First night with the kittens is a success, even though I was a nervous wreck. Photo included

[Siwsan]

I've got a tension headache, right now, and barely slept a wink. I admit to doing some middle of the night checking. But, today is a new day and they are thriving. GREAT appetites. I'm mixing a little kitten wet food in a whole lot of kitten milk and they lap it up. As you can see, they are figuring out the purpose of a litter box. I was glad to find something kind of small to put in the box, so that it wouldn't take up a lot of room. And I'm hearing a few very tiny meows. My interpretation is 'Let me out of this box!! I need scritches and belly rubs!!!' The gray one I'm calling Smokey is quite a hisser, until some attention is given.

Sophie Stinky Toes is going through a range of emotions from hissing and running away to running away in semi-fright. I am not worried about her hurting the kittens but I will keep an eye on things. When I leave the house, they are relocated to the en suite bathroom.

Anyway, here's a morning picture.

[SheltieLover]

1. Awwwww

How is mom?

[GPV]

3. Yes, how is she?

[Siwsan]

5. No sign of her but it's early. And just now getting light

Hopefully we can trap her, soon, and get her fixed before she has more kittens. Same with Skittish and her family. 8 new kittens in the past couple of months is a whole lot of fertile ferals being added to the area. At least, now, that number is heading in the right direction.

[GPV]

6. Hope you get all the kitties! We had a mini colony for years until the last of the mamas disappeared

I can remember my mom working so hard to rehome all the babies.

[Siwsan]

16. If Skittish is pregnant, again, and doesn't move her den, it will be hard to get the kittens

Especially at the age of these. She's sheltering beneath some bushes at my neighbor's house, and the access is nearly impossible.

I keep hoping that, if she is pregnant, she'll decided to have them on my property. Her kittens were not that much bigger than these when she first started bringing them to the house, and they were already VERY fast runners.

We are strategizing on how to proceed to at least catch the older kittens and moms. I think the older ones might be close to being big enough for TNR.

As much as I love kittens, I don't want to see any more feral ones.

[malaise]

10. They are adorable

Fertile felines is one thing - feeding them and their offspring is another

[Siwsan]

17. So true.

I still feel awful that I didn't figure out how to catch little Tuxie, before he/she disappeared. Tuxie was so tiny - definitely the runt of the litter.

The other three are so healthy and will remain welcomed diners after they get their kibbles and bits snipped. And HOPEFULLY Skittish and Spooky are the only fertile females in the neighborhood. Bruiser is the only Tom and I haven't seen any unfamiliar cats. Once they are taken care of, I'll feel very accomplished.

[malaise]

22. I used to cry when a kitten or a big one died but eventually you

accept reality and take care of those who are there. Now I notice when one is missing and eventually accept that he or she died or ran away. Of course it hurts when the older ones die because they have been with you for ages.

I have tried to save more than a few runts but some will not survive.
It used to be painful, but I no longer worry if the mothers get upset when I give away their kittens. I still look after them and we get on very well.

[Siwsan]

4. Haven't seen her, this morning

I just put the food out for Skittish and her kittens. Sometimes Spooky shows up in the morning, sometimes afternoon.

[GPV]

2. You are doing great!

[Walleye]

7. Good job. The things we do for love

[Siwsan]

8. True. Spooky is out there eating, right now. My guilt at taking her babies is abating

Especially since two of them already have homes. Hopefully we can get her TNR'd before she goes into heat, again.

My big problem now is how to avoid spending all of my time watching and cuddling them. They are too precious for words.

[LisaL]

9. Wow.

Already using a litterbox!

[Siwsan]

13. I'm totally out of my element in this situation so I'm doing a lot of things by guess work.

I remembered I had that little stacking storage unit and it seemed a good size for the box so, what the heck. I figured if one would use it, the rest will probably start to follow suit. However, I'm going to replace some of the towels with newspaper.

Fortunately, my brother has experience in rescuing feral kittens so I can always run thing past him. He just wasn't available when I started on this journey, yesterday morning. Now he's fully on board as back up.

[secondwind]

12. Wonderful so far!

My one suggestion is that cats don’t like to be so close to their litter box. This may be very temporary. Good luck!

[Siwsan]

14. VERY temporary, which is why I'm using that little stacking container

I figure since it's kittens I might be able to get away with it until I can find a bigger box. As soon as I'm more comfortable, and they are a little bigger, I'll probably stop putting them in the box just put a bed in the en suite bathroom. I've already 'kitten proofed' it.

