Need Advice. Stray Cat Who I Believe Has Kittens.

[Tij]

April 23rd of this year was the first sighting. She looked unusually large for a stray and her belly looked out of proportion to the rest of her body. I assumed she was pregnant.



In early May I caught her peeping in my window, and I noticed she was significantly thinner. As she started to come around regularly, I put cans in food out for her when she came to visit.



The window she comes to is partially between two buildings and she'd usually push the can out of retrievable range, so I decided to buy her a bowl and see if she'd come inside to eat. It didn't take much for her to jump in the window and eat out of the bowl. She has been coming in twice per day usually for a few weeks now, minus about a week where she wasn't seen at all. I leave the window and screen open for her so she can leave at any time. I have not attempted to get close to her or touch her yet, though when feeding her treats on the window, she had no problem getting close to my hand as I placed the treats.

Quite often I'd wake up to her peeking in my window or napping outside waiting for me. She'll get fairly close in the window if I'm sitting in the red chair, but she's very skittish once inside.



I'd like to adopt her, but I'm pretty certain she has kittens out there somewhere that is likely impossible for me to find in the middle of Queens. So my question is, how long do I wait to try getting her to the vet for spaying, shots, checkup etc? After spaying, I imagine she will need care, how should I approach keeping her inside afterwards? Should I be purchasing special food? Right now I'm giving her wet cans of Friskies pate/shreds every time she comes around.

I've owned cats most of my life (currently none), and my roommates have three cats. I'm fully aware of what it takes to care for them.



If anyone has any advice, Lilith and I would greatly appreciate it!

 

[tabbytom]

Hello Tij , thank you for having the interest in adopting this kitty

As for the kittens, if you are sure that she was pregnant and had given birth, one way is to track her down and see where she goes after her meal. But for the given time frame, she could be still weaning off her kittens or the kittens have already weaned off. You just have to do some detective work.

As for feeding her, its ok not get food meant for kittens or food labeled 'For All Life Stages' as these food are packed with nutrients to help kittens grow strong and healthy. So these food will help her gain back her health in terms of lost nutrients during and after birth.

Since the comes into your house for meals now, which is a good sign, let her wander around and make her feel at home and slowly win her over by gaining confidence in you.

Place towels around her when she comes in to eat to soak up her scents. Then place the towels around so that when she move around, there's familiar scents which is hers so that she don't get spooked easily. It takes time and once confidence is matched, get her to the vet. Of course, she can smell and sense that there are other cats around and thats is why she is skittish too.

So the important thing is she must have to trust you totally and vice versa. Best way is through food and make her associate you with food and also indulge in some play time if you can.

She's beautiful!

Feel free to ask questions and there are many TCS members with much experience will be willing to share and help out. Please keep us posted of the progress

 

[Tij]

I'm fairly certain she had kittens, as her nipples were visible swollen and pink. Unfortunately I can't follow her to her kittens, as the route she takes is between buildings and fenced areas. I've tried looking at aerial view through Google maps, and even with a drone I think it would be hard to follow her.

My biggest fear is separating her from her kittens. What are the chances she brings them with her here to eat?

 

[tabbytom]

If she’s still milking them, she won’t bring them along at the moment as they are still too young to leave the nest. If they are older, maybe she might bring them along. Usually, momma cats have their babies safely hidden from view and danger and the kittens are taught to keep quiet when momma cat goes hunting.

I believe the kittens are not very far from you.

So by your description, it’s is highly possible that she left her kittens at bay and came out for food and maybe it’s best to leave the kittens where they are at the moment till maybe you can find a way to locate them and get them indoors, then to the vet, spayed and neuter them and keep them together with the momma and not forgetting to have momma cat spayed too.

Once momma cat is used to you, it is quite possible to follow her as she is not afraid of you and she won’t go into hiding so it’s easier to find out where the nest is.

Hope you can secure the kittens as so that they may lead a better life.

 

[surya]

I would not be surprised if the mom starts bringing her babies to the window. The kittens can start eating solid food at four weeks. The kittens would probably not be able to get up to the window, so you could leave some food down on the ground for them. There's always the possibility that the kittens have been killed (I hope not). But it is a dangerous world for kittens. I don't know how long to wait to get her fixed. I would want to try and follow her first and find the babies. They are probably close by. They generally are close to their food source. If you can afford it, you could get an inexpensive trail camera and it might help you find the path she is taking to the babies.