I have five little kittens in my bathroom

[Not_Giving_Up]

They were born under my house a couple of months ago, Momma cat is a stray. We managed to catch all five of them and they are curled up, purring and sleeping in the bathroom.

They're going to the Humane Society, along with Momma cat, tomorrow so that they can be adopted.

[ralps]

1. Photos Pretty Please before you take to the Humane Society!!!

:hi: :loveya: :hug: :pals: :woohoo:

[Not_Giving_Up]

2. They go beserk if I walk in the bathroom

You'd see four orange blurs and one gray blur.

[fleabert]

3. awesome! no more litters for mamma and her babies will

never have any either! I just hope they can adopt mamma or put her in a foster home to be socialized first. :fingerscrossed:

[Not_Giving_Up]

4. She's very loving and attention crazed

She's just very skinny, despite the food I've put outside for her and the little ones. (They would disappear every few days for two or three days.) She's also got open wounds (minor) from fighting to keep other stray cats away from her babies. She was outside howling, so I took to to see the little ones. She spent a minute in there, then wanted out. She knows they're safe. I hope she's around tomorrow so I can take her with the babies.

[fleabert]

5. sounds like she used to have a home, and someone dumped her.

nursing takes a lot of calories for any mammal, most mom's need about three times the nourishment they normally take. so the skinny thing doesn't surprise me. She may have worms too, as do the kittens probably. Easy fix usually.
good for you foster mom! keep it up.

your vet or a local feed store can hook you up with a humane trap for cheap, like less than 5 bucks a day usually. Put some food in there at night and check in the am, she should be in there. Drape some towels over the trap to calm her and put her in a secure place, like a garage for 24 hrs then have her fixed the next morning first thing. (vets want them w/out food or water for 24hrs before surgery) Of course, if you have the ASPCA helping, they can advise if this is the best way for your situation to be handled.

I used the kittens to trap the momma, in a carrier, behind the trap with barriers. The only way she could get to babies was thru the trap. worked like a charm.

[Southsideirish]

6. I took in a mama cat and kittens and got them spayed and

neutered - as many as I could catch. They were wonderful pets unlike the common idea that "feral cats" are wild -they were wonderful.

[friesianrider]

7. Kudos to you for neutering!

Spaying and neutering is probably THE MOST important thing you can do to help animals, IMHO. We too took in a Momma kitty 8 years ago and her 5 kittens and had them all fixed. We only gave away 1 kitten to some very trusted friends, and have the rest to this day. Momma was VERY feral and would hiss and growl and carry on at us when we'd mess with the babies or come close to her. It took nearly 3 years to be able to touch her for even a second, but today she is such a wonderful girl and even lets us pick her up.

[friesianrider]

8. I am praying they all are adopted into loving, safe forever homes!

So many wonderful fur babies, so few homes...hopefully this lovely family will be lucky enough to all be adopted into safe, loving, forever homes with wonderful families they can live their lives out with!

[RebelOne]

9. I wouldn't count on it.

Unless your humane society is a no-kill shelter, they will hold the cats just so long. If homes aren't found for them, they will be euthanized. Please go to YahooGroups.com and register. Then search for rescue groups in your state. I found homes for three kittens that way.

[friesianrider]

13. I know, that's why I posted it :(

I volunteer at a kill shelter and see it everyday. Usually kittens make it okay it's the older ones (like Mom) who have trouble. This is why I ended up keeping all my neighborhood strays I found. Unfortunately, rescues are becoming very crowded too, because people realize that if they take them to a shelter they will likely be euthanized.

[LostinVA]

10. Put the kitties on your local Freecycle

People do it here all of the time. That way they can also check out the prospective kitty parents.

[RebelOne]

11. No, no, not on Freecycle.

All the animal rescue groups do not condone people posting free pets. You don't know what will happen to them. There are many people who take the free dogs as bait dogs for dog fighting. And then there are others who want small animals for snake food.

[friesianrider]

12. ABSOLUTELY!

Don't ever, ever, ever, ever give away "free" kittens. Take them to a shelter or give them a home yourself - or find a trusted family member or friend to give them a home, and tell them if they ever can't keep them to let you know. Many "free kittens to good home" (or "free dog to good home") are used, as RebelOne so correctly pointed out, as bait for fighting dogs, food for snakes, and many laboratories have people they pay to go around and "collect" free kittens which they use for medical experiments - seriously, no joke. We are right near Merck and Glaxo Smith Kline and I know people personally who do this as part of their job.

How many times have you seen pets who cost hundreds of dollars in shelters? Pretty often - nearly 1/4 of dogs euthanized in shelters are purebreds bought from a breeder. If they'll give up a dog that cost $800, do you think they'll think twice about tossing away a cat they got for free? I'd rather see the cat die by humane euthanization than become a cat who lives its life as a medical experiment.

*sigh* PLEASE spay and neuter all your pets and encourage your friends/family to do the same. There's no need to breed or buy while so many hundreds of wonderful pets die each day just because their time ran out in an overcrowded shelter. It's one MAJOR way you can help stop all of this before it even starts.