Stray Cat I've Been Taking Care Of Has Given Birth To 2 Kittens Help

[Vivi18]

They are roughly 2 weeks old. She has just now brought them right here. Up until a few days ago they were underground somewhere. Because of that one of the 2 kittens has an ugly infection in both eyes. Only now have I been able to take them and look at them. Mom doesn't care and trusts me completely. Now. I can't bring them inside, nor in the apartment building. She keeps putting them in nasty, dark places, presumably to keep away from male wandering cats and other humans. If I don't confine them to a decently clean place, the infection will reappear whether I treat them or not.
How do I stop her from moving the babies constantly? She's moved them 4 times already and this is the only time I was able to locate and handle the kittens. I heard them meow incessantly and mom purred around me when I was close.
I have made a cardboard house for her, that keeps her safe from the elements and is right under my balcony. She straight up ignored it. What could she want? I will talk to a neighbour that now works at a vet place as an assistant. Maybe she knows someone who can take them, as they are very cute, docile kittens. Mom is doing well, aside from a cough that I'd treated before that reappeared. I will treat her again and try to move the babies tomorrow after I set a litter box in our apartment complex, hopefully nobody will make a scene but I suspect it'll fail.
I do need some advice. This behaviour frustrates me because I don't want her to move them again. Also, she chooses really bad places. Help

 

[Sarthur2]

It sounds like mom may have an upper respiratory infection and needs antibiotics. The kitten needs its eyes cleaned with a warm, damp cloth and terramycin antibiotic eye ointment applied 2-3 times a day.

Neither this mom nor her kittens have a decent chance in life unless they are brought inside somewhere and receive proper vet care, not to mention that mom will be doomed to have litter after litter if she is not spayed.

If your vet assistant friend can help that would be great. Otherwise, please take this mom and kittens to a no-kill shelter where they can get help.

Are you able to bring them inside even temporarily? Who is feeding the mom?

Thank you for caring!

 

[Vivi18]

It sounds like mom may have an upper respiratory infection and needs antibiotics. The kitten needs its eyes cleaned with a warm, damp cloth and terramycin antibiotic eye ointment applied 2-3 times a day.

Neither this mom nor her kittens have a decent chance in life unless they are brought inside somewhere and receive proper vet care, not to mention that mom will be doomed to have litter after litter if she is not spayed.

If your vet assistant friend can help that would be great. Otherwise, please take this mom and kittens to a no-kill shelter where they can get help.

Are you able to bring them inside even temporarily? Who is feeding the mom?

Thank you for caring!

I feed the mom, 3 times/day. My neighbours seem to not give a flying ****, even though it wouldn't hurt to give the other cats some bones and skin and remains at least. I feel bad for the male cats that wander around and give them some food as well. I do think that neighbour has put some kibble for them a few times and another woman some bones and stuff, but nobody else.
Oh, and the place this female cat is staying at it's quite safe, just incredibly unsanitary. When she was by herself she would sit tight in the houses I made for her, keeping her clean. But she doesn't put the babies there. Also no real car traffic here and as she literally doesn't go further than a few meters from my place, she's not in danger. The male cats do go around too much and can end up hit by cars. It's worse for stray dogs though. And people that hit them disgustingly run away or just drive over them going on normally. This is irrelevant but I feel it paints a picture of the kind of country we have. It's truly heartbreaking.

I have another cat inside that I've rescued. She's quite sensitive and I don't want her catching anything from them. I know it's mean, but I'm not risking it. I also wash myself thoroughly after interacting with them and I go to great lengths to dodge my overly loving cat that is happy to see me come back and wants cuddles.

Sorry for not mentioning this, but I am from eastern Europe and there are no shelters for cats anywhere in my proximity. The few ones that exist in the country aren't really for cats and they have quite bad conditions for dogs as well. Many are just straight up abusive. I'm not sending any animal willingly to basically a death camp. I can't bring them in, nor can I give them intensive care as I'm starting exams to finish high school on Monday, but I can give them medicine probably starting next Thursday. And yeah, sucks to be broke because I probably won't be able to get them anything beyond some medicine. So no vet visits. What I can and will do is put some announcements for them as soon as I treat them. It's unlikely someone will adopt them as I've failed to adopt other kittens in the past, but I will try. My neighbour will probably just give me some general advice, but she's been having some issues, so I don't know how available she is right now. But I will try.

Thank you for giving me the names of specific medicine. That will be helpful.

I know that their life won't be nice. Until spaying becomes free or affordable or some program is implemented, I'm afraid we'll continue to have dozens upon dozens of stray cats at the mercy of people to at least feed them. Most people are not doing well financially, so to be quite frank, I don't blame them. Vets are greedy and people look to spay their own pets if they can.

