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Original poster

Help! There's a stray cat having kittens birth in my porch!

55 replies

castille · 30/04/2009 11:38

This cat appeared on Sunday and my DDs took pity on it because it seemed lost or stray and had no ID. It's a nice cat, friendly and not agressive. They fed it and made it a little bed in a box in the porch.

This morning it was miaowing a lot when we left for school and now I see there are 2 kittens in there!

How many is she going to have?!

What on earth do I do with cat and kittens?

OP posts:

OrmIrian · 30/04/2009 13:17

Same here hassled. I used to be very allergic but I have always got used to my own cats very quickly. I can even put up with Lola sleeping wrapped round my head at night with not a single itch .

SparklyGothKat · 30/04/2009 13:19

aww little kittens...

My DH is allergy to other peoples cats, but not our own.. he is a bit sneezy when we first get them home but within a week or so he is fine with them, but if he goes round someone else's house who has cats he reacts

bella29 · 30/04/2009 13:22

Are you really in France - like, across the channel France?

MollieO · 30/04/2009 13:26

Couldn't you take an antihistamine temporarily to help, like Piriton? I'm highly allergic to cats - wheezing, running eyes etc and I'm asthmatic. I have terrible trouble staying at friends' houses who have cats.

Somewhat by accident I ended up adopting two adult cats a few years ago (both have since died) on the basis that at the age they were they would have struggled to be rehomed. For the first two weeks all I did was sneeze but then it gradually reduced. The one thing that I always did was hoover, dust and wash floors etc every day so no chance of any cat hair or dander staying around for long. Friends of mine who were also allergic to cats never had a problem coming to my house. I think the hygiene aspect is key as usually you are most allergic to the dander rather than the hair.

Original poster

castille · 30/04/2009 13:28

Rescue centre would keep mother and kittens together until they were weaned and ready (2 months, they said)

No outside door in utility room, there is a window but I can't leave it open when I'm not in. Plus the utility room is tiny and too small for a family of cats. Garage has a window but it's 2m off the ground so no good for getting out, but maybe we could fit a cat flap in the side door. Do those cat flaps that only let in one cat actually work? There are dozens of cats around here.

Rescue centre hasn't called back, I hope they don't just turn up before we've decided what to do.

OP posts:

ScorpiowithabigS · 30/04/2009 13:29

Yes they do work, your mummy cat would have a magnet on her collar to open the cat flap, iyswim.

PinkTulips · 30/04/2009 13:31

if you keep her the kittens won't do much until they're almost 5 weeks other than feed and sleep and you can rehome them at 8 weeks so there'd only be a few weeks of dealing with them, and with only 2 of them i'd imagine there wouldn't be too much commotion.

if she's happy enough to let you close to her she'll most likely tolerate being moved ime, i had to do this with a stray that gave birth on my couch and what i did was very carefully pick the kitten up and put it in a cardboard box with a blanket in it and showed her... she jumped in after it and i moved them both to their new loaction where she was happy enough to remain.

my current female gave birth in the toy shelves a few weeks back and when she popped to the litter tray i moved the kittens (she'd had litters before so i wasn't concerned about her taking offense) when i plopped her in with them into their travel cot she proceeded to give birth to another!

you won't need to do anything at all for the kittens for the time being, she'll feed them, clean them and mind them but do make sure she has a constant supply of food and water.

once they're about 4/5 weeks they'll become interested in food and once they start to eat they need a toilet area. 2 tiny kittens, you'd get away with a piece of newspaper on the ground tbh but no harm in litter training them for their future owners... this involves catching one of them in the act and plopping it in the tray... they'll use it automatically after that, kittens are the easiest creatures to house train.

if you give them to the rspca and they're planning on seperating them from mum that means they're going to have to be hand reared, which isn't a great option tbh.

i've had 13 kittens in this house in the last year and honestly, they only make their presense known in the week or 2 before their rehomed and even then they sleep the majority of the day. chances are mommy cat won't go anywherre far for days and when she does for the next few weeks it'll only be quick trips out so she won't need constant access in and out, could you put a cat door anywhere in the garage, or put crates up to a high window or something?

Original poster

castille · 30/04/2009 13:34

Bella - yes really, in Brittany. Why, do you want one?

Interesting about you folk that aren't allergic to your own cats. Not sure I fancy dusting etc every day though.

Will investigate magnetic cat flaps then, they could be the answer. Though don't some cats refuse to use them?

