Caught only ONE kitten. Will Mom and Siblings come back?? I am so upset.

[Searchingcat]

Please refer to my other post and thread about missing feral kittens..3 of them. They came back with mom and we tried to catch them with someone's help. The situation is urgent because of coyote(s), one of which already tried to attack them. Also some hostile neighbors, busy streets, lots of dogs..etc too much danger. Everything seemed fine yesterday and I had the cooperation of my very nice next door neighbor since they sought shelter on and under his back deck/porch (they would eat and play on my steps in the adjacent yard). The first day a drop trap was being tried to catch all 3 at once. But they never went under it, just played behind it. So the person helping to trap them (who retired, worked with shelters and rescues, etc..but decided to help one last time) said they would try again today.

I thought the same drop trap was what would be used and happening the second day too since the kittens got very close but needed to be hungrier. I followed all instructions to keep them and mom hungry. However the person came today and brought a bunch of different traps, not just the drop trap this time. A bunch of "have a heart" types too and spread them everywhere, food everywhere just dropped all over the yard through the traps. I was very confused. I saw no plan..just a mess of confusion and grasping at straws..and I did not understand why when they got so close yesterday with the drop trap. The person also seemed like they were about to pass out. I tried to say something and make better suggestions many times but they (the person helping to trap) weren't really responsive, like they were not registering anything I was saying or any of my concerns..or the scared look in my eyes. I did not have any support with me today so I was just forced to go along with it. None of it made any sense versus the day before. And I don't know why they would try to trap them on the deck, their safe space..unless they planned, like yesterday, to catch all 3 at once..and then mom later.

So today one kitten went into one of the auto-close traps on the deck and mom was right next to it when it shut, she went running. So now only one kitten was caught. I never saw where other two went..they stayed under the deck for awhile and thenidk where..the person helping wasn't really fully aware. I did not know what to say..I was sobbing and pacing and sweating in my kitchen while trying to see through an obscured window because only one person could sit out there at once. I wanted the kittens to stay under the deck but I saw one go along the fence and maybe towards the trees where mom was all the way on the opposite side. No idea if the second one left the deck or went out the other side into another yard..or if either one of them is even with mom now. I am distraught and I feel I have made a huge mistake in how and who I have chosen to go about this with. I am typing this so fast and I have barely slept 16 hours total in the last 9 days at this point.

Please help me. This becomes a bigger nightmare by the second. I am already overwhelmed in my life in general but kittens and cats are the only thing that get my traumatized, avoidant, asocial self to work and interact with others and go out of my restrictive zone...now I wish I ONLY talked to my next door neighbor and just caught the kittens and mom myself.. I wish I just opened my kitchen door and put food down so they would all walk in, then shut it..THEN trap inside. I have so much regret.

Will the mother come back to the deck?? What will she think happened?? Could the other babies be lost now?? Does anyone have any experience with catching 6-8 week old feral kittens and their mom?? What happens when only one is caught in the area where all of them used to feel safe and sleep and eat??? I am losing my mind.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, there's no real way to know at this point what the other cats will do, including the mom cat.

What did that person do with the one trapped kitten, and all those traps? Are they ok? It sounds from your description that they maybe should have gone to the hospital ...

 

[Searchingcat]

Hi, there's no real way to know at this point what the other cats will do, including the mom cat.

What did that person do with the one trapped kitten, and all those traps? Are they ok? It sounds from your description that they maybe should have gone to the hospital ...

They took the traps back with them but were forgetting them when they were clear as day in front of them. The kitten is with me, because after that display, I wasn't sure what to trust and where the kitten would be going..so I offered to keep the kitten here and socialize it until the others are caught (now have no clue where they even are!)..the story was always changing and the response was laughter the more questions I asked about where and who the kitten would be going with. I guess the connected person who had an opening already had so many kittens they were socializing so could not take all 3 and mom..but someone else could apparently the day before and if all had been caught today, idk..I am so confused. That's just what I was told. I just want them all to be together, safe, and then adopted. Now idk what to say to my neighbor or who to call..this trapping person wants to come back in two days but I can't take any more of this insanity. I contacted a vet hospital for a contact and this is who they gave me..they gave another neighbor two houses down the same person but they told me that the person initially gave them the run-around..now I'm getting an idea as to why.
My concern is with the kittens and mom, not the human who botched it and would not simply admit incompetence beforehand, saving me a much worse nightmare. I put all the red flags aside and did as I was told..just for this to happen. I will probably be the one ending up in the hospital at this rate. The person had plenty of energy afterwards to ignore my tears and instead make me stand there masking distress as to not make them feel bad, while they told me a million stories of their own life and self while I could barely get a word in.
I am just so mad at myself for being a people-pleaser but everyone around me was telling me to follow this trapper person's lead and plan,,and then that plan became something else entirely not even 24hrs later. I don't get it. I'll be losing sleep roaming the neighborhood for these kittens until I have a mental breakdown. I did so much to keep them alive and safe..idk why someone would risk their safety like this and then just shrug their shoulders at me..

