OMG! Kittens! Kittens in the bushes in our front lawn! What do we do?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

And before you say anything, the photos are uploading as I type. They’re coming.

We’ve noticed a stray cat–a mostly white black-and-white I’ve called Blacktail (because, well, her tail is black) who’s laid claim to our backyard for the last year or so. We see her about every other day.

Apparently, Blacktail is a mommy. This morning, the neighbor’s kids found a litter of kittens in a bush in our front yard (against a wall to the backyard–it has a hole in the bottom to allow water to pass through that the kitties were apparently passing through). They appear to be about 4 weeks old-ish, though that’s a guess.

I’m torn as to what to do. They’re young enough to need Mommy, but Mommy is a stray–and if these kittens grow up feral, they’re doomed. They’re young enough now to become accustomed to people and be adoptable. Calling the shelter, I fear, will result in death for these irresistably cute ones. And of course, I’d love one–but we already have two adult cats, and I’m about to have a baby of my own.

(She says while really, really wanting to cuddle the Siamese-marked one.)

What should we do??

FTR: I’m in Los Angeles county, about 15 miles east of Pasadena.

Next up: Pics!

Edited to add: The four kittens are currently in one of our cat carriers, curled up together while resting on a towel. We figured that was a better location for them than the cobweb-and-muck-filled bush. They’re outside in the sun, with a second cat carrier (with cat food in it) baited for Blacktail.

2

Why do you assume they’re doomed? My mother volunteered at an animal shelter and she said the kittens were adopted out practically before they got in the door. It was the older animals mainly that were doomed.

3

Some shelters have a policy of euthanizing any surrenders too young to survive without their mother because bottle-rearing young animals takes up a lot of time and resources. At a month old, though, they could probably be weaned early and put onto a kitten-formula/kitten-food mix.

4

If they are a month old - yup. weaning isn’t too bad. Or, the shelter might have a momma-cat with newly weaned kittens who can take over. We took in several litters of those until they were old enough to adopt out.

5

Mom seems to be doing okay so far. Is there a reason not to give them a comfortable shelter in the yard for another two weeks or so? Six weeks should be old enough to be weaned, and isn’t it still young enough for them to be socialized?

6

Hmm. Now that my “kitten” is going down for his time, I can call the local animal shelter(s) and get their input. I might also be calling my vet for their guidance, as well.

Now, as promised: pics!

Cute littleblack and white kitty.

Adorable Siamese-marked kitty who seems rather sick. (S)he’s lethargic compared to the siblings.

Creamier-colored Siamese marked kitty.

Grey and white cute little kitty–the most active and alert of the four of them.

The SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! factor is high with these ones, isn’t it?

Gah, I want to keep them all. Can’t and won’t, but…awwwwwww, they’re just cute widdle baby kitties who need a home! Squeeeeeee!

7

Does your community have a “trap neuter release” program?

In these programs, the cats are trapped, the kittens adopted out after socialization, and the mother neutered and released (with a clip in her ear to signiify her participation in the program, so she isn’t “neutered” again). The TNR groups I am familiar with, Urban Cat League in New York City, and the Zimmer Foundation in Ann Arbor, MI have lots of info available and may be able to connect you with a group close to you.

Kittens between 6-10 weeks can be readily socialized and will not be feral as adults. After 10 weeks it gets harder, but still possible – after a certain point they will pretty much be feral. The fact that you have handled them is good.

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The earlier they are exposed to frequent human handling the more adoptable they’ll be. Leaving them with mom for another couple of weeks would simplify the weaning problem, but it is entirely possible if she is truly feral ( and not just a tame stray ) that she’ll freak at her babies being handled by smelly, bipedal monsters and move the lot to somewhere unknown ( or at least more inaccessible ). Ask your local no-kill shelter/ASPCA folks, but I imagine the best thing would be to catch mom with a live-trap and either figure out a way to let her tend to them, while handling them daily, or find an organization that can. At the very least you don’t want the babies whisked away to become fertile ferals - that’ll just add to the street cat overpopulation problem.

