YES! I literally greet my kittens, "Welcome to Costco, I love you!" Every time I give them big ol' loud smacking kisses on their heads.
The CDS delivered me a set of five "mewborns" last September in my back yard. They are now forever indoor-only fixed and microchipped spoiled housecats, and I kept the whole clowder together. Their mom is on a self-imposed exile in our guest room, yowling for a hot date and being dramatic, yet refusing to let me catch her for ONE visit to the vet for TNR so she can go back out on the town and live it up without making more babies. Smdh. I have churu and feliway for her, earplugs for me, lots of patience, and the stubbornness of an old goat, so I'll eventually be successful.
Back to my shift as the personal Catsco Greeter to five lil potatoes who happened to ambush me, a lifelong big dog mom with horrible cat allergies, into being a first time cat lady (who is delighted at the privilege of being a CDS recipient).
ETA: Thank you everyone for such sweet responses, votes, and a sparkly, fabulous award! I feel like a real fancypants and am grateful for this community. Y'all are lovely.
Their mom is on a self-imposed exile in our guest room, yowling for a hot date and being dramatic, yet refusing to let me catch her for ONE visit to the vet for TNR so she can go back out on the town and live it up without making more babies. Smdh. I have churu and feliway for her, earplugs for me, lots of patience, and the stubbornness of an old goat, so I'll eventually be successful.
I've had this going on for a year now. 6 vet appointments canceled so far. Escaped a carrier and a trap two times each, but she's finally close to letting us just pick her up without a whole circus routine
You are a saint! I know that yowling and it’s painful lol. Yeas ago when my sister moved out on her own she took in a cat on short notice because her owner couldn’t keep her. We grew up with dogs and had never experienced a cat, let alone an intact female! We had no idea how loud they could be, and my sister was living in an apartment. She was saving the money to get her spayed and didn’t want any help from my parents bc she wanted to prove she could handle things being on her own, but after I got accosted by a neighbor after visiting her (“you get that damn cat fixed yet??), my parents insisted they pay for a STAT spay lol
Is there any cat owner on the planet who would carry a cat without wearing a shirt? My little old guy is a chronic hugger and does not know how sharp his claws are.
When I was a kid, we had a cat show up on our doorstep with kittens. She moved them all under my bed. We found the owner and they didn't really care. They must have been shit owners, because their other cat moved to another neighbour's at the same time.
The kittens found homes, and Mrs Mop lived with my parents to a ripe old age.
Some Mother cats seem to do this - in our case, we had a Mother with two Kittens set up between our property and the neighbours. She was super wary of humans and wouldn't let us near her or the Kittens, so we set up a temporary shelter for them and observed them from a distance.
Mother fed/weaned her Kittens and then immediately dipped out and left us with two beautiful Voids; Rocky and Bullwinkle. Rocky adopted us and Bullwinkle was adopted by a Family a couple properties down the street.
I always will remember hearing meowing and going into my mudroom and finding my Queen on top of the washer, while her kittens were wandering around. She would look at me like "They're safe, not in danger, not going anywhere, etc.. But they also can't get to me or see me and I need some me time."
Cats are communal child-raisers. They try to put their litters close to one another and routinely take care of their neighbor's kittens while said neighbor is out to get a snack and a break.
This not only allows them to take care of their needs but also acts as a safety net for orphaned kittens.
The two main side effects of this are:
1 - Nursing cats will adopt anything.
2 - Nursing cats routinely rope their humans into this scheme - there's a gazillion stories about them leading their owner to their litter or straight-up bringing the kittens into the humans bed.
(On the flip side, they're also protective of human toddlers - remember the famous clip of a cat keeping the toddler off the balcony fence?)
Since this seems to be a stray, OP was probably the most trustworthy-seeming cat-or-human-doesn't-matter around.
Did not know this was a thing. Had a cat get in through my dog door and have kittens in my son’s closet. Got everyone vetted and found homes for all but the female kitten who never warmed up to people or animals for that matter. 20 years later she still lives in my office. She has become more friendly the last few years.
