Stray's litter gone missing - did I frighten them?

[WalkersNotLays]

There's a cat in the neighbourhood that I was unsure was a stray or not, she was well kept and looked healthy/fed. I usually put our meat scraps out for cats so she was at ours pretty much every day.

Anyway, cat got pregnant and then disappeared for a few weeks - assumed owners were keeping her in and looking after kittens.

Found litter in garden yesterday, kittens just walking and eyes open but not coloured so maybe a month old. I found out their nest was right at the bottom of my garden, poor sods. I went today to see if cat would be open to moving to garage to keep warm/safe but were missing. Did the sudden appearance of humans scare them away from their nest?

I'm unclear. Have both the mother and kittens disappeared? In which case she has moved them. If just the kittens have disappeared they have been eaten by foxes.

What are you going to do about the mother cat. Is she friendly enough to take her to get her spayed yourself or will she need trapping?

Agree it's likely the mother cat has moved the litter - it's standard cat behaviour. Your finding them probably has nothing to do with it.

Just the kittens, mum still comes by every day to eat and drink

She could still have moved them. After all, she still needs to eat. Is she friendly or feral?

She is friendly, although very jumpy

She probably hid them somewhere else. Mother cats often move their litters.

Well that makes life easier. She will need to be spayed, but wait a few weeks to see if the kittens turn up.

Can you put notes through doors asking people to look out for kittens? If you can get her and the kittens into a home (either your own or a charity) while the kitten are still small then they will become tame and homeable. Otherwise they will become feral and, if not trapped and neutered, will start to form a feral colony.

I don't suppose you're in London?

I've already planned to get mum cat and kittens to the vets when they're weaned. There are a lot of toms around who are keen on her.

And definitely a stray. Or owners moved and didn't bring her along. I'll go and have a look for the kittens during the weekend

Good luck. Unfortunately though many, many kittens are lost to predation. My experience is that only around 25 per cent of kittens born outside make it to adulthood.

Mothers do move kittens around though, precisely for this reason.