Stray, Semi-feral Or Feral Kitten In Kenya

I’m currently staying with some family in Kenya and they have some street cats living in their garden.

There are 2 kittens and a cat. They seem to be a family - the mum approx 3yo from what my family have told me, and her two kittens. The older kitten seems like 6-12 months and the younger one at least 8-12 weeks - certainly not in the lanky kitten stage.

The older kitten and mum run away when I feed them when I can. They do come back to eat but they side eye me a bit. Usually most of the time, the two are out roaming.

So the younger kitten is usually in the garden on their own for most of the day but I do visit him/her a lot because I love kittens and I miss my own.

After being here for nearly 3 weeks, the kitten has let me stroke them and it goes round between my legs when I think they think I’m coming out for food. At least, he/she hasn’t been running from me so much compared to me first arriving.

If I could afford it, I’d love to adopt him/her and bring them to the UK but that takes longer than I am here for. Besides, I don’t think it’s litter trained just yet.

But I was thinking, would you call this little one a semi-feral? Definitely not completely feral as I’ve heard ferals don’t meow but pets and strays do.

Also, should I do anything for the kitten because it’s very skinny and its fur is rather coarse than the average long hair moggie in the UK. That could be the normal cat thing in Kenya as most (street) cats are like that.

Family are telling me not to buy cat food for the cats because they’re not used to it and they’d rather eat everything but then my cat owner mind is telling me to buy it and I’ll send money for family to continue buying the cat food for them as they’re currently eating anything family give. I’ve been limiting their feed to cooked chicken, goat meat, liver or kidney with the broth/juices with it.

I’ll sneak a pic tomorrow as it’s quite dark out.

I would say it is feral, but kittens are more open to being socialized with humans. I don’t know whether sending money for food is a good idea or not. If they have been getting by in what this family provides And the family asked you not to buy food, then I guess I wouldn’t.

I mean they’re asking me not to buy wet food because they think they won’t eat it and think they’d rather eat rice and spaghetti and meat but surely with cat nutrition, that doesn’t run? As the culture isn’t really into keeping or looking after street cats or street dogs, they think it’s a waste of money when they could be eating spaghetti bolognese with onions and feeding milk etc. I don’t know, I’m two ways about it as I don’t like hearing them cry for food and walking info the kitchen.

I know, thinking of a hungry kitten or cat would kill me too. But maybe if there is to much cat appealing food that they might be overrun with strays. And maybe your kitten is safer without that?

Canned cat food would probably be better nutritionally for them, and safer too, as some "people foods" such as onions, can be toxic to cats. However, in case your family continues with leftover food, maybe you could glance over this article, and at least let your family know which foods aren't safe for cats.

Common Foods That Are Harmful To Cats

As for whether the younger kitten is semi-feral or not, he probably just has a friendlier/more trusting personality which may change once he gets older.

Also onion& garlic is not good for cats.

If you can’t keep the kitten is their a shelter that would be willing to take her/him (along with a generous donation) so the baby can get a nice home?

Yeah there is the KSPCA but the general culture isn’t really to keep them as pets so I’m unsure as to how long he’d be in there. And I’m not sure if he’s fully tame just yet

After reading the article, my family feeds them most of the bad yet desirable items. Canned food is super cheap, to me at least, so it wouldn’t hurt buying a whole load in which they could store and use over time.

In all the time I’ve been here, no other cat has come into their bit even when there’s smelly food around. They’ve made it their place to be honest but there aren’t many cats in the enclosed estate we’re in to begin with. The walls are many feet high so not all get in/out.

I think that, rather than buying them expensive cat food, the best thing you could do with your money to help these cats is get them spayed and neutered. Does the Kenyan ASPCA do spays and neuters? If the cats are all fixed it will mean that they won't fight, catch diseases or be tempted to roam. Of course it will mean that the number of cats doesn't increase either.

2 cats can become 30 within a year. I know this from first hand experience.

If you are providing them with a safe place to stay and regular food they're just going to have litter after litter of kittens, and then the family who live on the property are going to have to take drastic action before they are over run with cats.

Do you have time to get the three of them fixed before you leave? You can use a humane trap to catch the mother and older kittens. Check out some of our TNR articles to give you an idea of what's possible.

Everything You Need To Know About Tnr (trap-neuter-release)

9 Practical Ways For You To Help Feral Cats

I have contacted the KSPCA and they’ll come out soon with a trap.

Turns out one of my family members has been taming the kitten since he arrived with his mother so he’s not entirely feral but more skittish. I hope he’s still like that when I come back next time. He purrs like a train when held!

I’ve advised my family and it seems promising but I hope they don’t revert back to habits but I’ve also bought a day’s worth if they prefer to buy rather than sift through accessible people-cat food.

Awww... the kitten sounds likes a sweetie pie.

Thanks for contacting the KSPCA. Getting the kitten neutered, and the mom spayed, will definitely improve their lives.

Hopefully your family will keep you updated on how they're doing, once you've returned home.

CatLoverOnWheels said:

............
I’ll sneak a pic tomorrow...

Click to expand...

promises....promises....

.

Oops, totally escaped my mind!

Forgive me with these two cute cats I


Figure 1: Older kitten/cateenager ft little kitten


Figure 2: Snoozing or sunbathing kitten

Uh oh, I’ve found little kitten throwing up and also coughing these past few days. There’s no runny nose or eyes but instead it’s just isolated coughs. Is a vet needed? The vomiting is random, I’ve not witnessed it happening but I see it where they do it. Might be food related but I don’t know

Big kitten is limping as well but they’re harder to catch so I’m not sure how I can catch them without a trap so a vet trip is less likely unless KSPCA fix it for them.

Has the kitten had shots yet? If not, it probably wouldn't hurt to take him to the vet and make sure he's ok. I'm sure it would ease your mind too.

He’s had nothing. No flea or worming treatment nor any shots. I could take him to the vets but it’d mean I have to pay for his future vet trips once I go back home as it isn’t fair to just stop caring for him after influencing the family to do something beyond feeding him.

How is the kitten today?

I’ve not seen any signs of vomiting but he’s still coughing but it’s not constant. More like one every few hours. I’ve found a mobile vet that may visit the area I’m staying. It’s better as most vets are far or upstairs with no lift which isn’t good as I use a wheelchair.

Today I went out to the mall and I saw a lot of non-feral cats and also a kitten aged under 8 weeks (it was tiny) in the food court. These weren’t skinny cats though; they must eat a lot of KFC given by strangers. They were pettable though. Unfortunately said kitten ran away before I could see if I could pick it up or do anything.

It made me feel weird as they shouldn’t have to be doing this but it’s also very unhealthy. One cat had bumps/lumps on their head which concerned me.

It just shows the country’s attitude to cats. It’s so much different to the West. I really couldn’t do anything but i May give KSPCA a call.

But the there’s the thought that they’re surviving and they’re clearly eating and alright bar the fact they’ve got no healthcare checks.

By not skinny, I mean the bigger ones are pretty much the size of husky puppies if not just a bit smaller.

You clearly have a super big heart, but unfortunately it sounds like the stray cat situation is way more than you could possibly help with. But if you can get mobile vet to check on the one kitten, that would be great, as the coughing is a little worrisome.

I think a lot of countries have a similar attitude to cats. There are feral cats everywhere in Japan. I do TNR and rescue whenever I'm able to, but I'm aware that I'm making a tiny dent in a massive problem.

Just do what you can C CatLoverOnWheels Even if you only get one kitten to the vet or one small family TNR'd it's going to make a world of difference to those cats.