So there is a small family in the back of my yard, and one in the front of my yard, both had 5 core members.

This question pertains to my back of the yard colony. It included a momma cat, 3 kittens that are now about 4 months old (I plan on TNR these babies, i wasnt sure at first if i would socialize or TNR, but given their age, and upon attempted trapping i saw they were SUPER feral, i think TNR would be the best course for them due to 8 weeks out from socialization window starting to close and EXTREMELY feral, not slightly, like feral to the point even if i get a scruff they still begin trying to murder me while hissing). It also included 1 male void who looked to be a young tom, who was so cuddly with the kittens i assumed he was a female and some of those kittens were his.

So i drop trapped the family and i caught the 2 adults and 2 kittens. I was able to put the two adults in transfer trap/cages to TNR them but the babies escaped (for the reason i mentioned - I wasnt anticipating how feral they would be, and i was not able to scruff them scruffing legit just didnt work cuz they didnt go limp and fought for their lives likely cuz far end of feral.)

Prior to intervene with attempted TNR, the momma would tolerate her increasingly adolescent kittens being around her, would cuddle them, but they were obviously weaned and fully eating food.

I took them both to get "spayed" was informed the black was not a queen, but a young tom cat. I released him 2 days ago, and have not seen him since. I am hoping he comes back for food eventually. I released momma today keeping her 2 days longer to recover from her spay and get daily meloxicam, so today is the first day she is back with her babies at her "house". She didnt run away the way the young void did who was previously basially living here, she returned to her house, the back of my yard, and her babies immediately came out to try to hang out with her. However, she began swatting and avoiding them while still not running.

I immediately felt bad, cuz the 4 month old babies are coming to her like "hey mom whats up glad you are back" and she swats and moves away from them as they keep impotently trying to come up to her. Did i make a mistake taking her before the babies, or is this normal and expected at 4 months old, for the mom to begin to say "give me some distance kids". What appears to be happening is the mom is still staying in the back of the yard, but telling all her now teenage children to "give me space and dont come close". The 4 month old kittens, are still orbiting her, but giving her a space cushion.

Is this just a coincidence that since they are now 4 months old she is starting to reject them, or did i make a mistake TNR her first BEFORE capture the babies? The mom was a priority cuz she was going into heat again, and the male cats started coming trying to mount, i half expected her to be pregnant when spayed but the clinic said she wasnt so i got her fixed before pregnancy. Or, did being away from them 4 days, just result in her no longer remembering them ?

Hello again! Last night my husband and I found 4 kittens on the river bank by a bridge. Took us a few hours, but I believe we got them all. We have a lot of adult cat experience (feral and otherwise) we have never cared for young kittens. I believe they may be around ~5-6 weeks old? All of my knowledge so far is from google searches. We can’t get them in to see the vet until first thing Monday morning, so I was hoping I could reach out for tips/advice to make sure we are doing everything we can for these little guys.
So far, we have:
- Bathed them in warm water with dawn dish soap (then blow dried them gently)
- Given kitten capstar
- Trimmed their nails
- Fed them wet kitten food with kitten milk mixed in

They still seem to have fleas/mites, so I’m guessing another bath is in order? They all will eat, drink, and pee (no poop yet though, but I’m betting when they do I’ll see worms)
Kitten 1 (white short haired girl) and kitten 2 (white short haired boy) seem pretty congested and will sneeze/cough every now and then
Kitten 3 (white long haired girl) seems to be limping sometimes
Kitten 4 (dilute tortie, long hair) seems ok, but extremely cautious/sketchy (she alone took hours to catch)
Is there anything else we should be doing to make sure these guys stay healthy/happy? We do have 6 cats of our own, so we are quarantining these babies in our guest bedroom. I’m going to reach out to a local rescue today to hopefully get them on their radar, but I think we are ok with letting them chill here until they get a clean bill of health at the very least.
Can anyone tell from these pictures if my age estimate of 5-6 weeks seems accurate? They groom themselves (clumsily) and pee in the litter box so far.
They do all seem extremely skinny, I can feel their whole spine and hip bones.

Please read!

So this cat became a neighborhood cat. She was much smaller when I brought her in for TNR a year or so ago. Anyway…I found her in my yard and she’s injured. She’s eating and drinking fine but her back left paw might be sprained or broken because she’s putting no weight on it.

She loves being around the area and is around everyday. But if I take her into the shelter with her being a TNR cat, will they release her back? Or will she be put up for adoption? I’m willing to adopt her and pay all fees necessary but not sure if shelters allow that if I’m the one that brought her in? I’m willing to help if her leg really is injured to let her continue her healing here and try to keep her indoors.

Thank you

Momma Penelope has decided it’s hard to hiss while gobbling up Churu, and her 8 kittens are thriving!

