Help Needed from Experts with Momma Cats and Kittens

[avebury]

Here are the facts:
I have no previous experience dealing with a cat momma and her litter.

One of the neighborhood stray apparently decided my yard was her home and she became an unwed mother today. I am not sure how many kittens yet. She is sweet and has let me pet her in the past. She can be a bit skiddish, does not want to be picked up but has been sociable with me.

She picked a building in my backyard as her birthing center. When I discovered her there I put a small dish of food, a water dish, and a baking pan with some kitty litter (in the hopes that if she has to do her chores while in the building she will use it).

What I am hoping it to be able to socialize the kittens to make them adoptable (once they are old enough and fixed) and then trap Momma and get her fixed. If she is not adoptable I will let her stay in my yard with the building as her bad weather hangout.

For those of you who are experienced dealing with Momma cats and their babies:

1. How much time should I give her before I attempt to handle the kittens? I don't want to overdo it, just handle them enough to make them sociable. I don't want to upset Momma too much or cause her to abandon the litter.

2. How long do most Momma cats take before they will leave their babies to go eat? I don't want to expect meals delivered to her "birthing center" on a regular basis but I am trying to give her a chance to settle in as a new Mom.

3. If, after a few days I stop bringing her food so that she will come out to my front porch to eat, would that be a good time to go and handle the babies?

4. The babies are in a safe location but I am afraid of what will happen when they get older and more mobile. If any of them get into my backyard and my dogs find them I am pretty sure that the dogs will kill them. I am not letting the dogs out unsupervised and I am trying to get them outside, do their chores and go back inside. I will try to walk them more over the next few weeks to make up for the decreased yard time. With stray/feral cat situations, how many weeks do I need to leave them with their mother? I really don't want to take them away too soon but it is really important for their long term safety for them to be socialized, fixed, and found homes.

Any advice on dealing with this situation would be greatly appreciated. If it weren't for my dogs (Chihuahua/Jack Russell mix and terrier mix) I would bring Momma indoors if she could adapt to giving up life outdoors. She is a sweet cat. Unfortunately, the dogs aren't interested in any more roommates.

[nolabear]

1. Take mama some food and water for a day or two but then let her go further for the food.

Hang out around the kittens casually for a few days and suck up to Mom. She may well move them if she thinks they're being messed with too much. Their eyes will open in the third week and by week five they'll be able to get into trouble, though might not go too far. You can start handling them in the third week (could earlier but they'll be perfectly social if you begin then. Like I said get Mama to trust you). By week three the babies will begin to eat wet food too so you can be the hero and bring that to them.

Build Mama up a little with some protein and calcium/Vitamin D and once the babies are mobile you might have to get or make a confinement for them. The dogs are the biggest issue for sure.

Good luck!

[avebury]

2. What kind of protein and calcium/Vitamin D

should I give the Momma?

Sardines or something like that for protein?
Milk? If milk is the best option I have to be careful because the daytime temps are getting into the 80s to 90s range now.

[nolabear]

4. I'd say go commercial if you can. If not get a high quality wet and dry.

See below. Kitten food is higher in both.

[ginnyinWI]

6. if it were me I would

buy the large cans of Friskies and put out about a half can at a time. She is going to want to eat like a wolf to produce milk for her family. And plenty of water too, of course. Try to feed her morning and night.

Milk doesn't always agree with cats, and can give them diarrhea. A commercial canned cat food will automatically have all the vitamins and minerals included.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Cow's milk isn't that great for cats.

Fresh water is key, though.

Thank you for helping them!

[Brigid]

3. Feed kitten food to the mama cat.

She will eat about four times as much as a non-pregnant cat. Feed her canned kitten food twice a day, and leave dry kitten food for her all the time. And you can start the little ones on kitten food at about four weeks, though I imagine that when they are ready they will try it on their own.. That's what yahoo answers says.

[nolabear]

5. Good advice.

[Brigid]

7. Thanks.

And don't be afraid to play with the little ones, though start by kissing up to mama cat first. The kittens will probably get curious and start sniffing around your hands when you pet her. They do need to get used to humans at an early age.Oh, and no milk. It doesn't agree with many cats.

[avebury]

10. I went ahead and took out some Fance Feast.

I put it kind of close to her but far enough away that she would have to move away from her kittens so that I can get a head count. So far it looks like she has 3 kittens (an orange and white, a cream colored, and one with black/orange/white). I did that because I saw part of the black/orange/white one under her and couldn't tell if is was ok because it wasn't moving. Once she moved away from them the kitten seemed to be ok. They seemed pretty active (squirmy) so hopefully everything is going ok.

She kind of hissed some so I am going to spend a couple of days kissing up to her before I move in to touch the kittens. I want her to get used to be slowly getting closer to her and her babies.

I am going to be so tired in the morning. All I want to do is go out and spend time with them.

[avebury]

9. I was able to get some Purina Kitten food at

the Walmart Neighborhood Center. I think it was the best I was going to do at 11:30pm at night. I have some Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers for my indoor cat so I'll give her a can of that in the morning and in the evening for now. I will swap out the Kitten food for the dry food that she has now in the morning.