her swamp rat or swampy because she runs through the tall wet grass and comes out looking like a sloppy wet rat, but she is absolutely gorgeous and I just decided I'm gonna get her spayed with my two and keep her. I just don't know what to do about the kittens the shelters here have gotten a bad rep for euthanizing way too soon and I live in a county where people want dogs not cats! Any advice on that would help!!

Swamp rat (swampy) horrid name but it stuck.

 

[Jcatbird]

Awwww! Beautiful. If you can provide what is needed and keep your life in balance then it’s okay to have 11 cats. It’s work but the law tells us it isn’t hoarding if you give proper vet care, food, housing and keep things clean without denying yourself proper food and care. I have 26. It is best if you get homes for any that you feel you can’t give enough play time or attention to. You should not put the Mom and kittens outside! They will be at high risk for illness or death. You also need to socialize the kittens to try and get them homes. You need to try and socialize Mom and you need access to them all to have them spayed/neutered and vetted in order to stop future problems. I’m betting the beautiful kittens will get homes very quickly if you handle things this way. I can understand your husband’s concerns but I hope he will understand that you are actually stopping further problems or future litters of kittens. Spaying a pregnant cat is also understandable. None of us likes to think about lost kittens but adding to an overwhelming population would strain all resources there. It’s often handled the same way you did it.
I think it’s awesome that you are helping these kitties. If everyone did what you are doing then you wouldn’t have new pregnsnt Moms turning up to add to the colony. I was dealing with a colony of over 100 for the same reasons. I managed to socialize the majority of them for adoption. All were spayed, neutered, vetted and tested before going to new homes. There are no cats remaining outside now so no cats to attract more. I’ve only had two show up since. One was lost and returned to her family and they other got vetted and adopted out. I applaud all you are doing.
I wish everyone would understand that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem!
Pleas keep us updated. More pictures too please! Mom and babies are so sweet. Mom looks young. Thank goodness she came in to you!

 

[Jcatbird]

ZaMM I just saw your post. I understand about shelter issues. You can find some shelters that are no kill. This is kitten season but also adoption season. I keep an ad running all the time in a little newspaper that is sold at grocery stores and convenience stores. The ads are free. If I don’t have kittens when the calls come in then I send people to the shelters or humane society. I go regularly to the shelter websites to keep up with the kitties available. I also visit the shelters. That way I can suggest where people need to go and what kitties need help. I’ve gotten seven calls this past week that I referred to the shelter. So far six kittens got adopted. Hoping for another tomorrow or Friday. I have used shelters out of state for adoptions as well. I find a good one for my kitties or they don’t go. You can also contact best friends.org for help or google the rescue groups in your area. I don’t know where you are but it sounds like you are in my area from your description of dogs being preferred. There are groups to be found through Facebook that can help with adoptions. If none of this helps, contact me and I’ll try to find more resources for you. I like the name Swampy. She looks a whole lot like my Smokey. Don’t give up! Text, email, network and ask everyone you know if they know a cat lover. I know it’s hard but persistence is the key. Help is out there. Just keep looking and post if you need anything.

 

[ZaMM]

ZaMM I just saw your post. I understand about shelter issues. You can find some shelters that are no kill. This is kitten season but also adoption season. I keep an ad running all the time in a little newspaper that is sold at grocery stores and convenience stores. The ads are free. If I don’t have kittens when the calls come in then I send people to the shelters or humane society. I go regularly to the shelter websites to keep up with the kitties available. I also visit the shelters. That way I can suggest where people need to go and what kitties need help. I’ve gotten seven calls this past week that I referred to the shelter. So far six kittens got adopted. Hoping for another tomorrow or Friday. I have used shelters out of state for adoptions as well. I find a good one for my kitties or they don’t go. You can also contact best friends.org for help or google the rescue groups in your area. I don’t know where you are but it sounds like you are in my area from your description of dogs being preferred. There are groups to be found through Facebook that can help with adoptions. If none of this helps, contact me and I’ll try to find more resources for you. I like the name Swampy. She looks a whole lot like my Smokey. Don’t give up! Text, email, network and ask everyone you know if they know a cat lover. I know it’s hard but persistence is the key. Help is out there. Just keep looking and post if you need anything.

Thanks that means the world to me I'm definitely gonna keep swampy but if I can't find homes for her babies I will definitely let you know.Your advice should definitely make it easier for me this will be her second litter as her first was only 3 and one died but the other 2 got homes, long hair black cats and hopefully she has the same this time because there beautiful! Now my next bugaboo would be getting her comfortable staying inside? Any ideas?

