We have had a few cats roaming the property since my indoor/outdoor rescue went into heat a few months back. She's fixed now but it seems the neighbor cats have found their way to us. Which includes a friendly one who normally sleeps in the barn with the goats. Just recently she has been spending a lot of time around the house, in the garage and on the portch. She had to of been someone's cat because she is super friendly. She is letting us hold her in our laps and pet her while she eating. And she's been close enough for me to find out she's pregnant. Which explains a lot. My problem/question is what is the best thing to do for her? I currently have a storage tub with a hole cut out for her to get in and out. It has a very thin layer of straw at the bottom, a heating pad that doesn't get too hot and then a towel but im concerned that there isn't enough room for her to feel comfortable and im also worried that my cat who refuses to keep her butt inside is going to have another "disagreement" with her being so close to the house. Soon-to-be momma usually stays in the barn where my little rebellious one does not like to be. Should I fix something out there for her but away from where she wants to be, do I set up something bigger for her by the house or should I just stop stressing and let her do what her instincts tell her to do?
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Pregnant stranger cat.
- Thread starter kaitlync
- Start Date
The best is if you can take her inside, and let her have her babies inside. This way, you are also making sure the kittens will be properly socialized, and thus - easy to adopt out...
If you cant, do the next best and help her with something elsewhere.
Goats? Do you have access to raw goats milk? Splendid!
I agree, she needs to be inside your home for the safety of the kittens. Do you have a spare room you can put her in? She should not have the kittens outside. At the very least, she would need a bigger tub, obviously. But she's hanging around you and your home because she wants your help and loving care. Smart kitty!
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- #4
Unfortunately, we do not milk our goats. We have too many things going on and not enough time to milk them twice a day.
I would absolutely love to bring her inside but I have 4 other cats inside and 2 are constantly in and out of the only room suitable for her. I will definitely try to find a way to get her inside but there is no promise of it working. She is quite smart for coming to us for help because I will do absolutely everything to help her. Which is why I might have to create another box for her. A bigger box. And possibly one out in the barn so she has another option if she's still to uncomfortable by the house.
I would absolutely love to bring her inside but I have 4 other cats inside and 2 are constantly in and out of the only room suitable for her. I will definitely try to find a way to get her inside but there is no promise of it working. She is quite smart for coming to us for help because I will do absolutely everything to help her. Which is why I might have to create another box for her. A bigger box. And possibly one out in the barn so she has another option if she's still to uncomfortable by the house.
Would you be able to keep those two out of that room for a few weeks to accommodate mom and the kittens when they get here?
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- #6
Yes, If she had total privacy without other animals coming in. This generally means the door to the room would need to be closed even if a person uses it. And even then, mama cats still like to be in a closet.
Welcome to TCS and bless you for providing refuge for the little mom-to-be as well as all the others who are all so blessed to be in your care.
Having the little mtb inside is the optimum situation for her, especially if she is given options for privacy. It is best for the kittens to be born inside so that they will be socialized among other people as well as other cats. If inside accommodations don't work out, then the mtb will need safe hiding places to have her family. Outside, the biggest threat to the kittens (besides the weather elements) will be snakes and raccoons (sometimes skunks and foxes) so the outside shelters need to have "mazes" and other safe pathways (many feral cats like to house their families in piles of junk, in the undercarriages of old cars and also piles of lumber or cordwood) - the problem with those types of safe areas is that the kittens are much more likely to turn feral because the shyer ones don't approach humans, even when their mother is friendly.
I have had to "incarcerate" a feral mom or two in a shed for safekeeping and they settled down very quickly. I gave them several options for hiding - made nests in the cupboards and left the cupboard doors open, added shelving lower down so they could leap into the cupboards. I also gave them floor options (cardboard boxes with holes and Styrofoam-chest shelters, so they had options as to where to keep the kittens). The litter boxes were initially in two different areas and they chose the preferred area and then I removed the other box so that area could become playspace. I removed the glass pane out of one of the windows and put in FrostKing 4ml opaque plastic as a "cat flap" when the kittens were older so that the mother cat could get some outside time but the raccoons and snakes couldn't get to the kittens (it also gave me a chance to visit the babies and socialize them without mama kitty growling subsonic warnings about humans. I wait until the babies are at least 2 weeks old so that if the mother had a mishap, the kittens were in a better position to be bottle-raised). I was successful with all the litters and they were all vaccinated and neutered (I use the term neuter literally since technically it is gender-neutral: castrating/gelding means the removal of the testicles and related glands and for some reason, many people don't like to use that term except for livestock; spaying is the removal of the ovaries and uterus and that word, "spaying", doesn't seem to bother people at all.).
