# Help! Need advice on taking in feral cat and kittens



## reddwolf (Aug 5, 2006)

I need some advice, also if anyone knows any articles on this topic or any other forums where I can post please let me know..

I got a message asking if I can take in a stray cat and her kittens. When I asked more about the mother cat, she seems to be feral or at least very wild-- the person who has been feeding her says she will tolerate him but it took a long time for that to happen (he's been feeding her for about 9 months). He has not handled the kittens.

The kittens are about 2 weeks old. I am worried that if I do bring the mother and kittens home, she will either be so stressed out that she will abandon or kill the kittens or that she will not let me approach the kittens so I can socialize them. 

I don't know what I should do... The options seem to be:

-bring them all home, but separate the kittens and care for them as if they were orphaned .(I've cared for orphans before)
or
-wait until the kittens are old enough to eat on their own (4 weeks) and then take them in (they will be more difficult to socialize at that point.
or
-take them in now and put them with a "foster mom" for a week or two until they can eat on their own-- I know someone with a rescued stray mom and 3-week-old kittens, however she already has 6 kittens nursing although they should be starting to wean pretty soon...
or
-take them in now and let the mother stay with them, and try to get her to let me handle them.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

I like to allow the mother cat to raise the kittens, if at all possible. If you can, bring her into the house to her special room...perhaps your bedroom, and put the box with kittens on one side of the room and the food and litter box on the other. Let the mother get used to your presence by sitting quietly in a dimly lighted room. Move her food dish closer and closer to you, with great smelling food. Hopefully she will eventually eat very near to you. An interactive toy will be helpful. This will have to be at her pace. Sometimes, taming a feral cat can take a long time, but patience is the key. Hopefully, she will at least trust you with her kittens. It's worth a try.

You can play soft, soothing music. Mozart is often calming. Sit and read, and when mother takes a break to eat, handle the kittens, if she allows. The kittens will be easier. Wear gloves if necessary. If mother cat is truly vicious with you, you have tried. Then you can consider trapping her and taking her to a shelter, and bottle feed the kittens, or one of the other options. Some shelters will take the whole family. Just make sure they will spay the mother and release her. There are shelters that routinely euthanize feral cats..with not attempt to tame or s/n/r. (spay/ neuter/ release. ) There are links at the top of this page that should be helpful. These links should also help: 

http://www.stanford.edu/group/CATNET/ar ... zation.pdf
http://messybeast.com/feralkit.htm


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## Sweetvegan74 (Jun 18, 2005)

I agree Mom should stay with the kittens. If you have the kittens you can use them to catch the mom by putting them in one cage closed and another open trap both covered so the only way to reach the litter is to go in the trap.

Sadly my local shelters only euthainze feral cats surrenderd, they only fix them unless that caregiver takes care of them and pays for the costs. Philadelphia Animal Care and Control get 30,000 animals a year. so feral cats are on the bottom of the totem poll


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## sparklekitten13 (Aug 10, 2006)

I also think that the mother should stay with her kittens. Give it a try for a few weeks, and if she acts wildly towards the kittens, or trys to hurt them, then you should probably seperate them and treat them as orphans.

But, it is probably more likely that the mother will take care of her kittens, and try to protect them.  

Good luck! Let us know how it all works out! :thumb


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