Another issue I haven't thought of just popped in my mind. I'm afraid that as soon as the kittens move around too much, they might become dog food. I've seen a little pack go around here lately at night. They don't seem aggressive, even though they've cornered me lately at night when I was going home after having bought some stuff. They probably thought it was food. I was friendly and that's probably why they didn't munch on my legs. There are dogs that kill kittens and rarely grown cats as well for food.

I will try to arrange a spot in the apartment building, but I'm afraid she will try to take her babies out the second she decides she doesn't like it and I can't keep the door open for her to leave. Would that stress her out?

I really need to stop her from moving the babies for a few days. I don't know what she might want in terms of a nest. I've looked online as well and I did see a standard winter mini shelter, but that will become overheated fast. Should I dig something underground? We have a small patch of soil. That might be weird though.

 

[mmeyers9]

poor babies.

im worried none of them will survive without prompt vet care and a safe indoor home.

sending prayers

 

[Rhall]

Do you have a cat rescue organization in your area that can come get them?

 

[Vivi18]

Do you have a cat rescue organization in your area that can come get them?

No. I'm not from the US.

 

[Vivi18]

poor babies.

im worried none of them will survive without prompt vet care and a safe indoor home.

sending prayers

Unfortunately, after I managed to put the 3 of them right under my balcony in a little nest, the mom moved them again. That happened on Monday and that's when I began my exams. I finished yesterday. I've been feeding her as usual, but couldn't locate the kittens.
Today she brought here one of them, dead, from no visible cause. She's been staying here constantly all day, not leaving from under my balcony, just as she had done before.
My theory is the following: some nights I saw a feral male cat prowling around. I've asked around and it seems feral male cats are unusually aggressive and kill kittens by either suffocating them or thrashing their little bodies violently. It's disgusting. Since she hasn't left for them again, my guess is that they are all dead.
I don't know how to comfort her. I'm sure it must be horrible. I will make sure this aggressive cat doesn't come any closer to this place. As I'm relatively free now, I'll look for any free occasion to spay this cat. If there aren't any, I'm not sure what I'll do with her to keep her safe.

 

[Rhall]

No. I'm not from the US.

Ok, I'm not either - I'm from Canada. We have a very active rescue group in our area and my first 2 are from there with one more coming. They are always rescuing mom cats and kittens.

 

[Vivi18]

Ok, I'm not either - I'm from Canada. We have a very active rescue group in our area and my first 2 are from there with one more coming. They are always rescuing mom cats and kittens.

I'm from Romania. No such thing here, unfortunately. For the kittens it's not necessary anymore, sadly.

 

[Sarthur2]

How sad. I do hope you are able to get this cat spayed as soon as possible to alleviate her future breeding and possible suffering.

 

[lutece]

Here is an organization I found online that promotes spay/neuter in Romania and has an animal hospital in Bucharest. Try contacting them, they may be able to help.
Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. dba Animal Spay/Neuter International | Saving animal lives since 2003

 

[Vivi18]

Here is an organization I found online that promotes spay/neuter in Romania and has an animal hospital in Bucharest. Try contacting them, they may be able to help.
Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. dba Animal Spay/Neuter International | Saving animal lives since 2003

Thank you, but it's far away from my place. Some people have linked to it before.I know Bucharest has like maybe 1 or 2 trustworthy organisations that appeared in the last 2 years or so, but they are quite small and definitely barely handle what's in Bucharest. From what I know, it's absolute insanity. Packs of stray dogs everywhere and cats on every corner.

I'm honestly unable to trust anything government related. They have statewide programs to catch stray dogs and put them in kennels. They are absolutely disgusting. Think Peru 60ish years ago. The dogs are bashed in the head and beat until they die. Little to no food, no warmth during winter, infected water, dead dogs left to rot next to others and you can hear them bark constantly. There are maybe 2 that I know of that are independent and operate in the mountains. There are probably a few more as dogs' issues are taken more seriously here. In my town we have one such disgusting kennel here. I tried to volunteer and they refused my help, even though it was clear they needed it. The mayor doesn't care. They don't accept food donations. Nothing. No publicity or effort to adopt some dogs out.

This is why I don't trust most of these organisations. On top of that, they are packed. The focus on adopting them out is useless if they keep reproducing, but nobody cares. 2 years ago a local vet had a program for free spaying during certain months, but they dropped it. No funds. They have decent business so I doubt that. I only managed to get 1 stray cat spayed free during that period. She lives near my high school, used to feed a colony there. No other offers from them for now. I understand it's difficult to have cats coming in and out for sterilization, but I think they are our responsibility. They are also killing a lot of song birds and reptiles. It's unfair to them as well.

Sorry for the giant response. I just find it's difficult for me to explain to people here how bad it really is. If there were any decent shelters I would have gone there, but there aren't. It doesn't help that 90% of them are for dogs and the rest maybe accept some cats, but I've never heard of any activity. My only hope is finding a nice vet, but most of them are quite greedy. I'm sure there are many with good intent, but they've left me quite repulsed by their inaction lately. I would gladly volunteer.
I come here for some alternative suggestions to obvious answers such as shelter or TNR programs. They don't exist here.