I hope that you can find time to post pictures of the MTB so we can vicariously enjoy the excitement and wonder of the procreation of those little lives
Having the little mtb inside is the optimum situation for her, especially if she is given options for privacy. It is best for the kittens to be born inside so that they will be socialized among other people as well as other cats. If inside accommodations don't work out, then the mtb will need safe hiding places to have her family. Outside, the biggest threat to the kittens (besides the weather elements) will be snakes and raccoons (sometimes skunks and foxes) so the outside shelters need to have "mazes" and other safe pathways (many feral cats like to house their families in piles of junk, in the undercarriages of old cars and also piles of lumber or cordwood) - the problem with those types of safe areas is that the kittens are much more likely to turn feral because the shyer ones don't approach humans, even when their mother is friendly.
I have had to "incarcerate" a feral mom or two in a shed for safekeeping and they settled down very quickly. I gave them several options for hiding - made nests in the cupboards and left the cupboard doors open, added shelving lower down so they could leap into the cupboards. I also gave them floor options (cardboard boxes with holes and Styrofoam-chest shelters, so they had options as to where to keep the kittens). The litter boxes were initially in two different areas and they chose the preferred area and then I removed the other box so that area could become playspace. I removed the glass pane out of one of the windows and put in FrostKing 4ml opaque plastic as a "cat flap" when the kittens were older so that the mother cat could get some outside time but the raccoons and snakes couldn't get to the kittens (it also gave me a chance to visit the babies and socialize them without mama kitty growling subsonic warnings about humans. I wait until the babies are at least 2 weeks old so that if the mother had a mishap, the kittens were in a better position to be bottle-raised). I was successful with all the litters and they were all vaccinated and neutered (I use the term neuter literally since technically it is gender-neutral: castrating/gelding means the removal of the testicles and related glands and for some reason, many people don't like to use that term except for livestock; spaying is the removal of the ovaries and uterus and that word, "spaying", doesn't seem to bother people at all.).
I hope that you can find time to post pictures of the MTB so we can vicariously enjoy the excitement and wonder of the procreation of those little lives
In some subvariations you may perhaps use a big dog cage. This way, she will be protected - not only cant escape, but in fact protected... Its a way to alter a so so room into an entirely OK place for the momma and her little kittens.
Put a sheet over most of the cage so she feels safe if the other cats are coming in the room she's in.
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- #11
Her box is currently in our garage so it's not disturbed by wind or rain. She doesn't seem to mind the people coming in and out, she loves the attention. The raccoons and coyotes stay a far distance away from the house because of our dogs and the neighbor cats. As for my dogs, she's attacked both of them on her own account which means she's feeling very territorial. We were going to try and accommodate her into the household and just take her in all together but I don't see that happening as smoothly as we hope. She still has quite some time before we see babies so we are trying to find what would make her most comfortable and what would work best for the household.
It's good that you are taking and have the time to think things through. As she gets closer to giving birth she will become more territorial and will stay that way until she decides to begin socializing her kittens around 4 weeks old.
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- #13
I have tried and tried to find a way to get her inside the home but with her being aggressive towards the other animals it will cause a major disruption in the balance. Even if she is confined. I don't think she will be leaving the garage any time soon so that could be a good thing. She's established it as her territory towards my cat as well as the other strays and then is still comfortable being there. She tends to lay next to the door quite a lot? I really wish I could take her to a vet and get her checked out but we just got one of the pigs castrated and my other cat had to go in today for a terrible eye infection. Is there some home remedies to help her out a little? Is there anything specific to look for when it comes to her health and the pregnancy?
