Adorable Kitten spotted

[Deleted]

 I saw  an adorable little kitten on the side of my office.   The mother is a stray and she's young and fairly small.  She is not a tame cat, she runs away if she sees people.  I didn't even know she had  any kittens .  Well, actually I just saw the one kitten, but I am assuming there could be more.  It's a little tuxedo kitten, he ran to his mom after I approached him (or her).  Looks to be about 5-6 week old size and surprisingly a little pudgy and clean looking.  

People do put food out on the side of the building and there are some cats that wander around. None of them are tame.  This one, goes in a grate and I think it is sneaking into the basement somehow, though I cannot see in there.

Should I try to catch this kitten so it can have a better life?  I once caught one with (omg don't laugh, its corny ) pieces on cheese in a trail out to where I could grab him.  I saved him and he had a great life.  But, I know if this one gets much bigger he will become wild or feral.

So, catch it OR mind my own business and stop walking around by the sides of warehouses? 

[kritter]

Oh please, not even a hard question.

Of course, you need to catch it so it can have a great life.

Are there any TNR groups in your area or low cost spay/neuter where the momcats can get fixed and get out of the kitten making business?

I am surprised there are any stray cats up there with all the cold weather ya'll get.

[Deleted]

Not sure what TNR is, but the shelters here do not accept cats at all. They tell you that cats "are free roaming animals" and there is never any room, etc. etc. There are lots of stray cats around here.

If I catch him/her or (them) I would find a home or keep.

[Deleted]

Kritter, you would be shocked at the amount of cats walking around. There is a large group of them that are being fed by a business around the corner. Sometimes I will se 7-8 cats hanging around there. None are tame, these are all wild. Maybe not feral/viscious, but definitely wild. There is one that I see all the time and my neighbor broke up a fight between her and a raccoon. No one can get near her to get her medical care, but she was cut up pretty bad. She is fine now, but there's quite a few and it's a hard life for them. I see them even in the winter with snow and all.

[Shirley U Geste]

Are there any rescue groups in your area? Some will help with loaning cages so the wild adult ones can be caught and fixed and released back where they came from. It does help keep the population from growing.

I'm in the try and catch and rehome/keep the kittens camp. I'm currently feeding a stray mom that had kittens in our lumber shed. As soon as the kittens are big enough I'm going to nab them and get them tame enough for homes. Plan on trapping mom, getting her fixed and if she tames down find her a home or just keep her as a yard cat if she decides that she can't handle being a pet.

Breaks my heart how many wild little kittens are running around this time of year.

[val2525]

Jun 1, 2016 2:45:17 GMT @martha11234 said:

Not sure what TNR is, but the shelters here do not accept cats at all. They tell you that cats "are free roaming animals" and there is never any room, etc. etc. There are lots of stray cats around here.

If I catch him/her or (them) I would find a home or keep.

I'm afraid I'd be raising holy hell with the media against the shelters. What an assinine attitude to have about cats.

[Deleted]

I will search for a rescue group tomorrow. I am not sure, but there must be some. I will bring some cheese to work to see if I can spot him again. A can of tuna maybe would attract the whole lot of them lol.

Goodnight   

[Deleted]

Shelters take this attitude about "free roaming" cats because they assume they are all feral and therefore unadoptable.They will be put down immediately, including kittens. Definitely look for a no-kill rescue or a cat-loving friend/family member to adopt. Rescues can be a pita sometimes - it takes persistence and multiple phone calls before they'll help you. If they don't call you back and don't flat out tell you no, call them again. I think sometimes they're hoping you'll find someone else to take or adopt the cat, but if you show you've made an effort you can usually find one who will find the room.

You can also drop it off on Kritter's front porch.

[Deleted]

LOL I might have to Fedex it to Kritter's house (ducks).

I could not find the kitten, only mama was out there. She was basking in the sun, and I got sort of close, but then she started to move so I backed off and she stayed there. No babies in sight. The mom is barely out of kitten-hood herself. She is small and thin. I feel sorry for them all.

There is a shelter near here, they won't take any cats (or so they claim). The place is loaded with cats, I have been there when I found the one I have over 5 years. I had put my name on a waiting list, by the time they called I had the cat 3 years....I wasn't going to give him in at that point KWIM. They claim these are free roaming animals and don't need to be in a shelter, probably like Fashion says they just assume they are feral.

[kritter]

Clean, TNR Is Trap Neuter Return.

The city shelter here has a free roaming cat program called Community Cats especially designed for those feral cats that will never be tamed. They will spay/neuter any feral cats brought to the shelter in traps for greatly reduced cost or free. The people that brought them in take them back and release them where they were trapped. They also do the same with feral cats that they pick up off the streets and unfortunately also with kittens too small to make it on their own but the shelter as run out of run to house them for adoption.