For the little kittens it's too late, but I will focus on their mom. I never knew male cats could behave like that.

Random story: I once found a baby bird struggling in a puddle and there was no family around. Also dogs roaming around and it was getting pretty cold. I decided to take the baby bird in and return it if the family was back. Nothing. I contacted an organisation that claimed to help with birds, identification and such. I didn't know what kind of baby bird it was so that I could take care of it adequately. I managed to keep it alive almost a week. Their response was very late and it was already dead. So yeah, continuous bad experiences with such organisations have left me feeling very nervous about them.

 

[lutece]

Thank you, but it's far away from my place.

They supposedly have a mobile setup and go from place to place doing spay/neuter at various locations. If you look here you can see the places they went in previous months: Past Spayathons | Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. dba Animal Spay/Neuter International
For example it says that in May, "we did 191 spay/neuters in Sibiu, 131 in Craiova, 91 in Tecuci, 112 in Focsani and 387 at the Center of Hope" (Center of Hope is the clinic in Bucharest). Anyway it's worth a try.

 

[Vivi18]

They supposedly have a mobile setup and go from place to place doing spay/neuter at various locations. If you look here you can see the places they went in previous months: Past Spayathons | Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. dba Animal Spay/Neuter International
For example it says that in May, "we did 191 spay/neuters in Sibiu, 131 in Craiova, 91 in Tecuci, 112 in Focsani and 387 at the Center of Hope" (Center of Hope is the clinic in Bucharest). Anyway it's worth a try.

Supposedly. When they have such programs there are ads about it, such as last year. I haven't seen anything around town from them. Maybe they'll appear in autumn, but that's already too late.

 

[Vivi18]

They supposedly have a mobile setup and go from place to place doing spay/neuter at various locations. If you look here you can see the places they went in previous months: Past Spayathons | Romania Animal Rescue, Inc. dba Animal Spay/Neuter International
For example it says that in May, "we did 191 spay/neuters in Sibiu, 131 in Craiova, 91 in Tecuci, 112 in Focsani and 387 at the Center of Hope" (Center of Hope is the clinic in Bucharest). Anyway it's worth a try.

Update! I'm keeping her like 70% of the time in our apartment building. She doesn't destroy anything, mostly sleeps and uses her make-shift litter box. Occasionally sleeps in the box that I made for her. So she passed the approval test.

The tomcats still stalk her, but it's drastically gone down. I do hear the 2 fight outside at night sometimes. I have called some organisations, thinking at least one should give me some good info, but their phone numbers for my area were nonexistent or unavailable. For now there are no local sterilisation programs. I'm not sure why there still isn't a permanent one in place, but yeah, I guess I still have to wait after one such program. I've mentioned they sometimes skip periods and as such I wasn't able to spay other cats before.

For now it seems to work. She doesn't mind the boring building and mainly sleeps. I'm still sad for her kittens, but her mood has improved.

 

[Sarthur2]

Good to hear! Thank you for doing so much for her.

 

[Vivi18]

Good to hear! Thank you for doing so much for her.

Premature celebration. Neighbour complained and kicked her out. Said that he will keep putting her stuff outside when/if I bring them in. Said it's disgusting to keep her litter box and food there, but I suspect he just dislikes cats. The others are indifferent so nobody is technically on my side. Her stuff is back under my balcony.

I collared her though. She has an anti-parasite one on and she hasn't gone into heat again. Haven't seen the tomcats. I doubt that they will manage to mate with her because that collar is snug around her neck and doesn't have the best of smells lol. So if they do try to bite down on the nape of her neck, they will be met with an unfortunate surprise.

So I guess back to square 1. Sucks that people are neck deep into their own asses.

 

[Vivi18]

Good to hear! Thank you for doing so much for her.

I found her dead after not seeing her yesterday at all. Presumably same neighbour scared her and she went off farther than she would've ever gone. I think she was hit by a car because that's a higher traffic zone (and her body sure looked like that as well, won't go into detail). She was safe here, but he just had to be a **** and work up a fit. Her body was beyond disgusting but I managed to get it somewhere in a box, under a tree, to be taken by garbage men perhaps. The smell was absolutely foul, strong sulphur. So I couldn't handle it enough to bury her.

And this is the last stray cat I'll ever take care of for a long, long time. What can I do when I'm surrounded by shitty humans? Unless they're gone, the same story will replay over and over again. Hit by car, poisoned or scared away. No programs to take them in or give them up for adoption, no way to spay them, many people hate them and frighten them, so what am I supposed to do? I will just ignore any stray that comes around.

Sorry for such an ugly ending. I was really hopeful for this cat. Her name was Miți, btw.

 

[Sarthur2]

I’m so sorry. RIP poor kitty.

 

[GlitterKittie]

RIP Miti.