 

[Maria Bayote]

Hi Fellow Cat Lovers,

I hope that I am posting this in the right place, and if not then please let me know, because I know there are rules on certain forums regarding that.

I am needing advice and opinions from all the "crazy cat ladies and men" who take care of stray cat colonies. I take care of my neighborhood's unwanted and feral cats and the number of cats I take care of has recently added on 5 more babies so the grand total is now 20. I do not consider any of the cats I care for as strays because they all are my cats now. I have spayed and neutered them all, but every once in a while, a new pregnant female will come along and stick around once she realizes that this "crazy" lady will feed me twice a day. Now, I hope none of you will get offended by this, but I have no problem taking a pregnant female and getting her spayed and her babies aborted. I absolutely HATE the thought of killing those cute bundles of fur, but any kitten born is just adding to the overpopulation and if I am lucky enough to find one a home, then it could be taking the home of a kitten already alive at a shelter or rescue who's needing a home.

Anyways, about 2 months ago I had a new pregnant female start coming around, that wouldn't let me touch her until about 3 weeks ago. Once she would let me touch her, I tried everything to get her onto a pet carrier to take her to the vet, but she was too terrified to go in the dang thing. The one time I did get her in, she freaked out so bad that I had to let her out because I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. Long story short, this past Saturday night, she had 5 kittens in my bedroom closet.

I was truly shocked that she would have them in the house considering that she didnt let me touch until 3 weeks ago. So, with her and 5 babies, I have a grand total of 11 cats in my house!! I have my 5 kitties that have been rescues I've took in over the last few years, and now I've got her and her babies making the number 11. Now, my house isnt what you see on those animal hoarder TV shows because everyone of my cats use their litter boxes and I keep my house clean, but my husband is freaking out of me about having too many cats in the house. He wants me to put the mama cat and babies outside because he says if babies stay inside I'll w

You are doing an excellent job. Thank you for taking time, love and money to take care of all these cats. You are an amazing person. I understand you when you say that your husband is now quite having a word about all these cats, because mine does too, only that in the end I win and he also ends up loving the cats. LOL.

Please have this mama cat spayed the soonest after the kitties are weaned, because she could get pregnant again. How do you able to have them all spayed? Do you have any aid or is there a government-run vet clinic that offers free spaying/neutering? Otherwise, it really would be too costly for you.

I hope you find loving homes for the kitties. You can post in in social media so your friends and your friends' friends might me able to help. If possible you can also have them spayed/neutered before adopting them all out, but it will take another 3 months I guess before they can be spayed/neutered. You can ask the vet about this. Anyway, the kitties also cannot be separated from the momma until around 12 weeks of age.

 

[matternr]

Your doing a good thing although Im glad she had the babies...but I am going through something similar with a stray cat that lives in our storage building for about 2 years, I make sure she doesnt go hungry and I pet her and let her come in to eat but she has to be pregnant she is huge in the belly I contemplated putting her in a shelter but damnit if I didn't get attached to her too!!! I named her swamp rat or swampy because she runs through the tall wet grass and comes out looking like a sloppy wet rat, but she is absolutely gorgeous and I just decided I'm gonna get her spayed with my two and keep her. I just don't know what to do about the kittens the shelters here have gotten a bad rep for euthanizing way too soon and I live in a county where people want dogs not cats! Any advice on that would help!!

 

[matternr]

I have been in this situation too many times. I advertise in all neighborhood vet offices and online cat sites where I was an active member. Possibly your local newspaper will advertise with a free ad. I don't like to do this, but I have placed some on farms/ranches for barn cats. Don't give up.

 

[Kitty0619]

Awwww! Beautiful. If you can provide what is needed and keep your life in balance then it’s okay to have 11 cats. It’s work but the law tells us it isn’t hoarding if you give proper vet care, food, housing and keep things clean without denying yourself proper food and care. I have 26. It is best if you get homes for any that you feel you can’t give enough play time or attention to. You should not put the Mom and kittens outside! They will be at high risk for illness or death. You also need to socialize the kittens to try and get them homes. You need to try and socialize Mom and you need access to them all to have them spayed/neutered and vetted in order to stop future problems. I’m betting the beautiful kittens will get homes very quickly if you handle things this way. I can understand your husband’s concerns but I hope he will understand that you are actually stopping further problems or future litters of kittens. Spaying a pregnant cat is also understandable. None of us likes to think about lost kittens but adding to an overwhelming population would strain all resources there. It’s often handled the same way you did it.
I think it’s awesome that you are helping these kitties. If everyone did what you are doing then you wouldn’t have new pregnsnt Moms turning up to add to the colony. I was dealing with a colony of over 100 for the same reasons. I managed to socialize the majority of them for adoption. All were spayed, neutered, vetted and tested before going to new homes. There are no cats remaining outside now so no cats to attract more. I’ve only had two show up since. One was lost and returned to her family and they other got vetted and adopted out. I applaud all you are doing.
I wish everyone would understand that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem!
Pleas keep us updated. More pictures too please! Mom and babies are so sweet. Mom looks young. Thank goodness she came in to you!

