Feral kitten-HELP!!

hey guys,

there is a small black feral-looking kitten on my property with blue eyes. i've been feeding her canned food but it isnt specifically for kittens. where she is there is very long grass and pine trees, so its hard to find and see her unless you hear her. she is not completely feral-she will stay quite close but won't come up to you by herself. 

How can i catch her easily and as soon as possible without a trap?

thanks

emay75 

Hi @emay75  Welcome to The Cat Site.

If she still has blue eyes she must be very young, still around six weeks of age. Are you sure her mother and siblings aren't around somewhere? Kittens do get separated from their mothers sometimes, but such young kittens are very vulnerable and don't survive long.

You could try catching her by dropping a large towel or blanket over her and scooping her up before she gets out from under it. You need to have a cat carrier close by so you can put her in and close the door before she gets out from under the blanket. I would only recommend this with small kittens though, larger cats could scratch or bite you.

Another thing you could try is a drop trap. You need a large sturdy box, large blanket, some rope and a stick. Tie the rope to the stick, prop the box up on the blanket with the stick and put the food under the box. When the kitten goes in to get the food pull the stick to let the box fall over her. Practice this a few times before you let the kitten near the box. You need a fairly big box so that she goes right inside and doesn't have time to run out before the box falls. Once she is inside pick up the edges of the blanket, tie them all together with the rope as tightly as you can and move her indoors that way.

Failing that you could call around vets, TNR groups and your local humane society and ask if they have a trap you can borrow.

This article gives you some hints on what to do once you've trapped her.

.

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/handling-feral-cats

Good luck, please keep us posted.

definitely no other kittens or cats around, shes been at our place for at least 3 days and just wanders around in the grass i guess. being a feral kitten in the country, she is likely to get shot at or trapped then killed, I'm trying to keep her a low profile. when shes hears someone come over she starts mewling a bit, sometime quite loud then quiet I'm trying to half tame her by sitting near her and talking or replying to her mewls with 'yes kitty' or 'good girl' maybe she'll get used to me and let me pick her up? i was near her only about 15 minutes ago, could have dropped my jersey over her! I'm not at home tomorrow from 6:30 am till about 4:30 so ill leave some food out in the morning. its about 5:30 pm where i am and is getting drizzly and dark, i might put food out for tonight then leave it till tomorrow afternoon. I've seen she has a lot of cozy little spaces in between fallen branches and pine needles, so I'm sure shell be fine for tonight.

thanks,
emay75

emay75 said:

 
hey guys,

there is a small black feral-looking kitten on my property with blue eyes. i've been feeding her canned food but it isnt specifically for kittens. where she is there is very long grass and pine trees, so its hard to find and see her unless you hear her. she is not completely feral-she will stay quite close but won't come up to you by herself. 

How can i catch her easily and as soon as possible without a trap?

thanks

emay75 

Click to expand...

Canned food is usually of so good qualtity its good enough for kittens too.

If you are willing to help her actively, by fostering etc, I agee catching her asap is the way to go.  Dont wait to befriend her, catch her as soon you can manage.  For example, throwing a blanket or similar on her.  As skissed above.

Have her room prepared beforehad, its the easiest.

Or even, if you pack her in a carrier from that towel/blanket (but beware so she doesnt flee) it may be wise to take her to your vet for a check up and deworming.  Especielly if you do have residents.  Having a clean bill of health you dont need the same long quarantine as otherwise.

This advice goes EVEN if you think mom and siblings are around somewhere - its one of the few exceptions from the holy rule of minimum 8+ weeks with mom.

As they are much easier to foster succesfully at 5-6 weeks than 8+.

Here she seems to be alone - and is thus defenceless to every enemy.  So its mandatory to try and help her acitvely.

Tx for caring!.

thanks very much to anyone who helped me-I'm ending up just putting out a trap she's wilder than i thought i just didn't want to use one in case she got really terrified and possibly died of shock as the noise the trap makes when it closes if very loud and clang-y. hopefully we catch her, i will keep her for a bit to socialize and de-worm and flea and feed up then probably take her to the s.p.c.a (societies protection to the cruelty of animals or something like that) which is our local-ish shelter

emay75     

Good luck with the trapping. If you can cover the trap with a blanket as soon as you notice she is inside it will help her stay calmer. Somehow being hidden from view makes cats feel safer than being exposed.

