u/BeeElectrical9888

Update: thank you for the helpful responses and support!

Noon Saturday: Mom came back overnight, and is with them. They are sleeping and Mom is right there. One of the Uncles is on-duty in the carrier on the porch. I can monitor them all from the inside of the basement window, but the curtain has to stay drawn and I to stay away from it, otherwise Mom gets jumpy (understandably so). I'm going to purchase some kitten food/pate/KMR, and update the vet as to the new location. Rain is supposed to abate later today, and temperatures to increase back into the 60's-70's (F) tomorrow and beyond. I put out fresh water for them.

Focal points: feral kittens at least four weeks’ old. Still nursing; can eat solid food. New arrangement after a week under bushes. Concerns for them: bedding; solid food; warmth; Mom not around as much since moving them.

With apologies for a lengthy post. I seek your counsel regarding these feral kittens and their “new” arrangement (Mom’s doing as of yesterday).

As context, I have been feeding feral cats for more than a year. I live in a rural area, although less than forty feet from a busy road. Quite frankly, they found me. For years and years, there were none. Within the past year, I’ve fed close to 15. As I’m sure many of you can relate to, I seem to be the only one that cares to any appreciable extent. This is Dog Country (I like dogs, too, by the way). One next-door neighbour has a barn in which the cats have sheltered, and the neighbous on the other side has fed them when I’ve been away. Other than those, I don’t know if neighbours’ attitudes towards cats. Most of them either ended up on the road, or vanished, whether by choice, I don’t know.

I work from home, and can monitor them throughout the day (dry and wet food; water; petting those who accept it, etc).

The mother of these kittens has been around for about a year. Her litter last year had only one survivor, and that one disappeared one night last November when it was somewhere between three to five months old. I presume that litter was reared in my neighbours’ barn. I never saw any but the one I just mentioned.

This year, she was gone for a while this winter. I saw her about a month ago, and she was slender. Then, this past Saturday, she showed up with five kittens underneath the front ewe bushes. They are excellent cover and not far from the food. I assume that they were in the neighbours’ barn previous to this. There are two “uncles,” boys that have been about the place for more than a year. They are the longest-term ferals that I’ve fed. One has been neutered; the other not. Both have been protective of Mom and the kittens.

Thus, the kittens are at least four weeks old.

Mom has not minded that I view the kittens from a respectful distance (on the front porch), and gently stroke them a few times. Uncles are always there, too. They have water; mom is still nursing them. Several have eaten the wet food that is there for the adults. They usually go on the porch and play/have grooming around 8 A.M., and then again at twilight.

Mom is still feeding them. They can eat solid food.

Now: the change.

The earlier part of the week was very warm (low 90’s F); there has been rain at times each of the past four days. I put out an upside-down Roughneck container, and got the carrier for the Uncles’ guard-duty. I wondered what they were going to do about the wet bushes.

Well, Mom moved them to the well of the basement window, as pictured. It is covered by the overhang of a bay window on the floor above.  She is still close to food and water, but they can’t leave. I put a small bowl of water for them, and got some chipped straw as well as for the Uncles in the carrier, and in the Roughneck contained. I hope that chipped straw is alright for them?

Temperatures were in the upper 50’s today. It’s supposed to rain more the next few days and still 50’s for temperatures. Are they alright huddled together on the hay for long periods of time if Mom isn’t there?

Mom has been “off” today. She was away the better part of the afternoon, and has not spent as much time with them as she did in the bushes. I don’t have an outside camera, not can I monitor constantly, but the kittens have spent the better part of the day sleeping huddled together. They cannot roam around as they did in the bushes (subject to her supervision). Mom came out back for wet food as she customarily does early evening, but then didn’t take any.

I did notice that the eyes of most of the kittens were gummy/cruddy so I used warm water on a cotton ball, and gently cleaned them this afternoon while Mom was away. I hope that I didn’t err in doing so?

Twilight came, and Mom wasn’t there (she had been around at about 6 P.M.). I gave the kittens some wet food (Friskies w/gravy—that’s been consistent for the ferals the past year, and what the kittens ate when I was watching them on the porch).

Should their solid food be pate? Or, what should it be?

There was no playtime; no grooming. Mom is still away, and one of the Uncles is on guard a few feet away on the porch.

In sum, is there anything else that I can do?

I know that the mortality for feral kittens is high. It pains me to think that at least one of these five won’t make it, or that they will all die from an attack, illness, or who knows what else while Mom is away, or even if she is present?

I worry because of one that I will never forget was a kitten last year that was around for about three weeks, was becoming more friendly, and then was attacked and had to be euthanized as its tail and one of the rear legs had been substantially damaged. I don’t know if it was by another creature, or a neighbour. I wish that I had tried to lure it inside, but didn’t have the experience.

I have two inside cats. They both came from the outside, One I believe to have escaped or to have been abandoned. She acclimated herself to inside life immediately. The other was feral and I lured her in not long before last winter. She was all by herself, and I foresaw another grisly death, so I took matters into my own hands by luring her in. It took about two months, but she warmed up to me, and has (more importantly) had the companionship of the elder cat from the outset. They will soon be spayed (finally!).

I’m sorry for the War and Peace-length posting.

Thus,

 

Is there anything else that I can do for them?

Is chipped straw alright?

 

For wet food: pate?

 

Will they be alright huddled together like that in 50-60 degree (F) weather?

 

Break in the routine: reason?

 

Thanks!