Well, well, well Miss Susan. How many kitties are you going to have now? You were worried about adopting the Mother and now you've found her secret litter. Oh how happy Miss Annie and Pogo will be...more playmates!

Sorry I just had to tease you. I don't know a thing about weaning kittens so I can't help you there. I'm just so glad that I don't live closer to you..otherwise I'd be adopting a little kitty too.

Good luck.

Gee, Maire, can't we meet for lunch? I'll bring you a present.......!

awwwwww, Susan! We have one, just one this year, her eyes are still blue as well, but are beginning to change. We put canned food out for mom and baby shares tho she is still nursing. Last night mama left her here all alone, then the raccoons showed up, I was so worried about that little baby! I could not pick her up, she spit and hissed for all she was worth! LOL! I could have gotten her but was afraid that she would run into the path of the raccoons. . . good luck!!!!

I found where one of the feral cats moved her 3 babies to today also. They are just adorable, one is siamese colored the other 2 look like twins and are dark with some white markings. They meowed at me but it was barely audible. They are right outside my front door which has a vestibule and we never use the front door so they are well protected and safe even covered from the weather, smart mommy cat.

If these are feral cats contact the group in your area that helps with feral cats they can provide cages and have vets that will do very low cost surgery and in some cases free. I am going to try do do that with this mother and the babies now that I know where they are.

For the first week, kitten eyes are shut and feed only by nursing. Mommy cat is well prepared to handle the feeding situation. She will introduce the kittens to solids when it is time. I know you want to intervene, but its best to let mommy cat lead. Her milk is tailor made for the kits and its content changes as the kits age. Cows milk may not be good for them until their systems have matured a bit. Futhermore, the stuff you buy in the grocery store has been processed and is far from raw milk. Mother cat will wean when it is time.

Here's what you can do. Put out some food for the mother cat in a form that could be comsumed by the kits. Chunks of meat must wait until their teeth develop. Near the nest site, place a saucer or shallow bowl of milk. Don't put out much until you see how much will be comsumed. Mother cat will enjoy the milk and when the kits are ready, they will go to it too. Two feedings per day is about right: morning and evening. There is no need to force weaning. Kits weaned too early can sicken or have developmental problems.

If the kits eyes are open, then they are at least 7 days old and have "wild" behavior. To tame, gently handle and pet them at least once per day - pet the mommy too. She must be tamed as well. At first, do not pick up either the kits or mommy. The petting session should not be long, just a few minutes. As time goes on, the kits will begin to accept you and later will associate you with that saucer of milk. When they become tame, you won't be able to keep them from underfoot when you bring the milk.

The problem I've seen is that outdoor cats can be over-tamed to the extent they become too trusting of humans and get themselves injuried or killed. For example, very tame outdoor kittens may not move out of the way when you start your car and can be crushed when the car moves. I have seen them follow the owner's heals very closely and if he are not aware they are there, a spring closed screen door can slam shut on them.

Its been a long time since I've been around cats. Consult with an animal rehaber.

If you feed them, they become yours and then you become responsible for their care and shelter. (They adopt you and become dependent on you.)

Thanks for your input, Jem, but it's not true that I want to intervene or force weaning. Don't forget--I'm a retired La Leche League Leader! :-)

I simply want to provide alternative nutrition at a time when weaning will take place naturally. There's no way for the kittens to leave the ice house, so unless I show up with some food, their mother's milk is their only supply. The kittens look like they're several weeks old, just a guess. I did pick them up, and that was fine. The mother is quite tame, and always has been. She loves being picked up. The poor thing weighs almost nothing.......I think I should call her Feather.

My understanding is that cow's milk is never good for cats of any age, which I guess figures because the difference between cows and cats is as extreme as cows and humans.

I hope the kittens haven't inherited their mother's habit of walking under my feet. I have reservations about bringing her inside because I can just see myself falling down the stairs........

Lynn, good luck with your baby! Raccoons can be scary.

Raven, we have no feral-cat rescue group in this rural area. I've been closely involved with animal welfare here for decades, so I'd know about one if it existed. We used to have a private cat shelter, but because it was no-kill it filled up in a hurry, and basically closed. At least the resident cats are happy.....

Uh-oh.....now I see three kittens! I found an orange one this morning. I hope that's it.

