Stray mom cat and kittens!

[Kooshdakhaa]

You do know that toms will kill kittens, right? I wouldn't want to bring a bunch of little kittens into a house with a feral tom cat.

The tom cat I brought in was friendly with their mother. I think he might be the dad and I don't think he would hurt his own kittens.

Nonetheless, I have four other tom cats (although all neutered) and I would not take a chance. I have a spare room the kittens can live in with their mom until they are old enough to go to Animal Control to be put up for adoption. I also want to give them an opportunity to learn about indoor living and using a cat box while they're still with their mom to improve their odds of adapting successfully to new homes.

Unfortunately, while mom keeps coming around for dinner every night, I haven't seen the kittens in several days. So frustrating. I could set out a trap, but a kitten could be injured in this trap I have. For example, if one kitten went in far enough to trip the door, but another kitten was following behind and the door came down on them. : (

 

[gallantwarrior]

I've integrated many cats of both sexes into a multi-cat household consisting of both male and female cats (neutered and spayed). You are dealing with more than one cat at a time, though, so it might be a bit tricky introducing everyone at once.

 

[strollingbones]

air can will work wonders......yoda was taken in by clark...a neutered male......tiff ..the neutered female still doesnt accept yoda...

 

[Zoom-boing]

I've integrated many cats of both sexes into a multi-cat household consisting of both male and female cats (neutered and spayed). You are dealing with more than one cat at a time, though, so it might be a bit tricky introducing everyone at once.

Any tips? We still have the last kitten. Brought him into our basement last week. It's a finished room with a closed door so the other animals can't get it. Brought the dogs in to see the kitten. Kitten hid at first but got brave with the younger dog. He stayed hidden and hissed at the older dog. Haven't introduced our nearly 15 year old cat to the kitten yet. Did rub an article of clothing on each cat then let the other smell it. Baby steps. Any advice would be appreciated. And I still don't know if he's staying. I'd be willing to give him away but the kids, especially my oldest, just cry when I say this. I'm such a sucker when it comes to animals.

air can will work wonders......yoda was taken in by clark...a neutered male......tiff ..the neutered female still doesnt accept yoda...

"air can will work wonders". What does that mean?

Yoda is male, yes? and Clark is a neutered adult male? That's the situation we have and I'm concerned that Shadow (old cat) will mark when he discovers the kitten. He marks when the feral cats hang outside of our house .. I've given up on opening any downstairs windows in the front of the house.

 

[gallantwarrior]

I've integrated many cats of both sexes into a multi-cat household consisting of both male and female cats (neutered and spayed). You are dealing with more than one cat at a time, though, so it might be a bit tricky introducing everyone at once.

Any tips? We still have the last kitten. Brought him into our basement last week. It's a finished room with a closed door so the other animals can't get it. Brought the dogs in to see the kitten. Kitten hid at first but got brave with the younger dog. He stayed hidden and hissed at the older dog. Haven't introduced our nearly 15 year old cat to the kitten yet. Did rub an article of clothing on each cat then let the other smell it. Baby steps. Any advice would be appreciated. And I still don't know if he's staying. I'd be willing to give him away but the kids, especially my oldest, just cry when I say this. I'm such a sucker when it comes to animals.

air can will work wonders......yoda was taken in by clark...a neutered male......tiff ..the neutered female still doesnt accept yoda...

"air can will work wonders". What does that mean?

Yoda is male, yes? and Clark is a neutered adult male? That's the situation we have and I'm concerned that Shadow (old cat) will mark when he discovers the kitten. He marks when the feral cats hang outside of our house .. I've given up on opening any downstairs windows in the front of the house.

If your older cat has been an "only" cat for very long, and he marks now, you may not be able to bring in another cat. I've only had two cats who did not mix in with my "pride", both were spayed females and had been only cats their entire lives. One took over her own territory in the house, the other was so miserable I homed her with my partner. I still get spats when the youngster plays with the older cats, but nothing lasting. I have six cats, all neutered or spayed, all but one declawed. They range in age from 1 year to 15.
I usually introduce newcomers while they are in a kennel. I put the kennel in the house where everyone can get a view and a sniff. After the growling and hissing have died to a tolerable level, I'll open the kennel door. No one is forced into or out of the kennel before they are ready. Sometimes, the newcomer will return to the kennel after exploring a bit. I now live in a very small place and haven't the space for the more traditional "put the cat in a separate room" thing.
I have found that adding a kitten to an adult cat works well if they are opposite genders. I don't know why. I have also found that odd numbers work better than even numbers after the first two. (I guess they don't form up 'teams' as well that way.)

 

[Zoom-boing]

Oh I hadn't even thought of putting the kitten in the cat carrier and letting them get acquainted. Good idea!

