Please Help!! Feral cat question?

Question

I didn't know it, but the was an opening under my house. I just found 2 cats had been living under the house and now there are at least 4 kittens. The kittens are a few weeks old. I called the humane society and they said because they are feral cats, they'd all have to be put to sleep. I don't want to do that. I have NO PROBLEM paying the the cats to get fixed.

I need some advice (having never owned a cat)... I want to close off the area underneth the house, but I want to make sure the kittens are old enough. I also want to make sure that when I close it off there is no other kittens or cats under the house. How can I do this and be sure?

I want to wait until the kittens are old enough (they look about 5 weeks now), because I don't want to take them away from mom. I tried to put a little food out (I know, bad idea), and the kittens ate it fine. I have not touched any of them in fear of the mother cat stop taking care of one a human touched (I read that somewhere). Please HELP

PLEASE READ! I forgot to mention the fact that I have a dog... I have been told to lock him in the bathroom and let the cats in, I cannot do this because my dog would go through the floor. Where the cats go under the house is on the other side of a fence and when my dog sees them throught the fence he barks at them. I would LOVE to be able to take the kittens in and socialize them, but I can't because my dog (corgi/shepard) will go crazy. My dog is not crazy, but he's had the house to himself for 8 years and will cause some damage to the floor if he's locked in a room or something. HELP

Answer 1

I think 6 weeks would be a good age to go ahead and take the kittens away from mom to get them tame. Make sure and offer plenty of milk and high quility kitten food. Good Luck

Answer 2

Live trap them and after they are fixed put the adults in a room with food water a litter box(dont expect them to use it yet) and some toys put nothing else in their TAKE ALL VALUABLE FURNATURE OUT and eventually after they have all of their shots sit in the room for about five minutes as often as you can and gently talk to thin air. dont look at them or try to catch them. In a couple of weeks put your shirts and clothes or blankets with your scent on them in their !ALL OVER IN THE ROOM! then start extending your time in the room eventually they will know they can trust you. If they come by you at first dont touch them even if they jump on your lap just keep gently talking to them and eventually let them sniff your hand and when they trust you they will let you pet them

the kittens- just treat them as normal kittens and give them kitten food and water. in a couple of weeks about when they are 12 weeks old put an add in the paper. other than that i am not sure.

Also search Google for a cat rescue center around you that you can ask any other questions

maybe go under there (your house) with a flash light (and a board or flyswatter to LIGHTLY swat them back in case their is an unfriendly cat under there) to make sure no other cats live their than either call someone to board it up or board it up yourself

Hope this helps-- its nice to know some people care so much about animals-- i know i do

Answer 3

If you have never had a cat or kitten then you do not know all of the basics. Everyone here has given great advice. I just want to add my advice. I know how hard it is not to give a beautiful baby kitten milk, even if they are eating. The one thing that you should now is do NOT give them cows milk. It will give them the runs and make them ill. If you really want to give them milk, give them goats milk (found in the milnot section of your supermarket) or give them mothers replacement milk,found in the catfood isle. They are both healthy for kittens. I would not over do it on the milk though. They really need to get their teeth developed and need the hard food for that. Also, for the adults. See if you can find a neuter scooter in your area. If you catch ferral cats in a livetrap and take them in, they will fix the cats and give then their shots for $20 a piece. I think they also have a website, but I am not sure.

Answer 4

The kittens can be weaned from mom around 6 weeks. If you do touch them, it shouldn't have an effect on mom caring/not caring for them. I would start interacting with the kittens now so they are tame and able to be handled. You can feed them a kitten food (you don't have to supply them with any type of milk, they can sustain themselves on food and water.) Then if you want to keep them/fix them or bring them to the shelter, they should accept them because they are able to be handled. I guess as far as the opening under your house, you'll just have to do the best you can. You can set live traps with some food in them to capture the feral ones (its a safe and humane way). Good luck with your situation!

Answer 5

I have a litter of feral cats, the mother left them for 1 week and never came back. They are almost 2 now. I had to work daily with them to get them to let me handle them. Go online and look for feral trap/spay program. They will trap the mothers and get them fixed and release them back in your area. The mother cat will not remove them if you touch them. But you should take the kitten now before they start to wander and get hit by a car. Same on your town for destroying feral cats, they didn't ask to be dumped by their owner. People need o get their cats spayed because then the population will cease to grow thus eliminating the problem. Good Bless you for taking in the babies. Someone one the city council in my town wanted to gather all cats found outside and destroy them all. Well PETA and the SPCA was ready to step in and protest that crap. Well guess what it came to a halt real fast when they found out that a few cat lovers called PETA and the SPCA, they didn't want all that publicity in this town.

