Baby kittens and cold weather (what would you do?)

[Jacqui]

This is my dilemma I have a wild feral cat who really hates me. She has a litter of four of the cutest kittens, who are just getting their eyes open. I came across them when they were just born and accidently worked within two feet of them. I was amazed but the Mom didn't move them. They are in an old topless plastic tote inside an old garage which is pretty open. They are within five feet of a open half door, which I can't close off.

Here comes the problem... I have never had a cat who had this late of a season litter. Tonight our temps are dropping with this weeks temps barely breaking 30 (if that) with teens for the temps. Today we have 40 mph winds and that means our windchill tonight will drop to the single digits. Possible rain/snow too.

What would you do:

1) take the kittens in and hope I can feed them. (note: I have never had luck bottle feeding any animal)

2) try to cover them where they are and hope Mom doesn't move them or abandon them. (remember this cat hates people and has no trust in them). If Mom does not like what I do with them, she may not sleep with them and they need her body heat tonight.

3) let nature take it's course and hope Mom knows best.

...did I say this is the cutest prettiest litter?

 

[AmRoKo]

I know people who have taken small kittens that were abandoned by mama cats in and bottle fed them, it seemed pretty easy the kittens always took to it pretty quickly. there was a tube like thing they used for bottle feeding them so the babies could eat easily.

 

[Jacqui]

It's the every two hour feedings (if I can get them to eat), especially since I am suppose to go somewhere for about 5-6 hours (min) tomorrow.

 

[dmmj]

Stop hating, but I would probably choose option 3, it is not your job to rescue every animal, you know what I mean? Also you can't save every animal.

 

[Yvonne G]

I would try to stack stuff up around the nest to protect it, hoping that mama would be ok with this.

 

[Jacqui]

I don't think she will take well to me moving anything around them. I keep thinking she has gotten them through some cold upper 20s night, but atleast the day time temps were high. This is going to be steady cold.

 

[Jacqui]

Stop hating, but I would probably choose option 3, it is not your job to rescue every animal, you know what I mean? Also you can't save every animal.

I know this David and I have done this with other litters (the let nature take it's course), but this litter is really beautiful (2 dark calicos, a dilute calico, and an orange). I had decided that as soon as they were old enough, I was going to kitten nap them and make them house kittens.

 

[mike taylor]

Then trap the mom an the babies in a box and lock them up somewhere warm and give her food and water and a cat box to poop in . Maybe add a heat lamp over the box to keep it warm .

 

[Jacqui]

Trapping her is impossible and instead you will get every other cat around. I don't know what her past was before she came here, but she knows about traps and won't even let herself be captured within the front porch. I have tried for years to get her. She has also physically attacked me once when I got within two feet of her kittens in the past. She is a beautiful cat, but whatever she went through in the past must have been bad.

I called and woke Jeff up and Yvonne, he is like me thinking if we try to fix anything near her kittens she will either move them or abandon them.

 

[wellington]

Is there anything you can do in a safe distance, but close enough that would help either block wind or help to warm them?
You could also just do what is needed to keep them warm and if the mother leaves them, then take them in. You need to do what you can live with. I couldn't live with me, if I left them knowing they were probably going to get too cold and die. That's me, you need to do for you. Good luck with what ever you do. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[leigti]

Do you often walk by the place where she put the kittens? If so she may not get all riled up if you try to make it a little warmer. Just use objects that are already outside. or maybe make some kind a heated area and hope she moves the kittens there? The idea of trying to block some of the wind and weather from a farther distance away that somebody earlier said is also a good one. really don't know, sorry I'm not much help.

 

[phebe121]

If it where me id take them in to cold but i save animals that need it i cant control myself

 

[Jodie]

I agree with Wellington. I would have to do what needed to be done to keep them warm. If she abandons them, then I would do my best to take care of them.

 

[lismar79]

Our local shelter posted on facebook a cool idea: take an igloo cooler and cut a hole in the side just big enough for a cat to fit through. Fill with straw. The insulation plus that cats body heat warm the cooler up and keep it warm enough for cats to survive cold winter nights.....maybe place it in the area the cat is in and see if she moves them????

 

[Len B]

If you think she may run off I would let her be, but have food and water close to her at all times during this cold spell so she can stay with the kittens. If it gets as cold as I am hearing it might, water might be hard for her to find. Good Luck...

 

[Maggie Cummings]

I say let nature take it course. But maybe if she ever goes off hunting or something you could slip a pig blanket under them...
Then send the orange one to me. Are they long or short haired? I'm serious, I want another kitten...

 

[ZEROPILOT]

We've had feral kittens here at work and have had good luck in getting them adopted out and even catching the moms and getting them spayed. That said, I can tell you that there is a time limit before the kittens are too wild to adopt easily. I don't know how I keep getting stuck with this crap since I'm the only one here that doesn't officially "like" cats.

 

[JAYGEE]

Cats like boxes, big box nearby with blankets inside. She should move her and her family in.

 

[ascott]

#3 with a tossing of some warm fluffy blankets into the spot she has them at now.....you don't want to mess with the area too much...after all the Mother picked the spot from instinctual reasons....remember, we humans do not know it all, no matter how much we wish we did.....also, I find it interesting that you keep mentioning how pretty they are---so if they were "ugly" the importance would not be the same/???

 

[Jacqui]

Angela, I would think by now you would know a life is a life with me.

I had a litter earlier in the year which I think were the ugliest bunch of kittens I ever in my life saw. The Uglies, as I did refer to the litter, got the same care (Vet, food, ect) as the rest.... perhaps a bit more because they were uglier then most (I tend to go for the underdog). I mean by being pretty these kittens have a chance of having a real home, an inside home with a human to love and spoil them. Placing a calico or white kitten is so much easier. I have so many more blacks and dark tabby/tigers that nobody wants one of them, nor do they want the kittens that get dumped off here sick and close to death's door. All of these animals are such sweethearts, but they will always be just outside cats who have to share my time with dozens others.

I have to admit, personally I do enjoy the looks of tuxedo cats and calicos better then other coat colors/patterns. If you check inside my house at my personal group of cats, you will see almost everybody is either a black or dark tabby/tiger.