New Kittens and Mother Question

I was watching a cat for a friend out of town for a week when she had
kittens in a comfortable spot (I made her a bed) she found in my
garage. This was last Monday, 7 days ago. The kittens (3) and mother
seem content, healthy, and doing just fine.

They are posing no problem for me, but understandably she would like to
take them all home... we are both wondering how long before it would be
ideal to move them all.

Any insight appreciated.

On 31 Jul 2006 11:06:24 -0700, wrote:


I was watching a cat for a friend out of town for a week when she had
kittens in a comfortable spot (I made her a bed) she found in my
garage. This was last Monday, 7 days ago. The kittens (3) and mother
seem content, healthy, and doing just fine.

They are posing no problem for me, but understandably she would like to
take them all home... we are both wondering how long before it would be
ideal to move them all.

Any insight appreciated.

Keep them there as long as possible. I had a cat once who stopped
giving milk because of the shock of being uprooted too soon. (the
kittens are being hand-fed.)

John Ross Mc Master writes:

On 31 Jul 2006 11:06:24 -0700, wrote:


I was watching a cat for a friend out of town for a week when she had
kittens in a comfortable spot (I made her a bed) she found in my
garage. This was last Monday, 7 days ago. The kittens (3) and mother
seem content, healthy, and doing just fine.

They are posing no problem for me, but understandably she would like to
take them all home... we are both wondering how long before it would be
ideal to move them all.

Keep them there as long as possible. I had a cat once who stopped
giving milk because of the shock of being uprooted too soon. (the
kittens are being hand-fed.)

OTOH, since momcat is going back to her own home, I'd think it's
probably OK to move the whole family, "bed" and all.

Once when I was a kid, our cat chose to have a litter of kittens in a
cardboard box in the closet when we were at our vacation home. A few
days later, kittens, momcat, cardboard box, and all made the 500-mile
trip back home again with no ill effects.

-Sandra

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:06:24 -0700, CallThatGone wrote:
I was watching a cat for a friend out of town for a week when she had
kittens in a comfortable spot (I made her a bed) she found in my garage.
This was last Monday, 7 days ago. The kittens (3) and mother seem
content, healthy, and doing just fine.

They are posing no problem for me, but understandably she would like to
take them all home... we are both wondering how long before it would be
ideal to move them all.

Any insight appreciated.

I've moved a mother cat and kittens into the house from the yard within 12
hrs after they were born. (It wasn't our cat but she had been stopping by
our fenced yard at night.)

It really "all depends" what's ideal. Does the owner have a place for them
inside that the mother cat is used to? Is the mother cat comfortable with
the owner approaching them in your garage? Is the trip relatively short?
I do suggest moving them before about 3 weeks. Double check with Google on
this, but that's about when they are beginning to get around by themselves
and you don't want them uncaged in a garage. Also, they don't hear much
until around that time so noise doesn't bother them as much as it will
later. The first couple weeks, kittens may let out a reflexive spit when
you pick them up but when they're settled in a box or cage with the mother
cat, they're pretty oblivious to anything else ... particularly if they're
hungry. g