Feral stray cat w/5 kittens - need advice, please.

[Liberty]

A stray feral (as far as I know as she won’t let me get too close) cat surprised me w/5 kittens she had hidden in my barn back up in the hay bales. I can’t believe I never heard a sound from them until last Tuesday when I heard one faint “mew” since when I finally saw them, they look to be 6-7 weeks old.

Wednesday morning, I saw two kittens. Yesterday morning, I got a final tally of five(!) when they all came out to eat the food I put out for them. Kittens are eating both canned and dry food.

I have an appointment this coming Thursday to get mama cat spayed, assuming I can get her trapped Wednesday night. I will also have a complete health check done on her (FIP, FeLV, etc.), vaccinations, etc.

I have a lot of questions for those who have experience in this type of thing. I picked up a trap from the SPCA today to (hopefully) get mama cat. She doesn’t run from me, but she is very leary and gives a wide berth at all times. She hisses when I put the plates of food up on the hay, but that’s understandable since she has 5 kids squirreling around up there.

Not surprisingly, the kittens are also very shy, but getting a tad bit bolder when I am setting out the food plates.

I plan on setting up the trap today (door fixed open as I don’t want to catch her just yet) and it will be surrounded and covered by hay bales, with just the open end accessible, and the bottom of the trap covered with either lightweight cardboard or newspaper to cover the wire.

Questions:

1. SPCA says I can release mama cat within a day of her spay surgery (ack!). Anyone ever released that early? I can’t imagine trying to keep her caged for very long, and it will have to be outside since I have an indoor-only cat who would go nuts if there were another cat in the house (not to mention she most likely has fleas).

2. How to get the kittens socialized, and then what? I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch them on Thursday while their mother is gone. But what do I do when she comes home? Release the kittens back to her? Keep them in a cage where she can see them? I’m sure she’ll be wondering where they are otherwise, and I don’t want her to go hunting for them when she should be recuperating from her spay.

3. If it’s best to keep the babies from her after she gets home, how long might she miss them? A day? 2 days? Or more?

I have no idea about how this will go since I’ve never been in this situation before. I will have to rehome the kittens as I can’t have 6 barn cats in my small barn. I’d love to keep them all (as would hubby), but we simply can’t afford it. I will certainly keep mama cat and hope she feels the same.

Don’t know sexes yet, but there are two orange tabbies and 3 dark tabbies. Most look like they have the “marbled” tabby coloring with “bullseye” circles on their sides. One might have a bit of torti calico coloring here and there (so, most likely, a female).

Pics (of course), but not any real good ones yet:

Mama and 2 of her babies:
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/MamaAndKids.jpg

Mama (with camera flash “golden eyes”) several of her 5 babies:
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/GoldenEyes.jpg

One of the 2 orange tabbies:
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/Orange01.jpg

"Hey, what’d ya find up there? Babies discovering the dry food:
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/Crunchies02.jpg

“Oh, hey, that looks good - think I’ll join you two!”
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/Crunchies03.jpg

And mama cat in all her orange glory:
http://home.comcast.net/~wec6/photos/Mikey06.jpg

Thanks for any advice! The cuteness is great, but the situation is stressing me out, big time.

[IdahoRider]

I would trap the kittens while Mom is gone, and then keep them contained and separate from Mom while you socialize them.

I have seen feral cats trapped, brought in for spueter and then released the next day and they have done well.

Good luck!
Sheilah

[hastyreply]

I have crated a feral mama for a couple of days usually in an out of the way area she is use to and then just opened it and let her have it for a safe haven.

[Chall]

Have they stopped suckling? Id be worried about returning Mom in one day if she has stitches and kittens are still rooting away.

[khall]

Are there any feral cat rescues close by? Or cat rescues? I would contact them for help with the kittens at least, so they can be hopefully socialized and re-homed and help with mama cat too if you are not wanting her to hang around as a semi-feral barn cat. Mama cat should be fine releasing her, just make sure they snip an ear so she is recognized as being spayed.

Good for you for taking care of them.

[Liberty]

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions and advice!

I did see one of the the kittens nursing last Wednesday, but I don’t think Mama is going to let them continue much longer, especially since they’re all getting good, solid food now. She came in the barn a little while ago and went up to see her babies when I was out there. I watched and noticed one of them come over to her, but couldn’t quite see what was going on, but it lasted less than a minute, and she came back down and sacked out a rubber mat in my barn aisle.

