Too many cats kittens

Noffles

Here's the gist of it..

We have taken in, so far, about 6 kittens from a stray female cat in our area, 2 have died but we still have four of them living with us and 2 of our own so we don;t really want take any more in.
The "mammy" cat is now oviosly pregnant again and we are looking for a course of actio to either stop her having kittens OR.... something else.

a) Wait till she has had them and capture her in the shed, keep her for 48 hours hoping the new kittne will die, while still feeding her water and food?
b) We've tried a number of times to get her to a vet and she goes BERSERK trying to get away so that was eventually out of the question?
....

Any advice, I'm not taking in any more as she brings them to our garden and we feed enough as it is!

irelandspurs

give the cat to someone that cares about animals :mad:

lubie76

Contact your local vet or animal rescue centre about the trap, neuter, release scheme. Most counties have them.

Please don't attempt option A you suggested, it sounds very distressing for both mammy and kittens.

Noffles

Think you may of got me worng... we do care about animals... very much so, we have 6 cats of our own.. the cat that has the kittens is a stray from the estate we are in... not ours. She leaves the kittens to nest in our garden and then we invariably end up keeping them. 6 is enough and we can't take anymore outside as we feed 4 outside too...

irelandspurs

Noffles wrote: »

Think you may of got me worng... we do care about animals... very much so, we have 6 cats of our own.. the cat that has the kittens is a stray from the estate we are in... not ours. She leaves the kittens to nest in our garden and then we invariably end up keeping them. 6 is enough and we can't take anymore outside as we feed 4 outside too...

well you don't let the kittens die,take them to a rescue centre or advertise them to good homes,get the cat neutered.or re home stray cat.

Whispered

Call in a rescue to trap her. You won't have to worry about the kittens then. They'll neuter her etc.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Helena has it covered. No more to be said. The choice is simple.

miju

If you dont want the kittens bring them to the DSPCA. Hell we'll even take on from you rather than letting them die I'm sure our other 3 cats wont mind

morganafay

Obviously you do care since you have taken it so many kittens yourself, but please don't let the kittens die.

You can probably borrow a humane live cat trap from a vet or a rescue/SPCA nearby? and try to trap the cat (don't try to catch her with your bare hands if she's not completely tame) and then she can be neutered if it's early in the pregnancy. Or better yet, wait til the babies are born and try to find new homes (advertise on donedeal.ie or something?) and then neuter the mom. It'd cost money but at least you wouldn't have any more kittens around. If you kill the kittens, then the mom will just have more in a couple of months, so it's not really a solution.

Noffles

Right have the number for the local SPCA, will ring them and explain the situation and see what they say. The missus has had a poor response form the previously so we'll see this time....

The Sweeper

If they won't come themselves, ask if you can borrow a trap. If they loan you the trap, trap the mother and take her to the vet. If she isn't too far gone in the pregnancy, the vet will neuter and simultaneously abort the kittens. If you then release her back into your territory, hopefully she'll continue to come into your yard, and occupy that territory to stop some other intact female stray coming into your yard with litters of kittens.

Your suggested option A, trapping her for 48 hours in the hope her kittens starve to death without her, is an extremely disturbing suggestion. It would also be useless, because she'd come into heat again when you released her from the shed and be pregnant and back to square one again with a litter of newborn kittens within 10 weeks of you allowing the first litter to die. That's why people who drown newborn kittens instead of desexing the mother then have to continue to drown newborn kittens - because the mother will continue to have kittens until she is desexed.

Trapping her and handing her over to a shelter to be put to sleep would be more humane than that approach.

Noffles

OK then, so I rang the local SPCA, they have said they will take her but we need to catch her 1st, annoyingly though they don't have a cat trap spare at the moment and I'll have to try and catch her without one... hmmmm.

So, advice on trying to catch a pregnant cat that is nervous of people and all I have is a cat carrier, a fairly large on I may add but that is it....??

Toulouse

Which county are you in?

Noffles

Toulouse wrote: »

Which county are you in?

County Wexford, Gorey

Wisco

Does she let you come near her at all (like when she's feeding)? Sometimes you can catch cats if they're used to having people around when eating by either luring her into a shed/back room or having a blanket ready to toss over her- this prevents you getting injured by claws/teeth and momentarily (very momentarily!) may make her freeze for long enough for you to bundle her into the cat box.
Good luck!

morganafay

Could you ring round local vets and see if they have cat traps?

