Feral kittens! When's the best time to catch mom?

[RareBreedFancier]

Hi all, I know some of you have experience with feral kittens so thought I'd ask.

Found the kittens 2 days ago after wondering what the dog found so interesting in the wood pile. They look to be around 4wo and are just starting to explore and play. They are adorable and I'm taming them with food, I have already been able to touch 4 of the 5. DH had said prior to finding them a couple of outdoor and stable kitties would be ok to hunt mice and currently he thinks there are 3 kittens. He hasn't seen the two shyer ones and I'm not telling him there are more till I get them tame enough to handle.

I need to tame them all so I can get shots and neuter everyone when they get older. I also need to tame them in case he thinks 5 is really too many and I need to re-home a couple.

My biggest concern right now is momma kitty. I want to catch and spay her before the next round but not sure the best time to try. DH says I'm not aloud to bring the kittens in the house and they are still nursing at the moment. I want to catch momma before she leaves them but I don't want to either spook her by putting a trap out or scare the heck out of her by catching and spaying her now only to have her move the kittens. It sure would be easier if I could just grab them and put them in a pen but DH doesn't want me to do that.

I've read several sites that say grab them as soon as they start weaning at 4wo but at the same time I've always been told not to take kittens from mom that young. I'm afraid if I haven't tamed them enough by the time they are mobile she might move them and I won't have the chance to catch them.

Advice please.

 

[Mommysongbird]

You can have her done now.

I had one of my mama cats (feral) done when her last litter was about 3 - 4 weeks old. I had her done through Angels of Assissi where I live and they did her for free b/c she was in a trap (I paid for a rabie shot of they clipped her ear). When I got her home she was still groggy but I put her into a larger cage and she stayed in that over night and the next day she resumed nursing her kittens.

 

[Akane]

Asap. Catch them, spay mom, and keep hold of the kittens to tame. They should eat wet food or moistened dry just fine at that age. I've gotten plenty of 3-4week old orphans and they don't drink formula for more than a few days before switching completely to kitten food. The earlier you tame them the better. At that age no one will ever know they were feral. If you release them they will never tame completely and may leave to make more kittens elsewhere before you can catch them again.

 

[Okie Amazon]

Cats will come back into heat shortly after weaning so trap and spay now. I'd go ahead and catch up the kittens (I have used canned food and a bird net) and give them some intensive socialization. If kittens don't get socialized by 6-8 weeks at the outside, they will never be come a housepet or "tame" cat.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Updating, I can now pick up and play with the kittens.

They still love their canned food but I watched them eating the dry food I mainly put out for momma this morning. I was surprised but they were really tucking into it. They still seem like babies to me but I guess they are old enough for me to take them.

Talked to my vet and they will spay momma if I can trap her. Hopefully picking up a trap when we go to town on Wednesday. Apparently the local council policy on ferals is trap and destroy so I'm getting the trap out of town. Stupid rule, she'd just be instantly replaced by another entire female taking over the territory. If I spay her, no more kittens.

DH has finally worked out there are 5 kittens this morning and he's relented and I'm aloud to bring them in for socializing.

He also seems ok with keeping them all too which amazes me.

Hopefully by this time next week momma will be spayed and the kittens will be settled in either the laundry or bathroom. The laundry is where I'd like to have them ideally, it has outdoor access through a catflap (which I'd temporarily block) and it wouldn't give them access to my house cats which I want to keep separate till the kittens get health checked and vaccinated.

So if I do bring them in, how long till I can let them back out? They are supposed to be outdoor mousers so they need to go back out. 8 house cats just isn't going to fly with DH.

 

[jennh]

Are the kittens still nursing? I have rescued/trapped a couple of times. I put the kittens in the trap, Momma came in for the kittens, and there you go.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

They sure are still nursing, it's why I feel bad taking them but once she weans them she'll be much harder to catch. They look around 5wo now. I can't believe how fast they are growing, I've never had baby kittens around 'cause all my pets are neutered.

Not sure how I'd manage to put the kittens in the trap but it is a good idea if I can do it. Depends on the trap I guess. Not sure what it's like till I pick it up. I'd need to be able to get the kittens back out again without risking momma's escape or getting myself shredded.