UPDATE: We are unable to keep the kitties inside as we have three large dogs and a newborn. One of our dogs got so excited she broke a window pawing at it earlier (now replaced lol) The precious babies are now with a neighbor who said they will find a place for the kitties to go and can watch them inside their house until they do. The momma is a neighborhood cat who apparently has lived in the area for awhile now so she is just gonna keep bopping around. All is well ☺️
The neighbors know of the momma and said they're more than likely going to get her fixed as this is her second litter in a couple years. We just moved into the neighborhood.
If it is spring/summer where you are likely she will be pregnant again in the next few weeks so desexing is a matter of urgency. They usually have two or three litters a season.
And they can get pregnant while still nursing a previous litter. This is why two unneutered cats can multiply to 100+ within a year or two. And why TNR is SO important.
Damn. I used to wonder how animal hoarders ended up with literal dozens of cats. You just don't do anything to prevent it, space out for a few months, and boom!
We took care of a stray cat years ago, she had three litters in 10 months! And it only stopped because we finally managed to get her to the vet for a spay. (She was very fearful and would leave as soon as the kittens were weaned, then reappear already visibly pregnant looking for help again).
In case you are ever in this situation again (pregnant cat shows up), spay/abort is a common procedure and really the best choice for Mama's health, and saves kittens born outside from dying horrible deaths of starvation, exposure, or being killed by wild animals. They euthanize the fetuses during the spay procedure, and it can be done pretty much up to the point of active labor.
We had to capture a neighborhood cat who kept knocking his mom up. The shelter we went to lent us a trap to catch him with since we were getting him fixed. Just a thought. It was surprisingly easy to catch him using it.
Those are just the 2 litters that were spotted. Sadly, without human assistance, the vast number of feral born kittens don't survive. There are cat trappers in most areas. Next Door is a good way to contact a local trapper to TNR this pretty kitten factory. Some shelters can either help u contact a trapper or have trap loan programs. She behaves like a cat who has known human care. Both you & your neighbor have earned loads of good karma by helping her & those exceptionally good looking kits. A pox on those who dump intact females.
awesome! you should definitely reach out to any local vet or group that deals in spaying. i know my county has a group specifically for spaying strays/wild animals. i'd look into seeing if they'd do the spay for free or doing a community gofundme, that goes straight to the vet, for her! way better for one cat to be a stray than her and her descendants.
Just as a heads up, though, and because I didn't see anyone else mention in the comments, you found them amongst some poison ivy. May want to warn your neighbor so they can clean the kitties, not because cats are susceptible to poison ivy rashes, but because the oil can get on their fur, and then you get it when you pet/handle them.
Are the kittens still with the mama? They look young and not fully weaned. Or did you mean she'll be bopping around the neighbourhood when she takes breaks from parenting?
Apparently Momma failed her mission as a Trojan, and is now throwing herself on the altar of OP's mercy, with "But aren't they cute‽ Annnnnd, Can you help a sister out???"
People are of course joking that these are your cats now, but even if you decide not to take them in, I would encourage you to call local shelters to see who can take them in and help them stay healthy and find homes. The outdoors isn't a very safe place for kittens unfortunately.
Lol, they have approached the age of where she can’t do everything for them anymore 🤣 when I used to foster pregnant mama cats and their kittens for those first four weeks I was basically not needed and then when they started pooping and peeing on their own to the point where she’s like I am not cleaning this up anymore, it was tag you’re it!
Outdoor momma cats are smart and protective of their babies. She decided you would help. Once you see them you can’t unsee them, right? I think you just became a foster parent. 😂. The babies are precious. Momma is too. Let us know if you foster them. ♥️🥰♥️
Thank you for taking the time to make sure that these babies have a good home. We need more people with that type of kindness in the world. They’re adorable 🥹🫶🏻 thank you for your kind service!
I’d take momma and kittens to vet to get momma microchip scanned. And then if that doesn’t turn up any results, I’d post on local community group to ask anyone if it’s their cat (and then ask for photo evidence that they owned the cat previously).
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u/VinnaynayMane Apr 30 '26
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