"Pebop" u22496@uwe wrote in message news:6116950f427a4@uwe...
We have a cat that is approx 1 1/2 yrs old. When she came to us, she was
wild.
She is still not tame but she does tolerate us petting her when she feels
like it and feeding her. She is an outside cat, WILL NOT come into the
house
no matter what you offer her. She had kittens approx 8-9 wks ago. At first
we
thought that there were no viable kittens as it did not seem she was
nursing
and we could not find evidence of any kittens. After about 4 wks, we
noticed
that one side of her stomach (around her teats) was lumpy and a little
swollen. That is still going on and have now noticed hair loss around the
teats. She also does not seem to be putting any weight on. We have seen 1
possibly 2 kittens in the last day or so that we think are hers. I don;t
know
if any of this is normal since we have never had a cat before. I would
love
to take her to the vet but she only comes around in the late evening or at
night and even then you can't set you watch by it. She just kinds shows up
when she wants to. If anyone has any info or advice at all, I would really
appreciate it.

We had a similar situation last winter. A stray
mother cat was friendly, came to the patio for
food, but wouldn't be picked up. Once the
kittens were weaned we tried to trap her. One
evening we managed to grab her long enough to
dump her into a cat carrier with an opening on top.
She struggled wildly but didn't scratch or bite. In
fact, she got away from me the first time, but
came right back and with my husband's help we
got her into the carrier.

I had prepared the carrier with a cut down cardboard
box in the bottom and lots of shredded newspaper.
We left her in the carrier overnight and took her to
the vet the next day. We had explained the situation
to our vet weeks earlier, and the staff said to bring her
in whenever we caught her.

She was tested for FeLV/FIV, found negative, got
spayed and vaccinated. When we brought her
home it got cold (only time that winter!) so we
didn't let her out, although our intention was to
release her back into the neighborhood. We
have an "isolation" room on the patio set up for
cats so it wasn't a problem for us. After two days
she had settled in and showed no interest in going
out. That was December and now she is part of
the family, still not showing any interest in the
outdoors.

It doesn't always work out that well, but as
others have noted there are special traps for
cats, and vets should know how to handle
feral cats, and understand you can't always
schedule when you trap them. Talk with your
vet to make sure she/he is willing to be flexible
about when you bring the cat in, assuming you
can capture her.

Even if all that works, and the hair loss problem
is resolved, your cat still might insist on being let
out. At least she will be spayed and vaccinated.

Gail F.
San Antonio, Texas
Chief of Staff for Lao Ma, Ephiny, Minya,
Melosa