[secondwind]

19. 👍

[wnylib]

20. This reminds me that my gal was so tiny

when I got her that I used a box that my boots had come in for her litter box. It was several weeks before she was big enough to require a larger one.

Regarding your kitties learning to use it, cats imitate. If they see Sophie using hers, they'll get the idea, although I think it's instinctual to bury their business so they will use what's available for them.

[Siwsan]

24. Sophie is not quite sure about these kittens, yet.

For the most part she's ignoring them but the first time I showed them to her, she hissed, FLEW out of my arms and ran out of the room. A while later she peeked over the rim of the container and, once again, fled, but at least no hissing, that time. Now she walks past the container, giving it just a passing glance. Regardless, I'll have them separated by a door when I head to the store, this morning. Better safe than sorry.

[wnylib]

25. Oh yeah, very wise to keep them separated

when not around to supervise them.

I only meant that if they saw her using her litter box, it might "click" in their minds that that's what cats do. Not so much that she would be intentionally teaching them, just that, in the absence of another adult cat, they would take cues from her.

[dewsgirl]

15. You are doing a great job.

[niyad]

18. awwwwww. Now that is the way to start my morning. Thank you for all you do.

[Siwsan]

23. I think it will start to get easier. I did take my anxiety meds, this morning!!

I have to make a really fast run to get more food for the ferals and litter for the house CATS (that's so weird - at this time, yesterday, I had one senior cat. Now I've added 4 babies. But, I digress. No doubt I'll be semi-fretting until I get home and reassure myself all is well.

We're going to start weighing them, today. It will be interesting to see how fast they gain weight and grow, this week. I'll probably be taking the two gray ones to our local humane society in a week or two. They are really good location. Lots of people go there for kittens.

I wish I was more of a multi cat person, but honestly, two is my limit.

[Jilly_in_VA]

26. I volunteer in our local shelter

Specifically, in the stray cat hotel. We get a LOT of kittens, a lot of feral ones, and a lot of feral moms too, some with their kittens. The kittens do pretty well if we can get them in foster homes, and we have a lot of folks who enjoy fostering kittens. They all get fixed before they get adopted. If the moms aren't able to be socialized well, they go to our Barn Cat program for working cats, where cats who are basically non-social are adopted out and placed in situations where they live in barns, workshops, stables, businesses, etc. for the purpose of rodent control. Some of them become rather social, as my two did...they are all over me at feeding time! Barn cats are also altered before being adopted. So there should be a future for your babies. We're also beginning a Community Cat program for folks such as you who feed small colonies. We'll give spay/neuter vouchers for the kitties they trap and bring to the vet. Then they can release them back and the cats won't continue to breed. At least that's how I understand it. They'll also have an ear "tipped" so humane officers recognize them.

[Siwsan]

27. That sounds like a great system

Not many barns left in this part of Michigan. My plan is to just bring Skittish, Spooky and Bruiser (if we can catch him) AND Skittish's kittens right back here, since they seem to be comfortable. I figure that, eventually, some of them will disburse but they will be fixed so that should make at least a small dent in the feral cat explosion.

I can tell that both Skittish and Spooky are likely bad candidates for habituation. And I think the older kittens are on the cusp. These 4 new ones are already wondering why they had to wait so long for head pets and belly scritches.

[Deminpenn]

28. The local humane society foster parents do a great

job with cats. My kitten loved being handled from the moment of adoption. By chance, ended up meeting the foster mom and got to thank her for doing such a good job.

[Ocelot II]

29. Aaaw! They look like they're at the stage where their little tails look like antennas,

and they walk around with those little tails straight up, like they're radio-controlled toys.

[Siwsan]

30. They are turning into adventurers.

I spread out a blanket in the den and let them wander. And I'm always re-directing them BACK to the blanket. I finally realized I can do this with one or two at a time. All four was a bit much.

The two smallest, Squeaker, the black kitten and Maggie the black and white one, are getting much stronger and more confident. I'm supplemental feeding Squeakers with kitten milk via an eye dropper. He just won't use the rubber nipple on the feeding bottle. He's so small, I have no doubt he never would have made it on the outside. My goal is to turn him into a mini panther before he leaves for his new home.

I can't wait to compare photos from this week to ones I take next week.