Dh has seen a mom cat hunting with kittens in tow.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Which rescue agency is most likely to trap, neuter and release?

I'm assuming feral because usually the kittens would be at home wouldn't they? I mean you don't usually let mum take kittens off for a walk at nearly 9pm do you?

Georgie sounds LOVELY.

Mr Cory, my BFF, was feral. He is huge and toothy with it. Now he is the softest, cuddliest companion you could imagine.

I need more guidance.

I fed them tonight, 3 fat little kittens and mom who stayed hidden. They scarpered the minute you get out of the car so I set 2/3 a tin of butchers then I went back and opened a tray hoping mum might something to eat too.

They wolfed it down.

I feel like a total numpty who hasn't fed a cat before, do they sound hungry to you or are they just being typical kittens?.

Bit of both, I suspect. Much depends on how well Mum has been doing in finding prey - or whether she has got them to the stage where they're being encouraged to find their own. The attrition rate for kittens in the wild is pretty high I believe.

Dh drove past and they were by the road so he bibbed the horn and they scarpered.

I just need to plough on dont I and try to get them neutered at least.

You must try and get them neutered at least. It sounds to me, though, as if Mum is trying tough love to encourage them to find their own food and they're maybe not doing too well - hence coming to the roadside at the sound of a car. Hoping for nosh probably.

I think that whatever you do, you need to do it fast, Fluffy, before they get RTA'd.

You're doing the right thing. You need to get them used to coming for food at certain times - that way it's much easier to trap them. What would also really, really help would be if you could feed them inside something like a large cardboard box - the size of something that say a hoover came in would be ideal - large and oblong. That way they would be used to going inside something to eat, making them much easier to trap.

And yes, you need to keep doing this until you can get help for them all to be neutered and hopefully relocated to somewhere less dangerous and with someone to feed them.

Oh and i've just read back a bit, and don't worry, you wouldn't be doing anything illegal. If you see a cat with kittens roaming around you would have no reason to assume they have an owner and every reason to help them by trapping/rehoming. Nobody could prosecute you for that.

No kittens, went an hour later than usual.

We left 3 trays of food behind a bollard so if they do find it they can't be seen eating from the road.

I'll go again tomorrow.

Maybe someone has picked them up? You could try ringing the local rescue or vet if no sign of eating by tomorrow and see if they've been brought in. Just to relieve your mind.

Any news of them?

No, they weren't there two nights running, drove past tonight and no sign of them.

On balance, I think that that probably means they've been taken in by someone.

I do hope so, cpl said I could have one and they'd pay for neutering so I'm hoping if someone else calls them they'd make the same offer.

I refused any help with costs, I'd rather it went to people who couldn't afford the £60 vets bill.

We will go back for a few nights though, just in case.

Last night we saw someone behind the gates (it's railway property) in cammo gear, I worry they were hunting but I'm hoping they weren't trying to hurt the cats. They walked into a restricted area when dh got out of the car.

Probably SAS in training. (The restricted area et al.) You don't live near Hereford, do you?

Derbyshire.