Also if she is a stray and not a true feral, she may be adoptable, which would be a win-win.

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Okay–I have called two animal shelters and two local vets. Here’s what I’ve learned:

  1. Kittens under age 6-8 weeks are euthanized as soon as they’re brought in. :frowning:
  2. We could trap the mother and the kittens, and one local shelter would house them until the kittens are of adoptable age. Then they’d be up for adoption…but mom would likely be euthanized. :frowning:
  3. We could let the kittens grow and try trapping them when older and of adoptable age…assuming Mom doesn’t relocate the entire family as Tamerlane mentioned. That seems very likely.
  4. There is a place in LA that will neuter/spay then release feral cats, so that might be best for Mom.
  5. A vet clinic recommended we offer KMR (“Kitten Milk Replacer”) and mix it with wet kitten food. If the kittens eat it, then they can be weaned, we can bring them in to a nearby shelter. (One shelter said we could leave our names with each kitty, so if they end up at risk for euthanasia, we’d be called first.)

#5 looks like our best plan for now, although we still need to figure out what to do with Mom. BTW–we’re not so sure Blacktail is mommy now. S/he was in our backyard hanging out a little bit ago, where the kittens were clearly in a nearly kennel, and s/he only looked over at them for a few moments. I’d think a mommy cat would be much more interested in her brood and their relocation.

Blacktail, we’re fairly certain, is feral. S/he is skittish and runs from any human. Heck, we open a window in our house and she bolts. There is a big friendly grey/orange kitty who definitely is more stray than feral, but we haven’t seen them in a while.

Meanwhile, c’mon, where’s the SQUEE! ? The Dopers are slipping in their kitten squealing right now.

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Gray/Orange = female ( unless that grey is just a very, very dirty white ), 99.9+% likliehood. With luck that’s your mom, she’s tameable and she has just been laying low.

If you could swing a combo of #2 and #4 that might be easiest on the kittens stress-wise, but it might take some negotiations. On the other hand #5 probably offers the most socialization, which in this case may offset any minor early weaning behavioral issues they might develop ( stuff like suckling on shirts or what not ). Any of the three mixed amd matched sounds doable.

No point in euthanizing the little guys/gals - they could make great pets for someone and getting to them early is actually a very good thing.

I’m far too dignified :dubious:. But they’re awful cute :D. I’ve never seen a non-cute kitten, it’s pretty much the definition of the word.

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They are a bit too young for taking in.

May well be worth playing with them, get them to chase a bit of string.

Feeding them will keep them near, handle for very short periods to get them used to you.

Mom needs to be caught, humane trap, I have used the kittens as a way to draw a mom in. You could put a shelter box there.Mom could be caught in other ways, such as throwing pieces of kibble about, always at the same time of day - she will become accustomed to you.

If you don’t catch her, she will probably have another litter in your yard as it worked for her once.

12

Whatever you do, I’d recommend taking the (beautiful, adorable) lethargic kitten to the vet asap.

And once the mama cat’s healthy enough, you should capture her and have her spayed.

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Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I have a terrible weakness for both tuxedo cats and Siamese markings (I have one of both) and I’m SO glad I don’t live anywhere near you, or I would have a 3rd cat in 2/3 weeks and I’ve sworn to stop at 2…madly clicking on pics again

I’ve never known a kitten who doesn’t like milk replacement formula, as long as they are old enough to lap it up…

14

Hubby is at the pet store as I type, getting kitten milk replacement, wet kitten food, litter (heck, we needed some for our kitties), and inquiring on flea treatment appropriate for ones so little. The one I kinda sorta wanna keep definitely has fleas, though not too terribly. I would assume, living outside in mild California weather, they would all have fleas anyway.

