Mother cats & Kittens

This is a serious thread so no anti cat bollox please.

We have found 4 young (I estimate 3-4 week old kittens) in our service yard at work, all ginger, all seemingly abandoned by the mother in a tarpaulin..however all are fit and well, walking meowing good size, no abnormalities etc etc..

we have moved them to shelter in the shade in a box with some water, hoping the mother will return, I will happily take them home tonight to look after if the mother doesn't return however is that the wrong? Should I leave them over night to see if she comes back then? but then what, capture them as a family and take them to the rspca? she can't raise them in our yard as its a working yard..?

I don't quite know what do to for the sake of the kittens..?

any advice or experience would be useful,

I have had many kittens previously but not in this way...

Hey matey,

call these poeple http://www.breckland.cats.org.uk/ part of the Cats Protection, they'll give you the best advive.

They do a great job, we got our old moggy from them. My guess is the mother may still be about as they are in good nick. Female cats will often move their kittens around and I will sometimes appear they have been abandoned. If you can leave them in a secure place close to where they were found (perhaps in a deep box) the mother may return.

Do not feed them cows milk. It will most likely cause them i'll affects. about 90% of cats are lactose intollerant. You could get special kitten milk and soft kitten food for them. Plenty of water is good. If you need a hand getting them to a shelter give me a shout. I could meet you halfway or something, we have Downham Cats Protection just up the road from us. http://downhammarket.cats.org.uk/

It may be that somebody else has abandoned them and the mother and she has gone off to find food?

If they all seem healthy, the mother must be near for them to have lasted this many weeks. Or they have been cared for and then abandoned when somebody realised how much work kittens can be when they get a bit older.

When did they appear? I take it this morning

How safe is the area over night? Could you leave them there without any wildlife getting them such as foxes etc. Can you get back easy tomorrow to check they are ok? and then maybe take them home.

Supermarkets sell kitten/cat milk now but I'm unsure of the age a kitten needs to be to have it.

the area is a small locked compound but the other wildlife could get in, as for abandonment by a human, its possible but the area is locked up and were at the back of the estate... other easier compounds to get in..

I don't want to feed them yet but yes I could pop back tomorrow I guess I'll just fear for them over night...

we only found them this morning but the tarp hasn't been moved for a while I think.. ill doubel checlk

Firstly, ring the rspca, they will advise you best regarding the options.

As Lily said, i would expect the mother to be around still as the kittens would deteriate very rapidly without her especially if really young.
Can you care for them but still make it obvious to the mother that they are still in the vicinity?
I wouldnt leave them too long as if they are really young they need help asap.

[Jayneflakes]

The Mother will leave them for what feels like ages while she is hunting, sleeping or just mooching. When our girl ( a stray that moved in with us to drop her babies) had kittens, she would stay with them for the first few days, slowly leaving them for longer times while she slept, ate or exercised. Once they got to about four weeks and had open eyes and were wobbling around she would leave them for a couple of hours.

We used kitten flea treatment on ours because mother was a stray who objected to front line quite strongly and we also topped up their food with kitten formula and kitten meat. We had nine in total and all were re-homed at twelve weeks, including mummy. Every one went to loving homes and every time one was collected, I cried!

If you are worried, a call to the Cats Protection league or RSPCA is your best bet. Early handling of them should not discourage the Mother too much, but if she is a stray, she may be very timid and wont approach while you are about. Our girl actually dropped some in my lap because I believe she was exhausted and wanted a baby sitter. So I fed her cat milk, while she suckled her kitkits, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever done, next to helping her give birth.

Kittens are beautiful, but they poo everywhere, even when they have a fresh litter tray! Weaning too early can upset their tummies but generally they are pretty hardy as long as they are getting fed and watered.

A friend of a work colleague has been and collected them and taken them to a vets.. apparently they are riddled with fleas, no more than 4 weeks old and have been abandoned for a fair while...

so they are on thier way to be looked after properly..

good news..

[the_lone_wolf]

Originally Posted by 454697819

...all ginger, all seemingly abandoned by the mother in a tarpaulin...

Can you blame her?

[maviczap]

There's a Cats protection league in Ipswich, failing that the RSPCA