Any ideas what else I can do

[missymoomoomee]

Over the weekend I found a young cat and 4 tiny kittens in my shed. It was bucketing down and my shed is freezing cold and damp so I took them indoors, they are absolutely crawling with fleas so they are in a cupboard just now in a cozy duvet and I have fed the mother as she seems a lot better than when I found her.

I can't keep them, I have cats one of whom is very territorial so I have called some animal shelters who are all full, the vet who have no room cats protection who are fit to bursting too and the RSPCA whos advice was to put them back in the cold wet shed and call them back when they get ill as they can't help healthy animals.

I have been around in circles all day and I don't know what to do, I can't leave them outdoors knowing they will get ill, and I can't keep them. Any ideas? (I'm in the midlands)

you could flea treat the mom as this would make her a lot more comfortable have you tried south birmingham cat rescue i know they have a page on facebook all i can suggest is get her onto all the waiting lists you can to see if any of the rescues can get a foster home for her and kits, bloody rspca are useless in a situation like this, go onto catchat.org this site is brilliant and will bring up forums and all the rescues in your area other than this i dont know what to suggest

Thank you issey I treated them all yesterday and they seem a lot more comfortable. The RSPA totally shocked me, I understand they are full but to suggest leaving 5 cats to get ill on purpose is horrible. I'll have a look at that site and see if I can find any rescues I haven't contacted yet. In reality I can't afford to be feeding them and worming a flea treating them all for an extended period of time but I guess I have no choice other than to abandon them (which I'd never do).

i know how hard it is at the moment the rescue i work at has something like 100 moms and kittens in foster at the moment and phone calls galore to take in more, and 500 cats on the waiting list,

it seems the problem of unuetered cats is getting worse not better each year, in parts of bradford feral cat colonies of 50 - 60 cats is becoming a major epedmic there and the RSPCA would not help these kittens if you let them get ill and contacted them, what they would do in reality is PTS because they were ill,

if the kits are tiny at the moment you would only have to feed mom, but yes i can see what a problem feeding four kits would be if you have them when they wean, hopefully someone at one of the rescues will be able to take her and babies in before this, usually they will do what they can within 2 or 3 weeks and so glad she found someone who cares

Its heartbreaking, the Mum I would say is about 6 or 7 months old, and the CPL thinks she has been abandoned for being pregnant. Some people shouldn't be allowed animals. Its not the resue centres faults but its so frustrating trying to get help. I'm glad she came into my shed too, a lot of my neighbours wouldn't be quite so accomodating.

The mum is going through about 3 or 4 tins a day at the minute and doesn't like the usual stuff I buy, madam is dictating my shopping already . If the rescues around here can't take her in I don't know what I'm going to do about the kittens either its a nightmare I don't think I could rehome them its too much responsibility to find the right homes and I would be forever worrying.

poor girl she is only a baby herself, 3-4 tins is a lot of food will she eat dry food as buying royal canin queen dried food which though it looks dearer is very high quality food and would actually save you money in the long run pets at home sell royal canin ,

im fairly sure that by the time the kits are a bit older you will have found a rescue that can take them in, we have a system where the kits go to foster till ten weeks old then come back to the center, sometimes involves juggling the pens where moms and kits are and sometimes the kits stay at foster for a week longer but somehow it works out that kits get rehomed , mom gets rehomed and then ready for next mob to come in,

kitten season used to be april till september but milder winters have extended the season till almost all year round we only had february this year with no kittens at all, and ask cats protection if they can supply you with a voucher for neutering mom so that if she is still with you in a few weeks at least she wont get pregnant again, sorry im not nearer you even though i come from the midlands originally, so i cant offer any more practicle help

We do need a soloution for the neutering problem, I wish our cat wasn't so feisty so I could foster.

I donate to our vets fund when we go in because they travel to Romania to neuter feral cats.

Could the CPL help you out with neutering costs and flea treatment perhaps? It would at least help you until you could find them homes.

I know it shouldn't be all down to you but I couldn't put them back out there as they are. Could you rehome the kittens and keep Mumcat?

Sorry I somehow managed to hide the thread (don't ask)

They are on about 10 lists, but I had to take one of the kittens to the vet last night, its eye was all crusty and when I went to wipe it with cotton wool a load of pus came out it was horrible. I had asked advice about what to do as the mother cat (now called Smudge) didn't seem to be cleaning them and was told to leave it. The kittens eye is fine now thankfully and the vet has now told me to clean them 2 or 3 times a day now.