Keep us posted.

it's now very dark out- i attempted to trap her by leaving a small trail of food into the trap then a tiny bit of food in the bowl we usually feed her in at the door, then because our trap works by a hook with food being pulled on i put a piece of casserole meat from the ridge rolled in the canned food onto the hook. went out about 20 mins ago, i saw her and could hear her but she was not in the trap, am worried she will go into the trap while i am asleep and not have shelter from the very cold wind before i check in the morning? should i cover the trap with a blanket/towel?

thanks

emay75

If you can't bring her indoors as soon as she's trapped it's better not to try trapping her. I think she's going to be too vulnerable in the trap over night. Can you wire or tie the door open so that there's no chance it will shut and leave the trap out there with a bit more food in? If she gets used to going into the trap for food it will be easier to trap her when the time comes. I used to use my trap as a feeding station and just set it once a week when I was trying to get all of the ferals spayed and neutered. Got one every time!

I used to have one of those traps with the hook for bait. A piece of boiled chicken skin works well.

i held the door open with string, but the kitten still didn't eat the food in there i think she's still a bit shy of it. desperately want to catch her now! throwing a towel over her wouldn't work as of the long tangled grass and pine trees, so i suppose i'll just have to wait until she gets used to the trap

thanks
emay75

I would like to add in that traps have caught animals in the =m before, and a trapped animal leaves smells of fear and adrenaline behind in the trap, making the next victo=im harder to catch.

Take any household cleaner like 409, spray the trap down well, let it sit for a minute then hose or rinse off very well, and let it dry.

This will get rid of those scents.

Are you using a small kitten trap? She may bnot be heavy enough to set a larger trap off with her light weight.

catwoman707 said:

 
I would like to add in that traps have caught animals in the =m before, and a trapped animal leaves smells of fear and adrenaline behind in the trap, making the next victo=im harder to catch.

Take any household cleaner like 409, spray the trap down well, let it sit for a minute then hose or rinse off very well, and let it dry.

This will get rid of those scents.

Are you using a small kitten trap? She may bnot be heavy enough to set a larger trap off with her light weight.

Click to expand...

i got her! where the food was, the scent was being pushed in to opposite direction of the kittens little hidey-hole. i moved to trap with a bowl of kitten food to behind the wind, by her hidey-hole, then  leaned against a tree pretending to be asleep. i saw her edge her way and she started eating, then i quickly shut the door of the trap. voila! thank you for you much-needed help!

emay75   

emay75 said:

 
i got her! where the food was, the scent was being pushed in to opposite direction of the kittens little hidey-hole. i moved to trap with a bowl of kitten food to behind the wind, by her hidey-hole, then  leaned against a tree pretending to be asleep. i saw her edge her way and she started eating, then i quickly shut the door of the trap. voila! thank you for you much-needed help!

emay75 

 

Click to expand...

I'm smiling! LOVE it when I catch them! As many as I have trapped and TNR'd, it just never gets old That sound it makes when that door is set off!   

catwoman707 said:

 
I'm smiling! LOVE it when I catch them! As many as I have trapped and TNR'd, it just never gets old That sound it makes when that door is set off!   

Click to expand...

yes! one problem...will our local humane society (s.p.c.a) take the kitten? we can't keep it i'm keeping her in the cage with bedding food and water, as we don't have a room very suitable to house her until she's taken to the s.p.c.a. I covered her with blanket. 

thanks!

emay75

I bet they will, no problem.

Nobody is spilling over with kittens yet, and when they do come in they get adopted easily.

This one will likely need some taming but as long as it's young and small should tame easily and fast.

so we won't need to tame her? as much as i would LOVE to tame her myself, i don't really have the time she will be at s.p.c.a in a few days

emay75

emay75 said:

so we won't need to tame her? as much as i would LOVE to tame her myself, i don't really have the time

she will be at s.p.c.a in a few days

emay75

Click to expand...

I would def start on her.

Grab her scruff, snugly if she gets all squirmy, and wrap tightly in a towel like a burrito, only thing out is her head, no arms.

Carry her around with you, sit her on your lap, etc.

Get her at least semi used to being held and realizing people aren't bad.

That will sure help them, by 8 weeks old it becomes like a full time job otherwise.

ok thanks will do!

emay75

Well done!



I'm so glad to hear she's safe now. Thanks for everything you've done to help her.

Thanks to everyone that helped me! we will be fostering the kitten for 2 weeks till she's 8 weeks old then she'll be going to the s.p.c.a to find a permanent home

thank you all so much

emay75

That's nice, so you'll get your chance to socialise her after all.

We'd love to see some pictures.