 

[Kaitie09]

I have rescued litters as young as 10 days old and everyone we adopt them out to say they are the best cats they know. We currently have 6 that are just about a years old. The mama had them in a bush next to the road and one of the little one found her way out to the street. What you could to to trap the mama would be if you have a small mudroom or something that has a door, you could bring the kittens in there, and get the mama to come in, as soon as she is in shut the door so she is confined. You should wear gloves and just throw a blanket over her. This will calm her down and she wont be able to see you. It might be good to take them while they are still nursing, You could bottle feed them for about a week and then start feeding them baby cereal mixed with kitten formula. Then each day add a little bit of canned food so that in about 2-3 weeks, that is all that they will eat. Bottle feeding creates a strong connection between you, and they are normally more friendly towards people.

We have rescued many litters and all 9 of ours are from them. We have 3 that are totally outside, went out when they were about 6months old. Our oldest is 13 and he still comes running whenever you call his name. As soon as you sit down outside they all come running and will lay with you for hours. Everyone is always surprised at how friendly they are. Just give them lots of attention and loving and they will turn out to be great cats.

Also, didn't know if you knew this but if you take the kittens to a rescue clinic, they can be spayed as young as 8 weeks and get their shots at the same time. Just say they are strays and they will do it. I do think they have to be at least 3 lbs though

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Quote:
*Sigh* I wish I could get them neutered that young however I run into the stupid 'Rules'.

If I want my vet to do them they won't till they are 6mo. That's their policy. As for cost, $50 males, $100 females and I'm pretty sure I can get a discount and I have mainly males. Plus $100 covers all their kitten vacc's. However... if I take them to the shelter I have to pay $25 each to surrender them and if I want them back I have to pay $250 each to adopt them.

And they may not even let me because that would mean I'd have to many cats according to 'The Rules'.

It's like they want to punish the people doing the right thing. And they wonder why they have problems with abandoned and unwanted cats AND why so few get adopted.

Sorry to rant but it makes me so mad.

Good news, momma kitty might not be as feral as I'd feared, she peeked out of the wood pile at me when I was less than 5' away.

I often see her feet, sitting just out of site she doesn't realize I can see her white feet. She's coming out to eat as soon as I move away so I am quite pleased.

UPDATE!!!

I didn't get the part above posted last night but overnight but I have a huge update today, momma and 4 of the 5 kittens are gone!

We had a sprinkle of rain forecast for last night and I didn't worry because a sprinkle wouldn't worry them where they were. We got nearly 2 inches!

One cold wet kitten was in my open fronted shed crying so I dried it off as well as I could while calling the others and none appeared. I left food out in the shed, where I normally feed them and under the house which is where I hoped they had gone because I can't find them in any of the out buildings.

The little one kept crying every time I went near it and trying to follow me so I've brought it in. It's currently curled up under a blanket.

Saw momma come back, eat the food where I usually feed them, duck into the shed and ate the food there then disappeared back over the road.

Went across the road to check if the farmer there had seen the kittens because momma goes over there every night and turns out he knows exactly which cat and which kittens I'm looking for. She was over there and moved them twice before they came over here. He's going to keep an eye out for them and let me know if they turn up. He's also got another 3 or 4 litters so he told me if the ones I'm looking for don't turn up I'm welcome to take some of the others. He also let me know I have about zero chance of trapping her because he tried to trap her with her last litter and she's trap shy. *Sigh* I'm SO wishing I'd just grabbed them all up last night now.

 

[chicks4kids]

Do you have a nueter scooter around you?? It's a mobile neuter/spay unit that drives around and sets up at a large facility. In my area, a feral cat is done for $25 and if you catch them in a trap, you can leave them in a trap. Non feral are $50 whether a male or female. They will neuter at any stage of the pregnancy. I just took my new boys (that came from the neighbors house-ugh) to get them done and they were perfectly fine with the surgery. My vet wanted to charge $85 for the surgery. The lady also told us that out of the 87 females that they did that day only 2 were NOT pregnant...her point being that there would have been that many more kittens running around. Definitely a great service.

Check into that, you're bound to have the same type of thing around you.