Calling all kitty lovers! Just what I need...

[Heartburn]

The other day something caught my doggie's attention. I heard some old leaves rustling and out popped a kitty! Then another and then another ... 3 little kitties.
I have since seen the mother. She comes around a few times a day to let them feed. She seems feral to me. As well as her kids! WOW! I gathered them up today (wasn't easy) and have them in a box. They don't appear to be more than 6-8wks old, at the most. And boy do they spit and hiss already...at such a young age.
I hated to do it, but I have called animal control and am still waiting for them to come out. Everytime I go outside to check on them, they look up at me with those little baby eyes and my heart melts. I talk "coo coo talk" to them and when I put my hand inside to put in a little bowl of water, they about had a fit. Talk about spitting....
I just hope that they get here soon. I have a laundry basket turned upside down on top of the box so that it doesn't get too hot inside. And it is under a tree.
So far my dog doesn't even have a clue they are within HIS territory LOL

Anybody out there got a clue as to what I should give to them? Besides the water?

By the way....there is no way to catch the mother. Every time I go near her, she jumps the fence. It doesn't appear she understands a human touch. I hate to separate her from her kids

[BK2008]

Kitten food (dry or moist) if they're not being fed enough by the mom. But remember, feeding them might just 'tame' them enough to become....yours!

I have 2 cats (but I got mine from the rescue shelter).

[soleprop]

regardless of what to feed the kittens, mama cat would probably eat whatever you put out. if you don't wanna buy kitty food you can cook up some chicken, or open a can of tuna. the mama should eat that and her babies will then drink her milk.

good luck with that! kitties are sooooo cute.

[Heartburn]

Oh yes. Shelter animals are the best. No doubt about it.

I just put some tuna out there. Hopefully the animal control folks will get out here soon.

I know all about feeding a stray...how they don't leave. I figured since they won't be staying that I could give something to them.

[AngelinaCat]

Yes, Heartburn. That's how it starts.......

[Heartburn]

I know, darn it! And they are sooo cute.
I tell my husband "look at those sweet little faces...aren't they adorable?" He just gives me that look lol
And the dog. He's like "Say What??"

I'm weak

[AngelinaCat]

You're hooked!

[Heartburn]

No kidding lol
I was trying to figure out how long I could keep them around before husband finds out, but the dog has a big mouth and will tell on me for sure
Guys stick together like that, ya know!

Animal control still has yet to arrive.....

[AngelinaCatHub]

OK, don’t be fooled by the pen name “AngelinaCatHub”, I tolerate them and am not a great cat lover. (However, our three are ‘different’). You could end up a cat lady like my Mother. She had 68 (a real sickness).

Now let me say, we had a wonderful stray Golden Retriever who had a litter in our broken down barn. We loved that dog but we had to take care of about four or five of the litter. Ms. Cat brought them to the Humane Society. Before she could get to the door, all pups were taken in the parking lot of the Society. We later had to get rid of the Mother dog, as the neighbors complained and we are just not dog people. So I shot her…..GOD NO I DIDN’T!!!!!! Anyway we had to take her to Humane. She was adopted and was a wonderful dog. Today, I would stand my ground and told the neighbors where to go. Things were different at that time. ‘Hub

[Flamingo]

No kidding lol
I was trying to figure out how long I could keep them around before husband finds out, but the dog has a big mouth and will tell on me for sure
Guys stick together like that, ya know!

Animal control still has yet to arrive.....

If you kept them, they would need to be spayed/neutered, wormed and given shots and since they were born wild will need constant human attention for a while to come around. Then you still have mom in the territory who will almost certainly stick around the area if there is a food source and just have more babies unless she can be caught and spayed. The Humane Society in our area just had a big call for rural farmers with barns to take on lots of stray kittens and cats because people were just bringing them in like crazy finding them living in sheds and other areas around their house (apparently either being dumped by people who can't keep them anymore or afford them anymore) or people moving and leaving cats behind (i.e., large number of foreclosures). Farmers love cats cause they keep the rodent population down and they allow them to roam freely around the farm(s).

