Feral/Stray Kitten Advice: Medical/Socialization, etc...

Hello, and pardon the long introduction, but I *will* get to the point
eventually:

Early last spring, a litter of kittens was born to a stray/feral cat
(known to us as "Boo") in our semi-urban neighborhood (near Chicago).
Two of the kittens ended up hanging around our yard, and after they
killed a squirrel last fall, my wife began feeding them. We now call
them "Catenary" and "Dirigible". They have come to expect being fed,
and wait for us. When cold weather set in, I built them a house out of
rigid polystyrene insulation board, which they took to immediately.
Although they won't let us touch them, they are accustomed to us and
don't immediately flee as they did initially. I have even been able to
play with them, using a toy on a string or a laser pointer. We don't
have other cats now, but both my wife and I have had cats in the past;
those were strictly indoor pets.

Of course we'd love for them to be more like pets, but our first order
of business now is proper medical care. I think they're about 10
months old, and we're guessing that we should have them spayed/neutered
soon. We don't want to be contributing to the stray problem in our
neighborhood; in addition to our two resident cats and their mother
(who we rarely see) there's a whole slew of cats that come passing
through, known to us as "Moby", "Big Boi", "Puff Catty" and "Impostor
Cat." (There's also an opossum I call "Thomas Jefferson" but that's
for another newsgroup...)

The questions:

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.

* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.

* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?
* Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

Thanks in advance!

I forgot to mention vaccinations-- of course we'll do that!

wrote in message

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.

First, thank you for looking out for these cats! They need people like you!
Yes, they are certainly old enough to be spayed/neutered. Most vets s/n at
6 months, some are starting to do it at 8 weeks. Please do this ASAP.


* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.


Can you trap them while watching from a distance? This way they don't spend
too long in the trap and possibly hurting themselves.

* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

You might want to find a vet in your area who works with a feral TNR group.
Check out the Alley Cat Allies resources page.
http://www.alleycat.org/resources.html This will also give you help with the
rest of the colony.

* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?

Test for FeLV/ FIV.

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

They will probably stick around. Being spayed/neutered will give them less
reason to roam. However, the female esp will need some recouperating time.
Why not use this as an opportunity to acclimate them to the house?


* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?

Contact a feral TNR group in your area for help with s/n the rest of the
group. I would keep the kittens inside from now on if at all possible.

* Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?


Can't think of any!
--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

In article .com,
wrote:

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.

Yes. They are very much old enough.

* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.

* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?

To all of the above I suggest that you get in touch with local rescue
groups and see if you can piggy back on their work or at least get
referrals from them. I'm in an outlying neighborhood of Boston where I
and my nextdoor neighbors are sponsoring a small colony of ferals. We
got "ours" trapped and neutered through the auspices of the Alliance for
Animals, which is a local rescue group.

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

Possibly a bit standoffish for a bit, but ours stuck around. Hey, keep
feeding them and providing a warm bit of shelter, and they'll stay.

* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?

I'd TNR as many as I could, if I were you. The woman who did our
trapping came twice and got as many as she could each time. (They "tip"
the ear so if they trap one who's already been "done" they can just
release them right away.) Most of our colony is neutered, with most of
the rest of the wandering felines being outside pets. Only a couple are
ferals we haven't got to yet, and the most obvious is a male. With all
our females spayed, he can't get kittens on any of them. He's also a
battered old warrior who may well be beyond his siring days and
surviving now simply because of the free eats and fresh water we
provide.

Priscilla

--
"It is very, very dangerous to treat any human, lowest
of the low even, with contempt and arrogant whatever.
The Lord takes this kind of treatment very, very personal."
- QBaal in newsgroup alt.religion.christian.episcopal

if you can get a cat rescue group to trap and neuter them then ask for them
to be bought back to you and put them in a room on there own and just feed
them without touching them.by that i mean virtually ignore them,then start
to gradually let them come to you,which they will as i have done this my
self,i have a cattery and i have come across most problems with cats.48
years of keeping them company has its own rewards.then slowly let them
explore your house,neautering often changes there personalities for the
better usually.linda'

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

Well, I've sent some emails to trap-neuter-return groups nearby.
Hopefully I'll get a response soon. In the meantime I found that my
county (Cook, IL) is offering $40 rebates (up to 2 per family) for pet
neutering during February. That's a nice incentive to get people to
take care of their pets.

I'd love to get the rest of the colony in, but their visits to our yard
are so sporadic that trapping may be difficult.

There used to be a shelter that served our village and a few
surrounding communities, but it closed last year after losing its
lease. There was a property tax referendum to establish a new one
township-wide, but it was defeated in November due to legal
requirements of the wording: It didn't mention animal care as the use
of the funds and made it appear as a huge percentage increase when it
was really an increase in a percentage of a percentage of a percentage.
It would have cost about $8 per year to someone with a $250,000 house.

Without the shelter, the individual municipalities must deal with the
problem on their own, which essentially means that any feral cat picked
up by animal control will be destroyed.

wrote in message
ups.com...
There used to be a shelter that served our village and a few
surrounding communities, but it closed last year after losing its
lease. There was a property tax referendum to establish a new one
township-wide, but it was defeated in November due to legal
requirements of the wording: It didn't mention animal care as the use
of the funds and made it appear as a huge percentage increase when it
was really an increase in a percentage of a percentage of a percentage.
It would have cost about $8 per year to someone with a $250,000 house.

