Hello. I am totally new to this site, so bear with me.
I own 3 cats whom have never been outdoors. I just moved to Boston and discovered the massive feral cat problem in my neighborhood. Last week we noticed a beat-up ginger tabby hanging around the trash. We decided to see about feeding him and he turned out to be a stray. We can pet him, even pick him up a bit. He is an unaltered male.
As such, on Friday he started showing up with a young lady. Who was DEFINATELY pregnant. Very shy too. We knew we could get him at any time (in fact we found a home already and will be taking him to the vet soon).
She was another story. We needed her off the streets before she gave birth. We managed to catch her in a dog crate while feeding. Since my 3 cats are indoor cats, we segregated her from them. Just to be safe, and to reduce her stress (plus we have 2 dogs...) She bolted out of the crate while we changed her food and is now loose in our basement. She likes hanging out in the corners between the top of the wall and the ceiling. She is pretty scared.
The problem is she hasn't been eating much at all. Maybe a few ounces at most. This has been since Saturday. She ate on Saturday when we were trapping her, but otherwise very little.
The MSPCA was closed until today, and is WHOLLY unreachable. I've been on hold for a good hour now and the phone battery is dying. We want to make sure this cat and her kittens are o.k. AND that we don't overburden the system. Dropping off a pregnant cat with no idea if she would be put-down isn't kosher with me.
So, what should I do here? Should I be worried too much? I know that cats are somewhat durable when it comes to deprivation, but how much of that is true when pregnant is unknown to me.
Do we need to intervene here? Should we just drop her off and hope for the best, or take her to vet ourselves (which won't be fun since it would be an ER visit due to the vet being booked until the 21st)?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I own 3 cats whom have never been outdoors. I just moved to Boston and discovered the massive feral cat problem in my neighborhood. Last week we noticed a beat-up ginger tabby hanging around the trash. We decided to see about feeding him and he turned out to be a stray. We can pet him, even pick him up a bit. He is an unaltered male.
As such, on Friday he started showing up with a young lady. Who was DEFINATELY pregnant. Very shy too. We knew we could get him at any time (in fact we found a home already and will be taking him to the vet soon).
She was another story. We needed her off the streets before she gave birth. We managed to catch her in a dog crate while feeding. Since my 3 cats are indoor cats, we segregated her from them. Just to be safe, and to reduce her stress (plus we have 2 dogs...) She bolted out of the crate while we changed her food and is now loose in our basement. She likes hanging out in the corners between the top of the wall and the ceiling. She is pretty scared.
The problem is she hasn't been eating much at all. Maybe a few ounces at most. This has been since Saturday. She ate on Saturday when we were trapping her, but otherwise very little.
The MSPCA was closed until today, and is WHOLLY unreachable. I've been on hold for a good hour now and the phone battery is dying. We want to make sure this cat and her kittens are o.k. AND that we don't overburden the system. Dropping off a pregnant cat with no idea if she would be put-down isn't kosher with me.
So, what should I do here? Should I be worried too much? I know that cats are somewhat durable when it comes to deprivation, but how much of that is true when pregnant is unknown to me.
Do we need to intervene here? Should we just drop her off and hope for the best, or take her to vet ourselves (which won't be fun since it would be an ER visit due to the vet being booked until the 21st)?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.