The kitty in my signature was one of a large litter from a mamma South Philadelphia kitty who was hit by a car and found laying in the gutter by one of my daughter's who lived there at the time. It was too late to get to a vet so she took her home where to her surprise she gave birth. She took momma and litter to the vet the next day and had them all checked out. Momma was eventually spayed and given to a good home and all the kittens went to good homes. Momma and babies were lucky. Of course we got one of the litter but he is the size of a mountain lion - LOL! His momma was half his size! He is 100% house cat and is the world's biggest lover but hates strangers in the house.

Did they ever come for the kittens?

[AngelinaCatHub]

Flamingo, years ago, we saw a lady stop her truck, drop a kitten in the ditch and leave. Mrs. Cat said let’s get her tag and call the cops. We picked up the kitten and had her for 18 years. A very sweet, talkative cat. She dropped dead literally from what I expect to have been a heart attack. Just keeled over. Now the reason I told Mrs. Cat not to call in on the person is; though not morally right to drop off the kitten, if you caused that person trouble, the next time the kitten may just be put into burlap with a brick in it. It was better she dropped it than kill it. Also, we loved her for 18 years after.

[woeisme]

Both my cats are "rescue" cats, although not from the shelter. My older female cat was 6 months old when her owner moved out of the house and just left her and several older toms to fend for themselves. So she started coming over to one of my co-workers house begging to be fed (he was the neighbor of the people who abandoned her) but they already had two older, very territorial cats, so he talked me into taking her. She's 9 years old now, and I love and spoil her beyond belief. Four years ago on Father's day I was driving to the store and saw a car in front of me on the road slow down and they threw a black kitten out of the car! I stopped and picked up the kitten, he was only 4 or 5 weeks old, barely weaned, and his face was bloody from where he hit the pavement when they tossed him. He's an ornery cuss and my female cat is only just now learning to tolerate him, lol.

[AngelinaCat]

Our three are rescued cats. Two came up to the house on their own at different times. One of them is still very skittish. The third was actually someone's pet that escaped from the people's car on a rest break while driving back home. A friend of ours rescued him from the shopping center parking lot that he'd had been lurking in for two weeks, and kept him for two weeks while she ran an ad in the newspaper. After there were no replies, she asked us if we would like him because she only had a small place and already had a dog and cat and invalid, bed-ridden husband. This cat is very active and likes to climb and we have a yard large enough that he can run and play in and not get into trouble. So we took him in. All three tolerate each other pretty well.'

[Heartburn]

Kittens update...
Yesterday evening the animal control finally came. I had spent the entire day checking on kitties to make sure they had water and didn't overheat in that box.
We had been trying to keep the fact that these kitties were here away from some visiting nieces. But, as I was coming thru with the box to give to the animal control, the girls saw the box...saw animal control officer in the front yard and wanted to know what was going on. Me, being the honest person that I am, told them that I had found some stray kittens. Now, looking back, I wish I had said it was a possum or something, because after the officer left, one of my nieces starting shouting "YOUR'RE MEAN...THEY'RE GONNA KILL EM....YOUR'RE MEAN....THEY'RE GONNA KILL EM".

You have no idea how upset that made me. I told her "that's what you're supposed to do...are you gonna take care of them? feed them?" Once I got back to my room, I lost it. I felt like the worst person in the world. I knew I couldn't keep them. It's just not possible. I have a dog and am living with the inlaws. It was just so awful to be told that by an 11yr old child. I cried my eyes out.

The one day I have something else to occupy myself with, besides the usual bankruptcy issues...doing what I believe to have been the best thing for those little kittens, and this is how it ended.

[soleprop]

u need a doggie hug. and those kitties will not get eaten by predators. *that* you know for sure. and the won't starve either. or get sick. we can't be sure what will happen to them, but we can be sure about these other things. tell your neice to be an optimist. :P