I blocked off the kitchen today and brought the kitten up. He was scared (he's a scaredy cat kind of cat) and he meowed quite a bit. Older cat was on the other side of the blockade. I picked up kitten and old cat saw him. I did slow blinks to older cat, he turned his head. Swishy tail but not angry cat tail. He stayed where he was and we did this for about 5 minutes. Then I went around through the dining room and stood next to old cat, who was in the hallway. Old cat was purring and rubbing up against my legs. He clearly saw and smelled kitten I was holding but didn't seem bothered. I then took kitten back to his room in the basement. Old cat followed and came into the room but just a bit. His purring stopped then, he sniffed a bit then sat outside of the room. We played with kitten in view of old cat and old cat didn't do anything, just watched. Old cat was annoyed at the dog blocking the top of the stairs though. lol Old cat hasn't marked anything yet, as far as I know.

We're taking it one day at a time. Hubs said he didn't want to keep the kitten then makes suggestions like "you should probably take him out of the garage and put him in the basement" and "he needs sunlight he can't just stay in the basement". Yeah, he doesn't want to keep him.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Oh, and no we didn't, like, name him Finnick or anything.

 

[gallantwarrior]

Finnick is a cute name.
It would appear initially that the old cat isn't too bothered. You might also want to make sure you give him lots of attention, too. Kittens tend to steal the show and the older guy gets neglected.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Finnick is a cute name.
It would appear initially that the old cat isn't too bothered. You might also want to make sure you give him lots of attention, too. Kittens tend to steal the show and the older guy gets neglected.

Since the kitten has been in the basement (one week), Shadow has been all over us purring and he's just been around more. He usually sleeps most of the day in my daughter's room. Of course, the weather is changing and that usually brings him out of his coma-sleep too.

Named him Finn(ick) because this is The End, El Fin! of taking in anymore animals ... at least as long as these cuties are around. Also, to get the youngest to go along with the name as she never got to name any animal, Finnick Odair is one of the most likable characters from The Hunger Games book. She wanted to call him Dipper and no one else was really liking it. Compromise reached!

 

[Skull Pilot]

I befriended a couple of stray cats this summer. One tom cat and a little female. A few weeks ago I was able to pick the female up and I discovered that she was nursing kittens. Just tonight I found the kittens! And are they ever adorable! They are under a van on my property. I believe she moved them there because it is a friendly atmosphere and I always put food out for them.

I brought the big old tom cat into the house tonight. Just picked him up and stuffed him into a kennel and brought him in. He has his own room until I can get him to the vet Monday for feline leukemia test. And he has an appointment on Tuesday at the SPCA to get neutered. He is no longer a stray cat. : ) And I think he knows it, he's all curled up snoozing away in his room.

I will rescue the female and kittens, too, if I can figure out how. The kittens won't come to me they run away, even thought their mom lets me pick her up and pet her. I figure if I spend some time out there, the kittens will eventually warm up to me. We have a big storm coming tomorrow, wind and rain, so I'll have to put that off for couple of days.

Any suggestions? The mom I could just pick up and carry into the house. But how do I get the kittens?

Get them tested for feline leukemia and aids before you do anything. If they are positive the best thing to do is to euthanize them

 

[strollingbones]

they dont test for feline luk or aids till you are damned attached to them.....

but skull is right...

 

[gallantwarrior]

True about testing. I have mine vetted before introducing them to the others. Since I take in a feral kitten every year, or so, it also gives me some way of monitoring the health of the feral population. So far (touch wood), the ferals come up clean.
(Aaarrrgghh! Right now, my blue-gray girl is fussing over me, standing on my lap, peering into my eyes, and head-bumping my chin and nose. Makes it tough to read and type!)

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

That's the first thing I do, get them tested for feline leukemia. The tom cat tested negative. Actually, I've never had a cat test positive. Until they get their feline leukemia test, they are totally sequestered from the rest of my cats.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Unfortnately, I haven't seen the kittens in quite some time now. Mom still shows up for dinner, although I don't see her every night.

The tom cat I took in, Lazarus, is doing very, very well. He is neutered and has his shots, feline leukemia test was negative. We discovered a wound on his leg, thought one of my cats did it but the vet said it was an old wound. He got a 10-day antibiotic shot for that and it healed right up. Because he had a lot of flea dirt on him the vet was convinced he had fleas, but I've yet to see a flea on him or any of my other animals.

Anyway, he finally started coming out of his room in the past week. Last night he followed me downstairs, crawled up on my lap and laid there while I watched an entire hour of television. He was definitely once someone's kitty cat, or he wouldn't do that. Poor guy has had a rough couple of years, that's for sure. It's not easy living on your own outside in the winter in Alaska!