Either that or put some food (meat or fish would be good) in the cat carrier or shed or garage or just inside your house, and sneak up and shut it when she's in.

Or feed her, and if she'll eat the food near you, then wearing gloves, catch her in a blanket. Or catch her by the scruff of the neck and get her inside, wear gloves though!

taram

We had a number of feral cats in our garden that we had to catch ourselves too, we had a large strong cardboard box that we'd lure them into (as they'd never go into the carrier even with half a tin of whiskers in there ) then we'd throw a towel over them to disorinetate them, then close the box. It was a bit akward in the car, but much easier to catch them, and very little chance of them scratching us.

If going by hand wear thick long sleeves and gloves and try catch her from behind, last time I grabbed a feral cat from the front I got bitten, which I never expected!!

Toulouse

Noffles wrote: »

County Wexford, Gorey

I found this, perhaps they'd have a trap you could borrow. http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/20b.html

Or else try some of these other Wexford groups http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/index.html They may be able to loan you one.

morganafay

taram wrote: »

We had a number of feral cats in our garden that we had to catch ourselves too, we had a large strong cardboard box that we'd lure them into (as they'd never go into the carrier even with half a tin of whiskers in there ) then we'd throw a towel over them to disorinetate them, then close the box. It was a bit akward in the car, but much easier to catch them, and very little chance of them scratching us.

If going by hand wear thick long sleeves and gloves and try catch her from behind, last time I grabbed a feral cat from the front I got bitten, which I never expected!!

This is a good idea, but remember that cats can break out of cardboard boxes! So be careful not to lose her if you do that, or that she doesn't get loose in the car, which is always fun! I know from trying to take my cat to the vet before I had cat carriers :rolleyes: she broke out of everything we put her in. But if you can catch her in a cardboard box, then bring her in the house quickly, then swap her to the cat carrier if you can, that'd be better.

Noffles

Toulouse wrote: »

I found this, perhaps they'd have a trap you could borrow. http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/20b.html

Or else try some of these other Wexford groups http://www.irishanimals.ie/general/index.html They may be able to loan you one.

The number for the cat sanctuary Gorey is the same as the SPCA number. I still intend on catching her though and brining her there....

Noffles

This is proving more difficult than I thought, I'm trying to grab her but being weary that she is in kitten I'm holding off a good bit... should I just tough it up a bit and basically just savage her into a holder...?

The Sweeper

The important thing about grabbing a cat is whatever bit you get hold of, don't let it go. You might think "OH NO!! I must release this tail-tip/back paw/ear that I have hold of, in case I hurt the cat" but the best thing is to realise that you just hold on tight and move quickly to get a better grip that won't hurt the cat. The quicker you do it the better, as she's at more risk of hurting herself from fighting you than you actually would be from grabbing her.

You're probably highly unlikely to get the chance to grab her around the midriff in a way that would potentially injure her - you'll be going from tip of the tail with one hand to scruff of the neck with the other I'd say, but remember if you have a back paw or tail tip she'll probably come around quick sharp to clobber you, so yes, wear gloves.

If you're going to launch yourself at her, remember the less timid and the more measured and quick you are, the better - you could go from hold to cage in less than 10 seconds, it's all about how confident you are when you launch!

Noffles

The Sweeper wrote: »

The important thing about grabbing a cat is whatever bit you get hold of, don't let it go. You might think "OH NO!! I must release this tail-tip/back paw/ear that I have hold of, in case I hurt the cat" but the best thing is to realise that you just hold on tight and move quickly to get a better grip that won't hurt the cat. The quicker you do it the better, as she's at more risk of hurting herself from fighting you than you actually would be from grabbing her.

You're probably highly unlikely to get the chance to grab her around the midriff in a way that would potentially injure her - you'll be going from tip of the tail with one hand to scruff of the neck with the other I'd say, but remember if you have a back paw or tail tip she'll probably come around quick sharp to clobber you, so yes, wear gloves.

If you're going to launch yourself at her, remember the less timid and the more measured and quick you are, the better - you could go from hold to cage in less than 10 seconds, it's all about how confident you are when you launch!