I will try and buy that food, although she is eating a little less but I imagine it won't be too long until the kittens are eating too. I have flead and wormed the mother so that problem is over for now (although her and her kittens are suffering me combing them twice a day, just in case)

My cats seem to have accepted them so I think I will keep Smudge and try to rehome the kittens myself. I wish I could afford to keep them all :(.

fantastic that you are going to keep smudge, still contact CPL and ask them about a neutering voucher they have different ones from part payment to full payment of fees depending on your income level,

and still keep the kittens on the waiting lists as rescues will be able to rehome the kittens, and they will do the vacs, chipping neutering etc.

i think you can be less ocd about the flea combing now as once treated they should be free of fleas now,

and bless you for caring about this little catty family, once the kittens start to eat food get tinned food not pouches as pouches work out expensive, the royal; canin was just a suggestion she will be fine on whiskas dry, i feed my mob butchers classic meat in jelly just smash it down fine for the kittens and all mine eat it and its the same price as asdas own brand but better quality

I have young Smudge booked in for neutering in 3 weeks time, she isn't staying indoors all the time and the last thing I want to deal with is more kittens so I will contact CPL for a voucher.

I forgot to ask about vaccinations, I am only assuming she hasn't been vaccinated so would it be safe to have them done even if its possible that she may have 2 doses?

I had to pull up a load of floorboards this morning, I am getting a new bathroom out in just now and because I stole one of the kittens last night to take it to the vet she decided to move them. At least they werent too far, I had visions of having to take the whole of the floor up.

I agree about the RSPCA I have donated a fair bit to them over the years but I think any money I would have given to them will now be given to a local shelter instead.

sorry but lol at her hiding the kits under the bathroom floor, shows what a good mom she is despite her age, her vaccinations i would presume being as she was chucked out at such a young age that her previous owners wouldnt have bothered to have her vaccinated, i would ask the vets advice on this one, a lot of people are losing support for the RSPCA at the moment because they just dont seem to do what they say they do, they only seem to get involved in high profile cases and not the normal stuff that people would expect of them, and they are NOT a no kill charity could tell you some tales about them but wont do

Aren't they? I must be pretty stupid for not looking more into that I just assumed they weren't and before now I haven't had any dealings with them. I am not impressed at any organisation that encourages people to let animals fall ill so they can deal with them and I am horrified that they put animals down who are healthy (at least I assume from your post this is what they do)

Her hiding them was quite funny, the sight of me in my PJs lying on the bathroom floor at 7 am with a mobile phone for a light trying to squeeze my head into a tiny little hole to find black kittens made my kids laugh so much they had tears streaming down their faces.

Oh Bless you for taking care of this little family x

Yes totally agree with the RSPCA, they are worse than useless. I called them about a stray cat that needs help in our local supermarket carpark last week.
Sounded quite hopeful when i spoke to the helpline lady, she got someone local to call me back.
When they did they basically said theres nothing they can do as it's still walking and if someone manages to catch it, (i.e Me) then they will take it in.
They told me they couldn't put a trap down as it's in a public place

I had already told her that i can only get within a couple of feet away from it then it runs. So not sure how without help i am going to get hold of it.
After the call i realised i did not recognise the number as being local so googled it and the call centre put me through to a branch which is about 70 miles away despite telling her my location 5 times!!!!

Cats protection weren't interested either

I am keeping a close eye on it at the moment and if....(thats a very big if) i do manage to catch it, I will look after it myself, DH has already said to bring it home.
No way would i hand over any animal to the RSPCA, i would feel like i was signing its death warrant.....sad but true unfortunately!!

Meowmi, You could try taking a bowl of food for it. That would gain it's trust that your not a cat killer!

I complained about a horse tethered near an A road once and they said it's ok to do this as the owner will be taking food and water once a day to it. Not long before that I watched a program where they took goats off a farmer as they were only getting food and water once a day. The inspector said the goats should have 24hr access to food and water.

Missy, where about in the midlands are you?
We could take oneor two of the kittens off your hands if you are within a reasonable travelling distance from me.

It would be spoilt rotten

Just need to stop mn-ing for a little while and do some parenting, , will check back later this evening.

I'm in Rugby Soldier.

I have called the CPL and told them that I will be keeping them and dealing with the kittens, one less thing for them to deal with. I had to use some of my 'new carpet fund' money to take the kitten to the vet anyway so have now renamed it 'the kitten fund'

I think since I have become so attached to the little blighters now I would feel better knowing where they are and keeping in touch with the people they go to, so Soldier if you wanted two --or three- cats to spoil and I'm close enough give me a shout.

I'm shocked at the RSPCA I really am, I will never call them again about anything.

That sounds close enough missy!
I will attempt my very first mn pm.

I have pm'd you back, possibly twice, possibly not at all, my computer went a bit funny when I was sending it.

You only have to google rspca and you will find pages and pages of horror stories, it truly is shocking

Fluffy, I did take some food down for it at 11pm the other night, but went back the next morning and it was untouched.
Also dont want to get into trouble with the supermarket as they have rat traps right round the perimeter of the store and the carpark.

Think it must be scavenging the bins behind the store as it doesn't look skinny and its the only reason i can think it would stay there as there are houses opposite the store.

Will keep trying though!