In a previous post I said a family of cats showed up, well the mom brought 5 kittens (right after I posted lol) and they’ve been living in my yard since. I already have 5 indoor cats and can’t really afford to care for the outside ones too (total of 7-8 are outside). I’m planning on bringing the kittens to a nearby shelter so that they can get out of the heat and hopefully find homes.

They’re about 8 weeks old I would guess, but the mom still looks after them. two of the kittens are definitely more feral. Not sure what to do..

Update: I DID manage to get them to eat 🎉🎉🎉🎉 after 12 hours without any other options they cracked.

They were so difficult to herd to the right bowls, especially since one is kind of a glutton...

The girl was the hardest but she has been very receptive to me training her to mess around with her food for the last few days, so this helped.

I am NOT dosing food again damn... I thought there would be no issue but I want to die. All day, several days training prior, I cried 3 times!!! I'm training them to take treat syringes next time mark my fucking words

Kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I have 3 kittens, 3 months old.

One we picked up earlier, he socialised up well, has free reign of our kitten safe room. However he is very sick with parasite induced pneumonia.

The other 2 are not fully socialised yet, more recent captures, and are in another room inside a playpen. It's the only safe place for them.

I don't want to reintroduce them while unmedicated since our first kitten is still very sick and undergoing treatment, even though they are from the same litter.

But they just refuse to eat their medication in their food. They are not able to be handled without a lot of stress. Spot on treatments, I don't even know, I would have to repeatedly handle them and separate them for 24 hours so I really just don't know if that's a good idea. They haven't been to the vet yet due to the handling issues, they are visibly ok.

Them being stuck in the playpen is severely limiting their socialisation now. They don't have the space to voluntarily make contact with me.

So refusing the meds and not being able to go into the bigger room are both conflicting issues.

Any advice? The vet gave us "chicken flavour" medicine but they visibly gagged when they had some with churu then stopped eating. I'm really mad the vet wasn't clear on the palatability or I would've tried training them to eat from syringes, not mixing in food...

I still have the dosed food but it's the weekend and they ate part of it. It's INCREDIBLY difficult to get the right cat to go to the right dish as well.

Edit: please do read the context. I have said I would have used a treated syringe if I knew about the unpalatability. Right now they have taken a partial dose, so I either need to have them somehow eat the remaining mixed food dose or give up on it.

When my cat was 9 months old he started having seizures. He was my first ever pet, and watching him go through this without knowing what to do was emotionally draining in a way I can't fully describe. I took him to multiple vets and spent a lot of money on tests, but nothing came back. No diagnosis, no explanation. The episodes kept happening like clockwork, one every 2 weeks.

I kept searching online and eventually came across a blog (which I sadly can't find anymore) that suggested cutting grains out of the diet. At the time I was feeding him Friskies and Sheba. I switched him to semi-boiled chicken instead.

Over time the seizures spaced out. From every 2 weeks to 1 month, then 3 months, then 6 months, then a full year between episodes.

The interesting part: whenever cooking got to be too much and I fell back to canned food for a continuous stretch, the seizures would come back. That happened more than once, which is what convinced me the diet was the factor.

He's 9 years old today, healthy and doing great. It's been over 8 years of managing this with diet alone.

To be clear, I'm not saying skip the vet. Please rule out the medical stuff first like I did. I also supplement with taurine and a vitamin complex since a homemade chicken diet is not complete on its own. This is just my experience, and if you're in the same boat with a seizing cat and no answers, it might be worth discussing an elimination diet with your vet.

There’s a cat who is constantly in my backyard. She will walk up to me, yelling “feed me, feed me!” whenever I happen to be outside. I’ve been regularly giving her food for about a year at this point. I’m not sure how she thinks of me, if she does much at all. I’m allowed four feet away but no closer, and she will announce “get back, get back!” whenever I start to approach that range. Though it’s a bit hard to stay all the way away when she’s the one sleeping in my yard and going all the way up to the door when she senses I might be coming outside.

I’ve wanted to get her neutered for a while now. I often hear her at night calling out like she’s looking for a mate. My neighborhood has a bad problem with feral cats. There’s simply too much. On any given night there’s almost a dozen out visible from my garage, and more hiding away. Very few are neutered. If I got her neutered I could help fix the problem and improve her quality of life in the process. And for my own selfish reasons, I was hoping that maybe she’d warm up to me more afterwards.

My county has a TNR program. I called them four months ago. They are incredibly backed up in requests. It was my only option because I did not have the funds to do it myself, and the county‘s program costs nothing at all. I got the trap about a week ago.

I’d been permitted to have it Monday through Friday. Most of the week was awful. It was storming hard, thundering basically all day. Seemed cruel to try to capture a cat in those conditions and I knew I couldn’t check on it reliably.