Re: local feral cat rescues - I’ve contacted a couple of them, but no reply. I have a family member who’s going to loan me an x-pen and a couple of large wire crates. As of right now, my plan is to catch/trap the kittens (easier said than done, I’m sure) while Mama is away getting spayed. I have a safe, secure shed where I can put the kittens where I can set up the pen for socialization sessions, and then put them in the wire crates afterwards.

I hope this will work - those kittens need human interaction ASAP.

Any further suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[jetsmom]

I released the same day with 2 spays, and they were fine. I did wait until they were completely awake from anesthesia, and made sure I released them in a safe place up high, away from predators with a soft cat bed, to encourage her to just camp out and sleep.

[rubygirl1968]

I agree with the poster that suggested getting kittens while Mom is gone and separating them. The younger they are when they begin socializing the better. I believe I read on one of the TNR websites they recommend 6 weeks.

Are you going to bring them in and adopt them out? If you are I would definitely recommend the above - if you can’t then I would probably call and ask my vet about spaying Mama cat and then releasing her with the kittens.

I’ve known a lot of people that do TNR and the cats are usually released the same day, but most of the ones that I’ve known have taken the kittens (who have a better change of adoption & socializing) and not returned them.

I’d be a little concerned about them nursing on her with the spay incision.

They’re all adorable. It’s probably a good thing I’m not rich otherwise I’d have more cats than I could even pet.

Good luck and thank you for helping them out!!

[Kat_the_Horse]

What beautiful kittens! You have taken such good care of Momma too.

I presently have a feral female cat who has recently had kittens. Unfortunately she had them out in a treeline somewhere and only comes to the porch for her morning kibble. I also give her the raw food I feed my dogs when I can be assured she can get to it before dark.

This cat came with the farm we purchased the first of this year, and I’ve had no opportunity to do anything about her welfare but feed her up while she was pregnant and now nursing. I’m hoping she’ll be bringing the kittens up to the house with her for meals soon and plan on capturing her for spaying and vacs, and the kittens for vacs and socialization.

Good luck.

[Liberty]

[QUOTE=jetsmom;7592183]
I released the same day with 2 spays, and they were fine. I did wait until they were completely awake from anesthesia, and made sure I released them in a safe place up high, away from predators with a soft cat bed, to encourage her to just camp out and sleep.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, JetsMom. She will be released right back into my barn where she’s made her home at the top of my hay stack. While she’s gone, I’m going to rearrange the bales so she has “steps” to more easily climb up and down.

[QUOTE=rubygirl1968;7592196]I agree with the poster that suggested getting kittens while Mom is gone and separating them. The younger they are when they begin socializing the better. I believe I read on one of the TNR websites they recommend 6 weeks.

Are you going to bring them in and adopt them out? If you are I would definitely recommend the above - if you can’t then I would probably call and ask my vet about spaying Mama cat and then releasing her with the kittens.

I’ve known a lot of people that do TNR and the cats are usually released the same day, but most of the ones that I’ve known have taken the kittens (who have a better change of adoption & socializing) and not returned them.

I’d be a little concerned about them nursing on her with the spay incision.

They’re all adorable. It’s probably a good thing I’m not rich otherwise I’d have more cats than I could even pet.

Good luck and thank you for helping them out!! :)[/QUOTE]

Thanks Rubygirl! I’m setting up a safe haven for the kittens and plan on keeping them sequestered from Mama (even though I’m still afraid it might be very traumatic for her to find them gone). After they are socialized, I will do my best to find them good homes, and I’m going to spay/neuter/vaccinate them all beforehand. Can’t really afford it, but I think that will make it easier to find homes for them, along with knowing they won’t contribute to the cat overpopulation problem.

[QUOTE=Kat the Horse;7592438]What beautiful kittens! You have taken such good care of Momma too.

I presently have a feral female cat who has recently had kittens. Unfortunately she had them out in a treeline somewhere and only comes to the porch for her morning kibble. I also give her the raw food I feed my dogs when I can be assured she can get to it before dark.

This cat came with the farm we purchased the first of this year, and I’ve had no opportunity to do anything about her welfare but feed her up while she was pregnant and now nursing. I’m hoping she’ll be bringing the kittens up to the house with her for meals soon and plan on capturing her for spaying and vacs, and the kittens for vacs and socialization.