Kittens, kittens, kittens, what could be more special.....I've been in your shoes many times and have survived..I think the main thing is to make sure momma has sufficient food and water, whether it be dry or canned food...You could even sneak a bite of tuna in there as a treat.....At one time, I had 2 nursing ferals and 13 kittens on my back porch...We had made friends with the mommas and they trusted us enough to bring their babies, all of them!And they didn't mind that we held and babied the little ones, thank goodness...BUT, you do have to watch, as soon as the mother thinks they are old enough, she might try to take them into the woods, to teach them how to hunt...More than once, my hubby had to run through the yard, gathering up little fur balls...When this happened, we knew the kits were probably old enough to wean and brought them into the laundry room, bringing them out a couple of times a day to see momma and nurse a little...But, as soon as the mommas would make that little noise, we scoop up the babies..We were able to get the mommas spayed and found good forever homes for all the babies, well all but 1 and I couldn't give him up....I do have to warn you, a female cat can get pregnant while still nursing...When we took 1 of our mommas, she was already pregnant and sadly, they did abort them...
And, I think it's a myth about not being able to tame feral cats...My 2 inside cats were about 4-5 months old, very feral, when I trapped them and now are the biggest, most lovable fur babies you'd ever see...It takes a lot of time, patience and mostly a lot of love....
As you can see, I do love cats and can go on and on.....Bless you for taking care of those fur babies.....

Awww, they sound adorable. Please, please, post some pics!! Re. spay/neuter, some private vet offices offer low cost spay/neuter services to people who rescue strays or ferals. Maybe one of the vet offices in your area does this? Sometimes, they also offer placement assistance.

I wouldn't provide anything for them to eat, would let the mother teach them how to eat when she's ready to wean them. She'll bring food into the ice house for them.

If you want to provide homes for them for later on, you'll have to handle them so they get used to humans before you give them away, also let them get used to eating cat food rather than hunted/wild food before giving them away.

My cats' mother got pregnant while she was still nursing.

Only one experience with kittens- Stewie's mom. She was about a year old and only weighed 4 pounds herself. We gave HER kitten formula because there was no way she could support her own needs and that of four kittens as skinny as she was (she was dumped at my Granny's). Stewie was the runt of the litter (though you cannot tell it now!). We had to intervene because otherwise he would not have gotten enough nutrition given the momma cat's inability to provide for everyone. I put kitten chow in kitten formula until it was "nasty mushy" and he devoured it. The other kittens started eating it over the next couple of weeks. I think we started Stewie on the mush stuff when he was about 2-3 weeks old.

Stewie looks like a cow when he walks because of his huge belly. I tell people he is the perfect example of why mother's milk is so important as an initial fight against obesity- had she been able to produce enough milk for everyone, maybe he would not have gotten so fat! Our other two cats are not near as fat as him so it cannot be all my fault, lol.

Good luck with your new adventure!

Oh, my understanding is that she can also get pregnant before the kittens are completely weaned so you need to talk with your vet.

I called the shelter, and they suggested feeding the mother in the ice house, canned and dry food, so she can share with the kittens when they're ready. I don't see how she could bring food in to them, as she comes in and out through a window, which she has to jump to reach.

I'll try to get pix, although these guys aren't going to be cooperative models for a while. :-)

Sunny, you pulled off a miracle in getting homes for all those kittens! I'm not confident that I can place only these three. The last time I got involved with kittens, I brought the two orange ones to the shelter (where they said oranges get adopted relatively easily) and kept the black. He was feral when I found him, and is now the most devoted cat imaginable.

I also adopted his mother, and yes, she was pregnant when I had her spayed. Not pleasant, but necessary.

The shelter reminded me that the kittens have been holed up in the ice house without a litter box! My regular litter boxes have sides that are too high for them, so I filled a disposable cake pan with litter and used that. The shelter person told me to use several litter pans, but there's room for only one. (I use the ice house to store garden stuff.)

What I have done here when the original mother cat came to our property looking for water for her babies(4) out of a 5 gallon bucket I had some plants in, was I immediately put out several low water containers that they could easily drink out of with out danger of them falling in and drowning. Which could have happened with that 5 gallon bucket. Right now here it is so dry it is really life or death if we do not keep some water out there for the animals. I now always have several containers of water outside and I see such an array of animals happily drinking the water.

I also started putting out dry cat food for the mother cat because she was so skinny, she devoured it and soon she had the kittens over there chowing down. I put it in flat paper plates so they could actually get on the plate and eat much easier for them than a bowl.