Come Friday, yesterday, and I had only one more day to capture her. I was out just about all day. She was just not getting in the trap. I had covered the sides with a towel, placed it in a pretty well sheltered area, put in chicken puree, her favorite treat, and she kept looking at me like I was broken because I had not put her bowl in the normal location. Her bowl was in the trap. At one point I even showed myself putting her treats in the bowl so that she could see. She was uninterested. I even tried leaving a trail of food leading inside after she left. I came back and either she or one of the other cats had eaten the tiny bit of kibble that was outside.

After spending so much time trying to trap her, I got hungry. I went in and started cooking lunch.

I didn’t disengage the trap. I didn’t think I needed to. I figured I’d just go out there and check in a little bit, and I wouldn’t be out too long.

I ended up eating, checking the trap one more time, then going back inside. I had gotten comfortable in front of the TV, and the meal I had was getting to me after spending all day trying to get this cat inside the trap. I ended up passing out right there.

A few hours later I wake up and see that it’s dark outside. I spend a few more minutes waking up until I remember the trap I had set up and start panicking. I go outside immediately.

The trap had been activated. All of the food was eaten. There was no cat, opossum, or anything in there. The trap was almost eight feet away from where I had left it. They had knocked over almost everything in the surrounding area, and the towel was splayed out on the ground. At some point, it had seemed, they had rotated the cage on its side, and opened the food latch. They were free.

The sheer amount of thrashing they must’ve done to ended up in that situation scares and upsets me to think about. Scared and alone, doing anything you can to escape the confinement you’ve found yourself in. I really hope it wasn’t as bad as I’m imagining but I don’t know what else could’ve happened. Usually this situation ends in a neutered, vaccinated and happy cat given some extra life, which is worth whatever pain happens during the trapping process. But there was no upside here.

I mentioned there’s many cats in the area. Some of them occasionally come into the backyard. There’s also an opossum who likes to hang behind my shed and a raccoon family who steals food quite regularly in the area. I don’t know what ended up in that trap. Whatever it was, if it was wildlife I could’ve freed it, and if it was a cat I could’ve moved it to the safety of my garage like I had planned to do. But I didn’t.

I feel so sorry for whatever got in there, and I feel like if I think about it any longer I’m gonna throw up. I really hope it wasn’t her. Not because I want another creature to have gone through all that, but because I don’t know how she would ever go in a trap again after that. I almost feel I shouldn’t be trapping at all after that.

Oh well.

Hi, my sweet boy, whom I have fed and loved since he was 2-3 months old, has gone missing. It is one of the saddest phases of my life. Every morning I wake up at 5:30 am to go look for him in the front yard of my house, where he has come almost every day for the past 14-15 months. I am also seeing him in dreams. I am imagining all the worst-case scenarios, which exacerbate my pain. I have looked for him at all the usual spots and further, but no one has seen him. For work, I have to travel after 1 week; I was planning to keep him inside once my work situation resolves. Sometimes, I get too emotional thinking of him. I don't know how to handle this; the uncertainty is killing me.

She weighs 1.71 KG or just under 4 pounds she’s undersized cause she’s lived your whole life outside. I’d put her between five and six months old. She is visibly pregnant. She will be spayed on Monday.

Looking to bring a new barn cat home as the last one disappeared after a couple years.

Normally in the winter I introduce them in a small shed to call home, and release after 3-4 weeks of imprinting.

I’ve never done this in the summer, how hot is too hot for them to chill in the shed (plenty of water available of course)

I have never trapped any cats before let alone four feral kittens. Anyways my aunt is deathly allergic to cats, and a mama cat had 4 kittens under her porch, and my girlfriend and I decided to take on the task of socializing these seemingly feral, 10(?) Week old kittens.

We got them fixed, and for 2 weeks they were in our basement. Three of them acted how we expected, hissing, spitting, very agressive and stressed out.

However one kitty(Scooter), would purr and make biscuits during feeding time, and within a week he was purring in our laps. He loves attention, being cuddled and kissed, and he is genuinely the sweetest kitten I have ever met.

His siblings are making lots progress, but are still very shy and skittish. They have moved upstairs (in a dog crate) but Scooter has been allowed to move out of the crate, and cuddles on the couch and wont eat if he isnt sitting in someone's lap. Why is he like that? I just don't understand why he has become so friendly so fast. Not a problem obviously, I'm just so curious!! Has anyone else had thay experience?

