- Joined
- Jul 21, 2018
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- 17
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I apologize in advance if this gets long, I only know how to write novels, I'm sorry!
So, two days ago I found a litter of kittens under my car. Four babies, all black, approximately three weeks old. I "knew" the mama cat, she's a stray that's been around for a while and stays in a vacant lot on my street, I think everyone has brought food over to her (and another TNRed stray) at some point or another. We always knew Mama Cat was pretty friendly, definitely never a feral, but still a little shy. After putting the babies in a box, we managed to get Mama Cat in a cat carrier, just took a can of wet food.
Now here's where it gets tricky. I have two cats of my own and we're due to get a kitten in exactly one week. I've had plans to get this kitten since the day it was born (long story, but a friend of my sister has too many cats and needed a home for this little guy). I've only got one spare room, it's already waiting for the new little guy so he can be properly introduced, etc, etc. So without any room for this Mama and her babies, my mom volunteered to take them in temporarily as she had adequate space and a spacey room to quarantine them from her resident cat.
Mama Cat is scheduled to be TNRed in August once the kittens are weaned, and the people at the TNR place have made arrangements to take the kittens after that as well so they can fixed, vaxxed, put up for adoption, the works. They can't take the mom cat though, for whatever reason. My mom says the mom cat settled in quickly at her place. She never hid from them, she always comes out for pets/treats, she just really seems to be loving the indoor life and adapted astonishingly fast. To be honest, I was kinda hoping my mom would fall for the mama cat and keep her but long term, it's probably not a great idea. Her resident cat is 15 years old, blind, and cranky as all get out! Needless to say, I completely understand why my mom doesn't wanna add in a new cat.
I can't keep her either. Not only are three cats (my two plus the new kitten) my max that I feel like I can comfortably afford but I can't imagine introducing two new cats to my resident cats so quickly - again, the new kitten plus Mama Cat later on. But I feel SO guilty at the idea of releasing this girl back into the neighborhood after hearing how well she's loving being inside. I feel like I've gotten her hopes up and once she's spayed, it's back to the streets for her. Of course, I'm gonna try to line up a home for her before it comes to that but IF it does, what does everyone think? Is this just...cruel? Let her stay inside while her kittens are growing then tossing her back out once she's spayed? That's how it feels to me and it's eating me alive. My neighbor said she's probably been a stray on our street for about four years so she's definitely used to the outdoor life but it just feels awful. Animal Services here will only allow owner surrenders if the animal came from the facility and is less than five years old (or get put on a very long waiting list until they have space). There's two other rescues in the area but one only takes owner surrenders and I haven't heard back from the other.
So, two days ago I found a litter of kittens under my car. Four babies, all black, approximately three weeks old. I "knew" the mama cat, she's a stray that's been around for a while and stays in a vacant lot on my street, I think everyone has brought food over to her (and another TNRed stray) at some point or another. We always knew Mama Cat was pretty friendly, definitely never a feral, but still a little shy. After putting the babies in a box, we managed to get Mama Cat in a cat carrier, just took a can of wet food.
Now here's where it gets tricky. I have two cats of my own and we're due to get a kitten in exactly one week. I've had plans to get this kitten since the day it was born (long story, but a friend of my sister has too many cats and needed a home for this little guy). I've only got one spare room, it's already waiting for the new little guy so he can be properly introduced, etc, etc. So without any room for this Mama and her babies, my mom volunteered to take them in temporarily as she had adequate space and a spacey room to quarantine them from her resident cat.
Mama Cat is scheduled to be TNRed in August once the kittens are weaned, and the people at the TNR place have made arrangements to take the kittens after that as well so they can fixed, vaxxed, put up for adoption, the works. They can't take the mom cat though, for whatever reason. My mom says the mom cat settled in quickly at her place. She never hid from them, she always comes out for pets/treats, she just really seems to be loving the indoor life and adapted astonishingly fast. To be honest, I was kinda hoping my mom would fall for the mama cat and keep her but long term, it's probably not a great idea. Her resident cat is 15 years old, blind, and cranky as all get out! Needless to say, I completely understand why my mom doesn't wanna add in a new cat.
I can't keep her either. Not only are three cats (my two plus the new kitten) my max that I feel like I can comfortably afford but I can't imagine introducing two new cats to my resident cats so quickly - again, the new kitten plus Mama Cat later on. But I feel SO guilty at the idea of releasing this girl back into the neighborhood after hearing how well she's loving being inside. I feel like I've gotten her hopes up and once she's spayed, it's back to the streets for her. Of course, I'm gonna try to line up a home for her before it comes to that but IF it does, what does everyone think? Is this just...cruel? Let her stay inside while her kittens are growing then tossing her back out once she's spayed? That's how it feels to me and it's eating me alive. My neighbor said she's probably been a stray on our street for about four years so she's definitely used to the outdoor life but it just feels awful. Animal Services here will only allow owner surrenders if the animal came from the facility and is less than five years old (or get put on a very long waiting list until they have space). There's two other rescues in the area but one only takes owner surrenders and I haven't heard back from the other.