Semi feral mama and baby

[Kadonia]

I have been feeding a semi feral cat in my backyard since May, & just over 2 weeks ago found out she was a mother with 3 kittens. She started bringing the kittens with her to get food. It was beautiful watching the little family together, eating, playing & relaxing in my yard. Then last Friday she came with only one kitten. 2 days later they had still not returned, although the mother continued to call for them. After crying my eyes out for the lost kittens, my husband & I decided to take the third kitten before it was lost or hurt. We lured the mother & baby into our pool cage. The Mom got out, but we now have the baby in our house. I sent the kitten pic to local animal rescue & they estimate the kitten to be about 8 weeks old. The Mom is now still calling for her babies in my yard all the time. This is the 3rd day the baby is with us. We would gladly take in the Mom in as well but she is a little too wild & will not be contained. Last night, the baby was crying inside the house & the Mom heard it from outside & was calling desparately for her baby. It was gut wrenching. We tried to let them see each other last night in the screened-in lanai but as soon as we shut the door the Mom went crazy, thrashing around & throwing herself against the bars & screen. We were afraid she would get hurt & let her out immediately. I feel awful about this & feel like we have done everything wrong. Part of me wants to send the baby back to the Mom but then I will never forgive myself if something happens to him/her, & of course it will end up a wild cat. Also my husband is adamant that we cannot send the baby back into the wild. I love the Mom & feel terrible about the anguished Mom & baby. Is there anything I can do to help the Mom? I read in another post about bringing her somthing that smells like the baby, but at this point i have no idea the right thing to do & don’t want to makes things any worse, I have been sick over this whole situation for days. We have a vet appointment for the kitten this afternoon. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
You need to try and trap mama so that you can get her spayed, -- she may be in heat again rather than, or in addition to, calling for kittens. Your husband is correct, at 8 weeks it should be eating solid food at this point, and you're committed to taking care of it now, or giving it over to the shelter, but whichever the case you don't want to send it back to its mother.

By the way, the kitten needs to eat multiple small meals throughout the day of wet food, even mixed with Kitten Milk Replacer perhaps, with some kibble for snacking.

Here's information from one of our articles;
These kittens were born to a feral mother and never had any contact with humans. In this case, the need to socialize them with humans overrides their need to socialize with their mother and even siblings. If they stay with their mother for too long, they will learn to fear humans. If you care for a feral cat and her kittens, it's best to separate the kittens at 8 weeks of age. That's when they can already eat on their own but are young enough to overcome the fear of humans and be successfully tamed. Some experts even suggest 6-8 weeks as the appropriate time span, depending on the specific situation and whether you are able to keep both feral mother and kittens inside with you.

 

[fionasmom]

If you feel that the mom is truly semi feral, since she did bring the kittens to you for food and has some relationship with you, you might try working with her outside. How close can you get to her? Will she eat if you put food in some proximity to yourself? Will she play with a wand type toy, or investigate the end of it?

Her reaction to being in the lanai is entirely normal for the first time. Do you think that if you tried it again with food or treats, or if the door were not shut so that she could see that she can come and go at certain times of the day, things might start to improve? I realize that you don't keep it open all the time, but maybe there is a time that you could try to work with her.

All of my personal indoor cats are former ferals with one exception, and he was still a rescue. Two were brought in after emergencies occurred and both were frightened. The sister of my avatar spent quite a bit of time throwing herself against the kitchen door. Your mama cat probably had no concept of indoors. How was she in the pool cage?

Definitely don't let the kitten back out, and definitely get the mom fixed. This will also start to calm her down. If you need to trap and don't know how, we can help you here.

Kitten Lady
Popular kitten website

 

[Kadonia]

Hi
You need to try and trap mama so that you can get her spayed, -- she may be in heat again rather than, or in addition to, calling for kittens. Your husband is correct, at 8 weeks it should be eating solid food at this point, and you're committed to taking care of it now, or giving it over to the shelter, but whichever the case you don't want to send it back to its mother.