Sabrina and Savannah were caught up in that program even though they were owner surrendered and declawed so there are good and bad aspects of the program.

There is no way to kill a city out of a feral cat overpopulation because kittens are being born faster than they are being caught and killed. TNR works but it is not an overnight solution and requires citizen participation on getting their own cats spayed/neutered plus any that they have in their neighborhood.

Put the kitten on a plane and send her down here.   There is always room for one more.

[Deleted]

Kittens are usually easy to home. I had a neighbor once that would let her cat have kittens and never did anything to care for them, so I started grabbing them at about 5-6 weeks so I could tame them for another week before taking them to the cheap vet to get their shots and selling them for the vet fees in the paper (pre-internet life). Basically I would have grabbed the whole litter and Mama too if possible. If you find them you shouldn't have any problem finding homes for them on craigslist or something similar.

[Deleted]

As i know nothing about cats please tell me how you would tame a wild kitten.

[Shirley U Geste]

Time, lots and lots of time.

Plus food and love.

If you get them early enough you can usually tame them down, once they get older they get harder and harder to tame as they have learned not to trust people. Some sadly never make the transition.

[kritter]

Once they are past 10-12 weeks, the degree if difficulty is high on taming a kitten.

The younger they are, the easier to tame they are.

[Deleted]

Roy, their curiosity works in your favour. If it's only you and the kitten and you feed it and speak to it nicely it will pretty quickly approach you. Then the lovin' starts! lol.

I got Bubby at 9 weeks. Her brother was adopted but returned because he was "too wild". Bubby tricked me by being all sweet and docile until I got her home. Then she bit me (I still have the scar) and meowed all night in the kitchen. She wanted company, as long as I didn't get too close.

After 2 days of keeping a wary eye on me she approached to sniff my toes. She'd come out of hiding (under the fridge, lol) whenever she heard my voice.

Dinnertime, day 3, she leapt onto the table to investigate where the nice smells were coming from. I seized my chance and touched her. At first she looked at me like I was a weirdo, and then she realised it felt NICE. She went into a frenzy, twirling around, trying to get me to pat every bit of her.

And now we're co-dependant.

[Deleted]

Chloe was about 5 weeks. I just picked her up and held her. She had no one else so she didn't have much choice. I didn't know what I was doing back then though.

[Deleted]

If you can capture kittens young enough, then you can tame them. They may always have a bit of wild edge in them, but that's their nature.

I've captured so many ferals. They always put up a brave front with all the hissing and spitting. Once they realize mom is gone and I'm their only source of food - they start calming down.

[Deleted]

Clean - if you capture those kittens, then you can put them on Craig's List for 25- 50 a kitten. Especially if they're really young. They'll get homes.

Any luck?

[Deleted]

I was not able to catch the kitten or the mother and father who appear to be young cats, possibly siblings. They are just larger kittens themselves. Someone has put out an actual trap and they opened the grates where they hide.

I don't think they should have opened those grates up because now they just won't come to that side of the building.

No one is in the cage, those cats are not stupid at all. Asked a lady downstairs that also likes cats if she knows who put that cage there and she said no. So, I am watching out as best I can. This is downstairs along the side of the building about 100 feet back so I just go outside to check because I cannot see it from upstairs.

I would keep that little kitten. I feel very sorry for the whole family. However, several people must feel bad because there are different areas where there is food out for them on each side of the building LMAO.

[kritter]

As long as people put food out in other places, the cats are not going in the trap.


Well, they might if there is something crazy smelly in there that they can't resist like sardines or tuna.

Poor cats. There will probably be other litters of kittens this summer if they don't get spayed/neutered.

[Deleted]

A little update on this cat family. It seems that they must have all been caught. I have not seen any of them (which is odd) and the trap is gone. I wish I knew who set it, but I am thinking it was someone who will care for them. Mother, father and baby were all very beautiful. The parents are still young enough to be sort of kittens, like teenage cats I guess.

[kritter]

Thanks for the update. I thought about them last night when I was playing with Huxley.

[Deleted]

I always pin a note to my trap covers telling people what I'm doing and that the cats will be returned unharmed, neutered and vaccinated, along with my first name and cell #, in case anyone is wondering about what is going on.

[kritter]

Good idea, fashion. Thank you for taking care of your part of the world.

[Deleted]

Meh. It is easier then finding homes for the gd kittens.

[kritter]

Jun 11, 2016 9:47:34 GMT @fashionboulevard said:

Meh. It is easier then finding homes for the gd kittens.

How true that is!