I appear to have cats

[ZestyDragon]

Hi all, I am posting here for some advice please. I moved into a small country cottage three weeks ago and it appears that the previous owner left their cat behind 😮 One of the neighbours told me a few days later that they had left him behind. He had mostly been living outside but is slowly moving in - actually maybe not that slowly seeing as he is asleep on the sofa beside me right now.

So....do I just try and get him to a vet for a check up? I am assuming that he has been neutered but actually I don't know. Also will he need vaccinations etc?

Secondly - there are a LOT of cats around - the neighbour down the road is a farm and have 14....so when a mummy cat and baby were hanging around I assumed that they were from the farm. Turns out that they do not and now they seem to live in my shed.

So I have gone from no pets to one house cat and two ferals that basically appear to have moved in. I'm feeding them all but I am worried about the mummy and baby - the mum let me stroke her once and her belly seems kind of large. Could she be pregnant again?

I have wormed and flea-dropped the indoor boy (Apparently his name is Kevin) - should I do the same for the others?

First pic is the baby - he likes to hiss for attention at dinner time.

Second is Kevin - who is in the bad books for stealing a piece of chicken.

Third is mummy - I am worried about her potentially being or getting pregnant again.

BTW I am in NI.

OP you might want to try some of the recipes on this thread if you want to win over your neighbours. www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/3527870-Which-is-the-tastiest-Protestant-traybake

I live in Dublin but make occasional trips up North. I also foster for a local cat charity down here. There's a list of animal welfare organisations here. www.catchat.org/index.php/cat-rescue-centres-ireland-ulster

I don't think you understand / farm feral cats ... they want to be outside and they enjoy hunting !

We tried to bring ours inside years ago and didn't go well 😂

I am also so jealous of this situation!

I am a dog person.
I am enjoying this thread.
My brothers family has a cat called Kevin.
They made Christmas T shirts with Kevin’s face on them. I also like your Kevin.

Fellow black and white kitten "owner" checking in!

I appear to have 8 cats. I'm expecting this is decrease when the most recent kittens are weaned as they are relatively socialised (and that is when Mummy Cat is going to the V E T).

Poor Mummy and Daddy Cat are stuck with these as names now, if I had known that providing a bit of kindness when she chose one of our stables to have kittens in would lead to us being "home" they would have been given actual names. Black and white kitten is Bomber (full name Lancaster Bomber) because we found him and his brother - Spitfire (aka Ginge, pictured on his chair) on a weekend when there were old planes having a fly over. Having now exhausted our combined knowledge of plane types it was lucky there were just two in this first litter!

The two adults will probably never let us touch them, but there's something rewarding about sitting down with a coffee and having the whole family come out to have a lie down nearby / on chairs of their own!

My DD wanted a kitten a few years ago. I told her that the best cats find you themselves (having had the best cat ever that way as a teenager). She's delighted that she's somehow manifested this many of them 😁

Oh your cats are gorgeous!!

I am loving reading this thread, keep the updates coming!

This thread is amazing and I LOVE your writing style. You should write a book. I would buy it.
Mammy cat looks pregnant... please also share more photos

Love this always come back and update xx

This is the thread that just keeps on giving, so heartwarming😻😻

I’m totally invested in this thread. My next cat is going to be called Kevin. 😁

what a heart warming thread. OP please give daily updates with pictures .
I come offering cake 🥺🍰

@Blackberrybrandy if you need a home for one of those ginger kittens...

I don't think you've read all the posts . They aren't feral 😉

OP !! I have cake!!! How is the mother doing?

Hi all,

I had hoped to trap mama this week but the vet shuts at 6 and I have been unable to get away from work in time so I am planning on it happening Monday (I hope).

After a chat with some cat people at work (I say cat people as in people who have cats rather than some strange hybrid) and they have all confirmed that I am living in cloud cuckoo land if I think there is a chance she is not pregnant.

So I am making plans for any kittens. Do I need to try and socialise them? I have half persuaded my ex husband that he might like a kitten or two but as he is also quite impractical and is already panicking about taking on the responsiblity I suspect it won't happen - and to be honest whilst he has many many faults I also think that he would probably be a good cat slave - when Kevin brought me the mouse he went into Kevin defence mode 😁Basically he would be ruled by a cat.

One colleague has said her mum is thinking of getting a cat too.....so if there are kittens I should hopefully find them homes.

Meantime you may remember the vet suggesting I keep Kevin in at night. Yeah that's not working. He sleeps in a patch of sun on my bed all day and then fucks off at night. My last attempt led to him walking on my head till I put him out. This morning he appeared at my bedroom window so I checked him for smuggled mice and let him in thinking he wanted a cuddle. But no. He was hungry and did the walking on my head thing again.

Baby has taken to sitting on an old coal bunker outside the kitchen window and staring in.

And mummy and baby charge in everytime I open the back door. Why do I feel that they are going to move out of the shed and in here soon?

Lastly the boiler leaked in the shed so no heating and it is cold. Thing is that the shed now smells of heating oil. How safe is it for the little family? The boiler is about 12 feet from where they sleep but I am worrying about fumes.

Ok this really is lastly - Anyone else buy special bedtime snacks? I know I shouldn't being giving them chicken etc but they do seem to like it....It's nice to have something tasty at night I did not buy sliced beef as an apology for the vet trip for sure.

Yeah the baby is moving in. Sorry
My not my cat is black and white and he just does his own thing. He also suggests bedtime snacks are a necessity and he prefers dreamies

I opened a pack of chicken the other day and he just silently appeared behind me from nowhere with me going "you don't even live here! How did you smell chicken?!"

Kevin is not a dreamie fan! I bought some and he doesn't care for them. The vet actually gave him a few and was gobsmacked when I explained he didn't like them 😂

Yeah, one day soon when it's a bit nippy, the baby (and possibly Mum) will stroll in, settle down in front of the fire and just won't leave.

What's his name? You've already got Kevin - what about Perry?

Oh well if he doesn't like them, you now are obliged to find out what he likes
Weirdly my cat loves cheap Garfield catnip treats from b&m or whiskas crunch. But will only eat £££ food

My 5 get whiskas milky treats for bed. I’ve been trained to only give dreamies as desert at breakfast and teatime. Catit dried fish are only fit for lunchtime snack, catit lobster will do, if I really really cannot get to pets at home.
@ZestyDragon fab family! Fab cat woman.

And on good terms with exh Mint

the point about the leaky boiler and fumes, I’d probably move the cat beds out of there and wash and air for a few days. If it’s cold and smelly they might not want to go in but some cats are weird. Do you have a porch? Might as well as they will end up moving in 😂

This is a great thread. I needed kitty goodness today.

Those chew sticks are good and not too pricey. Mum and baby will move in soon enough.

The Sopwith Camel is a successor of the Sopwith Pup @Blackberrybrandy. Both fab kitten names I feel. ✈

I don’t know how it is with dogs and chew sticks but ime cats don’t chew them at all, they lick the end, think “oh this is tasty” then YOMPH. Whole thing done. So I only give my cat a bit at a time

We used to call chew sticks swallows. Current girl used to lick them like lollipops but caught on in the end.