OP posts:

PuppyMonkey · 30/04/2009 13:35

Awww. You must give us regular updates on how they all get on.

bella29 · 30/04/2009 13:37

I'd have them all but I'm in Blighty

Original poster

castille · 30/04/2009 19:22

Thanks for all the info, PinkTulips, I think I'm going to need it... because the rescue centre called while I was out on the school run, and once the DDs had seen the kittens there was no way they were going anywhere so I haven't called back. And it looks like we're keeping them until they are ready to be rehomed... DH is not impressed, but once he sees them he'll be won over

So if anyone knows anyone in Brittany who might like a grey kitten or a ginger and white one, or both, give me a shout!

OP posts:

PinkTulips · 30/04/2009 23:05

dp is continually unimpressed with my adopting strays yet it's him you find down on the ground playing with thme and making a fuss of them

any questions feel free to ask, i'm not an expert but i do have a fair bit of experiance with kittens

loopylou6 · 01/05/2009 15:43

Awww what a lovely thread Hows the kittys?

Original poster

castille · 01/05/2009 19:57

Kittens seem fine! We think we have one girl, one boy. The girl looks like a badger because it is dark grey with a white stripe down the middle of its face. The boy is ginger with white bits.

I am a little concerned about the mum though. Should she be doing nothing but lying in the basket with the kittens? They are still in the utility room and she has asked to go out twice today - once at 8.30am and again at about 11.30am, but not since, and she doesn't seem to be using the litter tray. She has eaten about 1.5 of those small foil dishes of wet food.

Is this normal behaviour?

OP posts:

Dumbledoresgirl · 01/05/2009 20:01

I don't know about nursing mothers, but I do know that our cats sometimes do not move for hours at a time eg will sleep on a bed the whole time the children are at school. You have to remember that cats are essentially nocturnal animals and are supposed to sleep for about 18 hours a day (though I think that is not actually the case).

As long as the kittens seem content, she must be lactating, right? Have you put down any water for her to drink?

tigerdriver · 01/05/2009 20:03

What a great thread. They sound lovely. The badger one in particular, I want her! Mum sounds as if she's doing well, I don't suppose she's supposed to do much now besides lie about and let them feed. As long as she eats, which she is, then fine. (I am not a vet, BTW).

On the allergy front, I am v allergic to cats, dogs, horses etc. However, I have always had them (not the horses), and I find that I have a week of misery, then it's all ok. I am asthmatic and take all the usual meds for that, so this isn't just a runny nose... Our new kittens have been with us for about 2 months now and after the first week of hell, all was fine, I don't sneeze or wheeze at all. I also found (about 5 days in) that Piriton was miraculous and did actually stop the wheezing in the tracks.

Best of luck.

Original poster

castille · 01/05/2009 20:24

Yes the kittens are feeding - we hear them sucking sometimes - and they wriggle about quite a lot so seem as lively as day-old kittens can be!

I'm just worried that her not going out day or night (apart from 5 mins total this morning) isn't normal. But maybe it is for a lactating mother.

OP posts:

MoominMymbleandMy · 01/05/2009 20:24

The kittens sound gorgeous. What very happy DDs you must have. I doubt I would get my DD to school in their shoes.
I echo all the advice about allergic people acclimatising to their own cats. A few days of sneezing and all is fine.

Original poster

castille · 01/05/2009 20:40

Oh yes Moomin the DDs are in seventh heaven. Lucky for them today is a bank holiday in France so they weren't at school!

I haven't felt at all allergic yet, but that's probably because they are confined to the utility, and no one has been picking them up and bringing hairs into the rest of the house.

OP posts:

Original poster

castille · 01/05/2009 20:52

Dumbledoresgirl - yes we have put out water, though I haven't actually seen her drink any.

OP posts:

fruitshootsandheaves · 01/05/2009 20:58

My cats only went out for a few minutes in the first few days after giving birth, then came straight back to the kittens. Just enough time to put a clean towel in!

PinkTulips · 01/05/2009 21:21

castille.... my girl hibernates with her kittens for a week or more when they're newborn, after that she stretches to popping out for 10/15 mins a day and now at 5 weeks old she spends a lot more time out of the nest but still isn't keen on going far, she'll sunbathe outside if it's sunny but otherwise is still about the house 24/7.

perfectly normal, you'd only have to worry if she wasn't showing enough interest iyswim?

the badger kitten sounds adorable

glad all is going well, you sound like you're doing a fantastic job. all you really have to worry about is making sure she has a constant water supply and lots of food and she'll do the rest

Liskey · 01/05/2009 21:43

awwhhh Castille they sound gorgeous - has your DH been won over yet?

edam · 01/05/2009 22:20

ah, how lovely. (Am making a mental note to start a thread in ten weeks to see whether the dds have allowed you to give the kittens away... )

Dumbledoresgirl · 02/05/2009 09:56

I want to see photos as soon as it would be reasonable to take them

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