Hello and apology for the long read,
Brief background, when I was still a young kid, our family used to own a cat. We are a family of loving animals. We owned dogs, cats, fish, bird etc. Although I am more of a dog person I was not really not attached with our cats so I really did not learn more of them.
Some 40 years later, we moved here in the United States. Owned an American Akita for 13 years and passed away 2 years ago. Sometime, in the 3rd or 4th week of March, just after my dog’s (Kizu) 2nd death anniversary, a feral cat wondered around our backyard. I placed a can of sardines outside and the next day, it was empty. So, I placed pieces of chicken at the same time I saw her. The following day, when I was to check the food, as soon as I went outside, I heard her calling, as if, asking for more food. So, I opened another can of sardines and immediately, she ran towards it. Right there, I knew she was friendly. She allowed me to pet her while she was eating. By the way, she didn’t have any collar.
This happened for more than a month. So, we decided to do some research about cats and bought food, toys and beddings. She would just come over, morning and night time for food and leave after eating. We also noticed that her belly was getting bigger and already knew that she was pregnant. The night of May 20th, Thursday, she gave birth. But, not in our house. We did the usual routine of feeding/petting her and decided to follow her one day after eating. She gave birth outside, underneath the bushes 3 houses from ours. This went on until, 3rd of June, Thursday, my wife would notice her (we named her Kiza, after our dog, but the female version) not leaving our backyard but instead going underneath one of the bench. And would stay in our backyard for more longer. Until last Saturday afternoon, when I was about to mow the lawn, I noticed 5 little kittens bundled underneath the bench she was checking out the other day. I immediately, looked for a big box, gathered a couple of shirts, laid it inside, and transferred all 5 in the box. I also did some made shift roof above the bench because it can be scorching hot at some time here in Southern California. Kiza, after eating her dinner, checked out the place where her kittens disappeared and found the new nursery for her kittens, didn’t went in. So, I carried her and placed her inside but decided to leave instead. And left her for the night, beside the box.
Yesterday morning, while she was eating her breakfast, I picked inside and noticed that she probably went inside the box to nurse the kitten. After doing some errands, came back at lunch time to checked them out, this time, there were only 2 inside the box, Kiza was wondering in the backyard near the grill. I looked around and the other 3 are not to be found. I looked inside the cover of the grill and found 1 of the kitten under the grill but the other 2 cannot be found. I left it just the way it is until mid-afternoon, I checked them again and saw Kiza inside the box but the other kitten was still under the grill. So, I decided to bring her inside the box with the mom and she started licking her.
Today, while feeding Kiza, I checked the box but there were no kittens to be found this time.
My wife is worried and my conscience is killing me. Was it too early to transfer the kittens in the box? Should I have left the kittens on the dirt? What happened to them? Did Kiza, transferred them again? There are no traces of blood but there are known possum and raccoons wondering the vicinity of our neighborhood. We are also close to a dam where we spotted coyotes but doubtful that they would jumped over our wall fence. We even went to petsmart yesterday to inquire about vaccination and what to do with the kittens. The reason I didn’t call adoption center, I wanted to wait at least 3 weeks for the mother to nurse the kitten before they can be separated. Today also, I noticed that after Kiza ate her breakfast, she STILL went to where the box was located, as if she was looking for the kittens. She wondered around it, went on top of the bench/roof and meowed. She stayed for a while but left like her normal routine before.
Brief background, when I was still a young kid, our family used to own a cat. We are a family of loving animals. We owned dogs, cats, fish, bird etc. Although I am more of a dog person I was not really not attached with our cats so I really did not learn more of them.
Some 40 years later, we moved here in the United States. Owned an American Akita for 13 years and passed away 2 years ago. Sometime, in the 3rd or 4th week of March, just after my dog’s (Kizu) 2nd death anniversary, a feral cat wondered around our backyard. I placed a can of sardines outside and the next day, it was empty. So, I placed pieces of chicken at the same time I saw her. The following day, when I was to check the food, as soon as I went outside, I heard her calling, as if, asking for more food. So, I opened another can of sardines and immediately, she ran towards it. Right there, I knew she was friendly. She allowed me to pet her while she was eating. By the way, she didn’t have any collar.
This happened for more than a month. So, we decided to do some research about cats and bought food, toys and beddings. She would just come over, morning and night time for food and leave after eating. We also noticed that her belly was getting bigger and already knew that she was pregnant. The night of May 20th, Thursday, she gave birth. But, not in our house. We did the usual routine of feeding/petting her and decided to follow her one day after eating. She gave birth outside, underneath the bushes 3 houses from ours. This went on until, 3rd of June, Thursday, my wife would notice her (we named her Kiza, after our dog, but the female version) not leaving our backyard but instead going underneath one of the bench. And would stay in our backyard for more longer. Until last Saturday afternoon, when I was about to mow the lawn, I noticed 5 little kittens bundled underneath the bench she was checking out the other day. I immediately, looked for a big box, gathered a couple of shirts, laid it inside, and transferred all 5 in the box. I also did some made shift roof above the bench because it can be scorching hot at some time here in Southern California. Kiza, after eating her dinner, checked out the place where her kittens disappeared and found the new nursery for her kittens, didn’t went in. So, I carried her and placed her inside but decided to leave instead. And left her for the night, beside the box.
Yesterday morning, while she was eating her breakfast, I picked inside and noticed that she probably went inside the box to nurse the kitten. After doing some errands, came back at lunch time to checked them out, this time, there were only 2 inside the box, Kiza was wondering in the backyard near the grill. I looked around and the other 3 are not to be found. I looked inside the cover of the grill and found 1 of the kitten under the grill but the other 2 cannot be found. I left it just the way it is until mid-afternoon, I checked them again and saw Kiza inside the box but the other kitten was still under the grill. So, I decided to bring her inside the box with the mom and she started licking her.
Today, while feeding Kiza, I checked the box but there were no kittens to be found this time.
My wife is worried and my conscience is killing me. Was it too early to transfer the kittens in the box? Should I have left the kittens on the dirt? What happened to them? Did Kiza, transferred them again? There are no traces of blood but there are known possum and raccoons wondering the vicinity of our neighborhood. We are also close to a dam where we spotted coyotes but doubtful that they would jumped over our wall fence. We even went to petsmart yesterday to inquire about vaccination and what to do with the kittens. The reason I didn’t call adoption center, I wanted to wait at least 3 weeks for the mother to nurse the kitten before they can be separated. Today also, I noticed that after Kiza ate her breakfast, she STILL went to where the box was located, as if she was looking for the kittens. She wondered around it, went on top of the bench/roof and meowed. She stayed for a while but left like her normal routine before.