Good luck.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Kat! I hope you find your mama cat’s kittens. That must be stressful for you, knowing they’re out there somewhere, but, as you mentioned, they probably will start showing w/Mom for meals. Good luck to you, too, and thanks for looking for for your kitties, as well!

[Zu_Zu]

Liberty ~ i have no time right now but will post later today Sunday ~ a few thts

i have ferals

I have ‘derals’ my word for domesticated ferals

house and barn

Ferals thrive and SURVIVE due to instinct ///

they find a ‘safe’ place and stay there … until they feel threatend by
a change

any change … change in smell HUMAN smell
change in hay stacks

change in sounds / voices

change in routine / time

when they are trapped and spayed they are in not condition to relocate
they need the “SAME”
one does not want to stress a newly spayed feral female or any feral

one wants the cat’s ‘re-entry’ to its environment to be as easy as possible

same

same

smells
schedule
sounds …
hay stacks

trapping and spaying is very traumnatic for a feral ( some will not even make through this due to shock )

please allow her re-entry to be as easy for her as familiar as possible

allow her to return to her ‘safe place’ and not feel threatened by a different look & human smell and make her feel she needs to re-locate her safe place

she will be in no condition for the relocation stress

I’ll post more this evening ~

if you don’t agree fine but please just hear me out

signed the Zu Zu & ferals and house ‘derals’ and domesticated cats too !

[GraceLikeRain]

I was in a similar situation and have spayed 3 with litters ranging from a few weeks to a few months. In two cases the moms went back out the next morning when they came home from the clinic. The other stayed inside because she turned out to be less feral. All of the kittens started out as little balls of terror. The one we ended up keeping had a propensity for hanging upside down from his wire cage top while screaming at the top of his lungs. They hissed, spit, shake, and will seem completely untamable at first. Ours were truly feral for about a week, manageable but still terrified for another 2-3 weeks, around the month mark they were indistinguishable from any other kitten. Ours spent a lot of time being carried, poked, prodded, etc. and I think that went a long way towards making them normal.

[Liberty]

Thanks, ZuZu! The only thing that will be different for Mama Cat when she returns from her spay is that her kittens will be gone. I’m hoping that doesn’t stress her out too much.

[Liberty]

Thanks, Grace! It’s good to hear from others about the socialization process. Also, on those spays, did you gather up the kittens while the mothers were being spayed, and then kept the kittens separated from them to avoid them becoming feral again?

[Ruth0552]

Grab those kittens as soon as you can.

They look like they are at least 6 weeks and the younger they are when they are socialized the better.

I trapped a litter once- all but 1 of them. The three I trapped first all became super social, friendly kitties. The fourth it took me 2 more weeks to trap. He is, two years later, still a bit shy and easily spooked. Those 2 weeks really made a big difference.

Mama kitty will be ok. When I trapped the first 3 kittens she mostly just seemed relieved she only had to keep an eye on one furball. When I finally trapped that one she went about her business as usual. Like a month later I finally managed to trap her and now she is one of my housecats.

[Simkie]

You’ve gotten great advice here Note that those kittens are old enough that momma kitty might be pregnant again already. Should not be a big deal, but may add some cost.

Thank you for taking care of these guys!

[Zu_Zu]

A few more random thts ~ in no particular order

ferals are taught to ‘hide’ and stay quiet ```safety from predators

if that does not work and only then they flee or fight :eek:

• this mother will be completely in "survival mode’ once trapped

help her a bit by putting a towel over the trap ( a towel that has YOUR BARN SMELL on it … ‘season’ a towel now or find a rubrag `` actually several will help during this event ~ this helps her to feel that she is hidden

• once in the trap transport her to the clinic … best not to try to change her to a carrier :eek:
  but

for her trip home and (leave it at the clinic with instructions … no other animals in it) = prep a pet carrier THE BIGGER THE BETTER… lined with a hospital bed pad or a few huggies diapers … then top with another towel with YOUR barn scent ~~~

This scent 'stuff; is simply telling her you are still around and her ‘safe place’ is still safe ~

often times depending on the level of aggression with ferals ````vets will spay and return the cat to her carrier … cat will be in there over night and most likely without a litter box … she will pee eventually !:lol: thus the diapers to grab and hold the wet away from her til released ~

** again ask the clinic to place one of your towels over the front of her carrier or containment space SO she feels safe and hidden and has the scent of “HOME”

when she is back home place the carrier where she can SEE her usual hay safe place … allow her some time to recognize home and calm a bit … then allow her to leave the carrier

keep the barn quiet …

don’t freak if you don’t see her again… and she will not be looking for her kittens

she will be in survival mode and
thinking
WTF has happened to me :lol::winkgrin:

Good Luck and Bless you for helping this mother cat and her kittens !

