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About a month ago, I noticed a cat in my yard. She is a small grey and white cat. She would run if I got closer than fifty feet from her. I am in an isolated area and this cat does not belong to the only other person on my road who has cats. I assumed that she is feral. I started feeding her, meaning to TNR when I could get her used to the food. It is the kitten time of year, so I wanted to make sure she had no kittens before I took her off to be neutered.
Three days after I started feeding her, she showed up with four kittens that were about four to five weeks old -that's how I know she is a female! She brought them to the cement area in front of my storage building behind my house to play. I had been feeding her in a barn 100 feet from my house where I think she had the kittens. When she came to play behind my house I moved the feeding area there. It is a small old two story building with a second floor with a steep ladder/stairs. I started putting the food and water on the stairs to keep it away from dogs.
Here is one of the the dogs eating the cat food.
Now I put it at the top of the ladder/stairs. The kittens can climb up there and I think they drink the water and have started eating the solid food, too. I have sweet talked the mom and that with the feeding has made it so I can get less than ten feet from her now, but she will hiss. I have gotten within a few feet of the kittens when they were hiding behind some small propane tanks. They looked healthy and bright-eyed. One is black, one is grey, one is grey and white and one is black and white. I really like the grey and white one. She(he?) has a little white heart on her chest.
Here is the mom at the first feeding station. I used an automatic motion-sensing camera. I am going to try for more pictures soon.
After feeding them for ten days they all disappeared! I did not see them for days and the food was hardly touched. Is this normal? This area is a bad one for outdoor cats and I worry. She may be someone's cat, but it is almost two tenths of a mile past the barn where she had the kittens and across a steep gully and creek to get to another house. I'm sure she could cross it, but would she with kittens?
After a week of no kitties, this afternoon I saw the mom cat leaving the storage building. I checked the food and water bowls and they were empty. I refilled them and when I checked later, mom was there and I saw one of the kittens run into the storage building. I hope the others are still around. The kittens usually hide either upstairs which is not safe for large people. or under a generator in the storage building where I can't see well, even with a flashlight. The mom hides behind some pallets I have leaning against the wall outside the storage building. She tries to distract me from her kittens - good mom! I admire her though she does not trust me. The kitten looks seven to eight weeks old now and well fed.
I took pictures of the kittens, but I took them from 30 feet away through a screened window and the pictures were not good.
I have some idea how to proceed though I have never done this before and I would appreciate any advice.
Three days after I started feeding her, she showed up with four kittens that were about four to five weeks old -that's how I know she is a female! She brought them to the cement area in front of my storage building behind my house to play. I had been feeding her in a barn 100 feet from my house where I think she had the kittens. When she came to play behind my house I moved the feeding area there. It is a small old two story building with a second floor with a steep ladder/stairs. I started putting the food and water on the stairs to keep it away from dogs.
Here is one of the the dogs eating the cat food.
Now I put it at the top of the ladder/stairs. The kittens can climb up there and I think they drink the water and have started eating the solid food, too. I have sweet talked the mom and that with the feeding has made it so I can get less than ten feet from her now, but she will hiss. I have gotten within a few feet of the kittens when they were hiding behind some small propane tanks. They looked healthy and bright-eyed. One is black, one is grey, one is grey and white and one is black and white. I really like the grey and white one. She(he?) has a little white heart on her chest.
Here is the mom at the first feeding station. I used an automatic motion-sensing camera. I am going to try for more pictures soon.
After feeding them for ten days they all disappeared! I did not see them for days and the food was hardly touched. Is this normal? This area is a bad one for outdoor cats and I worry. She may be someone's cat, but it is almost two tenths of a mile past the barn where she had the kittens and across a steep gully and creek to get to another house. I'm sure she could cross it, but would she with kittens?
After a week of no kitties, this afternoon I saw the mom cat leaving the storage building. I checked the food and water bowls and they were empty. I refilled them and when I checked later, mom was there and I saw one of the kittens run into the storage building. I hope the others are still around. The kittens usually hide either upstairs which is not safe for large people. or under a generator in the storage building where I can't see well, even with a flashlight. The mom hides behind some pallets I have leaning against the wall outside the storage building. She tries to distract me from her kittens - good mom! I admire her though she does not trust me. The kitten looks seven to eight weeks old now and well fed.
I took pictures of the kittens, but I took them from 30 feet away through a screened window and the pictures were not good.
I have some idea how to proceed though I have never done this before and I would appreciate any advice.