Advice Needed On Ferral Kittens

[grahamsokel]

ok tonight when i went round to lock all my chickens and ducks in i discoverd that i have a litter of kittens running around.They are seriously wild and scattered in all directions.
I think they must be living under one of the many hen sheds i have in the shrubery at the back of the house.
I think mum may be a smokey grey cat that i have seen around quite often in the last few weeks and i have been feeding her,and doesnt come to our door to eat untill i come back in as she is quite nervous.
I think the kittens are possibly about 4-5 weeks old and i have spotted 4 but could be more
apart from the fact i dont want a colony of ferral cats living round there as i take the dogs round with me i am worried about the poor things at this time of year because once winter really sets in we can have temperatures as low as -15 here

any advice on what i can do is much apreciated

 

[catxx]

maybe call the RSPCA and get some cat traps?

 

[hjkaga]

i agree, call the local animal control and have them come catch and remove them.

 

[black angel]

The kitttens arent too big to be tamed and homed, and the mother if they catch her can be neutered and released if she is too wild.
So i agree with getting in contact with either the RSPCA or local Cats Protection League.

 

[grahamsokel]

Thanks will give them a ring

 

[KathyM]

Many cat rescue schemes do neuter and release programs. It will be hard to socialise and rehome kittens that are already at the running around stage (which would prolly make them a little over 5 weeks at least), but they should soon be old enough to neuter if they can't rehome them (many schemes neuter kittens from 8 weeks). I have a half feral cat here that we've had sine she was 4 weeks old. Very, VERY hard work, not friendly to me in any way, although she's okay with Baz (***** *lmao*).

But Graham. Don't feed feral cats if you don't want them there. They're capable of fending for themselves (the adults I mean), no matter how much people like you and I want to care for them and feel bad. Thing is, they come back if you feed them.

 

[fenwoman]

ok tonight when i went round to lock all my chickens and ducks in i discoverd that i have a litter of kittens running around.They are seriously wild and scattered in all directions.
I think they must be living under one of the many hen sheds i have in the shrubery at the back of the house.
I think mum may be a smokey grey cat that i have seen around quite often in the last few weeks and i have been feeding her,and doesnt come to our door to eat untill i come back in as she is quite nervous.
I think the kittens are possibly about 4-5 weeks old and i have spotted 4 but could be more
apart from the fact i dont want a colony of ferral cats living round there as i take the dogs round with me i am worried about the poor things at this time of year because once winter really sets in we can have temperatures as low as -15 here

any advice on what i can do is much apreciated

Call your nearest cats protection league who will live trap them. You can choose to have the mother spayed and returned to her duties as rodent control operative and the kittens will be found new homes.

The kitttens arent too big to be tamed and homed, and the mother if they catch her can be neutered and released if she is too wild.
So i agree with getting in contact with either the RSPCA or local Cats Protection League.

CPL is better as the RSPCA is too 'needle' happy with animals that cannot be rehomed quickly.

 

[grahamsokel]

well i have been on the phone to the CPL and they are going to send someone out
I dont think the mum is ferral just a bit nervous.She doesnt run away when i see her in the shrubery and i have walked past her about 10 ft away and she just sat there but if i speak to her and walk towards her she moves away
In all honesty i think any strange cat would be nervous in our garden with the smell of all the dogs
I do think something needs to be done with the kittens though because as they get older they will become wilder and start breeding and then it changes from a bit of a worry into a big problem

 

[AlexAndCarmen]

You're doing the right thing Graham. When I was about 14 (back in South Africa), there was a small group of wild cats that lived close to us, at the back of a block of flats. Definitely didn't belong to anyone and were pretty vicious if you tried to get too close. In only a couple of years, it got way out of hand, breeding like mad and just loads of them. The RSPCA did come out a few times, but didn't catch them all each time. Eventually they were all caught and spayed/neutered, but not before over populating the area. Very sad, and I was cheesed off that they didn't do their job right the first time, catching them all and making sure there wouldn't be hundreds of them.

They fought alot and throwing away your rubbish in the outside bin was a pain with all these hissing, cheesed off cats.

Hope it all works out in the end, having them fixed so they can't reproduce is best.