Feeding stray/feral cats

[random]

My auntie has recently had 2 visitors take up residence in her garden behind the rhubarb under a tin sheet, a beautiful dilute tabby and white mum and her single dilute tortie and white patched daughter (I obviously assume daughter) who have been there a couple of weeks now.

My auntie, her husband and my nanna who also lives with them are well and truly smitten with the pair. The kitten is young, about 6 weeks old. They come out and eat the food put out for them, the kitten eats the solids too which is good, but they are extremely timid and you cannot get near them at all. Mum is very protective over her baby and will carry her away into the undergrowth if you go outside while they are out. She will let you sit on the back doorstep and watch at a push, but you can see she is uneasy and she doesn't half give you an evil stare if you do!

Obviously with them living there for so long mum is clearly stray or even feral but my auntie also wants to do the right thing for mum and have her spayed and also her daughter, so i'm looking for advice on this as I don't have any experience on TNR. My auntie wants the cats to stay and hopefully entice them in if she can but at what age would they spay the baby? With no guarantee that she will be around at 6 months of age obviously as she has had no human contact in her short life and has been born feral and mum is unknown but has been a visitor to my aunties garden (just passing through) for a while before she had this baby, so she is a 'familiar face' so to speak.

Any advice welcome! Thanks x

[Elaine]

I think the first port of call would be to contact the local rescues and explain the situation. Ferals can and do take up alot of resources and time, many rescues struggle because of lack of "man-power" and pubic co-operation.
Ideally, if the kittens are old enough, they should be trapped and taken from mum in order to socialise them, therefore giving them a better chance of a home and of being neutered at the apropriate age. As for mum cat TNR may be her best option unless you can find a nice rural home for her to go to, such as a farm or stables.
A rescue should be able to help you with traps and give you all the advice and suport.
Good luck, I hope it all works out well.

[angieh]

Good luck random. I do hope you and your family can help this mother cat and her daughter.

[random]

Thanks guys

My auntie wants to keep the cats Elaine but she can't catch them herself. She is entitled to PDSA help if push comes to shove, she only wants the CPL help because she can't really afford 2 spays herself. My nanna has became increasingly immobile to a point she couldn't live on her own anymore and rather than her go into a care home, my auntie quit work to be her full time carer (she used to work as a carer anyway!) so she really could do with the help tbh and just some general advice on the situation I think.

[Elaine]

Cp should be able to loan traps, give advice on setting them etc if your aunt would be willing to do that. They may even be more wiling to help because your nan wants to keep them.
Hope it all goes well for every one xxx

[farthing]

I would definately contact the CPL, I think they would be happy to help get the cats looked after, and they will neuter feral cats anyway, just to try and prevent more breeding.

[angieh]

Just a general Q about getting help with neutering from CP - do they generally offer help, or does it depend on individual circumstances?

[yola]

Try and speak specifically to the neutering officer if your local CP has one - sometimes you can end up with message takers and that can be frustrating.

If the Mum cat is truly feral your Aunt may not be able to socialise her, however if she's just jumpy she might be turned around. Elaine's advice about trapping, neutering and socialising the kitten first is sound . . . once you have one docile cat it's less of a handful to work with the remaining one.

Good luck!

[Kazz]

Originally Posted by angieh

Just a general Q about getting help with neutering from CP - do they generally offer help, or does it depend on individual circumstances?

Sent you PM

[random]

Thanks everyone! We've obviously no idea if mum is indeed feral or stray but once she is caught I suppose we will find out and see where to go from there, I will pass on the advice e.t.c. and keep you posted on what happens, fingers crossed they are able to catch them both and hopefully mum is just stray with a bit of luck! Everyone in the house wants to keep them and don't mind if they are not the most sociable of pets, but I hope that the kitten at least will be able to become sociable with them.