 

[fionasmom]

Havaheart is a very popular trap. I have several and have used them all at the same time, notably about 5 years ago when an entire family including the mom and dad needed to be trapped and TNRed. I also have a drop trap with which I have personally had almost no success and found to be much more traumatizing to cats. If you have access to the drop trap and can use it, there is no reason that you should not. It does require a transfer into another carrier or trap and is often a better two person operation.

But my point is that you often need to use multiple traps, so I would not become overly upset about that. Jackson Galaxy himself uses multiple traps when he has to trap more than one cat.

Usually cats who are hungry will return to a place where there is food. Even very upset, but hungry cats will return. A very good bait for a trap is KFC or any other fried chicken from the supermarket. It is what I use 100% of the time.

 

[Searchingcat]

Havaheart is a very popular trap. I have several and have used them all at the same time, notably about 5 years ago when an entire family including the mom and dad needed to be trapped and TNRed. I also have a drop trap with which I have personally had almost no success and found to be much more traumatizing to cats. If you have access to the drop trap and can use it, there is no reason that you should not. It does require a transfer into another carrier or trap and is often a better two person operation.

But my point is that you often need to use multiple traps, so I would not become overly upset about that. Jackson Galaxy himself uses multiple traps when he has to trap more than one cat.

Usually cats who are hungry will return to a place where there is food. Even very upset, but hungry cats will return. A very good bait for a trap is KFC or any other fried chicken from the supermarket. It is what I use 100% of the time.

Oh, it wasn't the safety of the trap I was worried about, it was the safety of the mom and babies being jeopardized by changing the plan completely from a sound one..given the context of the situation, to a haphazard mess that left me to hold the bag. This is an abnormal situation in a suburban neighborhood where I only have permission to catch on one or two neighbors' property..including the cat and kitten's safe place, and my own.. which this person now soiled. The kittens were to all be caught at once so that the mom would not be able to move them, hence a larger drop trap for when all kittens were eating under it..which was very possible and what I was explicitly told was going to happen, that's why I don't understand why that plan was aborted for a nonsensical one,, with food thrown everywhere, not even on plates..all over both yards..great attractant for coyotes..now I have to ask my neighbor if I can go pick it all up by hand. The mother and remaining babies could be seperated out there now, distressed..running into a dog's yard, running into the road..they were so at peace and so happy together this morning! The person made me withhold food and water for them for nothing and it's incredibly hot out there. It rips my heart apart for this to be the end result. I have stayed awake making calls and keeping watch all night, every night to make sure the coyote that has already tried to attack them..and came around twice and again on the street over..could not get them. I have suffered severe sleep deprivation and excess stress to keep this cat family alive and safe..I have put more effort in than anyone, have cared more than anyone about them..have been berated by people on my oen street for handing out flyers..screamed at, etc...and so I am livid that this happened. I am angry that I did not simply trust myself to handle it a better way.

When you trapped the family, how old were the kittens? This mother is very smart and protective and has already moved them before, even past 6 weeks of age. I don't know where they will go and if they are separated from her..they don't trust the deck anymore..and that yard and deck was the best place in this hellish neighborhood for them.

 

[fionasmom]

Kittens were probably 8 weeks old, possibly a little older. That does not make a huge difference to trapping.

Do you have access to the use of the drop trap? If so, I would recreate the original situation and see if you can get them all at once. Make sure it is on entirely level ground. Even the slightest uneven terrain and it will move as they thrash around in it and they will be able to get out.

 

[Searchingcat]

I cannot protect them at night in any other yard and I don't even know if they are together or separated since the person watching the process could not answer a single question I had of significance.

 

[Searchingcat]

Kittens were probably 8 weeks old, possibly a little older. That does not make a huge difference to trapping.

Do you have access to the use of the drop trap? If so, I would recreate the original situation and see if you can get them all at once. Make sure it is on entirely level ground. Even the slightest uneven terrain and it will move as they thrash around in it and they will be able to get out.

I think that is how old these ones are..nearly now. No, you don't understand. The mother cat and kittens are nowhere to be found now. Mom got freaked when she was next to the one baby that got trapped in a Have-a-heart. No clue where other babies wandered to. There is danger in every direction that is not my own backyard or my next door neighbor's. I made this abundantly clear to the person and It's the reasoning sought help to begin with. The same reason I went around like a mad woman with flyers re: my other post about this situation. 16 hours of sleep in 9 or more days..now tenth day..and that was only had between a couple of nights. I am on edge and really have been put through the wringer..because I care about this cat family..and now they will probably die out there, after all that..and not even together.

 

[Searchingcat]

*Cannot fix typos because cannot edit yet

 

[fionasmom]

I have seen cats return from all sorts of precarious situations. Most have hiding places when they are frightened and will evaluate when it is safe to come back out again.