Last night, my husband heard a cat crying outside. We went outside to see what was going on and saw a small kitten (between 6-8 weeks) outside by our air conditioning unit. He/she was crying very loudly and wouldn't stop. I also noticed a larger cat in our driveway that wouldn't come to us or respond to our calls - we thought that was maybe the mama. We went inside to grab some wet food for them, and by the time we got back out there, the larger cat was nowhere to be seen (we looked for it) and the kitten was still frantically crying. We have snakes, owls, and coyotes out where we live, so we didn't want to leave it outside with no shelter if the mama had left it. So we managed to catch the kitten and set it up in our shed for the night with blankets, wet food, hard food, and water. It's summertime, so it's pretty warm, and I don't think the kitten was cold. We left the garage door to the shed cracked open at the bottom so that if the mama wanted to find it, she could, or if the kitten wanted to leave, it could. But at least it would be protected from predators for the night. This morning at 5:00 am, the kitten was back in the same spot by the A/C unit crying again. Only one of the cans of wet food was eaten a little when we looked in the shed. We still couldn't find mama kitty anywhere this morning. We set the kitten back up in the shed before I had to leave for work, but we're concerned that the mama abandoned it.
What should we do? I can't tell how old the baby is, but it's at least 5 weeks old, no older than 8 weeks, and even that's generous. It won't let you near it. It's been crying loudly and non-stop this morning. Do you think the mama cat will come back for it? Did we do something wrong? Do we need to bring it in the house? We're at a loss, any advice would be greatly appreciated. We just didn't want it to get eaten by common predators and wanted to help.
What should we do? I can't tell how old the baby is, but it's at least 5 weeks old, no older than 8 weeks, and even that's generous. It won't let you near it. It's been crying loudly and non-stop this morning. Do you think the mama cat will come back for it? Did we do something wrong? Do we need to bring it in the house? We're at a loss, any advice would be greatly appreciated. We just didn't want it to get eaten by common predators and wanted to help.