She and they will repay you many times over ! I actually think you should keep them all for your barn ~

**Remember you can help her with same smell ( towels ) and sounds ( your voice ) `` even the sound of your keys if you carry them in the barn … make sure she ( when in the backroom waiting for pick up ) hears YOUR voice as soon as you enter that building to pick her up … she will be listening for you and smelling for you the entire time…

[Liberty]

Thanks Ruth, Simkie and ZuZu!

Hopefully, I will have all the kittens trapped/caught during the day on Thursday when Mama cat is away for her spay. They don’t seem quite as shy now that they know I’m the one putting out the plates of food. There is one that is shyer than the others.

ZuZu - I love that suggestion about “scenting” the trap cover beforehand - great idea! I’ve got the cover (a large towel) “seasoning” in the barn right now. :lol:

Thanks again - you all rock!

[Zu_Zu]

In spite of Great Expectations ~ EXTRA TIME and EXTRA PATIENCE for ferals !

i know you will succeed at this ‘cat helping’

but

when one is trying to ‘help’ ferals or semi ferals ``

1. wear gloves :yes:

2. allow many Wednesdays :yes:

3. allow for many Thursdays :yes:

4. once that ‘silent’ alarm :eek: goes out … from the Mama cat they will all be in ‘survival mode’ :yes:

** " that nice lady who has been feeding us tasty things has trapped Mom :eek: and we need to hide !"

ferals are different … even if you have been holding them and cuddling with them ??? once that alarm goes out :eek:

It’s a whole new ball game !

• I have ferals and semi ferals and derals and domesticated cats ``` all fixed vaccinated and rescued from stable ( left by boarders and trainers )
  I have some in the barn … safely tucked in tack rooms at night so they don’t ‘scent’ back to their former location

I have a dear feral Mama cat, Katharine Ann Berry who I trapped with her infant kittens … she is my house cat / sits on my lap on top of a pillow TV time and yes I have my own glass of ice water :lol: as does Katharine … she demands and drinks from her own glass of ice water (I was not willing to share mine during my roator cuff rehab :lol::winkgrin: )

and

for the kittens ( several litters of two each) ( now ten years) old who were trapped at 4 weeks and ‘fixed’ and vaccinated and grew up in the cabin at the old family horse farm …

well now they are living in their own cat condo ceiling to floor windows that back up to the woods … enabling them to hunt turkey, squirrel, deer … vicariously … human furniture and cat furniture …
*condo designed just for them as they inspite of human handling from infancy did not tame down to domesticated level thus = “derals”

so while I am a ‘dog person’ I had enjoyed many years and many types of feral - semi-feral - deral - domesticated cat ownership ~

They are different and require extra time andd patience but return all your work and love ten fold …

I never sit alone :lol:`` whether in the barn or house of cat condo
I always have at least two ferals or a ‘variation’ on my lap ```

Liberty ~ Enjoy ! but please realize that extra time and patince is needed and they don’t realize you’re trying to ‘help’ them … they are just trying to ‘survive’ as Mama cat instructs them

** and she will sound the alarm ! if Wednesday goes as planned ``` they will hide silently for a time period

use gloves they are little “buzz saws” :eek: dressed in fur ! :lol:

Best of Luck ~ Jingles & AO laced with extra strength and patience and energy ~

no my house does NOT smell like cats !

[alto]

Great advice from Zu Zu

If you can, try to feed kittens in trap or carrier for several days before you actually trap them in there.

I’d line the trap/carrier with hay - exposure to the strange eating habits of cats, makes me leery of diapers etc, not to mention efficient rendering work of claws & teeth on that paper/plastic/absorbing “beads”.

I’d try to identify momma kitty’s favorite baby & have that one still waiting for her in the barn.
Some feral mums go looking for their babies, some don’t, but I always like 2 cats together, even when they don’t seem overtly affectionate, they are often still “family”.

Check with local rescues & see which vets they use, some might be able to arrange a discount, also some vets will offer a significant discount for ferals etc.

Urban Cat League is recommended by a local street cat organization

Stray Pet Advocacy

Hope it all goes brilliantly