Even if you don’t know where the kittens are located, if you know their approximate ages, you can gauge the danger to them if mom is gone for 24 hours for spaying. If you or another caretaker have noticed one or more of your colony cats is pregnant, you can approximate the kittens’ ages when mom shows up with a smaller belly. Hopefully, she’ll bring her kittens when they’re old enough to eat on their own and you can trap the whole family. If you trap a female and discover she’s nursing and feel confident she’ll continue to come around for food, you may decide to release her right away. Perhaps you’re a colony caretaker or trapping for a colony caretaker and are familiar with the cats’ routines. If mom is spayed and returned within 24 hours, however, kittens 2 weeks and older may survive her short absence. However, once mom has experienced being trapped, she may never enter a trap again. Sadly, feral kitten mortality is high even if mom is present. If they’re distended, this could indicate she’s recently or currently nursing. Any cat can be “examined” by lifting the trap and looking at its nipples. Here’s what you need to think about regarding nursing moms and kittens whose age and location are unknown. One of the advantages of doing so includes preventing the birth of kittens come spring.ĭespite your best efforts, it’s likely there will be nursing moms to consider for trapping. Some TNR groups don’t trap feral cats during winter, but many do. Unfortunately, in some regions, kitten season is a year-round phenomenon. Kitten season is all too familiar to those in rescue. Other Neighborhood Cats resources are available on the Community Cats Podcast website. The Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook provides detailed trapping instructions and is available on their website. Another technique presented by Neighborhood Cats involves modifying a box trap into a “kitten-only” trap that uses a kitten screen. If you want to only trap kittens and not whoever wanders into the trap, you can bypass the trip plate and use the bottle and string technique, which lets you manually close the door. At that age, they should also be big enough to set off a trip plate that’s working well.
If they’re doing well and are in a safe area, wait until they’re about 6 weeks old to trap kittens. Kittens have their best chance of survival with a healthy mom cat. That said, it’s preferable to use methods that are safer for everyone and will not add to the kittens’ fear of you. So, never try to catch a feral kitten without protecting your hands with special protective gloves. You will be terrifying to kittens who are unsocialized (have had minimal or no contact with people) and although they’re small, they can inflict serious injuries if they bite or scratch. When there are kittens to be trapped, there are additional considerations. This week’s guest post is authored by Nancy Peterson of The National Kitten Coalition.īest TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) practices involve trapping the entire colony of cats at the same time, although there are times when this is not possible.
Clara hatches a brilliant plan to raise kibble cash by producing the cutest internet cat video ever. But Clara and Bradley agree less than ever, and keeping the cats fed comes with a cost. To Clara, their mission is clear: make the best shelter ever and secretly care for the feline family until they can convince their parents to adopt the cats. When Clara and her best friend, Bradley, go treasure hunting in an abandoned lot, they stumble upon something even better-a cat about to have kittens! Clara Humble, the winsome and über-confident soon-to-be-fifth-grader described as “Ramona Quimby meets Timmy Failure,” is back for a third and final adventure.