A Semi-feral I Feed Had Kittens...what Now?

[ezwriter]

Momma, a semi-feral gray bobtail I feed, gave birth to a litter of 4 over a month ago. They finally showed up with her yesterday. They can eat and get around on their own. Of course, they are friggin' adorable.

I want to do what I can to get them adoptable. 1 of the 4 seems more scared of me than the others...the others are also scared, but seem more accepting of my presence. A couple of them let me pet them, although they hiss a little and seem kind of scared, I'm pretty confident I can get at least 3 of them tame.

My questions:

How long should I wait before getting them to a shelter? I don't want to traumatize Momma by taking them too early. At the same time, she had a litter of two last season...one just disappeared fairly quickly, but the other one I had pretty much ready to go, but I waited too long and he disappeared one day too, and I'm a little haunted by that. I am determined not to let that happen again.

Note: I have 5 adult cats in a 1 bedroom apt., so bringing them inside is not an option. I am also gone on business for several days at a time every other week, so that makes it a little more challenging.

Any suggestions?

 

[Willowy]

Many shelters don't have foster homes for kittens under 8 weeks, so they just put them to sleep . So call around to any shelters you may be considering and ask what their policies are. They may ask you to foster this litter until they're old enough. But if there are any private rescues nearby, give them a call to see if they have any fosters homes available, so they can get these guys tamed right away.

And of course the next step is to get the mama cat spayed ASAP. Otherwise you'll be doing this twice a year for the foreseeable future. . .do you need help finding a low-cost spay clinic? If so, post your general location and someone can try to find something for you.

 

[ezwriter]

Thank you.

So you think I should try to get them in a foster now? Not give them more time with their Momma while trying to get them tame? It seems awfully early to take them away, even though of course they are in some danger being outside. I want to give these kittens the best shot at getting a forever home.


I do want to TNR Momma, but I've never done it before. I went to a TNR class, and learned it is a LOT more complicated than it looks, and I'm not sure I'm equipped for it. Sometimes I am not home a lot, and they want you checking the trap every few hours. And then you have to have a place to keep them while they recover, and I don't.

 

[Willowy]

It's not that complicated. When you have a trap set, check it every few hours. If you can't check it every few hours, don't set it. Easy peasy . Do you even have to trap her? If she's semi-feral, do you think you could grab her or lure her into a carrier?

And you can keep her in the trap for a couple days, or in a large carrier, in whatever area she's hanging out in now (a porch? A garage? I can see the cement floor, not sure what kind of setup you have for them). It's not ideal but it'll do.

Yes, if the mama cat isn't tame or they're in danger, it's best to take them young, as soon as they're eating solids. You're right that normally that's a bad idea, but you gotta do what you gotta do to tame them. Try to make sure the siblings get to stay together for at least 10-12 weeks though.

 

[ezwriter]

Momma lets me touch her and pet her, but is still super skittish and would probably go apes#%* if I tried to even pick her up, let alone put her in a carrier. Maybe "semi-feral" is an overly optimistic description on my part.

Thanks for your help. I will start calling around to see if I can get the kitties placed somewhere, and then get a trap from the local feral cat group for Momma.