By the way, the kitten needs to eat multiple small meals throughout the day of wet food, even mixed with Kitten Milk Replacer perhaps, with some kibble for snacking.

Here's information from one of our articles;
These kittens were born to a feral mother and never had any contact with humans. In this case, the need to socialize them with humans overrides their need to socialize with their mother and even siblings. If they stay with their mother for too long, they will learn to fear humans. If you care for a feral cat and her kittens, it's best to separate the kittens at 8 weeks of age. That's when they can already eat on their own but are young enough to overcome the fear of humans and be successfully tamed. Some experts even suggest 6-8 weeks as the appropriate time span, depending on the specific situation and whether you are able to keep both feral mother and kittens inside with you.

Thanks so much for your reply. We will definitely be keeping the baby with us. I am just feeling terrible about upsetting the Mom because I have built up a lot of trust with her & care about her so much. I did make an appointment for the Mom with the local animal shelter but it’s not until Oct.6. I have never done this before & am hoping I will be able to handle that when the time comes. I want to do whatever is best for her. I was wondering today if she was in heat also because her calls sounded a little bit different today. The kitten wasn’t eating the first day, i saw the suggestions about baby food & it has been eating it every few hours. I will see if i can pick uo the Milk Replacer, thanks again for tthe advice.

 

[Furballsmom]

Along with the advice from Fionasmom above, these may help too;
Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own – TheCatSite Articles

How To Train Kittens To Use The Litter Box – TheCatSite Articles

 

[Kadonia]

If you feel that the mom is truly semi feral, since she did bring the kittens to you for food and has some relationship with you, you might try working with her outside. How close can you get to her? Will she eat if you put food in some proximity to yourself? Will she play with a wand type toy, or investigate the end of it?

Her reaction to being in the lanai is entirely normal for the first time. Do you think that if you tried it again with food or treats, or if the door were not shut so that she could see that she can come and go at certain times of the day, things might start to improve? I realize that you don't keep it open all the time, but maybe there is a time that you could try to work with her.

All of my personal indoor cats are former ferals with one exception, and he was still a rescue. Two were brought in after emergencies occurred and both were frightened. The sister of my avatar spent quite a bit of time throwing herself against the kitchen door. Your mama cat probably had no concept of indoors. How was she in the pool cage?

Definitely don't let the kitten back out, and definitely get the mom fixed. This will also start to calm her down. If you need to trap and don't know how, we can help you here.

Kitten Lady
Popular kitten website

This is the second time the Mom was in the lanai. The first time was in early June, a few weeks after i met her. She looked like an older kitten to me, & my indoor cat had befriended her through the screen. I thought she would make a nice companion for my kitty, since they already seemed to have bonded. At that time, did not know the gender. We lured her into the pool cage with food, & she went crazy as soon as she realized she was shut in. Same situation where she ran around throwing herself at the screens & pillars, & fell into the pool twice. She eventually calmed down & hid behind the barbeque. Then cried all night to my indoor cat through the glass door. No interest in food the next day & hid under the loveseat. I could not handle her distress & let her out less than 24 hours later. She did come back around after that a couple of days later, & i have been feeding her 2-3 times a day. She has become much more comfortable with me since then. She used to back away when i brought out her food and now she is right there sticking her face in the bowl as i set it down. She does look back up to make sure I am going awayShe comes running when she hears the patio door slam. She talks to me, where she used to be silent or making growling or breathing noises. I have never tried to touch her, both because I didn’t think she would want me to & because of fear that she would get aggressive. I have never tried to use a teaser toy with her but can certainly give it a try. It would be nice if she enjoed it. We are definitely keeping the kitten. We went to the vet today & found out she is a little girlestimated between 8-10 weeks old. I am already distressed at the thought of trapping the Mom for TNR & upsetting her further, but i know it has to be done to help her. Will definitely need help/advice as i have never done anything like this before.

 

[Kadonia]

Along with the advice from Fionasmom above, these may help too;
Weaning: How To Get Your Kittens To Eat On Their Own – TheCatSite Articles

How To Train Kittens To Use The Litter Box – TheCatSite Articles

Thanks for this! Luckily the kitten has been using her litter box. The vet today advised she is a female between 8-10 weeks old. I picked up some more baby food & wet kitten food today.