Without the shelter, the individual municipalities must deal with the
problem on their own, which essentially means that any feral cat picked
up by animal control will be destroyed.


What a shame. Our shelter is in a similar situation, trying to accquire a
piece of land because the one we are on needs to be returned to the state
for wetlands. We're facing a lot of NIMBY's. But hey, who are they going
to turn to when they want to turn in their cat, but don't want to go to the
big, bad municipal shelter? Sorry.. didn't mean to go off on a tangent.

I hope one of the TNR groups can help you.
--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
"Wake up, and smell the cat food" -TMBG

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.

Yep. They're old enough.

* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.

I'm not an expert, but I think the only way to do this is to bait a
humane trap with some tuna fish and hope they'll go inside to get it.
It will be scary for them, though, and that's always regrettable. If
possible, let them see that it's you that's caught them asap, and put
some soft towels inside the trap, so they can rest in there once
they've howled and carried on. This, of course, is only if a TNR group
won't help you, but I think most are so overwhelmed that all they can
do is give you a cage and some advice.

* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

Most will do a "charity" spay/neuter at a discounted rate. Call around
and ask them. Sometimes vets associated with humane societies are the
best bet. I don't think they'll do it for "free", but you should be
able to get a lower rate.

* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?

FELV test and a vaccine if they are leukemia-free. If you're wllling,
you could microchip them and register them with a scanning service, and
if the cats ever end up injured or picked up by animal control, they
might notify you.

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

They'll probably hide for a while and then gradually return.

* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?

The cats are young and they may, if not convertible entirely to inside
cats, be very convertible to indoor/outdoor cats, which is a heckuva
lot safer. Try keeping them indoors for a day or two after the neuter
(which is just as well as they'll be a bit subdued) and give them lots
of food and treats and see how they react. They might WANT to stay. If
they don't and you decide to let them out again, see if you can make
some kind of "access" for them (a cat door or an open window) and leave
some food and blankets available inside near the entrance. They may
regularly visit more and more and start to transition to indoor shifts.
Then it's up to you if you're satisfied with that or want to try for
100% indoor.
* Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.


They are plenty old enough! The sooner the better, as they are well into
breeding age, and cat breeding season is underway.


* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.

Leave the cat in the trap. Safer for the cat, safer for the vet. Our vet
begins sedation while the cat is in the trap. She tips the trap on-end or
uses the tool we bought her to confine the cat in one end of the trap.
She then makes a poke with an injectible sedative to settle the cat down
enough for safe handling. We leave a carrier at the vet's to put the
recovering cat into so we can take it home.


* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

You shouldn't. Start with your own vet. If that doesn't work approach
others but be forthcoming about the cat being feral (or a backyard cat, if
feral is an f word in your community).


* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?


Combo-test for FeLV/FIV. "Distemper" vaccination. You might discuss the
rabies vaccination with your vet if the cats are going right back outside.

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

Typically, they will hide out for a day or two then come back. Remember,
you are not only the ogre who took them to the vet, you are the savior who
rescued them from the vet the next day!



* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?
* Is there anything else I'm not thinking of?


I hope you take them in as part of your family. You might read my blurb
on socializing, Taming the Tiger, posted to the Campus Cats website.

Good luck!

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats
www.campuscats.org


Thanks in advance!

On 31 Jan 2005 11:04:31 -0800, wrote:

The questions:

* Are they old enough to spay/neuter? I haven't been able to get close
enough to determine their gender with any certainty.

Definitely, more than old enough, they will be breeding soon.

* How should they be trapped and brought into the vet clinic? I can
get a "humane trap" from a farm supply (see
http://www.farmtekcatalog.com/0150.asp), but I am concerned about them
harming themselves once inside.

Trap in the morning if you can and make arrangements with your vet to
handle them immediately from the trap. I will move a feral to a large
carrier with a litter box if I need to hold overnight, but this can
be tricky. They will usually head for the darkest space though.

* Will we have trouble finding a vet who will care for them?

Many vets will not handle ferals. Those whom I work with, Humane
society, require that the cat be in the trap.


* Aside from sterilization and treatment for parasites, what else
should we consider?

Rabies will be required by law. 4-way vaccination, sometimes referred
to as the "core" vaccines, and the leukemia vaccine for outdoor cats
should be given.

* If we let them back outdoors, will they stick around or will they be
more afraid of us?

No, they will be back. I have several who keep getting in my traps.


* What will likely happen with respect to the rest of the neighborhood
population? We're especially concerned about Moby, who resembles
Catenary and thus appears to be their father. He's the dominant cat in
the neighborhood. Also, Big Boi scared them out of their house for two
days by going in and marking all the bedding inside. (We changed all
the bedding and cleaned the house out and the kittens have returned.)
Puff Catty has also shown agression to them. Do we need to keep the
kittens indoors to protect them?

Well, if you can make them indoor cats, so much the better. I'd keep
them at least until they recover from surgery. Some ferals tame down
quickly. You will know in about ten days.

BarB