Hi JcatBird, thanks so much for replying back! And for telling me your story. So how did you find the resources to find your kitties homes? I am at a complete loss on how to even go about that the proper way so I know they are going to good homes. And all of the cats are no longer feral because I spend so much time with them that I can touch and pet them all now. There is one last male that I'm still breaking his wall of fear down, but he let me pet him 3 x's in the last week so were getting there.

I am just at a complete loss on how to find them all good homes because all the rescues are full and I refuse to put up a sign saying "free kittens" because of all the horror stories I've heard. And dont worry about kittens or mama because they are not going outside! No matter what my husband says, those babies are not going out for snakes or God only knows what else to eat them. They are still in my closet and they are going to stay there.

But now I've added another kitten to the bunch and my husband isnt happy. A girl who I go to college with found this little bundle of joy by her dorm and she cant keep it so she asked me if I could... what could I say but yes? Sometimes I think my love of animals is more of a burden than a blessing but I cant help the way I feel.

 

[Kitty0619]

View attachment 280285 View attachment 280286
Swamp rat (swampy) horrid name but it stuck.

She is adorable!! And I love the name! At least its original... your gonna laugh when I tell you what I named my cat... I thought she was going to die because she was so sick so I called her Kitty. Well, she didnt die thank God and the name stuck so her name is Kitty lol. How unoriginal is it to name your cat Kitty lol

 

[Kitty0619]

You are doing an excellent job. Thank you for taking time, love and money to take care of all these cats. You are an amazing person. I understand you when you say that your husband is now quite having a word about all these cats, because mine does too, only that in the end I win and he also ends up loving the cats. LOL.

Please have this mama cat spayed the soonest after the kitties are weaned, because she could get pregnant again. How do you able to have them all spayed? Do you have any aid or is there a government-run vet clinic that offers free spaying/neutering? Otherwise, it really would be too costly for you.

I hope you find loving homes for the kitties. You can post in in social media so your friends and your friends' friends might me able to help. If possible you can also have them spayed/neutered before adopting them all out, but it will take another 3 months I guess before they can be spayed/neutered. You can ask the vet about this. Anyway, the kitties also cannot be separated from the momma until around 12 weeks of age.

Hi, thanks for replying back! I found a place that only charges $50 per cat to spay/neuter! They just did a "cat day" for me and they fixed 16 cats in one day! They are truly awesome people and I'm so lucky I found them. So all of my cats are fixed except one male that I haven't been able to catch yet, the mama, and her 5 babies. I will have them fixed just as soon as I'm able to. And I'm still trying so hard to find them all good homes but no lunch yet. The vet I take my kitties to is trying to look for me also so I hope something will work out. My husband is the same way but he still fusses everytime he sees me walk in with a new kitty and I hate arguing with him. But thanks for the info and the support

 

[Kitty0619]

Do y'all think I'm being too unreasonable about not putting out ads for free kittens? I've heard of such awful stories that I hate doing that. I live in gator country and people have gotten free kittens for gator bait (meaning they put alive kittens on big hooks) and for snake food and that terrifies me. With rescues there is at least a small charge and you have to fill out a form but am I being too "picky" about where they go to?

 

[Avery]

I don't think you are being unreasonable not wanting to put ads out for free kittens. I have been told by some of the animal rescue groups near me that it is a bad idea to offer any animal "free to a good home." I never heard of gator bait, but I have certainly heard of using kittens for dog fighting. How these people can live with themselves, I don't know. People who can't afford a pet might not be able to then afford to keep them. Food and vet bills are not cheap!

Better ideas are to spread the word (with photos!) to friends and family and co-workers who you trust. It is great that you are working with your vet. If the vet finds someone who wants to adopt a kitten, they should be able to vouch for them as a good pet owner. Maybe other vets would let you put up a sign in their office. If there are any good rescues near you, check them out, read reviews, visit them and see how they operate.