Those kittens are now grown and are the mothers of these new kittens we found. These are very wild and the minute we open the door they fly in to the woods. Since I know where the kittens are I am hopeful with these I can start to play with them some and get them to be a little less wild and try to catch them and have them fixed and then returned.

This morning my husband came in and informed me he had just found 2 more kittens, I knew it was not from the same mother with the 3 kittens, it was her sister who is solid black (really beautiful) and she has 2 kittens they are quite a bit older than the other 3 and are running around and playing. The black mother cat has moved them to right outside my back door under the big oak tree and near the water and food. They are playing with my little dog through the big windows of my sun room. It is precious.
the original batch of kittens, there were 4, also loved to play with my dog through the windows. In fact one of the now mother cats still does play hide and seek with the dog that way.

I did ask my vet about giving milk to the mother cat to help put some weight on her and supplement her, she said I could do that however in some cats it can cause diarrhea.
I lived on a farm growing up and we always gave the cats and especially the kittens milk often right from the cow and they were always very healthy.

Raven, I have been told that a little cottage cheese stirred into the cat food won't cause diarrhea but will give the cats the important nutrients. Try that.

A mother cat can jump through a window with a mouse in her mouth with no problem. :)

Alisande:

So you are a retired La Leache League Leader. Good for you. My wife is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Her licnese plate reads IBCLC.

A lifetime ago, when I lived on a farm, we had barn cats. The number varied from 5 to 10. At milking time, those were fed milk straight from the cow with no ill effect. It was fun to watch a hungry cat lap up milk. When they first start, their tails are held high and as they fill up the tail goes down. The tail acts as fuel gauge.

Of course, milk was only a part of their diet, sort of a desert. These cats did a credible job of keeping the mice and rat population in check.

We had a neighbor whose barn was 1/4 mile from our house. He had no cats, but had a barn with rodents. He used rat poison as a control. The problem: When a mouse becomes deathly ill from poison, he leaves home to die. A poisoned mouse wandered down the road toward our house and one of our cats ate the mouse. The cat sickened and died.

Good for your wife, Jem!! Please tell her for me that when my son was little (they listen to their mothers when they're under 10) I used to tell him, "When you grow up, marry a breastfeeder." LOL Now he and his wife are expecting their first baby in four days (!!), and they've been to a breastfeeding class.

I think "straight from the cow" is the secret. I could probably get some from the dairy farm up the road if necessary, but I'm watching several videos (Parts I, II, and III) on how to socialize feral kittens, and they suggest using baby food on your fingers. I'm going to try that. They also tell you to sit on the floor with the kittens. That may be more of a problem--almost no room on the floor of the cramped ice house (stuffed with gardening supplies), plus my hips, etc., aren't all that thrilled with floor sitting anymore.

I haven't dealt with nursing kittens since I was a teenager. But what I remember is this: Let Mom Cat take care of feeding, weaning and litter-box training. Don't separate the kittens and adopt them out until they are weaned.(Probably six to eight weeks old), and eating solid food. Make sure to place litter box(es), food and water near them in the ice house. Again, let Mom Cat train them. They must be so adorable. And don't forget to get everybody neutered. I would not give away a kitten who can reproduce. Call your local animal shelter. They may be willing to do free neutering/finding homes.

Call your local animal shelter. They may be willing to do free neutering/finding homes.

Ha! Nothing's free in this rural area. As I mentioned above, I spoke to the shelter yesterday. They know me well. (And I mean that in a positive way. LOL) The best I can do is to get a $45 discount on spaying.

I'm pretty sure I have a home for the orange kitten. The woman is a responsible cat owner, and I know she'll take care of the neutering. I admire and agree with your position on animal reproduction, and I'm not deluding myself about her. I have a long history of involvement with animal welfare. I just hope I can find more owners in whom I have confidence. (This seems unlikely, though.)

I paid the kittens a socialization visit this morning, and found my daughter-in-law had added some comfy "furnishings" to the ice house: rubber mats, a cardboard box for the mama, and a soft bed for the kittens. Aw......

I hope you decide on the name Feather for the mama. I love that name and so appropiate. You are so sweet to adopt her. If I lived closer I would love to adopt the orange one. LOL That is the color of my first kitty when I was a child. I loved that cat...