Pregnant, Half-tamed Feral: To Confine Or Not To Confine?

[fexluz]

Hello everyone, this is my first post - apologies for its length. I've been reading as much as I can search for, but I haven't found anyone with exactly the same concerns as I have, so I thought I'd ask.

For the past couple of years, my wife and I have been taking care of a pair of "community cats" who were here when we moved in: "Mr. Orange", one of the dominant males in the neighborhood, and his girl, "Ms. Grey". Mr. Orange is as feral as feral can be, but Ms. Grey might have been someone's pet at one time, because she's been far more trusting than Mr. Orange. Indeed, she has a very loving little creature, and spends part of her day in my backyard-facing room.

The concern now is that she is pregnant - again - and my wife and I want to help her with the kittens and keep them once they're weaned. She's not a huge cat and we don't expect a massive litter. Last year she had kittens before we had bonded with her quite to the extent we have now, and her single adorable kitten hung around for about two months until he disappeared for the third and last time. Since then, she's been pregnant again but gave birth in late December and we never saw the kittens.

Fast forward to February 2nd and 3rd... and those two are at it again. In addition to fighting off several neighborhood suitors, Mr. Orange mounts Ms. Grey numerous times...

Fast forward to today, and Ms. Grey is now heavily pregnant. Her appetite has increased quite a bit and she's been coming into my room numerous times each day to eat, nuzzle/snuggle, sleep, and laze about. She's clearly very comfortable with me, as she'll flop down with her belly facing me, resting her head on my leg as she sleeps. I've provided her with a little nook to sleep in, food and water all the time, and just yesterday bought her a nice cage with a little box area and started putting the food in there (without closing the doors.) Note that she is still fairly jumpy if I drop something loudly or I startle her when I yelp when her claws dig into my leg accidentally, but she calms down just as quickly.

The plan, I suppose, is to confine her in about a week's time... to cover the cage and provide a little white noise for the background so she isn't disturbed by outside sounds (like our other cats elsewhere in the house). At this stage, though, I think it's clear she has her mind made up to give birth elsewhere, as she wants to leave me room after she's done snoozzing, eating, or snuggling, and disappears into the neighborhood for a few hours.

My hope is that, once she is confined, she takes to this setup with minimal fuss and gives birth in a safe, warm, dry environment with plenty of water on hand, giving us an opportunity to observe her and assist as may be needed. Also we want the kittens to get used to us as soon as they're able to explore. Once everyone is OK we plan to get the kittens their shots, etc., as well as get Ms. Grey fixed so she can enjoy the rest of her life (hopefully with us, but that's up to her...)

My concern is that she will freak out, stress out, or that I'll miss the birthing window by waiting too long in an effort to minimize her stress.

Is this notion of ours even wise, to attempt to confine her? Personally I think the kittens will be better off if we do that, though Ms. Grey might not be too happy at first...but hopefully she should be able to handle things given how much trust she already has in us.

I'm curious for any thoughts on this from folks with more experience with ferals and strays than I have. In particular, if it's a good idea to confine her, when should we lock her up? My guess for her delivery date is some time during the first week of April, perhaps the weekend of the 7/8th, at the latest. I can already see the kittens wriggling around a bit in her belly so the day may come sooner than I expect. Her appetite hasn't disappeared completely yet, but she has been gone from our yard for longer stretches than in past weeks so clearly she's got a site picked out.

Will diverting her from her plans cause her to freak out and care for the kittens improperly? Should I capture her as quickly as I can in order to acclimatize her to the new setup? Or should I give up on this idea and let nature take its course. Very concerned about doing the right thing...

Any comments would be appreciated!

tldr: I have a pregnant feral that's half tame and we mean to confine her for her due date which I expect is around 4/6 thru 4/8. So...two weeks tops, to decide. Any thoughts or comments (even those advising against this plan) are welcome, as nothing has been decided finally. Thank you all!

John

 

[sweetblackpaws]

Oh my...that is a tough one. Initially, I was thinking best to catch her immediately, especially since you are planning on keeping her and the kittens. But then I was thinking, yeah, might stress her out. I am inclined to think that since she does already trust you, that it would be okay to catch her right away. She will be stressed at first, but she does know you already, so it's not like you are coming out of nowhere and trapping her. Bless you and your wife for caring about this mama and her babies and wanting to give them a warm home.

 

[marmoset]

I'd trap her right away so she has time to acclimate to her new situation. I'd want as much time as possible to let her settle in. I must be terribly hard on them to be trapped shortly before delivery.