Answer 6

What kind of cruddy arsed 'humane' society puts feral cats to sleep? How ridiculous.

The kittens are old enough to be weaned, and therefore to be touched by you. The adults are also fine to be neutered - in fact they could be pregnant again already, so have it done ASAP! Just be aware that if they are true ferals they may be HIGHLY unfriendly, and you may therefore need help catching them - I wouldn't call that humane society for help again tho(!). Perhaps you won't be able to keep the ferals in your house, but the kittens should be tameable at this age.

Good on YOU for being so responsible! How refreshing!

Chalice

Answer 7

I would recommend that you make a few phone calls to some cat rescue people in your area, they are more experienced with dealing with feral cats and they know how to handle these types of situations. Rescue Groups will safely trap the kittens and most probably be able to place them in homes, and trap the adults and spay/neuter them as well. I am sure a Rescue Group would be more than willing to help you with this situation, especially if you are willing to spay/neuter the adults. Good Luck and God Bless.

Answer 8

If the kittens are moving around freely, eating solid food, and have their eyes and ears open, and have a full coat of fur it is time to take them inside (with the mother).

You need to buy a large "humane" animal trap which is like a large steel wired box with a metal door that snaps shut once the cat is inside. They make large sizes especially for cats. You must place bait such as tastey moist cat food (mind the recalled stuff) or tuna and place the trap under the house. A couple traps in different spots may speed things up. You must check on the traps often to ensure there is nobody stuck in there. use gloves too, so the traps do not smell of human.

If you are successful in capturing both adults and you can reach the nest, carefully romove the kittens (wearing gloves). Or you may need to continue rebaiting the trap(s) to capture all of them.

Have a large dog crate in your home (the ones that look like black wire cages with white plastic bottoms) and open the trap into the crate, keeping the cats and kittens together as a family as you capture them. This will make the experiance a little less traumatic. Have a litter box ready in the crate with litter in it, as well as water dishes and towels.
Feed a good quality cat food or kitten food depending on the age of the kittens and if the mother is still nursing them.

Make an appointment with your vet as soon as you have them all, and take them in for a thourough physical examination which should include a fecal check to look for parasites, vaccinations for the adults (and kittens depending on age), and a discussion with you on the right way to care for your new family including the best time to spay or neuter, the type of food to feed, preventing fights between mother and kittens when they grow up, and on finding good homes for the kittens if this family gets too much for you.

The reason the Humane society said they would have them put to sleep is because feral cats (adults) commonly remain as wild animals and do not make good house pets. The adults will require many months of calm, positive interaction with you before they come to trust a human. After getting the adults fixed and up to date on vaccinations, and dewormed if needed, you must choose if you can take the time to create a loving trusting bond with these wild animals, or if you wish to re-release them. (a sort of Trap-Neuter-Release) program you'd be running.

The kittens are at an age where they can become use to handling and can become tame. You must keep them indoors. It is much safer for them this way.

You could also get in touch with a shelter that performs trap-neuter-release programs as they may be able to assist you in capture of the cats, altering them, and finding homes.

best of luck

-RVT
(Registered Veterinary Technician and cat owner)

Answer 9

Feed the cats all of them, I feed the ferals and strays around my house, I doubt the cats where always feral or they wouldn't have moved under a house give them time to trust you. Put out old clothing with your scent on it under the house and feed them they need help. I have socialized quite a few strays but it takes time they've most likely been abused by humans and need to get the trust back. When they start trusting you enough get in touch with PETA or Animal Love in your area they will help you find them a home that won't kill them. I'm so happy to hear that you want to help them it's only a good and kind person who thinks the way you do. Good luck and look up feral cats and strays on the net it will give lots of info on how to help them.

Answer 10

the respond is definite attractive dude because of the fact the main useful constantly stay to tell the story do not they? i've got self belief for all feral/stray cats as at one time in line with probability they belonged to a man or woman and that i additionally sense for kittens as i recognize via adventure that hungry cats will eat kittens distinctly once you have one hundred's of them living in one area, we had this issue in the united kingdom the place I stay feral cats have been being fed via sufferers in a scientific institution and the place the boilers have been in the basement cats have been breeding nonstop and the mummy cats have been generally ravenous and ate their offspring. I ensured that each physique animal rescues have been given in touch in trapping the undesirable creatures and a few have been decrease back neutered/spayed because of the fact the do shop the mouse/rat inhabitants down. i could urge absolutely everyone getting a cat or kitten to verify they are in a position to't reproduce.