He isn’t a happy boy at the moment, but he has been through so much. He is eating and drinking and they gave him a long-term antibiotic shot because I was right, he is a master pill spitter-outter!
We also have another tomcat who showed up with a pregnant female (haven’t been able to trap her. They both look like they have Abyssinian in them. Dillon the tomcat has now been neutered and will be back home tonight. Like most of the strays that “magically” show up here- he is pencil thin and could eat a horse!
I am looking for any advice on how to track a feral female to her kittens. We have her previous litter ready to be adopted out. We were not able to trap her before she became pregnant again. We didn’t have luck with a traditional trap so my husband made a drop trap. The night we set it out we could tell she had the babies so we didn’t trap her and won’t until we find the kittens. We have an area set up for her to safely stay with the kittens until they are weaned and then spay her. We didn’t get the previous litter until they were almost 2 months. 2 have socialized well. 2 others are fine with us but I am worried about them moving to another home. I have tried to google habits of feral cat with kittens. She hangs out under our porch then comes up top to feed. Sometimes she goes back under and other times into the woods. 2 times now we have seen her enter the woods at the same place but had no luck locating the kittens. We have looked in all the spots she moved them to last time with no luck. Any advice? How far do they keep the kittens from their food source? How long will they stay away from the kittens? This litter is less than a week old. We hope to get them and use them to trap her with the drop trap. The last litter was really hard to catch at that age they were fast and bit.
It is untrue that small feral kittens cannot be socialized. Never tamed, but you can socialize any feral kitten with time and patience no matter what age unless they are neurologically damaged. You won’t find her babies, and if you are lucky enough to stumble on them, she will move them faster than you can collect them and you won’t see her again. I feed during the same time(s) every day a nursing outdoor mom. I establish a trust by supplying food and water daily for her at least 5 times a day giving her both kitten food canned and dry and wet food canned and dry as will as kitten milk. Kittens can zap a mom’s nutrients fairly quickly. Once you establish a routine and feed in the same spot each time, she will realize you are not a threat. When the kittens are old enough, she will bring them out so you can see them and THEN you capture the entire family. That is my process and it has never let me down all the years I have been doing it.