There is a litter of kittens outside my house. I was able to grab one only because her eyes were sealed shut. I was able to clean her eyes up a bit but one definitely looks infected. How old do they look? Do they need milk or can I feed wet food? How bad is the eye? I don’t have the funds to pay for any emergency care.
Last night Volunteers were able to get one of the remaining cats safely. They did not step foot onto Home Depot property. They were able to trap one cat on the property of an adjacent business. They tried to trap a second remaining cat but were unsuccessful.
I finally got to hold and pet my Maya-moo today as I sent her across the rainbow bridge. I think I felt every emotion as my 7 years with her ended. She never knew that humans were not scary but I hope in her final moments she knew how much I loved her.
My beautiful Maya…I asked Kitty to greet you. I know how much you loved her. I promise you no longer need to be scared of anything. Bye my gorgeous girl, I will miss you so much.
I camp at a seasonal campground and we are officially closing down for the winter months. There are a handful of us campers that have been looking out for the feral cats living at the campground.
We take turns doing the rounds and feeding them at specific campsites. A couple of people are in contact with rescue folks who have been trapping/neutering/releasing them back to the campground.
We have a few mama cats that seem to trust us enough to have their babies under our decks, etc.
We have managed to find homes for over 15 kittens this year!
I have never been a cat mom, but this year one kitten chose me. She came home with me a couple of weeks ago and OMG she is a DREAM!!! She now owns my house and I am merely her willing servant.
We have also been building some winterized cat condos around the campground for them. We used scrap wood from discard wood pile, foam boards for insulation that we covered in reflective insulation rolls. They have lots of straw and some self warming cat beds.
The kittens at my site seem to have moved in already.
We have set up a schedule between a bunch of us with a lady who lives her year round. We are all chipping in to deliver dry food and she has agreed to keep the feeders full. We have been stockpiling dry food in prep for today.
And today I will trying to trap at least 1 more kitten from my site to bring home to their sister.
Wish me luck everyone! (Also first time posting) 🥰
Hello. First time posting, in need of advice. Was feeding a feral cat and she started bringing her 4 kittens with her August 10th, and we’ve been feeding them since while trying to make plans to TNR and possibly get the kittens socialized and adopted out. October 1st, 1 kitten got himself trapped in the garage and wouldn’t leave (it’s getting cold out but definitely scared). Caught 2 of the kittens last night and trying to catch the last one, mom avoids the crate with a string on the door.
We don’t have a proper set up for them, currently have the 3 caught loose in the garage. Have one large crate 48x31 in and a smaller one 25x20 in. Really unsure where to start and limited local support (contacted the only TNR, which we are out of the city limits for, whose only advice was to “TNR and if possible socialize them”).
We think they’re about 3 months now, and the large crate still seems too small for all 3/4. Were thinking to get a large catio to put in the garage (71 Lx32 Wx44 H in) but also unsure if that would be large enough etc and how to get them in there.
The kitten who wandered in on his own will warily eat with us at a distance in the garage, but the other two haven’t come around yet. As for the 4th one outside, hopefully once caught should we even let him outside of the small crate once in the garage?
We plan to get them to the vet and health checkup and neutered, but difficult when we can’t get close to them in such a large space. Can’t keep them either as we have cats inside already, but also feels too cruel to let them outside with the cold winter coming up.
Mom (and who we suspect is dad) are another problem but we don’t have the capacity to catch them yet, especially since they only come at night.
Is anyone apart of/aware of any Wisconsin based TNR groups/help/placement/socialization?
Can anyone help me gender this cat? Has a vet appointment in two weeks but I’m curious in the meantime.
My neighbor recently passed and her two 10-13yo indoor/outdoor cats have been turned out/abandoned. I've taken on feeding them from another neighbor (next of kin doesn't want the cats around/trying to get back into the house while they are selling it.)
I'm in SE Michigan and winters can get bad here. So I am shopping for shelters. I want to keep them comfortable as well as warm enough if it turns out I'm going to be their care taker.
I'm seeing powered heat pad units, staw for bedding and self heating mats. They are old ladies and I can't help but think about being cold and achy all winter, what is going to be the cozyest option for them? There are outdoor outlets near both locations the shelter might go, so power is ok but making a fire hazard is a concern.
