Pregnant Stray

[faith.m]

Hi, I’m new to this site but I’ve been looking through other conversations and I think you guys can help. There is a couple stray cats in my neighborhood (some neighbors and I are trying to catch them and get them spayed and neutered). I don’t know how many are female and how many are male but one of the females keeps getting pregnant.
My mom is on a board with a rescue and the last litter of kittens this cat had, we got into foster homes when they were big enough to be separated from mom but, we could never get her. She is now pregnant again for the fourth time that I know of and I’m trying to get her before she has these kittens. I’ve been leaving out food for her and I’m trying to get a raccoon trap to see if I can get her in that.
Any advice on how to catch her and if I can get her I’ve never had a cat give birth at my house. I’ve fostered moms with kittens, bottle fed kittens, older kittens, but never actually had one give birth.
I’ll keep you guys updated if I can get her Thanks!

 

[jen]

To be perfectly honest, if you trap her I would spay her immediately regardless of pregnancy. So many pregnancies back to back is not healthy for her. Not to mention the kitten overpopulation.

As far as the trap goes, cover it with a secure blanket so it looks like a safe place to hide. I usually put a wash cloth or something light on the part of the trap they have to step on to activate it, to hide it. And put something stinky inside like tuna. And GOOD LUCK!

 

[faith.m]

Thank you so much! And yes, I am aware of the kitten over population. If I can get her I’ll take her to the vet and see how far along she is. Honestly, I’d rather foster her and her kittens through the rescue and then they will get all of their shots, spayed and neutered, microchiped, and then adopted. But I’ll see when I take her in and see how far she is and I guess if it were to make sense spaying her is an option but I’d rather not. Fyi, she will definitely be spayed after the kittens are older if she has them. I’m going to try and get the raccoon trap today and set it up where I have seen her hanging around the most.

 

[StefanZ]

I agree take her with a trap dont wait she is accustomed to you enough to come herself.

 

[faith.m]

Okay sounds great! I lent my trap to a friend and have never gotten it back so I will try to buy one today and set it up.

 

[Sarthur2]

Yes, a trap is the best way to catch her. Fostering and then spaying is the way to go!

Thank you for caring!

 

[faith.m]

Hey, so I got the trap set yesterday and I guess for now I just wait until I get her. I put some stinky tuna inside it and I covered it with a towel. I put it where I have seen her the most and have checked it twice so far today. I have also been checking this wood pile where she gave birth the last time to see if she is in there but I haven’t seen her there yet. Fingers crossed I can get her soon!

 

[faith.m]

Here is a quick update! I coordinated with one of my friends in the neighborhood and we have two different traps set, with the set up I described above. We kept the one I had set up earlier in the week and put the other one in another neighbor's yard that feeds her ever morning. Today we caught a stray, male, black cat that we think got her pregnant this time. My friend is taking him to get neutered tomorrow morning and then will re-release him back into our neighborhood once he is ready. (I think that there is one more stray male cat in our neighborhood.) Even though I haven't gotten her yet I feel like I made progress by getting the male. I think I've got a pretty good strategy and hopefully I can get her soon!

 

[talkingpeanut]

This is great! Make sure the vet does ear tips.

 

[faith.m]

TNR with black male cat went great, ear tipped and all! Still haven’t got mama

 

[faith.m]

Still no cat...is there anything else I can do or just stick with what I have now and wait?

 

[Sarthur2]

Are you seeing the mama cat at all?

 

[faith.m]

Yes I see her around. I try to walk around the parts of the neighborhood that I see her in every evening and I see her about every other time.

 

[Sarthur2]

Is the food in the trap getting eaten? Do you set the trap nightly?

 

[faith.m]

I covered the trap because at first it seemed that she was taking her paw and fishing out the food. Now I change the food out every day because it is not being eaten yet. I have been checking the traps multiple times a day also

 

[Sarthur2]

I guess that is all you can do for now.

Or could you feed her outside the trap to get her comfortable with you so you could then get her into a carrier?

 

[faith.m]

my friend has been feeding her daily and set a trap at her house to see if she could get her there also. I will also try to start feeding her and see if she will let me get close enough to at least pet her

 

[talkingpeanut]

Have you tried different tempting foods? I’ve heard that kfc works well!

 

[faith.m]

No I haven’t. Maybe I’ll try that and see if it works. I’ve been using just tuna

 

[faith.m]

I’m getting discouraged because I still haven’t gotten this mama cat and I’m wondering if she has all ready given birth at this point. It’s been about 10 days since I saw her last. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but obviously something because I can’t get her. And what should I do if she has already given birth (cause I’m pretty sure she has)