Good luck and thank you for taking such good care of these kitties.

 

[Jcatbird]

Hey, I tried to message you but it would not go through. I think what you are doing is wonderful. The new baby is beautiful but looks pretty young. I’m a little concerned it may have been one of a litter. Perhaps found when Mom was moving them or maybe dumped with other babies. You might want your friend to check to make sure about this.
Can you send me a private message? I would like to try and give you some more info about trying to adopt but don’t want to discuss locations publicly.

 

[fionasmom]

Always ask for some compensation for an animal because you have fed, cared for, and vetted them. You need something back and have already done a favor for the potential owner. Tell them you litter box trained them; they don't have to know that it comes naturally. Bunchers and people who might use them for alligator bait don't want to pay, or at least won't pay much.

 

[Jcatbird]

The previous is excellent advice. I have the same concerns here that you have only for different reasons. I always ask for the name of the vet people use and get their permission to call for a reference. If they tefuse that then they don’t get a kitten. An adoption fee does repell some of the people who want kitties for the wrong reasons. I also require people to sign an agreement that if the adoption does not work out, the kitty must be returned to me, I require updates for the first six months, and that they agree to let me do a home check if I do desire. ( Don’t go alone though) I have only had to go to a home once. All other adopting families were very happy to send photos and updates so I knew the kitties were happy. You can put in the written agreement anything that you think will deter bad adoptions or will reassure you. If they won’t sign it then I take that as an indication that something is not good. Any hesitation on their part might tip you off to a problem. I have turned a few down but most people were fine. Call all the vets in your area. Most have Facebook or websites. They are usually happy to put photos of the kittens in their sites for you. I got quite a few good families that way.

 

[Kitty0619]

Hey, I tried to message you but it would not go through. I think what you are doing is wonderful. The new baby is beautiful but looks pretty young. I’m a little concerned it may have been one of a litter. Perhaps found when Mom was moving them or maybe dumped with other babies. You might want your friend to check to make sure about this.
Can you send me a private message? I would like to try and give you some more info about trying to adopt but don’t want to discuss locations publicly.

JCatBird, oh, I promise that you have nothing to worry about because I went to the dorms thinking the exact same thing as you and spent 1 hour the first day, 1 1/2 the second day, and I even went back a third day but only stayed for 30 mins. After searching for a while each day, I would sit real still under a big oak tree and read my book hoping that maybe if I was quit and still I would hear a kitten squeak or see the mom but I never saw or heard anything. Thinking that there might be more kittens out there somewhere upsets me greatly so I hope the one my friend found was the only one. I haven't named the little booger yet because sometimes it can take me forever to come up with a name, so I'm the meantime I've been calling her Peanut. She is the cutest most adorable little baby and shes already got me wrapped up tight. At first she didnt take very to the bottle or the formula but after two very stressful days, she finally accepted the fact that she was too hungry to wait around for moms delicious milk to come back. I will include a couple of pics of her so yall can see how adorable she is!! Oh and JCatBird, I will try to message you so I can get that info from you.

I do have one other question for yall about the mom and 5 babies that's in my closet. As I told yall before, mom was a stray who wandered up here about 3 months ago and shes really nothing but a baby herself. The kittens are doing great and are still in my closet where they will stay, but I let mom go outside all throughout the day because she freaks out so bad if I dont let her out. I did try forcing her to stay inside for a couple of days, but she would cry and act so crazy and stressed that she wouldn't hardly take care of the babies, but she has gotten better about that since I started letting her out. In the last couple of days she has started carrying the kittens to the door begging to take them outside. Of course I dont and will not let her take them out, but shes recently started stressing so bad over this that shes hurt 3 kittens. She hurt all 3 by bitting down so hard while carrying them that she punctured a hole in their necks and made them bleed more blood than I was comfortable with, but I quickly got the bleeding to stop and they are perfectly fine now. She is VERY VERY aggresive with them while doing this and she will drop them several times to only grab them back up with an even harder bite. So now I'm terrified shes going to end up hurting one or all severally or I'm going to wake up one morning to find that shes killed them. I read online that some cats who are severely stressed will kill their kittens and I'm scared of that. So my question for yall is do you think I should take the babies from her and raise them by hand or should I not? All opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

[fionasmom]

Babies were born about April 6th? I would be concerned about what is going on and they will need to be hand fed for a while yet. I have not experienced an aggressive mom but have seen adult males try to kill a litter. My opinion is to intervene, but I stand to be corrected by someone who might have more experience with this exact situation.