help needed-kittens

[weeze]

Hi everyone..
A stray cat that I feed just had two kittens about 6 weeks ago. I just took them inside because I think I can find a home for them. They are so afraid though, and I also feel bad for taking them away from their mother. Any advice on how to take care of them?
By the way, I am planning on getting the mother spayed and vaccinated very soon.

[leslie flenner]

You don't say how old they are and why you can't put mama with them!? They need KMar if little and probably even if bigger- so does mom! Try to get her before she gets herself hit by a car looking for her babies! How long has it been?

[QueenScoopalot]

This is the time to get the mother cat and at least get her spayed. She is no doubt frantic looking for her kittens, and the best bait for a mom cat is her own kittens. Have their eyes changed color yet? If so, they are more likely closer to eight weeks old. YES they can easily be tamed. If they are kept in a cage the task is much easier, as you aren't scaring them chasing them to hold them. I would call animal control, or area shelters and find out if they have traps available to trap the mom cat. If you put the kittens in a carrier behind the trap (be sure the trap is very clean) and cover the carrier with a sheet, the cat will most certainly go into it to try and get her kittens back. Just taking the kittens isn't fair to the mom cat (though you & many others mean well) it still is leaving her intact, and capable of having two more litters before years end. If you need help, PM either Leslie or me....and good luck...do the right thing!

[leslie flenner]

Ditto from me and many others! Please ask for help if you need it. We are ready and waiting in the wings to give best recommendations based on lots of years of experience- so have no fear- there is no silly advice here! You are doing the best you can right now and we know you have great potentials!!!!

[catcrazylady]

I'm feeling very sorry for the mamma kitty who probably doesn't know what happened to her babies. You say that you intend to have her spayed and vaccinated so I'm guessing you can handle her? Is there a reason you took the babies in and not her? Sorry for all the questions but it's hard to give advice without a few more details. Is the mamma feral?

[weeze]

Thanks so far for all your help. I haven't taken the mother because she won't let me near her. Although she's a little friendly, she's not easy to trap. I have been trying so that I can keep them together but no luck so far. I will try some of your suggestions tonight after work and hopefully I'll be successful..

[leslie flenner]

Why can't she be trapped? If she's not hungry enough, she won't go in for food...as on another thread suggested, catnip! but you can't have it blowing out of the trap or she'll just lay in it outside of it! It can be stuck down with double sided sticky tape (past the trigger, as with food) or you could see if your local pet store has catnip in hard form- they're little pellets. If she IS hungry enough (if your feeding her, skip a couple of meals) she'll go in for something yummy!

[catmandu]

Please try to reunite the Mother , and her Kits , as 6 weeks , is a bit too early to seperate them.I know that you meant well , but please try , to get The Mother Cat , as she will be frantic!

[weeze]

I don't know if this is strange or not, but she doesn't seem frantic at all. She's business as usual, lying around and sleeping. I kept an eye on her all night and she didn't change her behaviour at all. At any rate, I will still try and trap her tonight and keep her with the kitties for the time being. Do you think that keeping her indoors will be a problem? Just asking because she has never been indoors at all..

[K & L]

Originally posted by leslie flenner
Why can't she be trapped? If she's not hungry enough, she won't go in for food...as on another thread suggested, catnip! but you can't have it blowing out of the trap or she'll just lay in it outside of it! It can be stuck down with double sided sticky tape (past the trigger, as with food) or you could see if your local pet store has catnip in hard form- they're little pellets. If she IS hungry enough (if your feeding her, skip a couple of meals) she'll go in for something yummy!

Some cats are VERY hard to trap. It took us 1 1/2 years to trap a calico! We tried nightly and finally got her with a drop trap my husband made.



One suggestion is feed the mom cat within the trap. Don't set it, rig it up so it won't trip. Get her use to going in the trap for food. Once she feels comfortable going inside of it, then set it to trip. Good luck!

[Denyce]

K&L is right. Some cats are just not easy to trap and it shouldn't be assumed that this person isn't doing all that she knows and can do. Also after about 1-3 days nature takes over and the mother cat "forgets" the kittens. She will then start her cycle over again and come back into season so she can have another litter. I would think that weeze's observaton that the mother cat is not frantic would be totally natural and accurate. Cats are not humans no matter how much we assign our emotions and attitudes towards them.

I feel it is more important to trap the mother to get her spayed rather than to "reunite" her with the kittens. It is close to time for the kittens to be weaned anyhow and with them being a bit young it might be easier to "tame" them.

Keep trying to trap weeze! I really like K&L's suggestion of feeding in the trap without it tripping. Get her to feel comfortable with it. If you withhold food she may just wander off in search of food elsewhere and you will never get ahold of her.

Denyce

[leslie flenner]

boiled, still warm, chicken livers! And warmed up turkey breast. Smooshed down on the trigger so she has to really go at it (instead of grabbing pieces and running out without stepping on the trigger). With a difficult cat, I finally caught her with a cooked chicken leg tied securely to the upper corner inside the trap so she'd have to lean forward and pull (step back) repeatedly till she finally stepped on the trigger! (Of course remove boned chicken asap!)
If she were still bonded to her kittens, you could use a kitten as bait but that is a difficult process and takes some know how (kitten in airline carrier up on it's end and completely covered except the part where mom can see kitten at end of the trap- you need bricks or heavy rocks to hold it all in place- and cover the part of mom's trap at the end) unless you have a very long trap with the fork divider. A mewing baby does it everytime but sometimes still takes a couple of hours before she's brave enough to go for it!
Keep us all updated!