 

[Ladysnuggable]

I actually have a pregant feral right now as well. I always cage our cats untill their fixed and given vaccines due to mommas situation i have her permanently caged till about 4 weeks aafter birth. She's a custom to it we have 2 xxl cages together so shes got a lot of room. Got a hideaway to make her feel safe and her litter box. She freaked a little at first bup quickly got use to it. It also kept her and the other cats safe due to the aggression she experienced with food and other cats. Any questions please feel free to ask!

 

[trudy1]

Please get her spayed after the kittens are born, if you want them. Please do this for her. I’ve had a few females get pregnant before I could spay them but never been able to confine them. Later trapping the ALL the kittens plus her is just luck. In my case by the time she shows back up with kittens in tow they are really wild!

 

[fexluz]

Thanks everyone, for your kind advice and wishes!

Based on the conviction boost I received as a result of those replies (as well as a, so far basically unanimous vote) I bit the bullet yesterday. That afternoon after posting, I bought the last remaining bits I needed for her cage: a water dish that accepted a drinking bottle, and a food dish, both which attach to the bars of the cage. When she came into my room for her dinner after roaming, I put her food in the cage as usual, but this time I closed the door behind her. She didn't even notice until after I'd left the room...

Before stepping out, I pressed play on the CD player, containing an record of soothing amazon jungle sounds. It's set to loop so hopefully that helps her hear what's going on in the house a little less...

Anyway, after that panicky first thirty minutes or so, she stopped freaking out for a moment or two to have a bite, and she definitely tired herself out trying to escape. The night passed more or less uneventfully, with her relaxing more and more casually as the night wore on.

Other good news: she used the litter box in the cage twice, which was a relief. She did make an awful mess of the blankets and things I laid out for her to sleep on, so I guess she was a little hot, and preferred to sleep on the plastic floor.

In the morning, I let her out for a bit and did some cleanup. She was a snuggly and sweet as ever, which was a huge load off my mind. She definitely whined to go outside, but didn't seem to think I was the one responsible, because she treated me the same. That was my biggest worry. Finally I laid out one of those horribly overpriced aluminum pet "cool down" sheets on the floor for her. At the moment she's sprawled out on top of it and has been all day, so I think that was the right thing to do...

I have a webcam set up taking a once-per-second time-lapse of her "situation", from which I've uploaded a couple samples to Youtube if anyone is curious what she or her new setup looks like.

Here's Ms. Grey finding herself stuck in the locked cage for the first time!

And here she is, after spending her first night and me cleaning up a bit...

Once we get closer to her due date I'll try to get a livestream going, if anyone's interested...

 

[fexluz]

Please get her spayed after the kittens are born, if you want them. Please do this for her.

That is definitely he plan. She's had at least three litters prior to this one, which I think is enough for anyone...she deserves to enjoy her life from now on.

We intend to keep the kittens, however many there are, but what we'll do with her is going to be tricky as she's sweet to me, but I fear she'd make mincemeat out of our other three softies in the house.

Once we remove the kittens from her care, Ms. Grey will be taken to the vet, fixed, and allowed to recover for a week or two in my room. Once healed up, I'll have installed one of those screen-compatible cat doors in my room, and will give her the opportunity to go back outside if she wants.

By then she'll know the deal, and with any luck she'll come back regularly as before, hopefully to stay but I can't really expect her to live in this room all the time. Time will tell...

 

[fexluz]

A quick update for anyone still following this -- Ms. Grey gave birth to four seemingly healthy baby creatures last night around 10:15pm JST, one after another for about an hour. Absolutely drama-free birth, although I must say the first week of her confinement was marked by a lot of noise and exploratory escape attempts! We haven't yet examined the kittens and I don't plan to try to handle them or even get too close to them until they can walk around on their own...

After her first week and a half in her cage, I decided that Ms. Grey just didn't seem to have taken to it the way I had hoped...so on Thursday night, my wife and I did a bit of cleaning and made a little nook for her in my room's closet, complete with a birthing box. We moved her food and water there, migrated the webcam, and covered the whole affair with an old sheet to give her a bit of privacy. Within an hour she was exploring it and began the process of making the box "hers". She spent much of the next day chilling out behind the sheet, but outside the box.

By 9pm, seemingly very bloated after a day of pathetic mewling and listless wandering around the room, her water finally broke, and she spent the next hour dripping all over the floor as she went back and forth, from her box to me (for a few cuddles) and then back, half a dozen times, seemingly in a mild panic. When her contractions arrived, they seemed powerful but not overly painful...and when they stopped she crawled into her box and began to lick herself very deliberately...

Before I even knew what happened, the first of four popped out without her so much as making a sound.

I've attached a time-lapse video of the event along with a picture from that night and a picture from an hour ago... everyone is doing well. Thanks to everyone who replied for the information and encouragement, it helped a lot!

 

[rubysmama]

I just came across your thread now, so belated welcome to TCS.

