Roxy The Pregnant Feral

[wwalrath09]

In the last 12 months of living in this small town in Iowa, I've begun helping abandoned and feral cats. To the point that I had 2 males, one fixed abandoned and one feral male living in an old stand alone garage. 6 months ago we had a female show up and she was so feral you couldn't hardly look at her.

The old abandoned cat we call Chester and the feral orange and white we call him Buddy. The female got the name Roxy. After a couple weeks of feeding and watering Roxy we noticed she was pregnant. She's barely a year old. She hung around and the went off to have her kittens. She returned with one and he is all black. We call him Shadow.

Here's where I get to my questions, we recently had to move a couple blocks away and we relocated all 4 of them. They are in our basment with 2 catboxes dry and we food, boxes that grow grass for them to eat and 2 cat trees. They seem to have adjusted well but... Roxy is pregnant again.

They all get along well but do I isolate Roxy? How soon? She's huge. From out estimates she could be due this week or next week. (No science used just a calendar and guesswork)

I don't want to cause her stress but I also don't want there to be an issue if she does go into labor.

P.S.

Once she's had her litter, Roxy, Buddy, and Shadow will all be spayed and neutered. The kittens will be taken to the vet when it comes time for shots and adoption. Anyone who takes a kitten will give me an uncashed check and when they send me proof of fixing of the kitten we send the check back.

 

[StefanZ]

If they are best friends there is no great hurry. they may perhaps even coparent some...
But if in any doubt at all, do separate. Mommas peace of mind comes first.

 

[wwalrath09]

I think Buddy is the father but Chester is a grumpy old uncle, do I need to put her in a new ring or can I just segments her off in a pen? She'll have her own water her own food in her own cat box no matter which solution.

 

[wwalrath09]

I guess what I'm trying to say is if I don't segment her out, will she have trouble having the kittens?

 

[StefanZ]

Make the default solution for her to be alone with kittens. Segment out as you say.
If she is best friend with any of the others, and clearly wishes them to be with her, then you can take your new decision.

 

[talkingpeanut]

The males can impregnate her again within a week of delivery, so it's really not safe for them to all be together. Can you get the males fixed now?

 

[wwalrath09]

The males can impregnate her again within a week of delivery, so it's really not safe for them to all be together. Can you get the males fixed now?

One is already fixed and the other is on the last of thing to do. I'll call the local vet tomorrow to schedule it

 

[talkingpeanut]

He will still be fertile for up to a month after his neuter, so you'll need to keep him separate for a while.

 

[wwalrath09]

We have kittens!!

6 of them. She had them in a rubbermaid container versus theone of the 6 boxes I had built for her. No padding, no warm blankets... I'm worried about them but I don't think I'm allowed to touch or move them.

Mama is NOT in the tub. She's across the room on a carpet just relaxing.

What should I do and should I be worried?

 

[StefanZ]

If they lie in a pile its warm enough. It depends also if its warm at your place.

Cats usually DONT abandon kittens if a human touched them. Especielly not if they know the human is their caretaker. So this is essentially a myth.

 

[wwalrath09]

We are on today 3. roxy the mom is doing well. She's eatingting and drinking. She's feeding kittens and purring and making bread in the air while they eat.

I would love to get them out of that Rubbermaid container because it's full of Christmas lights and other things that can't be comfortable. But I don't want to upset the situation.

 

[talkingpeanut]

You need to empty out the container and put it back empty. That’s not safe for the kittens.

 

[wwalrath09]

How exactly do I do that?

 

[talkingpeanut]

I would make the change quickly while she is out of the nest and eating. Maybe have an alternate box ready that you can switch the kittens into, and take the old one.

 

[wwalrath09]

We were successful!!! Mom was eating a new box was already set up. kittens were gently and quickly transferred and the new box was put in place where the old box was.

Roxy has more room to lay down, her old blanket is in there as well. She's feeding the kittens, making bread in the air and purring. by the way that was a couple days ago that we did all that

 

[wwalrath09]

I don't know if I should start a new thread on this, Roxy the cat who just had kittens had kittens about three maybe four months ago. One of her kittens has taken residents with us since we moved. He is all black and we call him shadow. Shadow is comfortable around us but very skittish around anyone else. we would like to adopt him out to a woman who has a female cat that's older that needs a companion.

My concern is were setting Shadow up to fail. He's home with his mom and with who you think is his biological father, but the other day I caught him nursing. I don't want him competing with the kittens for food or stressing Roxy's milk production.

I may be using or experiencing some separation anxiety myself and using whatever excuse I can to not give shadow away. I'm interested in hearing what people think of the situation and if anybody has any advice on how to deal with the time to give away shadow and Roxy's other six kittens.

 

[Safaria]

Well Id keep shadow just because hes her oldest kitten she probably loves the heck out of him I used to have a cat named emma and she had one kitten named burrito and she never wanted him to leave her sight even after she had other kittens he was her favorite haha
And if hes scared around other people I think it would be better to keep him home with you guys
Can you post pictures of the kittens?

 

[wwalrath09]

 

[wwalrath09]

That's shadow, and we think that's his dad buddy, and Roxy and then the kittens

 

[golondrina]

Shadow is still a baby and as long as his mom doesn't mind feeding him and he doesn't hurt his siblings I would let them live their kitten life without interfering. I wouldn't have the heart to part with him and separate him from hismom and human family. But I would weigh the new little ones to make sure they are getting a fair share of mom's milk.