Stray Cat Just Had Kittens!

I've been trying to trap a stray mama cat for the past 2 months with no success. Well I saw this morning that she had at least 2 little babies! They live in the wooded area behind the abandoned house across the street- along with raccoons!

What do I do? I can't take them from their mother, but I can't catch the mom. *She did come closer to me this morning than she ever has. But I can't leave them there with the chance they could be killed or wounded by the raccoons.

Feed her, feed her, feed her - and make sure she sees you doing it. If you could borrow a large dog crate, maybe you could put her food in there to see if she will eat there. If she does, perhaps you could pick her babies up (no bare hands - towels/clean gloves, anything to stop your scent from getting on them) and place them in the crate along with her. Of course, use a lot of bedding materials to line the crate with. If it is big enough, you could add a small litter box with non-clumping litter for her to use. Oh, and water too.

If she is constantly getting food from you and has a protected space for her babies, she is more inclined to let you open the crate door to give her more food.

Once you have them in the crate, get someone to help you gently move the crate to a safer location. They can't be left there with raccoons coming around as they sit inside a crate.

I am sure other members with more experience with this will soon see your post and offer some better ideas.

Also, you could call around to vets, rescue shelters/centers and see if there is anyone affiliated with them that could help you catch the mama and babies. Even check with neighbors that might be willing to help you.

FeebysOwner Is right on with the advice! Get Mommsituated in a place with the babies immediately. If she will put the babies in a carrier or crate you can close the door and remove them all to a safe location. It is really important. Have you got a bathroom or garage you could put them in? A small room? If you can get them now then you can tame/ socialize them and have a better chance of rescues raking them or getting them adopted. They will need to be spayed and neutered later or you can end up with a colony of cats at risk. I think you are wonderful for caring about and helping these kitties! I know how the situation is because I had the same thing happen many times. Keep posting with questions or for more information. Cat lovers here will do all they can to assist you. Thank you for helping! And it’s very nice to see you here on the site! Keep us updated and we’ll be here for you!

Thanks for your advice. I've been feeding her and she knows it! The good stuff too I'm not sure how to get her into a crate. Like I said, I've been trying to trap her for 2 months now.

I went away for 10 days and left food out for the one community cat I feed, when I came home there were many cats! I was able to trap and fix 3 of them, but not her.

My sister has a crate so I will get that from her today, but how do I get them into the crate?

Put some clean blankets in the crate and then her food - lots of it, to hopefully keep her eating for a few minutes if she goes in. If she does, see if you can move the babies into the crate while she is eating. Hopefully, she will be distracted enough with eating to let you.

If she runs off instead, place the babies in the crate along with the food, leave the door open and wait very nearby for her to return. I can't imagine she won't go in there to see them.

Again, remember NOT to pick up the babies with your bare hands.

Maybe Jcatbird has some other suggestions for you as well.

I would just add to make sure to prop the door open until you are ready to shut them in. You don’t want Mom to a vidently get shut out from the babies. Once everyone is inside, if you catch Mom I’m a distracted moment, you just shut the door, cover the crate with a blanket or towel to calm Mom and move her inside if that is what you intend to do. If you don’t plan to bring her in then just keep feeding there but make sure you remove all traces of food away from the crate. I hope you can bring them all in though!

Ok, I'll try! The babies are probably 2 weeks old- their eyes were open and they ran away when I got close. Today was the first day I saw them. Thank you! I will get these babies!

Apparently, one of the kittens wandered onto a neighbors porch this morning, and he picked her up and put her back behind the house to be with the mom. The kitten was wrapped in a shirt, so I hope he used that to pick her up. What if he picked her up with bare hands?

It could be a problem, but not as likely if they are already 2 weeks old and wandering around like that. (Are you sure they aren't a tad bit older than that?)

Where was the mom when this happened? If she is still missing, or away from the area when you get the crate, go ahead and put the babies in it toward the back, and then put in the food, with the door open and wait for mom.

If there are any blankets that you have out there already that mom has laid on/been on, use those for inside the crate.

Have you come up with a plan about where you might be able to move the crate?

Ok that's good. Mom is around, I saw her this morning, she's been eating. The neighbor said that mom was freaking out when the baby was on his porch. Somehow I missed all of this!

If I can get everybody into the crate, I will definitely bring them inside.

This is by no means an absolute about how old the babies are - but just as an idea, here is a pic of a mama and her babies when they were almost 2 weeks old. Mama is probably around 7 pounds, if that helps with the sizing at all.

The latter pic is when they were 4 weeks old.

I am glad that you had a nice neighbor at least and that the kitten was not harmed. Always a worry. I have had luck with this method years ago with a highly feral mom, never trappable in the end, who would follow her kittens wherever they were. She was even okay with us handling them as time went on, but retained her feral personality. It requires some coordination, but keep on with it. I also wonder if the kittens are not slightly older.

Definitely get Mom too. Getting them in a crate together or a trap will make life better for everyone. I have had very good luck getting Mom cats to socialize as they watched me interact with their babies. They seem to learn that they can trust. Every cat is different but being calm and keeping things routine and settled really helps. If Mom already knows your scent from being fed, that helps too. You might put an old shirt or something you wear out for them to get used to your scent. I wear a long sleeved shirt for cat rescues and I leave that near the food so they recognize me and are not threatened by my scent. It seems to really make a difference and I often find the kitties laying on the shirt. Lol I think fionasmom has an excellent point about the age of the kittens too. For one to be at the neighbor’s house, it seems to have traveled a good way for a little baby. Unless Mom took it there. Sending all possible good wishes, luck and hope that you get them all very soon.

The kitties are definitely older than I thought. Mama gave birth under the house I'm guessing 3-4 weeks ago, maybe more! I fed them wet and dry food and they ate it all. I can't believe she had her babies and didn't tell me! lol There are 4 of them.

I got a crate today and I will follow all of your advice. Thank you, I'll keep you posted

Cats are so smart! They are slick about keeping their babies hidden. She was just waiting to surprise you! I’m glad you found them all. Make sure none are hiding out. There is always one in the bunch that is shy.
Please do keep us posted. We’ll be hoping the catching is easy and quick!

The mother cat I had around here last year did the same thing. Suddenly appeared with 4 4-5 week old kittens she had hidden under a neighbor's house. I actually trapped and fixed her when they must have been about 3 weeks old because I had no clue about their existence but they did survive without her fortunately.

Following. I may be fostering a feral mom and her four kittens, who are around one week old. I have fostered kittens before but never this young, and not with a feral mother.

ritz Having babies that young gives you a fantastic opportunity to take Mom from being feral to trusting you. I really miss having little ones like that. As you can, handle those babies around Mom. When she sees that the babies start responding well to you as they get older, especially when they start to come to you for food and play, then you can begin working on touching Mom too. I’ve often had babies convince their Mom to trust me. Just be aware that once the babies are gone, it gets a little harder to work on Mom. She’ll know you took the babies. I always preferred to hold on to Mom’s “baby” a little longer. The one Mom tends to spend most time with can help you get her through being spayed and the recovery period. It’s best if the kitten is eating solid food by then and weaned. I wish you would start a thread. I’d love to follow your rescue too!

Hey all! These kittens are 4 weeks old or so. I'm debating what to do with mom. I've been feeding her in the unset trap for a few days and she's going in. I think I may be able to trap her. I've got the crate set up, but I'm concerned that if I let mom out into the crate I wont be able to get her into the trap again to get her fixed. I have an appointment on Wednesday to have her (or whichever other community cat I can catch) fixed. Should I focus on catching the mom and babies separately at this point? Or should I get them all into the crate for the next few weeks and hope for the best?