4 kittens and mother

Nala

Hi guys,
There's a female cat at the apartments across from my house who recently had kittens. According to other residents her owner moved out and just left her there. She has since had 4 kittens, my mother has been telling me about them for ages and I just went over to see them, they are about 6/7 weeks old, great big fluffy kittens. But if the mother and kittens are left there, mammy will get pregnant again and by the end of the year the kittens will have their own kittens. I am thinking to nip this in the bud and get the mother neutered and find homes for them all, I don't want to give them to a shelter because I know they are probably already inundated and I wouldn't mind having kittens for a couple of weeks til I get them sorted.

I am just wondering if I do take them (have to make sure my mother doesn't mind but she has been saying for weeks that she is going to get the mother done as soon as the kittens are old enough), will I have much trouble finding homes for them?

Cheers

Nala

Aimee_gleeson

There are loads of people looking for kittens atm, im sure you would have no problem at all finding homes..

franksm

Send me some pics when you get a chance, I'll put some posts up in Microsoft here.

Hope you get the time to tame them a bit tho assuming they haven't had human company before now.

Nala

Think the kids in the school nearby do be petting them a good bit and the apartments are right beside a pub so they're well used to people coming and going. I've tamed adult cats that were completely wild before (I have photos of 2 of them, Timmy and Paddy in the photos thread) so babies should be no problem. My mam is going to ask the owner of the apartment complex tomorow if we can take them, he is getting pissed off at having them around. They are also right beside a main road, not to mention stray dogs etc, more reason why I want to get them sorted out. I think finding a home for mammy will be a bit harder. She's not much more than a kitten herself, poor thing. I'd say she's a year old at the most.

Peewee_lane

Nala I think your doing a really cool thing. You should not have a problem getting good homes. Put a free ad in the buy and sell, I regularly checked that before I got my forthcoming kitten the other day. Also Gumtree, I wasn't fast enough and they were all gone.

julesrtc

Good on you!!!

My mother found 2 baby kittens in next doors garden and we fed them with a syringe for few weeks and rehomed them, since them we have seen the MOTHER cat have 2 more litters of kittens but we dont see them until they are older and they run from us.
There is about 7 of them now. One of them has a big belly (only about 7 months old) so no doubt is going to have kittens herself and we dont know what to do as cant catch them!!!!!

Is there anyone to call or tell?

Nala

Hi all,

Have just rescued the kittens!!! It took an hour, we got mammy first and then the babies. A fifth one has emerged and one of the ones I saw yesterday has disappeared. There must have been about 15 kids there watching us get them. They are in my house now, all fast asleep. Poor mammy wet the box with fear and was panting when she first got out of it. A friend of my mother's took one kitten before we brought the rest home so we now have three and mammy. We currently have homes lined up for all the babies but will need one for mammy too if anyone is interested? She is about a year old at the most, lovely natured cat, I have named her "Lucky". She was purring away within 10 minutes of coming into my house. The kittens are about 7 weeks I'd say. Eating, running around, washing themselves. Eyes are a bit weepy but nothing some warm salty water won't fix. No fleas or anything but I will need to worm them as a matter of course. Mammy "Lucky" is going to be neutered as soon as it's possible, as "luck" would have it it's Spay & Neuter week next week so I might be able to get it done a bit cheaper.

One small problem though. Mammy's belly is quite swollen. We are terrified she is pregnant again. Surely she couldn't get pregnant again so soon? I have my fingers and toes crossed that it's only worms, I have wormer so that would be grand.

Here are photos



















Again mammy is looking for a home so if you or anyone you know would like a lucky black cat please let me know!!!

franksm

Fair play Nala !

They look like fun furballs. If you get any more pics, lemme see. Will post some in work next week.

Are you on kittenadoption.ie's board ? http://kittenadoption.proboards80.com/index.cgi?action=recent

Just that they have been through the ins and outs of this and may be able to help

Ruu_Old

Nice one, flashbacks of a similar episode occuring that happened to me a few years ago.

Nala

Well like the kittens should be sorted as long as their home offers dont fall through, its just mammy. She's barely more than a kitten herself. She's a fantastic mother.

doctor evil

Lovely looking pictures, I`d offer but I already have our "lucky" black and white.

Arcadian

One of the kittens looks like it may have an eye infection? I'd have them all checked by a vet sooner rather than later incase it's the onset of on of the cat flu viruses;)

Nala

Yeah their eyes are a bit weepy, it comes and goes. will put some salty water on them in the morning, that usually works. if not they will have to see the vet about it. apart from that they are great, big fluffy active kittens. i am having a bit of trouble sexing them. i think they are 3 boys though they're so small its hard to know. i have tried comparing them to my girl (the most tolerant cat we have) but she doesnt be too keen on me lifting her tail and i dont want her near the kittens or mother because she is quite dominant and that is the last thing mammy needs. doesnt help that all the cats in question are black!!! its harder to see things!

the thing i am most worried about is that i am almost certain the mother is pregnant again. when i say almost certain, i mean i am certain when i am not telling myself "surely she can't be". but her belly is huge.

Garth

She absolutely can be pregnant at this stage and needs to see a vet. She also could have an infection of her womb which would look like pregnancy but a vet would know the difference. If it's an infection, it is life-threatening.

Nala

Mammy is now going to the vet on Monday to be neutered, vet says it will be kinder than letting her have two litters back to back. We have rang two vets and both said the same. She will need to be kept in an extra night or two though because if she is pregnant there is more chance of complications. I feel bad about it but having 2 litters in a row can't be good for her. As well as all this my mother is waiting to be called into hospital for an operation and won't be able to look after a new litter, my mam is the only one at home during the day, I work full time.

random_banter

Fair play to you Nala! Well done!

Also I think a couple of those Kittens have blue eyes! Gorgeous! I would be interested in taking one however my old lady cat is grumpy and dominant- shes the boss and won't accept any new cats as we've discovered before. (She even has our 38kg Lab terrified into submission! Hah!)

Anyway, just wanted to say fair play and well done for looking out for those Cats!

Nala

We have found a home for the mother now, as long as it doesn't fall through... I'm gonna miss them though, it's been years since we've had kittens around (we went on a bit of a neutering mission a few years back and got all our cats and all the wild strays done).

I put some salty water on their eyes this morning, they were very good about it. Luckily mammy is your typical black cat, very laid back so she didn't mind. They only time she shows any mind over them being handled is if they cry, in which case I give them straight back to her cos I hate seeing her anxious. They are still hissing at me and cowering though once I pick them up they're not too bad. Considering they've been living in a bush since they were born they're pretty damn great!

Though the woman who owned the mother wouldn't be too great if I ever met her... her landlord told my mother she just drove off the day she moved out and just left the mother cat there, who was only about 6 months old at the time.

Jules

Hey Nala,

Looking at the posted pics of the kittens, and one thing i would be concerned about is cat flu, and im sure you know this yourself! Runny eyes is just one sign of flu also with sneezing and discharge from the nose. Lots of people think that runny eyes will be fine but if you see this on kittens the majority of the time its a sign of flu, its nothing to worry about some antibiotics and loving and they bounce right back.....

People who work with kittne rescue etc, have you found that kitten season has started late this year or is it just me!

Nala

Mammy has now been neutered and was not pregnant just very bloated!!!
Thank god.