Urgent - help with wild cat and kittens needed!!!!

Micamaca

Hi folks,

we have a problem in that a young wild female cat has been discovered rearing her five semi-wild kittens under our garden shed!!! We have rung the DSPCA, the Cat Protection Society (don't even get me started on them!), the Cat Pound, Paws, and a few others but no-one wants to know about them or offer any help... has anyone had this problem before and how did you get the wild mother cat out with her kittens without scratching yourself to pieces... she really is quite wild...

The only suggestion offered by these agencies was to have them put down... are there any other more humane suggestions out there please???

We cannot keep them, we have an elderly cat who has been extremely put out and two young children whom we're afraid will be scratched...

If anyone has any help, please let us know, thanks

ecksor

Moved.

Micamaca

short n' brief, thanks... does anyone else have something a little more practical to offer please??? Is anyone related to a vet in Dublin who'd like to help out? long shot but worth a try!!

ecksor

I may not have a direct solution to your problem, but I think that moving it here makes it a hell of a lot more likely that you'll get a useful answer than leaving it on the Forums forum.

Champ

awww.. kittens they're so cute:)

Okay... if boards.ie can't help you; maybe this place can http://www.irishanimals.com/

Micamaca

Ah, thanks for moving us then... am not so cool newbie then! and just thought not many people seemed to have read pet problems lately thats why I put it in forums instead... looking for help quickly as this is becoming big head and heartache... thanks

Micamaca

Okay, I've emailed a link from Irishanimals.com, thanks Champ, it might lead to something! Kittens are cute but five of them all at once!! cheers anyway for trying!

Tivoli

i hear cats hate orange peelings, try chucking a few around the garden and shed and hopefully they'll move on

slightly off topic but i once saw a cat jump off a 7 foot high wall with a kitten in her mouth and keep walking as if nothing happened

Champ

Kittens are cute but five of them all at once!!

I perfectly understand; i looked after a stray and her four kittens before and it was quite an experience! A very nice period with quite a few joys.. but if you know what i mean kittens tend to answer the call of nature just about anywhere.. and sometimes the most inconvenient places....:ninja:

When they all grew up per-say; the neighbours took them off of us:cool: Even so they still come back around for the odd snack;)

Micamaca

Ah, if it was only up to me... they're actually in my sister's garden and she just isn't interested in the challenge having the challenge of two young kids already! If I was better settled myself, a permanent place to live on a quiet road I would probably take them on alright, but I feel my other half would object... our one cat steals all our attention already, so another 6 means we'd never see each other! I adore cats though, something very admirable about them, independent and yet friendly too, when they want to be fed at any rate!

Zulu

You could smoke 'em out.
Youcould pour jays fluid/ home heating oil under your shed. The fumes should move 'em along.
You could brick up the gap to under your shed.
You could introduce a big angry dog to your back garden.
Any of these should work.

Doper Than U

Thats quite a problem, I am quite amazed at the lack of help offered by any of the charities mentioned..but how and ever.... Having worked at a vets for 2 years, we used to get this sort of thing ALL the time, people would come in with kittens in a handbag and say "could you put those to sleep please". They wouldn't offer payment or anything, just walk in and expect us to take them... My vet, being the kind person that he was, took them anyway and between us all at the practice we would put the time, effort and money into weaning these kittens and then keeping them until we could rehome them... When you consider that they had to be de-flead and de-wormed, fed, taught to use a litter tray etc... you can see that it was not a cheap option. However, we did it and all but two of these many kittens survived and were rehomed.

One option is to wait until the kittens are about 4 weeks old (or older if possible) and take them from the mother when she is out hunting, and bring them straight to the dspca, and tell them you can't keep them, they are not yours, they were abandoned in your garden (or something along those lines)... They really should take them in from you at this point. I wish I could offer a more pleasant alternative, and it's not a route I would like to take, but I understand the situation.

It's not unusual for a mother to take her kittens and move them if there is too much disturbance around the area, so extra noise and movement around the den might work, if you could borrow a dog to routinely sniff and bark around the area it might convince her to move. (Keep the dog ON A LEAD!!! I am not suggesting you let it go in and attack the cats!!!)

Sorry for the long post, hope it helped...

Micamaca

Well, bud... thanks for big long post, appreciate it... I'll pass all that onto her and hopefully we'll come up with something... I've emailed the DSPCA myself now as I'm giving money to them and raising money for them for years now, not huge amounts but still it all adds up doesn't it... I'll be a bit disgusted if I don't at least get a reply from them as they know how to write when they are looking for money! Doesn't everyone though! thanks again, you gave some useful advice which is more than Bertie offered us!

Champ

between us all at the practice we would put the time, effort and money into weaning these kittens and then keeping them until we could rehome them...

Good on you:) I'd like to think there're more people with a kind heart towards animals like you.

Yes definetly be careful if your considering the dog method; even if you got him on lease if the mother cat perceives him as a threat... anything could happen; my neighbour once told me that two of my former cats teamed up ona dog (another stray) when it was coming too close to the mother's nest of kittens. I did hear the noises of the dog and really winced as he probably got intimately introduced to the cats' claws. :rolleyes:

Our man in Havana

On www.irishaninals.ie speak to Lillith she rescues cats & can probably get hold of some humane cat traps - she will help to relocate the mother & babies.

Hope this helps

Faye

Micamaca

Thanks Faye, I was onto Aoife there and she might be able to help... the DSPCA will take the kittens and cat if we can bring them over there, was onto a very nice gentleman by the name of Jimmy... and they have a policy of not putting cats down unless its for medical reasons... so thats good, they will be given some chance.

Thanks for all your help gang... there's a plan coming together, I think if we can get help from one group to catch them, we can then transport them to dspca.

By the way, there is a petition just going around, someone may have mentioned it already.. its to get the government to take some responsibilty for the feral cat problem, there are presently 1 million cats roaming Dublin and kittens I'm reliably told a kitten can produce kittens after as little as three months!!! And its not a necessity to allow a cat to have kittens because its good for her, so many people let their cat have one litter on the belief its good for them, not true... it doesn't make any difference to the cat or her personality...

The DSPCA are trying to get the government to fund a van and one driver for a year to go round collecting feral cats and neutering them so they don't produce any more... here's the petition, if any of y'all want to sign it and/or forward it on.

http://www.thePetitionSite.com/takeaction/863869655

Thanks again everyone