 

[fionasmom]

In the overall scheme of things, this mother cat is definitely only semi-feral as you have said. She is displaying some very promising signs of being a cat who can be worked with. True ferals Who retain their completely wild nature will not get anywhere near a human and that may include even if their kittens are being helped. I have a feral on my property who, if she is still around on the 17th of this month, I’ll be 17 years old and just this morning she hissed and spit like crazy at me as I brought her food to her as I have done without fail all this time. Your cat is definitely cut from a different cloth.

Something else that you can try is to get a stick or even a wand toy but not use it immediately as a toy but rather wrap something soft around the end of it like a washcloth or soft material and see if you can start to touch her or even advance it in her direction and see what happens. I completely agree that you should not try to touch her. She is not to the point yet where she will not try to defend herself.

Getting her fixed Will, in the long run, calm her down to a point. It will distress her to trap her but there is no alternative especially if you suspect that she may be calling again. Please let us know how this all progresses and as I said we can help you or refer you to websites that will help you with trapping and hopefully domesticating her from there. It does truly sound like she has potential to become a pet

 

[Kadonia]

In the overall scheme of things, this mother cat is definitely only semi-feral as you have said. She is displaying some very promising signs of being a cat who can be worked with. True ferals Who retain their completely wild nature will not get anywhere near a human and that may include even if their kittens are being helped. I have a feral on my property who, if she is still around on the 17th of this month, I’ll be 17 years old and just this morning she hissed and spit like crazy at me as I brought her food to her as I have done without fail all this time. Your cat is definitely cut from a different cloth.

Something else that you can try is to get a stick or even a wand toy but not use it immediately as a toy but rather wrap something soft around the end of it like a washcloth or soft material and see if you can start to touch her or even advance it in her direction and see what happens. I completely agree that you should not try to touch her. She is not to the point yet where she will not try to defend herself.

Getting her fixed Will, in the long run, calm her down to a point. It will distress her to trap her but there is no alternative especially if you suspect that she may be calling again. Please let us know how this all progresses and as I said we can help you or refer you to websites that will help you with trapping and hopefully domesticating her from there. It does truly sound like she has potential to become a pet

Thanks so much for all the great advice. You definitely make me hopeful for a better life for MissyI would like to buy a trap instead of borrowing. Are there any traps that you can recommend that would be better/easier for someone who has no idea what they are doing?

 

[dahlia]

I have one from Tomahawk that I like quite well. It is a bit smaller because it was made for neighborhood cat trappers. It has the option of buying a clear plastic back, which I have done. You can slide the back door up and down to put in the food which makes it easier. Sorry I can't remember exactly what it is called but if you searched the Tomahawk website, you could probably find it. I think TruCatch makes one that a lot of people like as well.

 

[fionasmom]

Havahart is another one that is popular and those are the ones that I have, not because they are any better than the others, but because they seemed available at the time. Don't buy a kitten trap; they are too small, even if you perceive mama cat as a small cat. They are not useful for kittens either.

TruCatch is the one used by the licensed humane relocation companies in the area. When my neighbor had a skunk apocalypse on her property, the company she called used TruCatch and I really liked how they worked. (I released all non-skunk captures to save her some money; skunks are relocated to an area where they can live successfully in the wild).

Look at some pictures online and read descriptions and see which one you think will work best for you. We can help you here with specifics for trapping when you think you might start.

Thanks for posting the pics. The little kitty looks very happy in that huge bed and I can see what you mean about the mom staying nearby.

 

[Kadonia]

I have one from Tomahawk that I like quite well. It is a bit smaller because it was made for neighborhood cat trappers. It has the option of buying a clear plastic back, which I have done. You can slide the back door up and down to put in the food which makes it easier. Sorry I can't remember exactly what it is called but if you searched the Tomahawk website, you could probably find it. I think TruCatch makes one that a lot of people like as well.

Thanks so much for this info, I will check it out!