Expert: Tina - 11/22/2008

Question
A feral cat came to vist, she was very thin, we fed her and she stayed around for several weeks before becoming obviously pregnant. She remained verfy tenetative and hissed softly. She had her litter in a nest in the garden and contunued to come for food. She shifted the kittens, after a storm, to a cats igloo (we had a burmese who died after 18 years)on a table in a sheltered and dry spot, but on a table. She now eats a lot, and the kittens are close to 3 weeks and will soon be at risk if we do not move them to a place where they can't fall off the table edge. We have a large suitcase with a deep edge that should be fine untill they can look after tehmselves. WE are not able to keep the whole family lonh term. How shoule we move the kittens at 3 weeks, and what are some long term options?

Answer
HI Anz,

It is nice of you to feed this feral cat, and to plan on getting her spayed. The kittens you can take away from the mother at 6 weeks of age, earlier than you would want to with a tame mother - this way they will be easier to tame and find homes for.

Ideally you should let the mother cat take care of the kittens herself, she will probably move them before they are in danger of falling. Perhaps set a plank up against the table as a ramp so she can carry them down easily. If you touch the kittens she will probably hide them away somewhere you may not be able to find them, and they are safer off the ground from predators. Can dogs get to them? If you have room inside your house you could trap her and bring the kittens and the mother indoors, keeping them in a large dog crate or a small room - they would be safer that way.

Once the kittens are 6 weeks old you should try to trap the mother cat and all the kittens, so you can get the mother cat spayed and release her back in your yard where I assume she can continue to live, and find homes for the kittens. Kittens can be spayed and neutered as early as 8 weeks of age and we recommend you do that early so there is no chance that they will reproduce after you find them homes.

I highly recommend you try to find a cat rescue group in your local area to help you with the trapping and finding homes for the kittens (perhaps you can foster them for a few weeks until they are old enough to go home - kittens can't be placed until 8 weeks of age), A cat rescue group can help you with free or low cost spay and neuter (most areas have free programs for feral cats) and how to screen potential adopters for the kittens.

Here are some resources, Alley Cat Allies can help you find a group in your area, they also have extensive information about how to trap cats etc:

Find a group in your area:

http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=444

How to trap feral cats to spay and neuter:

http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=285

Good luck!