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Semi-wild cat w/kittens
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. |
#2
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Semi-wild cat w/kittens
You need to borrow or buy a have a heart trap and trap the mother cat and
her kittens. Then, bring her to the vet to be spayed. The kittens can be socialized and the mother, also. This is the best way to catch them. As ferals, they will have terrible lives and not live long (as well as populate the area with more feral cats). Gail "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. |
#3
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Semi-wild cat w/kittens
You really need to trap this girl and her kittens and get momma spayed and
the family socialized so you can find good homes for babies. You can try contacting rescue groups in your area and see if one of them can lend you a trap. If you can't get one there you might try the animal control or an spca. Sometimes they will 'rent' you one. They will ask for a deposit which you get back when you return the trap. Once you acquire a trap, cover it with a large towel and start by feeding the cat next to the trap. Over the next few days move the food closer and closer until you finally can bait the trap. If momma hasn't been trapped before it should be pretty easy to get her. You need to know where she has the kitten stashed first so you can gather them up at the same time momma is snagged. If you make arrangements to get the cat spayed ahead of time you can bait the trap the night before the spay appointment and then you don't have to take her out of the trap at all. Just cover it once she's in there and transport her to the vet in the morning in the trap. You may want to put newspapers under the trap because she's likely to pee or poop in there overnight. She will have food in there already so should be just fine spending one night trapped. Just make sure your vet is ok working with 'feral' cats. Some don't want any parts of it. Good luck. W "Gail" wrote in message news You need to borrow or buy a have a heart trap and trap the mother cat and her kittens. Then, bring her to the vet to be spayed. The kittens can be socialized and the mother, also. This is the best way to catch them. As ferals, they will have terrible lives and not live long (as well as populate the area with more feral cats). Gail "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. |
#4
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Semi-wild cat w/kittens
"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 |
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