Feral cat with kittens. What to do!

[danacat]

I have seen this particular cat roaming/hunting on the fringes of my farm for years. I didn’t know if cat was male or female, nor did I know-- at first-- if t cat belonged to someone or was feral.

But feral I began to believe, because this cat would run for the hills if you got closer than 150 feet. Really skittish!

Fast forward to yesterday. I saw this cat coming down the driveway carrying a kitten. She took it into the barn. She soon returned with another kitten.

I waited about two hours, went to barn and very quietly searched for these kittens. Well, I found them–and HER-- in a partially smashed cardboard box in my small dump trailer where I store my recycling.

Anyway, mom tore out of there like a lightening bolt upon seeing me. She surprised me too!

But while she was gone I reorganized the trailer, made her a nice nest in a large cardboard box, put her two kittens (1.5 weeks old) in box and waited.

She came back and took one kitten away. Far away. To the other side of the farm until I couldn’t see her anymore.

I thought I had really ruined her life! Poor thing!

I left her some food so she could be strong for moving next kitten. If she even came back.

Fast forward to this morning. Food eaten and now there are FOUR kittens in the box including the one she had previously taken away! I guess I made her a worthy nest!

She’s been coming and going from the barn all day. And I have and will continue to leave food/water for her.

Obviously my goal is to TNR her (when the time is right) and also socialize these kittens for future adoption-- or they can all happily live in my barn.

But I’m worried she will move kittens, disappear. You know the rest of that situation.

So… I could trap her now-- keep her locked in one of my giant stalls with her kittens (fitted with no-climb cat netting) and hope for the best insofar as getting her to tolerate my presence for feeding, litter changing and kitten handling until I can TNR her.

What do you guys think?

I’ve had zero experience with such a bonafide, nightmarishly skittish feral cat who has a gaggle of newborn kittens.

[Kachina]

Keep her and the kittens in the no escape stall until the kittens are eight weeks. Kittens really need to be handled right away. If left even until 6 weeks, they can be pretty fearful of human contact following a skittish mother’s example. You may also find that Momma isn’t as feral as you think. Time will tell on that one, but I’ve been surprised at how quickly very skittish “ferals” have been quite friendly after a few days of contained proximity and quiet presence with feeding. Sometimes they’re just strays that have been on their own for a long time. I put cardboard boxes in the room/stall for the kittens to play on and develop skillz as it were. At eight weeks, I home the kittens and usually the mother is so calm by then that someone takes her with one or two of the kittens. Obviously, with spaying and vaccs ASAP for her. So good of you to look out for her! But I’d get them contained and start messing with those babies right away before she decides to move them again.

[Kachina]

Oh. And sometimes they’re so terrified that they literally climb the walls. I’m not sure that “cat netting” would have contained a few of the ones I’ve dealt with initially. I’ve always put them in a spare room inside that I’ve had the luxury to have sometimes.

[Garythesquirrel]

Trap mom right away and put her in an escape-proof enclosure, then gather up the kittens and reunite them with mom. The kittens need to be handled! You have a very short window of time before they become too feral to really tame.

I trapped a feral mom and kittens over a year ago. I put them in a spare room in my house. Kitten box was on one side and a large wire crate on other. I fed mom in crate. I’d put the food in crate and move across the room. When mom went in I’d shut the door with a long stick then go up and latch it. Then I would handle the kittens, but only briefly, let mom out and leave room.

I pulled the kittens from mom at 4 weeks and bottle fed. The kittens turned out wonderful and super friendly!

Mom was spayed and remained my barn cat until last week when she injured her leg. Now she’s a house cat.

[dappled]

I think you’re doing all the right things so far. If you’re positive that there are only four kittens, I agree with other posters that you should try to capture her as soon as possible. I may wait another day or two to make sure she doesn’t bring any more kittens, though.

As long as your stall is cat-proof, I think it’s fine to move them in there. This is common sense, but just be aware of how savvy cats can be… especially when terrified. If there’s any way she can get out of there, she probably will. I’d be wary of the nets, too… depending on how tall your stall walls are.