There have been a couple of fights with my other cats, but nothing too extreme, actually. My Doberman, Greta, is demonstrating that she understands the "no cats" command by flopping down on her side when she gets close to him. She had initially been trying to get right up close and sniff him and he swatted at her a couple of times while I said, "NO CATS, GRETA!" I think she's letting him know that she is no threat by laying down that way. : ) She's so sweet. : )

He uses the cat box faithfully and none of the other cats has done any marking because of his presence in the house, although they have used his cat box in his room. He found the room where all the other cat boxes are kept and I think he used those in addition to the one in his room. Maybe now he "belongs." This may just work out fine!

 

[gallantwarrior]

Congratulations on another successful addition to your fur-fam, Koosh! I hope the kittens are OK. When it's wet like this, I don't always see my ferals much. I know they're around because they eat their chow and drink almost a gallon of fresh milk every day.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Koo - congrats! Great job on nursing Lazarus back to full health! So glad it all worked out with him. Hopefully someone else took the kittens in and is taking care of them.

Do you have other male cats in your home? Are they getting along with the new cat? What kind of 'cat fights' have happened between your old cats and the new guy? Just hissing/growling or real fights?

We still have the kitten Finn but he mostly stays in the basement. When we're down with him we open the door and he explores the front half of the finished part of the basement. (I have to block a small cat door that leads into the unfinished part of the basement, where Shadow's litter box is. The kitten is too small, he'd get lost back there or fall into the sump pump well). He does fine wandering around and exploring and managed to sneak up about four steps yesterday before I grabbed him.. So I blocked off access to our dining room and hall (so he was just in the kitchen and breakfast room) and brought him upstairs. He just meows and meows and wanders around trying to get out. He seems scared. Maybe I just need to wait a bit till he gets bigger and let him find it all on his own. Shadow hissed at him when he heard Finn meowing. I was holding the kitten and old cat was laying by the front door. I put the kitten down on the floor about 4 feet from old cat (I was still holding the kitten). Old cat hissed several times then growled. I figured that's all normal behavior. I keep rubbing the kitten with a sock then bringing it to the old cat to let him sniff. Not much reaction.

Waiting for the little guy to get bigger so I can let him wander more around the house and not worry that he's going to get stuck behind something or get hurt by old cat or the dogs. Hopefully once the kitten is big enough our old cat will only hiss and growl. Uncharted territory here . . . . . .

Dio (our younger dog) sooooo wants to make friends and play with him but he's very uncertain on how to go about doing that. He gets in play pose frequently but Finn, being a kitten, doesn't quite get that. I think with enough time they will get along just fine. Penny (our older dog) doesn't go down to see him as much but when she does she's quite interested in him. He was tending to hide from her but is getting braver. She's not interested in playing with him as much as just curious about him.

When Finn finally is big enough to not have to be sequestered, I have a feeling that Shadow will continue to hiss and growl at him, regardless. Finn is a scaredy cat and will retreat -- at least that's his reaction now. Last weekend my daughter went to see her friend who adopted two of the kittens and she said they are significantly bigger than Finn. He's the runt and is a small kitten ,... might be awhile before he can wander the house. Problem with this is our basement, although finished, is underground and no matter what we've done it alwaus has a slight 'mold' smell (especially since it's been raining a lot lately) and it's kicked up my daughter's asthma. Come on first frost!

 

[sarahgop]

congrats

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

There have been some fights, Zoom-boing. I already had four neutered male cats and two spayed female cats when I brought Lazarus in. The male cats are picking fights with him, well all except for one of them. The fights consist of a lot of staring each other down and making low growling noises, but occasionally they do go at each other like banty roosters or something. No injuries, though, just a lot of fur flying. And it's not constant, I think there have been three instances of actual fur flying in the few weeks he's been here. Nothing bad enough to make me think it's not going to work. My place is pretty big, big enough for everyone to have their own space.

And Lazarus hasn't even learned that he gets to go outside yet! I have a fairly large yard and it's all cat-proofed...they can't get out. I have six-foot fence with barb arms pointing in at the top and netting hanging over that. There's no way they can navigate around that netting. It's worked for years. So they get the best of both worlds, a safe indoor environment but they also get to enjoy the outdoors in a safe way.

 

[Kooshdakhaa]

Zoom-boing, by the way, my third cat was a kitten that I brought in. He was quite young, I'd say no more than six weeks old. Someone found him wandering around in the grass, they almost stepped on him. So who do they call? Yeah, me. : ( Anyway, at the time I had one spayed female cat and one neutered male cat, both fairly young, about a year old, I'd say. We did not keep the kitten sequestered from the older cats and there were no problems. I have pictures of my white persian male splayed out on his back with this little orange tiger kitten on top of him...they would play-fight like that. Of course, I kept a real close watch on things. Persians can be real mean-looking, but he never hurt that kitten. The female took the role of mother with him, but she was kind of rough, she'd hold him down quite forcefully and groom the hell out of him, that sort of thing. Now he's my biggest cat and I think he's the boss of the group. He's the only one who has not gotten into a spat with Lazarus. I think he's above that. His name is Pink Simba, but we call him Pinky or Pinky Moon. : )