I don't know how self heating mats work. Would it be paired with straw? On the straw? Under the straw?
Is there a chance a shelter might be willing to take the cats or are they too old to be eligible adoption candidates? They are very shy/skittish. I've seen the one once, and the other comes over reliabily for food and is chatty but won't come over to me. It's only been about a week. It seems like they are living under the deck next door.
Edit: I would like for them to find new homes and have been contacting local shelters. The outdoor shelter is for the mean time since it's already getting chilly at night.
Hi everyone! I don’t know if you remember me posting a while ago about rescuing a mama cat and her four kittens. ❤️
The mama is Margot, and she still doesn’t come inside the house. She has been living in my backyard, but she never leaves the yard. And she has now found herself a best friend! So I officially have two girls living in my backyard who don’t leave the property, in addition to the other eight cats I feed outside.
The four kittens are doing really well. They have all been vaccinated and they are going to be spayed/neutered this week. The two gray kittens are still looking for their forever homes, while the two black kittens already have adopters — they’re just still with me for now.
I’m also going to have Margot spayed, and she has gained a little bit of weight, which makes me really happy because she was so thin when I first rescued her. I also need to spay Madalena, her best friend. These two girls have basically claimed my backyard as their home.
I’ve made a little safe space for them in my garage, with beds at different heights and places where they can climb and feel safe. There are also several beds around the yard, toys, food and water — basically everything I can provide to make the backyard a comfortable little cat paradise for them. ❤️
My plan is eventually to bring Margot and Madalena inside, but before I can do that, I need to get both of them tested for FIV/FeLV and spayed. I already have another rescued kitten, Pitico, going through the process of being introduced to my resident cat, Mia, and I still have the four kittens here as well, so it has been a lot to manage at once.
And unfortunately, today I ran out of cat food.
This has been really difficult financially. I’ve been trying to raise funds, but I’ve also been paying for a large part of everything myself — food, veterinary care, vaccines, medications, supplies, beds, etc. I made some mistakes with my own financial planning...
Thank you so much to everyone who has followed Margot, her babies, Madalena, and all the other cats throughout this journey. ❤️
Sooooo.....in my earlier post, I showed the winterized cat condo that we had built for the kittens at my campsite.
I had mentioned that 1 of 4 kittens came home with me a couple of weeks ago. I also mentioned that since it was official closing day for us, I was going to try to get at least one of her siblings to come home.
Well............
We ended up getting all THREE of them. I have no idea how I went from never being a cat mom 2 weeks ago to suddenly having all 4 kittens in my house!
We brought them home and kept them separated from Camo (the one who came home a couple of weeks ago) so she could get used to their smell again.
Eventually we let her go over and sniff the crate. At first she seemed stand-offish. And I was worried! I thought maybe I made a mistake. She REALLY likes being the Queen of the Castle at home and has shown zero signs of missing her siblings.
Eventually we opened the crate and let them roam the main level.
Camo ran iver and booped each one on the nose with her nose. This is how they always greeted each other at my campsite.
My heart melted.
They have been roaming the main level but also hiding under the living room furniture (exactly as Camo had done when she first came home). Only this time, Camo stayed with them in the living room but sat on one of her blankets on the floor to wait for them to come out.
She showed them the food dishes. And showed them the litter box. And then sat "guard" while they hid again. 🥰
They came out to play with the fishing rod toy (like we did at camp) and are getting the lay of the land.
I am attaching photos of them all - Camo is the one wearing a pink collar.
The other photos are from camp over the summer (I havent been able to get many good pics of the rest of them at home yet because they are still hiding).
I wont be able to keep all 4 of them, but I will definitely be able to get good homes for 2.
Now it will be to figure out which one stays with Camo! She seemed to be bonded with one in particular before she came home so we will see if that hasn't changed.
They will have their vet appts this week for checkup and shots (once they settle in a little more). Our vet LOVED the story of Camo and told us that if/when we get any of the others, to just let them know and they will assign a vet tech this time (so it will be cheaper) and that if (by chance) we end up bringing more than one more home, they will also give us a "multi kitty discount" on checkups and shots which I thought was so kind of her 🥰
Signed
A New Crazy Cat Lady 🐈