OK then, will give it another go tomorrow, hope I do get her though as I feel sorry for her, she seems to be in a cycle of kittens every year... and then invariably lets them nest in our garden for the free food and posibility of a free home..!!

mollymascara

Noffles wrote: »

OK then, so I rang the local SPCA, they have said they will take her but we need to catch her 1st, annoyingly though they don't have a cat trap spare at the moment and I'll have to try and catch her without one... hmmmm.

So, advice on trying to catch a pregnant cat that is nervous of people and all I have is a cat carrier, a fairly large on I may add but that is it....??

If the cat is ferral, it will be a tough challenge. Have you tried a local vet for a cat trap? Otherwise, the only suggestion I would have is to try to lure her into the cat box using food, something really tasty that she couldnt resist, and try that way, but you will have to be very quick about it, and I would also highly recommend gloves.
You could try placing the box in the garden door facing away from your back door and put a blanket over the top (so if she goes in she wont see you, try attaching string to the door so tha if she does go in to eat h=the food its a lot easier and faster to tug the door closed this way rather that making a full on run for it.

Best of Luck!!

Adventure Pout

You should definately try to call your vet..usually they have a trap and can lend it to you.
If not, try to contact different vets.
I can give you the contact of 2 people I know who can lend you a trap but they both are in dublin, if you are willing to travel up.
I tried to trap feral cat with a carrier and cardboard, and you really need lots of patience..and be very very quick!
Cats are smart and they can sense that something is up.
Let me know if you want the numbers and I PM you then.
Good luck with trapping the mother.

Maire2009

I have a lot of experience in this ha ha and have caught feral cats with and without a cage.

The first time was a few years back when a feral cat kept hanging about (for months and had two batches of kittens) but a farmer said he'd take her if we neutered her. Anyways, she was very nervous and only really let me pet her a bit if she was eating.

WHATEVER YOU DO don't get a crowd to help, cats are clever and if there are a couple of people around she will cop something is on. Over a couple of days while you feed her pet her so she gets used to it, then have a really strong cardboard box (she shouldn't get out of it) ready beside the food. Feed her as usual, pet her and then grab her by the neck, put her in the box and have someone there to close it. Its how we caught the feral cat.

So we caught the feral cat, took her to the vet and when we opened the box she was cowering in the corner all scared. When we went back to collect her she was meowing like she knew us and to cut a long story short we fell in love with her and 8 years later she is like one of the family. We also re-homed all her kittens from the two batches (10 kittens) and kept three of them.

We caught her daughters in cages (it can take a day to catch them) and once neutered they do calm down.

Just be patient and you will catch her.

Noffles

This weekend is earmarked as the weekend we make the "big push" to catch her, the missus seems to of got her good side and can pet her easily now while she's eating. The SPCA have said if we get her they'll take her so adios kittne machine... hope things are better for her.

MsFifers

Great. Best of luck with it.

Noffles

To update on this, the little b*tch was never caught, she was far too cute to let us get her.. Anyway, we hadn't seen her for a few days but she reappeared yesterday looking far slimmer than she has been for a while... which basically means she has had her kittens. So now we are trying to follow her and see where they are and to be honest we have a fair idea but just need to get the exact location.
Once we have them we're going to ring the SPCA and hopefully they'll take them... should we also try to get the mother too or not? Would be much easier to get them without her though!

salsagal

Having taken two unsocialised (almost feral) cats myself, and taken 4 hours (not kidding) to get the most nervous of the 2 into a cage....I suggest u get a very large blanket (I used a duvet) and throw this over her, or giver her an opening into it (as they like dark safe spaces)... then funnel her from her 'safe opening' into the cage/box you're gonna put her in, gradually forcing her from the space she occupies, into the box with no backward space available for her to run into. It worked for me after, as I said, 4 hours trying to trap or catch her.

Best of luck with whatever works to get the cat trapped and neutered.

As most ppl b4 have said, the cat deffo needs to be neutered to save her and other potential kittens from an unhappy life.

Noffles

After a hunt around I don't think I'm going to find the nest where they are so... we've decided to wait till they are a little bigger and start getting around, she will inevitably bring them to our garden to get food, we're then going to catch them and get them to the SPCA... best for everyone.