4 Kittens and Approachable but Feral Mama, Advice Please! :)

[Grant Sachs]

Hi all!

Kind of long, so thanks for reading. So, here is the situation:

A few days ago, I was on a morning walk and saw these kittens playing on a neighbors porch. I went and looked and they were sitting with one of the ferals who I feed treats on my walks whenever I see her. I had remembered that I thought she was pregnant around a month ago, these were clearly hers!

So there are four of them, 3 gray tabby one dark tabby, mom is a brown tabby. They appear to be ~5 weeks old, wobbly on their feet but they run and jump and play with each other on the porch.

I've discussed with the neighbor and he has said I could take over in getting them situated. So I've been feeding them for the last 3 days, including the mother. They have all grown increasingly open to me, the mother will eat just a mere 3 feet away from me now, and two of the kittens I was able to grab and hold, one let me feed it treats and he is admittedly the bravest of the 4, the other, the dark tabby, he is the most feisty of the 4 and did not tolerate me holding him. They all still will hiss and thump at times.

Anyways, so, it's getting colder here in Michigan and will be sub 32 degrees very shortly, and they are so young that i am concerned about their future wellbeing, so i asked my other neighbor and she said we should get them to a shelter, her friend has offered to take in all 4 kittens AND the mother, and it's a no-kill shelter, which is phenomenal. Another reason for this is that the mother could easily become pregnant very soon or already is, there are a lot of community cats on my street. I know the general advice is to not bother with under 8 week old kittens who have their mothers still, but these two reasons have made me think otherwise. So the guyis willing to take them to the shelter for us this week, but i also worry about the shelter getting the unimmunized kittens sick?

So my question is:

Should I send them to the shelter?
Should I separate them from mama and have her TNR'd? Kittens to a foster home til 8 weeks?
Should I leave them there (and feed them) until 8 weeks?
Should they ALL be fostered? There is evidence to show that the mother is socializable, despite being 2 years old and feral. She trusts me a lot by now, as I've been feeding her in general for about 2 months. She has shown signs of docility.

Anyways, what should I do? I'd love to foster them myself if I felt I could (which i might be able to), but I have a cat and it would take some energy I might not want to expend, then again, it's only about 3 weeks til theyre 8 weeks!

thanks so so much for any replies

vids attached below:

 

[Grant Sachs]

vids weren't working, so I've attached two photos:

first photo is all 4 kitties, the black tabby is kind of hidden. Second photo is black tabby with mama

 

[FeebysOwner]

Bumping this up on the list so that some of our members who have more experience with strays/ferals might see it and have some advice for you. Hoping you will care for them all until the kittens can be separated from their mama, and crossing my fingers you will get some good tips from some our members!

 

[david68]

I've worked with a lot of barn cats that are semi-socialized. They aren't feral, but they aren't used to being handled by people, nor have they ever been indoors. The thing I've found is that it's extremely difficult to predict how any individual cat will react once trapped and brought inside. Some will act like the comforts of being indoors are great, and some will completely shut down. The only way to find out is to do it. I brought home a mother cat and her four kittens, and she looked around the house, lay down, and looked relieved. Another male cat from the same colony completely shut down when brought in for TNR. I had been able to pet him and handle him outdoors, but he reacted very badly to being trapped. He never trusted me again after he was released.

What you have to keep in mind is that most adopters want a socialized cat, which is why it's so important to socialize the kittens and get them to an adoption program. It's one thing to be kind of friendly with a cat outdoors, but what happens when you need to take it to the vet or give it medicine? It takes a special adopter to have the patience to socialize a semi-socialized cat. And then there are issues like FIV that you need to disclose, but which makes some adopters reluctant.

In your case, if you brought in the mother and kittens together, you'd be better able to assess the mother and the likelihood or her being made adoptable, and the mother needs to be spayed in either case. If the mother can be socialized to the point of being adoptable, then that's the better option than being put back outside.

 

[Antonio65]

As you said, the rule of thumb is to not separate the kittens from their mom till they are at least 8 weeks old.
But there can exceptions, depending on the situation. If the kittens are in danger, or they live in an uncomfortable place, or the place where they are is unsuitable for kittens, and the only way to give them some safety and comfort is to separate them from their mom, then be it.

My cat Freya was rescued a year ago from a place where food was scarce and unhealthy, it was dangerous and dirty, the weather was going to deteriorate soon.
So I had to act quickly, I rescued her and her siblings, and had their mother spayed.
Kittens were 6 weeks old.

The mother was moved to the local shelter.
All the three kittens found a good home (Freya is on my lap right now), and none of them have suffered from an early separation.

Given your situation, I'd rescue the whole family. If the shelter agrees, they could leave cat and kittens in the same crate for two or three more weeks, then they will be separated, the mom will be spayed and kittens will be adopted out.