I went outside and spent a few minutes with the brood, and got to know them a little better. One, tuxedo kitty and Siamese-marked kitty kept opening their mouths strangely–I thought they were trying to mew. Nope, I realized they were trying to hiss. Oh, awen’t you just widdle big bad kitties! They haven’t learned to do anything with that hiss, though, so I was able to handle them just fine without getting scratched or whatnot. The hissing let me see they do, indeed, have itty bitty teeth in those little mouths of theirs.

I took out the Siamese-marked one, and they were less lethargic. Maybe s/he’d kind of frozen in fear when we first found them? While being a little hesitant to being out, they cuddled in my lap quite comfortably (though there was some trembling) and stayed there. Meanwhile, lightest colored kitty decided it was time to come out and explore. S/he was walking all around me, tail up, checking things out. S/he even chased my hand (well, it’s more of a wobble) when my I scrurried my fingers back and forth over the grass. Heh, and when I picked them up when they walked too far, I got the softest little “Mew!” of protest. That kitty is all about exploring.

Seeing that, Siamese kitty wanted to explore too, but not too far from me. Then, grey kitty (who has an interesting white splotch on his left side) wanted to come out and play. It became quite difficult to put the kitties back, as one stumbled out while another was put back. Only tuxedo kitty kept their distance.

I did some Googling, and it seems 4 weeks is just about right as an age estimation. Their eyes are open and they’re up and about, but not quite so confident on their feet just yet. I’ve Google gender pics, too, so later on I should be able to report the male/female composition of the litter.

15

My wife and I discovered a mama and 7 kittens in our neighborhood about 6 months ago. We took them all in. After some weeks, we got mama fixed and put her back outside. We got the kittens fixed and vaccinated. We put them up on petfinder and facebook and asked friends if anyone knows anyone who wants kittens. We adopted out 5 and are down to 2 kittens. The shelters are full of foreclosure cats and can’t help.

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Oh… and the lethergic one might be sick. read up on FIP. It is 100% fatal. My wife and I took in 2 stray kittens and 1 of them we had to put down due to FIP. The symptoms we saw were lethargy and bloat, which was FIP in the wet form where the body fills with liquid.

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Kittens all readily chowed on the 1/2 teaspoon of KMR DeathLlama offered, then mewed for more. He’s waiting to see if they keep it down before offering more.

He said there was nothing he could find at the store to treat fleas in kittens under the age of 12 weeks. Any ideas?

Oh–and they all appear to be male, except maybe tuxedo kitty. It seems unlikely, but that’s my rudimentary understanding based on the Google images I saw. Tuxedo cat’s color makes it harder to determine.

18

Well, again, the vet. When I got my cat Sophie as a kitten (now deceased :() she had loads of fleas and store-bought treatments didn’t take care of it. When we took her to the vet, they did something (flea bath?) that completely took care of the problem.

Plus, I would be worried that store-bought flea treatments would be toxic or otherwise harmful for such young kittens.

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The kittens are beautiful. Too bad their mom isn’t nearby-- or if she is, she’s too scared to come closer.

My vet is absolutely adamant that store-bought flea treatments are dangerous: he’s had to put down cats with severe nerve damage due to that sort of treatment.

Only take a vet’s advice on treating them. BTW, keep records of what you spend on vets or meds, it might be wise to ask a financial contribution from the people who adopt the kittens, covering at least part of your costs. It’s not recommended to give kittens away. Think “free cats or kittens going to labs, sold for a few dollars a pop.”

ETA: People do usually squee at kittens, but this situation is a little special from what you’ve described: feral kittens, perhaps not in good health, separated from their mom. Let’s say it creates a bit of ambivalence in my mind, for one.

20

Can you raise the kittens to adoptable age in your house? A bath can get rid of the fleas. That, and regular use of a flea comb. Sounds like they are weanable - it would be a great time to get them socialized. Kitchen-raised kittens are the best!

At this point, though - keep them away from your cats, and WASH EVERYTHING that may contact both them and your cats. No need to risk disease.

Oh - and I’ll SQUEEE like crazy - that brood, down to the color mixes, is almost identical to one of my foster litters. Definintely the hardest litter to give up of all of them!