Trapping blind kittens

LeiLatte

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Hello,

There is a mother feral who started bringing her 2 kittens around to our porch where I hide food and water. Sometimes they sleep on the porch during the night or part of the day. The mom is not friendly and has charged towards me and hissed when she thought I might grab her babies (I only lingered there to take a picture, didn’t get close, but she still charged).

Since that time I leave them alone. But today I got home and saw the 2 kittens sitting on my neighbor’s porch. One kitten ran away so it must have seen me, but I think one eye is glued shut. The other kitten definitely has both eyes glued shut and cannot see. It only moved away when it heard me.

What should I do to trap these kittens, and even the mom? I honestly haven’t been involved in trapping for almost a year and a half when a nearby feral got sick and I could never trap her, and I had to watch her slowly painfully die unable to help her.

I have a lot of traps and even 2 kitten sized traps. If the kittens are blind, how will they see it to go inside? I believe they are still drinking milk from the mom at least some of the time because I’ve seen it on the camera. I’m not sure if they are eating solid food. I’m also worried about catching them and not the mom and her being distraught and trying to attack me when I go out there. I hate to see them scared. The kittens are probably 5-6 weeks old.

I also live in an area with an HOA that is not supportive so I can’t leave traps and things out anywhere. I will basically be doing this from my porch and only in the dark...when people aren’t out walking. I can’t do this until Friday night/the weekend. I honestly wasn’t planning to try trapping until they’re grown up. But if the eye infection can be treated and save their vision that would be ideal...
 

CatladyJan

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Hello,

There is a mother feral who started bringing her 2 kittens around to our porch where I hide food and water. Sometimes they sleep on the porch during the night or part of the day. The mom is not friendly and has charged towards me and hissed when she thought I might grab her babies (I only lingered there to take a picture, didn’t get close, but she still charged).

Since that time I leave them alone. But today I got home and saw the 2 kittens sitting on my neighbor’s porch. One kitten ran away so it must have seen me, but I think one eye is glued shut. The other kitten definitely has both eyes glued shut and cannot see. It only moved away when it heard me.

What should I do to trap these kittens, and even the mom? I honestly haven’t been involved in trapping for almost a year and a half when a nearby feral got sick and I could never trap her, and I had to watch her slowly painfully die unable to help her.

I have a lot of traps and even 2 kitten sized traps. If the kittens are blind, how will they see it to go inside? I believe they are still drinking milk from the mom at least some of the time because I’ve seen it on the camera. I’m not sure if they are eating solid food. I’m also worried about catching them and not the mom and her being distraught and trying to attack me when I go out there. I hate to see them scared. The kittens are probably 5-6 weeks old.

I also live in an area with an HOA that is not supportive so I can’t leave traps and things out anywhere. I will basically be doing this from my porch and only in the dark...when people aren’t out walking. I can’t do this until Friday night/the weekend. I honestly wasn’t planning to try trapping until they’re grown up. But if the eye infection can be treated and save their vision that would be ideal...
They will smell the food. Put a cover over the traps except for the entrance.
 

fionasmom

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You have a very unique situation and I certainly sympathize with you and understand the constraints of not putting traps all over the place, etc. I do agree with CatladyJan CatladyJan that they will smell the food. This is probably not blindness, but some infection and you said that one can see with one eye, so that is at least a start. The outcome of this is unpredictable, but if it were me I would set and bait the traps and see what happens.

Do you have a place to take the kittens if you get them?
 
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LeiLatte

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Thank your for your advice. I tried setting 2 kitten traps a couple weeks ago but they avoided it and didn’t go inside. I’ve been super busy and dealing with an illness of my own cat so I left it at that. The kittens disappeared this past week and I thought something happened to them. But as of last night I saw them hanging around my porch again.

Basically I went out there with my bare hands and a blanket and caught the kitty. I’m so proud of myself because I was terrified the mom would attack me, but she watched from a corner and my husband stood in front of her. The first time the kitten hissed and ran when I touched it, but I managed to catch it again before it went into the bushes.

So proud!! It is so cute! But it is definitely terrified and I don’t know what to do. The shelters/rescue here won’t take extra kittens. I’ve tried before. All the vets have appointments booked out for 3 weeks. I am fortunate to have an extra room downstairs (stole my husband’s gym lol) to put a big crate. I have to work tomorrow but may try either emergency vet or another vet if I can get them in this week.
 

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fionasmom

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Good job! It is possible sometimes to grab a kitten with your hands and I am glad that it worked for you. I am wondering if this is a bad case of something that can be treated given the two pics....of course, I have no way of knowing. You are really kind to have helped this kitten.
 
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LeiLatte

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I will try to get the other kitten, and at least mom fixed... the kitten crawled out of the top bars of the crate! I saw on the camera it was sitting on top like a monkey. We covered the crate so it hopefully can’t climb out.

But the kitten is VERY sick. 😢 You can hear raspy breathing like it has a lot of mucous. I have to work a double shift tomorrow so I can’t bring it until Monday. I hope it survives...would be devastated...
 
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LeiLatte

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Just wanted to share an update if anyone wants to some positive news today.

I managed to trap the sibling 3 weeks after the first kitten, and she was also sick with a URI. Both female kitties are healthy now and growing. I didn’t really have any issues socializing them, and they were never scared or unfriendly for more than a day.

I tried contacting a local no-kill shelter to surrender them once they were healthy, so they could be adopted out. But the shelter ignored my application. So I ended up with these 2 kitties. My husband feels bad for them so he agreed we can just keep them. But now we have…6 cats!!

The second sibling is noticeably smaller (almost a lb.). She must have been malnourished during those 3 extra weeks outside, and I feel a little guilty about that. I still have to catch the mom who still hangs around for food, but she is very wary of the traps. They are cute sweet girls and they get along playing together all day.

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fionasmom

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Stop feeling guilty! You are giving these little siblings a wonderful home and great life! I can only imagine how happy they are. Thanks for the update and good luck with getting the mom and getting her fixed.
 
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LeiLatte

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Stop feeling guilty! You are giving these little siblings a wonderful home and great life! I can only imagine how happy they are. Thanks for the update and good luck with getting the mom and getting her fixed.
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. ❤🙂 It’s very heartwarming to hear.
 

shadowsrescue

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You did an amazing and wonderful thing by saving these kittens! They are absolutely adorable.

Last year there was a stray older kitten in my backyard. He was skinny and absolutely starving. I was able to trap him and get him to a vet. My goal was to socialize him, get him neutered and then hoping the Humane Society would take him. Well, with Covid, they did not have any room. I tried numerous places. Luckily my DH fell in love with him. Now we have 7 cats!!

I really hope you can trap the Mom and get her spayed.
 
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