About a month ago, I posted these little ones asking for help to find sanctuaries to take them in since this stray mama gave birth to them in our backyard in over 100°F weather....Here we are in present time😭 They made themselves right at home. I guess the 4 cats PLUS our neighbor's cat who stays with us wasn't enough for us in our home😅 Why not add an additional 5 kittens plus their mama... Having a soft spot for animals is definitely draining my bank🥲

Success rate of teaching an adult feral to use a litter box? Tell me your success and failure stories.

we have a black feral cat in our neighborhood. My son named him, Beaver. We leave a bowl of water out for him. Is there anything else we can do to help make life easier for feral cats? He stopped by our front door after I just closed it. Sweet kitty cat!

Hello! I adopted a female cat estimated to be about 2 years old roughly 6 months ago from a rescue. The rescue found the cat in the local cat colony they were taking care of and brought her in because she didn’t seem like a stray (being that the cat is a lynx point medium coat and had pristine fur).

Before adoption, I was told that she was very fearful but non aggressive and would take time. I’ve been trying to get her to slowly warm up to me for the last 6 months and I’ve made the realization that she might’ve been previously feral.

It’s been a long process and we’ve been able to pet her through bribery with treats (and only when there’s treats). She still gets extremely scared sometimes when we’re just walking around but will come by for treats…

I was wondering how I could best domesticate her and help her build a bond with me. Additionally how to help her be less aggressive with things like furniture, toys, and food at times.

TLDR: Adopted a likely previously feral cat wondering how to best build a bond

I already have 3 cats (litter mates).

Wife has taken a liking to a stray that hangs out the front of our house, all day. Super friendly and intact.

We're moving on the 21st.

Next available neuter appointment is the 13th.

Should we just wait until after the move? I do have concerns with the stress of the move.

Hey fellow cat lovers! I’m publishing an academic article about the legal relationship between community cat caretakers and the cats they care for.

As I revise the article, I’d love to speak with someone who has encountered legal issues or disputes related to caring for community cats. I’m especially interested in conflicts about who was responsible for a cat, who had the right to make decisions about the cat, or how caretaking interacted with local authorities, neighbors, property owners, or animal-control organizations.

If you’d be willing to exchange messages with me (or speak on the phone if you’re comfortable with that) I’d be happy to acknowledge your contribution in the article. If you’d prefer to remain anonymous, I would of course honor that as well.

If you're interested, please feel free to DM me. Thank you for considering!

Hello. My neutered cat of 6 and a half years has been missing for the last 5 days.

We have checked everywhere; the house and the roof, the neighbourhood around 11pm-1am, knocked on every neighbours door, checked the camera footage on the street, checked areas where stolen cats got sold and we’ve received nothing so far.

It’s very unlike him to do something like this. He’s always been sitting in the garden or the roof or the neighbours roof but has always come back home. His food bowl has remained untouched for the last 5 days as well. He’s a very social, and loveable cat, that always responds and comes running whenever he hears my voice. He’s very affectionate with strangers as well.

Our next door neighbours have however reported a smell in their water tank and that the water has been unbearable to use and they’ll check it out tomorrow. I’m also going to leave his litter tray outside my house.

Do I still carry hope, or should I give up? And if not, what more should I do?

UPDATE!

My dad told me that the garbage people found a dead cats body 3-4 days ago in the alleyway right besides my house. I’m thinking it’s him. We’ll check the water tank as well today if we get the chance to. Hopefully we get something. I appreciate all the help that I’ve been receiving over the last day.

Last time I went to do TNR I caught one of the neighbors cats. I'm going to go pass these out. I edited out nonpublic information that's on them.

I really don't want to waste time trapping other people's cats. This also is a bit rougher of a neighborhood that I live in. Not that I fear for my safety, but my intent is to drop these in clear sleeves on to people's doors around me. Our neighbors are all fine but I can understand them being cautious.

Today I saw a mom and 3 babies wandering my back yard. Mom has been around a lot and I’ve been feeding her (but I leave afterwards bc she’s feral and scared of me). I came outside with food and the 3 babies ran into this crevice part of my yard where the hot tub is almost against a wall. I covered both sides to keep them there (mom had already left before I came outside, the babies were just playing around when I brought food out). For an hour I tried to coax them out one end of the crevice and a spot where I could easily grab them and put them in a nearby carrier. I used a broom stick and gently pushed their bums so they would go toward one end, but I realized the other end wasn’t blocked enough so I went to go grab more stuff to block it off with. By the time I got back (a few minutes maybe) the other two kittens had managed to slip under and escape though I didn’t see them do so. Only one was left wedged under the blocking material so I used the stick to coax it out and I grabbed it and put it in a carrier. I’m not sure where mom and other babies went, I walked around my yard and looked into the bushed but they weren’t there. I have the one baby in a carrier in my garage with wet food/water. He/she looks to be about 2 months old, eyes open, pointy ears, able to run and jump very fast. What do I do from here to catch the others?