3 kittens missing out of nowhere??

[bobbleheadcat]

this is a weird situation but basically im taking care of a semi-feral colony and working on getting them all TNR'd but right now i have a 2 litters and they're on the front porch cause there's no way i can bring 2 twin ferals in a trailer house (they're the only 2 left to spay so yay!) and the spot they're in is closed in so ideally, there's no possible way they could get out, but if they do, they stay on the porch and don't leave. the babies are about 6-8 weeks now and when they were 3-4, one disappeared out of the locked kennel in the middle of the night that they couldn't squeeze out of and we never found him. couple weeks later, one of the moms disappears. now, 2 more kittens are gone since this morning/late last night. mom is calling them and i swear i've heard them, but we just can't find them anywhere. idk what to do at this point but im pretty sure they're still alive and it seems like mom knows where they are but i can't catch her going off anywhere.

 

[FeebysOwner]

If you think the mom knows where they are, they are likely OK. If the mom can access the enclosure to get in and out of it, so obviously can the kittens. If that is the case, maybe there is a breach somewhere in the enclosure and something came in and took the kittens out - but I think it is more likely that mom moved them because of some threat she sensed. Do you have any kind of camera set up that could be focused on that area overnight to see if you can detect something that way?

 

[bobbleheadcat]

unfortunately i don't have a camera. ive been thinking about it because i like to watch the local wildlife in the field, but i haven't been able to get around to it. she just went off while i was in the house and won't come back up even when i call for her, so im pretty sure she's with them because she always comes back when we call. i've read about moms scattering them when they wanna feed them separately and these 2 are rough and like to fight their siblings a lot so that's what im thinking happened, especially considering ive been hearing kittens when the others aren't meowing. all the cats have been pretty skittish i think cause of an unknown feral who's been coming around that i haven't been able to catch, so she probably moved them cause of that too. i'll eventually catch the babies or her coming out of somewhere tho

 

[FeebysOwner]

Keep us posted, please!

 

[bobbleheadcat]

update: we just got back from town and 2 more are missing and mom doesn't seem to be worried so im thinking she may be slowly moving them cause it's getting hot and there are cooler places, like under the house since the air is running + a raccoon killed one like saturday night late when we were all asleep. she's been skittish after that so my best bet is that she moved them cause id think there would be evidence of raccoons killing them. i wish i could bring them in but my grandma said no cause the trailer house is too small for them and our house cats plus we have nowhere to keep them and it's not my house so i can't decide but i'll update u guys with anything i find

 

[bobbleheadcat]

update .2: not about the lost kits but i convinced my grandma to let me put them in my bathroom for anyone worried about them getting too hot, they're okay! they're playing in my bathroom and one thinks the shower curtain is a giant monster she absolutely needs to defeat right now. the other 2 are scampering around and snooping but there's nothing dangerous they can get into so it's okay but basically what happened the last time a cat took kittens off, we had to wait for her to bring them out on her terms cause we knew they were safe with their momma so we're just playing the waiting game now. again, i'll hopefully have something to update u guys with soon about the 4 missing <3

 

[bobbleheadcat]

real update!! i've been busy so i forgot to update yall but i found the most recent 2 the day after they went missing. mom moved them under the back porch i guess cause it's cooler? idk but all the cats like to lay there during the hot hours so that's why im guessing she moved them there. i still haven't found the original 2 but you'd think there would be a smell if they died somewhere on the property but after that 1 died, im sure she moved the og 2 cause she was chill after they disappeared but a nervous wreck after the raccoon got the 1. she's also been disappearing on and off again so idk at this point one of these days when it's cool im gonna get my grandpa to take off a piece of the siding so i can look under the house cause my grandma said she heard a cat meowing under there but i'll update when i find something

 

[Searchingcat]

I am dealing with a similar situation, I just posted about it. 3 feral kittens gone seemingly in a flash, albeit with differing circumstances. I don't hear any meowing though, but this neighborhood is noisy and a lot of birds going off even in the middle of the night. Mom is still coming to eat, but no babies. I am so worried. I hope your kittens end up being alright!

 

[Searchingcat]

*Around the same age as your kittens too (sorry I can't edit so had to make a separate comment).