If they are weaned and can eat reg can food they should be ok to take away from the mother cat. Better to fix them than have too many cats. Overtime the mother cat will get used to you if you keep feeding her.
Kathy in CA
I noticed that a lot of you have cats. There was a wild cat living in our barn. She had kittens. One of the kittens survived and is still living here. The mother is gone. But now the kitten who has grown up, has 2 adorable kittens of her own. We feed the momma cat and she will come to the porch to beg and seems to like being around us. She just will not allow us to get close enough to touch her.
We would like to tame the two new kittens. I can trap them easily. I have been feeding them in an old parrot cage. I think we should bring them in the house for a while a week or two until they are tame. My sister thinks it is too mean to take them away from their mother. The kittens are weaned and are eating cat food. But unless we tame them so they can be neutered we are sure to have lots of cats next year.
So, what do you all think, trap them every day and handle them a little while, then turn them loose. Or trap them and bring them in the house for a while. Or, maybe you have a better plan altogether. I have the parrot cage and a large dog carrier. and of course a litter box.
Would love to hear what you think.
Vikki in WA State
For sure you should trap them, bring them in the house and get them civilized. Take them to the vet ASAP and have them sterilized. Continued interaction with the mother should lead to being able to capture her and get her spayed. You probably won't get her "civilized" but as long as she has been spayed and hangs around for you to feed her, she'll be better. If you contact your vet and ask, he should be able to put you in touch with some sort of group that captures feral cats for neutering. Quite often these groups will loan out traps or actually come and trap the cat for you. This is especially true if they know you are willing to pay to have the cat spayed and then will be responsible for care of her once she is returned to you. Talk to your vet and discuss all of your options. The best thing you can do is to have ALL the cats spayed or neutered and then provide them with a safe place to live. If that means the mom cat stays outside and is not "tame" then fine -- at least she won't be making anymore unwanted babies. I have a friend who works for one of the large needlework magazines. They have several semi-wild cats that live in the office complex. They and the other businesses have managed to capture all of the cats and their kittens and have them all spayed and neutered. The kittens have all been spayed and gone to good homes (friend took one). There have even been several articles about the cats in the magazine and readers sent in $$ now and again to help cover costs of buying food and vet care! The magazine people are great and so are the readers! Lots of cats have been saved by these nice people!! CiaoMeow
Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their WHISKERS!! Nothing is complete without a few cat hairs!
Definitely bring them in. They will live longer, happier lives inside. Spaying and neutering is the kindest thing you can do. Maybe you can eventually catch the Mom and spay her too. She might still be an outdoor kitty, but at least you won't have more and more cats. Just my 2 cents.
We had a kitty like this in Sydney. It'd come to us for food and water and occasionally wander through the house but try to pick it up - forgedaboudit! Tried to tame that thing for 18 months! I'd catch the little kittys and keep em inside for awhile.
We had a similar situation. This kitten and her brother were dumped in out neighborhood and found their way to our garage. The little female had a litter somewhere else (we suspect under someone's deck) and brought them home to us one by one. We found homes for them without too much trouble. The mama now had a name of "Gypsy". She was getting more comfortable with us every day and would allow us to pet her. Then she came home with another litter of three kittens and we thought, uh oh. Here we go again. Did find homes for them after a bit but we knew we didn't want any more kittens. We set up an appointment to get her spayed and were very creative in gettng her into the pet carrier even though she whined the whole trip to the vets. After we picked her up, we set up a "recovery suite" in a spare room in our basement thinking we would keep her inside just to let her heal. That was
2.5 years ago, she's never been out since. She is a love, still called Gypsy and fits right in with our other kitty Scraps and our two pups - although Kirby still thinks she is his personal chew toy! Pix of Gypsy are on the website - she is on her quilt called "Gyspy's Choice"!Good for you taking care of these little critters! I hope it goes well for you. Even if they don't come inside, just getting spayed will make a big difference.
- Alice in NJ RCTQ - "Royal Cybrarian"
Our first kitty was Sterling. He showed up one day and said we could live with him. He was a russian blue. Someone had taken care of him at one time he was fixed and declawed. He fit right in with Chloe and Cassie, our dogs. At the time I owned a retail store, a franchise FASTFRAME, and he went to work everyday with me. Loved riding in the car and had his own chair at the store. Customers loved him. We had him almost 4 year and a died of kidney failure. He was affectionate in is his own way and he taught my husband that "cats are cool". That is why 4 weeks later we brought Sugar home. We fixed her, but no declaw. She has a post to scratch on. DH thinks cats are a great invention, especially the housebreaking. After the dogs are gone, he says only cats! I never thought I would see this, he always said he hated cats. See what a little ball of fluff can do?
Your little gray and black striped cat could be a twin to our Jasmine. My daughter brought her home 12 years ago saying she found her in a trash bin and can we take care of her until she finds her a home. Yeah...12 years later. She must have been abused because she was totally crazy. She would come up to you to get petted, then when you pet her she would run away like she was crazy. She gets really skinny in the summer (vet says she eats too many lizzards) and plump in the winter. When she is skinny she is crazy, when she is plump she is a love. She is so skinny this year we are not sure we will have her much longer, even though she seems healthy. And, she has become such a love, she drives us crazy.
Mardi
Real e-mail address spelled out to prevent spam. mardi at mardiweb dot com. ____________________
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Is it convenient for you to go to the barn several times a day to play with the kittens? I think bringing them in the house to civilize them is OK but they will start hanging around your porch wanting in and begging for food. You will have cats underfoot as soon as you open the door to outside.
When I was growing up we always had cats and kittens. If the cats and kittens were played with and fed in the barn that's where they would stay. The few of my favourites I would bring up to the house and that's where they hung around.
Ann
Get mom spayed. Get the kittens spayed/neutered. There are low-cost programs in most places. Kittens can be done as young as eight weeks old. I've had the same situation before with feral/semi-wild mama cats, took them in for spaying and released them again if they didn't want to be tamed. At least they are given a chance to live without being a kitten factory!
Have a peace-filled/piece-filled day, Ginger in CA
Thanks everyone, Guess the cats are coming in. then to the vet, They are beautiful kittens so I will probably keep them. I know they need to be vaccinated and maybe wormed.
I appreciate the input.
Vikki
bring
trap 'em and get 'em *fixed.* End of story. My sister had to do that from last summer until spring.....one momma had three litters (five kittens each) Never could tame Momma, but found homes for several of the kitties. Momma was overwelmed and abandoned one kitten that sis had to bottle feed. He's now an indoor animal. Momma still comes to the backdoor for meals but can't be touched. She's just too wild. Happier now that she's kitten-less, but still too wary. Buckeye Bev
I have taken several cats off the farm because the owner was going to "dispose" of them. The only thing I have to say is don't expect them to become really civilized and cuddly. Often times even though these cats would tolerate us it definitely was not safe to let them around children. Now that's not to say all cats born outside will be like that but just be careful. And I agree with everyone else about getting them fixed. Just my two cents. Take Care Joanna God would never give me anything I couldn't handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much. Mother Theresa
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