Newborn Feral Cats

[CavePaws]

When I return from vacation, I will be taking on 5 newborn feral kittens. I plan to put them on a raw diet as soon as they are off of a milk replacement formula. I will be home tomorrow around 8 p.m., will be crawling under the porch of my mother's office early Tuesday morning, and taking the five kittens. We will then set a trap out for the two feral cats who live at my mothers office; hoping to either tame them and if this is not possible, to just spay and release them back at the office where they are cared for. The kittens though, I know they will take A LOT of care. I plan on using one my dogs large crates as a place for their nesting box, heating pad, litter box, and as they grow larger we will probably transfer them to the large x-pen we have. I need to find them permanent homes and will be reaching out to my co-op to find other raw feeders. The kittens will be free of course, I'll send them to their new homes with a few days worth of food and other little necessities. If the permanent homes do not plan on feeding a raw diet I guess I'll need a list of cat/kitten foods that are high quality. Any suggestions? I plan on sending the kittens to their new home with a sheet on raw feeding and then high quality commercial foods. My sister told me to just put them on a commercial food for sake of ease...I cannot justify wasting my money to be honest, it would cost me WAY more to feed them a high quality commercial food than to feed them raw.

If anyone has ANY suggestions, PLEASE post. I've already contacted several cat rescues and they have all told me that they are either full or their funding was cut. It's sad and I can't justify sending these kittens to the humane society where other cats will have to be put down to make room for these kittens when I have the time and space to foster right now....and, feral animals will always have a place in my heart.

[DaneMama]

Is there ANY way to get the mother cat and kittens earlier? Then take them away from her around 3.5-4 weeks? I know that sounds really early but if those kittens are ever going to be house pets the earlier they have contact with people the better. Five weeks is pretty late for human socialization for most kittens....some will sure learn to love humans but some may not. Good luck!

[CavePaws]

They will be about a week old when I get them. I don't want them out there any longer than they need to be. I read their critical socialization periods are much shorter than dogs...if this is the case I need to get them ASAP. Seeing what 7 weeks in the wild did to two of my pups is enough for me to justify pulling them from the mom now. I have to trap the mom unfortunately, I assume she will take longer to catch.

[werecatrising]

How exciting! I love raising feral kitties! Do you plan on raising them on a home made formula? I have never had luck with the store bought milk replacers.

[MollyWoppy]

I've been thinking about you and wondering how its going with the kittens. Hope everything is ok and no problems. Can't wait to see some pic's of the little darlings.

[RescueToAdopt]

I TNR Feral cats, It is best they stay with the mother as long as possible. For the ferals I usually leave the kittens with the mother for the first 5 weeks. They are pretty easy to tame 5-9 weeks old, I do it all the time. I Fix adults here in saint louis but sometimes it's too late or there are a few im having trouble trapping that produce. I then get the kittens fixed and adopted. I do bottle feed kittens where the mother has been hit by car/or killed or simply 'dissapears' but I would NEVER take kittens less than 3 weeks if possible.

[DaneMama]

Any update with these babies yet? Pictures!!!

[lmgakg]

AWWWWWW.......I just adopted a baby feral kitten. We think she is 8 weeks old. She was with her mom up until about 7 weeks. Mom is a stray - sort of. She thinks she lives at my aunts and is friendly with all of us and we visit often, so we've handled the babies since we found out they were there, probably 2 weeks. She is eating raw great, I cut up baby pieces and smash bones for her and she loves to eat. But I'm wondering about the drinking...she doesn't seem to be drinking at all. I can't tell if she is peeing. Pooping is good - small, but good. But she is only maybe 2-3 pounds. She uses the litter box good. I know they won't drink as much because of the water in the meat so I kind of think I'm just being paranoid, but just want reassurance!! :) I have had her home since Monday, and I swear she hasn't drank anything. She is active and seems very healthy.

My daughter reading Nahla a bedtime story, while Raja and Jivago watch...
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Nahla
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[naturalfeddogs]

I've just in the last three weeks or so, taken a new job at an all cat vet clinic, and we have several ferel kittens there now and I can tell you, the sooner you can get a hold of them and start handling the better. We have been handling the ones at work daily to get them ready for adoption and they are really coming around.

[CavePaws]

We were told not to take them away from the mothers until they turned 3 months. So, the trapping of the kittens has just begun. We took the two feral mothers in and had them spayed and their ears were tipped. The two mothers have really come along, I've been working with them and they will take food from my hands and follow me around. Now we caught two babies today, they are coming around really nicely. Though they are COVERED in fleas. I gave them a diluted flea bath and am thinking about getting capstar for them. They have worms, it's pretty obvious. I'm keeping them away from my dogs because I don't know what they might have other than just worms. Pictures coming soon, I have them in a medium precision crate in our dining room that we never use. The dogs so far are really unhappy about the kittens presence. For some reason once the kittens hissed it was on and now the pups are running around with their hackles up, growling. /sigh

They are all bloated looking from eating god knows what and having tape worms. We had been feeding the mother cats Kirkland - that is really the only cat food I can afford for these guys other than PMR. I have pork heart for them to eat tonight until I get my case of turkey hearts in. Will pork heart be okay? I can go to the grocery store and get chicken heart if that seems more appropriate. I feel bad for not putting the mama cats on PMR but there is no way, they like to eat in privacy and it is no guarantee when they will come to eat so who knows how long their kibble and canned food sits out in this heat. I'm just glad I can switch these kittens to PMR.

Seriously, if anyone is in Texas and wants a kitten I will meet you half way for one of these guys!


edit: ALSO. Should I capstar my dogs when I captstar the cats? I hate doing this kind of stuff but the presence of fleas is undeniable. They are everywhere, a few even hopped on to me. I was thinking about getting those nematodes SerenityFL has been raving about. They sound awesome.