I had a situation in my neighborhood a couple years ago involving a feral momma and babies. I was lying in bed one night and I heard this wailing… I thought maybe it was one of my cats at first but then I realized it was coming from outside. Being the crazy animal person that I am, I climbed out of bed in my pajamas and went outside. I sat on my front doorstep for a couple of minutes to see if I could hear it again… and sure enough a TINY little tabby kitten appeared. It saw me and froze - terrified - and soon two more kittens scampered up behind it. Then mom showed up and panicked, scattering the kittens. They went in all different directions and I was unable to really accomplish anything at that moment. So for the next few days, I began putting out food and water… which mom came and ate, but I was unable to catch them and the mom stopped coming around. I few weeks later, my neighbor told me that she saw them again for the first time in weeks, but this time mom only had two kittens with her. It’s possible she was just moving a few at a time, but I immediately thought something must have happened to those other kittens. I regret that I was unable to help them, but there was nothing else I could have done.

I hope you have better luck than I had! I will follow this story and look forward to updates with your feral kitties. I hope all goes well!

[danacat]

Great advice! Thank you all. I think I’ll keep the brood in my finished basement. Much more secure. Lots of room for kittens to play. I don’t use it except for laundry. Hope I can catch momma and make this transition without her losing her mind. And…I hope my two other cats (both rescued feral kittens, now 10 months old-- that’s another story!) will not scratch at the door to see what’s going on down there. Once I release mom after being spayed, then I will have to let new and resident kittens make friends.

[GoForAGallop]

Yep, catch her up. I was the feral kitten taming specialist for my local shelter for years and years (30+ litters), and let me tell you, even a week extra of being “wild” will make them much harder to tame. Nothing impossible, of course, but the difference in a 2 week old litter and a 7 week old litter is drastic. At 2 weeks, they don’t know any different.

[GraceLikeRain]

I’m so glad you’re going to upgrade their life and get mama spayed. My last group came in around 5 weeks with their mama. They are incredible now (at 2) but the first few weeks involved a ton of forced holding/contact. The littlest one of the group who was a total hellion (imagine a 5 week old kitten hanging upside down in a dog crate biting the wires and screaming) can be worn around your neck like a scarf. The more flooding they get at this age the better adjusted they will be as adults.

Pictures please!

[Ruth0552]

how old are the kittens? eyes open?

Your basement sounds like a better place. Somewhere that mama can run and hide but not escape while you play with her babies.

I worry that in a stall she will make a run for it when you try to open the stall door to go in.

Is there a local shelter that will loan you a trap? Sometimes trapping the mom and then snatching all the kittens is easiest. You’ll need a have-a-heart or a trucatch trap. There are some great tips out there on feral cat websites for trapping.

[NoDQhere]

I once used the kittens as “bait” to catch a very wild Momma cat. I had a very large trap and put the kittens in a box, beyond the trip plate. Set trap, with kittens in a quiet, secluded place and once those kittens started crying, Momma went in and in trying to pick up a kitten, tripped the trap. I wrapped the trap in a blanket, took it into a spare room, opened the trap, left food, water and litter box and let Momma settle down. The kittens were young, just toddlers so they tamed down quickly. Mom never got tame but she got at least acceptable of people.

[enjoytheride]

Catch her first in a trap then scoop up the kittens. Keep her in a small area and see if you can tame her up with food then slowly start to touch her. Touch the kittens every day. If you can’t ever get mom tame then spay her and release her and rehome the kittens.

[dappled]

Any update?

[danacat]

UPDATE:

I ordered a Tomahawk trap and divider-- waitng for it to arrive.

I will put kittens in back of trap and put it right where momma and kitties are now still living – in comfy nest I made. And hopefully voila!

I am so happy she is sticking around in the interim! Plenty of food and water and a nice private bed make for happy feral! I handle the kittens when she leaves the barn on her daily jaunts. So cute!

After I catch her I am going to keep her either in basement or spare room until I can spay.

[poltroon]

Good luck. Trapping her and the kittens is the right move. I ended up stuck with the kittens we trapped, but they’re happy friendly adult cats now. They can be spayed/neutered very young.

[dappled]

Bumping this thread. What ever happened? Were you able to catch them?