I was going to vote for "capture her immediately and keep her" but that's a moot point now. I'm glad that's what you did, especially as she's had her kittens so soon.

If, as you wondered, she was once someone's pet, she may certainly become less nervous and more friendly during her confinement with the kittens. Regardless, at least this is her last pregnancy, thanks to you.

Thanks for the pics of mama and kittens.

Any chance at all of trapping Mr. Orange, and getting him neutered?

 

[ashade1]

I also just found this thread! Good job with them!

 

[fexluz]

Thanks guys! I'm glad to be here, and I'm pleased you're enjoying the thread. I'll keep updating as long as people have interest!

As far as the points raised ... Ms. Grey has always been a lovey snuggly little creature. In fact, he was her willingness to come up and headbutt me and rub against my legs/hands that initially encouraged Mr. Orange to let me touch him more regularly.

Since the kittens came, though, she's been a little different... still sweet, still seeming to enjoy her breaks from the box to come see me, but less receptive to my petting... I assume it's either hormones making her "crazy" or hyper-concerned, maybe an instinct over germs/scent doing something harmful/confusing to her babies. So I'm being cool and just letting her set the tone/pace of things.

As far as Mr. Orange goes... we're still undecided on what to do with him. Neutering him might cause him to lose his territory and make him a refugee. His enemy is a neighborhood cat we call Garfield. He and Mr. Orange fought brutally over our block during the last few years. The first year after we started feeding him he got his clock cleaned regularly by Garfield, and a couple times it was so bad I'm amazed he survived. He's a tough old soldier. The next year he seemed to get the better of most encounters and handily won the last one, leaving Garfield with a gruesomely lacerated and bleeding right side that I thought did Garfield in until I saw him show up in early February when Ms. Grey was in heat. So he' still around, although Mr. Orange and Garfield don't fight anymore, at least they haven't yet. Seems to be a little detente in the air. Perhaps I'm reading too much into this. The trouble as I see it is Mr. Orange is feral and a very big cat, has no fat on him and is incredibly strong and muscular... not the sort of cat I imagine my local (Japanese) vet has any experience with. We got two of our current indoor cats from ARK (Animal Rescue Kansai) and they have TNR resources, but we haven't looked into this yet. Perhaps we should. I guess I don't want to make Mr. Orange a refugee in his own neighborhood, as he's far too feral to take in and might actually hurt someone if cornered and forced to fight. I do plan to ask around once things settle down here.

As for the kittens, they're the cutest little goofs I've ever seen. I'll leave you with a picture from this afternoon... two of them look more or less exactly like their momma (the two snugglers by her hind leg), one is a very pretty black and dark grey stripe (under her front paw), and the last to arrive (behind her front paw) was a hamster-like patchwork of all colors from both parents. He or she is already showing signs of being a little hellraiser :-)

 

[fexluz]

Here are a couple of Mr. Orange to give you a sense of how he looks and acts.

He's very protective of his girl and his territory, and not one to be messed with...but he's a real gentleman as well. Unlike Garfield, Mr. Orange has never taunted or teased our indoor cats... he always preferring to make his presence known in a minimal and unobtrusive way, and when he isn't eating or sleeping in the spot I prepared for him, he's off doing his rounds. He's a big dude and very tough, but doesn't flaunt it ... one day when my wife's goofus old cat "Chibby" got loose in the yard and stupidly charged at Mr. Orange, Mr. Orange very kindly fled, and didn't come back for a whole day, despite the obvious fact that Chibby would probably not have survived the encounter. Mr. Orange knows what's what.

All in all, a very cool dude...and my buddy of nearly 3 years.

 

[rubysmama]

Thanks for posting the kitten pics. They're adorable.

Mr. Orange is a very handsome fellow. I don't know enough about ferals to know if neutering would cause him to lose his territory or not. Hopefully some of the members who care for feral colonies will reply with comments.

 

[ashade1]

Neutering would not cause him to lose his territory. It would reduce his desire to fight mindlessly and reduce his exposure to diseases like FIV/FeLv and also without fights will prevent him from getting abscesses or other infections from the fights. Fixing him will give him a longer, healthier life. The other tom cat, Garfield really needs TNR'd as well. I am sure the two of them have fathered many many litters of babies.

 

[Norachan]

Just noticed your thread now. I would have voted for Keep her inside too, so I'm glad she's had her kittens indoors.

I'm in Japan too. I've done quite a bit of TNR, I wrote an article with some hints for feral care takers.

Living In Japan? Here's How You Can Help Feral "nora Neko" Cats In Your Area

If you let me know via a PM which part of Japan you are in I'll try to help you find a TNR group or a feral friendly vet that will help you get her fixed.

It would be great if you could get the tom cat fixed too.

Thanks for helping the kittens.