This spring I noticed a cat leaving the bushes at the front of the house. You know what that means. Turns out she had some kittens in the window well behind the pricker bushes.
I kept her fed to keep the little ones healthy all the while trying to catch her in a haveAheart trap. Didn't work. She was on to me.
So, I captured her kittens. Fed them 6 times a day, cleaned them, cleaned up after them, socialized them, washed and sanatized the scratches on my legs that these little bastards love to give. Then found them homes.

Fast forward to August. I keep Mom Kitty fed and I notice she's gaining weight. Quite a bit of weight, damn it, and I continue to attempt to catch her. Nothing works. Those ladies at the feral cat place are not much help w/ trap strategy.
Then Sept. 5, she shows up skinny again. I notice she comes to feed from the direction of the shed. So I start putting food inside the slider door, further and further in until she is putting her paws on my leg as I shred roasted chicken for her at our dining table.
The kittens are 4 weeks old by now and I make plans w/ friends. I feed mom and pull the slider closed behind her. I've got her!
We go out to the shed and look underneath and find...? Nothing. Look all around. No kittens. I'm forced to let her go that night. The next day I walk out to get the mail and see something orange out of the corner of my eye. It's a kitten in the original spring litter area /face palm/.
two days later I manage to catch Mom again, because hot, moist, roast chicken. Call back my crew and somehow manage to catch all three of her little ones in the pricker bushes.

Just wanted to share because this has been a long time to capture her. Now she can feed, clean, and raise them while I just keep her fed and litter boxes clean until she is fixed and they have homes.
Here they are content, just an hour after capture.


Night time, getting more curious.

Awe, little cuties!

I feel your pain. I once went from one cat to thirteen in the space of a week.
I think I put my Vet on the beach in Maui that year!

If only there was a thread for such cute cat pictures...

Good on you, 'n' stuff.

H&K-Guy

You did a very good thing. Kudos to you

quote:

Originally posted by H&K-Guy:
If only there was a thread for such cute cat pictures...

H&K-Guy

I may visit that thread when I can handle them a little bit more. If you look behind mom in the b/w pic, that little guy/gal, he/she's going to get extra loving because boy was there a howling when I caught it. The other two, once in hand, were cool as cucumbers.
Right after capture, I tried some petting and it was constant spitting and growling and looking me right in the eye.
I'm thinking a spicy name for that little one. Oh, he/she pooped on me too. Precious moments.
It will probably be a week and I'll be wearing kitten chaps: https://youtu.be/_dR8yTGn4bQ

What a wonderful thing to do! Nothing cuter than a litter of kittens.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
What a wonderful thing to do! Nothing cuter than a litter of kittens.

Thank you. I got my inspiration from this guy.
https://youtu.be/EFILwrJRRlk
After we got the kittens inside and placed in the coop and I corralled momma kitty to the little ones, she came over and let me pet her for the first time, where she pushed her back towards each stroke of my hand. Before that, she would shy away from any contact.
Luckily, I wasn't faced w/ a total feral like the one I linked above.

I'm not sure if this works, but experimenting here W/ the arlo camera.
Checking if this link works for video. Supposed to work for 24 hrs. for free version.
https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/use...9A0A1601B86E8_201910

Your diligence paid off. You, sir, are awesome!

Thanks, dsiets! Both for going to the effort and for sharing with us your success and the photos.

You earned multiple punches on your Heaven pass.
Sweet babies.

I would say that they look really content. Good for you. I hope the kitties have great lives.

Good on you!

Nice job! I got my two girls from a neighborhood feral. I found them on the back patio under my firewood rack, so that means "Momma" had to have been holding one in her teeth and scale the 6' wooden fence to get them there. We were able to capture the mom and get her to a spay and release shelter...we brought her back and turned her loose back in the hood.

Ah, that grey tiger stripe tugs at my heart string!

Day 2: Cold and raining outside. Not a good day to be a stray.
If you read my OP, you know there is one angry little one who is all Piss and Vinegar. She yowled when I captured her. She pooped and hissed and spit at me while looking me in the eye (predator thing).
I'm lucky because today I hand fed her some soft canned kitten food and I didn't lose a finger. Lucky because here shy tries to take out her mom and orange tabby "Colby Jack", while dodging her other sibling.
https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/use...97ED818BD133E_201910
Let me know if that link works. It's supposed to be good for 24 hrs.
Or I guess this works.
https://imgur.com/a/DknICeZ

Good on you.

quote:

https://my.arlo.com/hmsweb/use...97ED818BD133E_201910
Let me know if that link works. It's supposed to be good for 24 hrs.

Link worked for me at 11:20 am EDT, Oct 6 (25 hours after your post).

We have a feral that we saved maybe 2 years ago. She was a rare long hair, don't see those here, all short hair models.

She kept me well scratched and bleeding for the first 8 to 9 months she was growing up. Then calmed down and we allowed her from garage to house.

They acclimate to the good life quickly. Now out during the day, IN at night , sleeping on the bed wit me.

Good job OP. You have a kind heart.