From “long time BJ lurker” Chaz:
My kids just discovered that a stray cat that hangs out around my house had 3 kittens. We caught them and will clean them up but we’re looking for owners. Not sure about the sexes – I’m not getting too close until they’ve been deloused and such. We live in Altadena, CA which borders Pasadena to the north. Any advice on tiny kitten care and also catching the mom (to spay her) is also welcome.
I’m sending Chaz links to the Alley Cats Allies site — and also, of course, to Werebear at her Way of Cats blog — but any advice would be gratefully accepted.
If you want to contact Chaz directly, send me a message at annelaurie (dot) verizon (dot) net, and I’ll forward it to him.
Roger Moore
Pasadena Humane Society is always an option. That’s where I got my cat.
Bonnie
For finding out the sex: Hold the tail straight up and if there is a colon, it is a girl. If it is a semi-colon, it’s a boy.
karen marie
You shouldn’t be having sex with kittens.
Gordon Schumway
I ain’t adopting no kittens without pictures!
Duke of Clay
@Bonnie: We found a Mama cat with six kittens once, and I tried sexing them with that rule of thumb. I would have done as well flipping a coin. Of course, that is probably just me.
Gindy51
Rent a have a heart trap, use top brand cat food wet in it, catch cat. Works with feral the best. That is how we catch them on our wildlife sanctuary.
WereBear
@Gindy51: I agree. Don’t know how feral Mom is, but hope the kittens are cuddly.
Our feral kitten, Mithy, now sleeps draped over my feet. It can be done.
Thanks for link Anne Laurie!
debit
Oh, good luck catching Momma kitty.
MomSense
I have an opposite problem. I’m feeding a nursing mama cat but cannot find her kittens. It’s starting to get cold and I’m worried for them.
Mnemosyne
Another good local resource would be Happy Strays near La Canada — we got two of our cats from them. They may be able to loan you a humane trap or give other advice.
One thought — maybe you can have the kittens lay on an old towel for an hour or two and then put the towel in the trap. Momcat may be lured in by their scent.
Chris T.
@Bonnie: Even experienced people are not good at this. One of my girls was decreed a boy kitten (by experienced shelter kitten-sexer-types) when I was fostering, only to discover that no, he was a girl after all.
(It gets easier to tell as they get older. By 8 weeks we knew she was “she”. At 4 days, though, they’re just fuzzy blobs.)
Chaz
Thank you, Anne, for the bleg! They are 2 girls and a boy. Vet says they are basically OK except for fleas, so we will take care of that.
Here’s a photo – I’ll take a better one later. bit.ly/2doyTgX
Gvg
How big are they? Old enough to leave mama?
Schlemazel
I found that if we had a kitten that looked like a girl it was a boy and if it looked like a boy it was a girl.
WereBear
I was never any good at sexing kittens. But if I pick one out, 90% chance it’s a boy.
Mnemosyne
@Chaz:
Cuties! For some reason, we seem to get a lot of tuxedo cats in the SFV and SGV — two of our three cats are tuxies. The youngest one was found in a parking lot in Glassell Park with her (calico) sister.
dcrefugee
One of the kittens should be named “Lola.”
Gordon Schumway
@Chaz: That’s what I’m talking about!
Pogonip
With those cute little faces saying “Take me home,” you shouldn’t have any trouble finding owners for them.
Theodore Wirth
TIME (tears in my eyes). Ballon Juice is the best. Thank you all for taking care the animals and we do our part as well.
Meg
The doctor at the Altadena Pet Hospital is very nice and might be able to help you as well.
Pogonip
@Bonnie: Other way around.
kindness
I used to have a feral cat hanging around my place years ago. It had kittens in the back yard. I found them right away and put them in an shallow cardboard box lined with a towel. This was after a fine flea bath as they were covered. I left the box by my sliding door w/ it open and the mama cat would come in lay in the box and feed/mother her babies (4 of them). Mama cat never was willing to tame though. She’d run away when ever you’d get up or move. I kept one of the kittens and gave the other 3 away. Best of luck.
JR in WV
Those are really cute. I had our old fat cat to the vet today, and they had two cats in the clerical area, where they keep free pets in big cages. One was slightly older/bigger than these, the other was a mom dropped at the local Krogers supermarket. Both ready to go.
Our old fat cat apparently had mild gasteritis. Minor fever, had barfed undigested cat food last yesterday afternoon, just before I left on errands. She is a chowhound, never barfs but for hairballs.
She’s eating special easy to digest wet food the Doc sold me, just 2 cans, today and tomorrow. I knew she was really OK when I took her out of the carrier and she climbed up to drape over my shoulder and purr. We have had older cats develop blockages from eating too much critter.
One old boy ate a whole rabbit, a big one. Nothing left but butt fur against the ground. He needed serious work to clear that up! So I’m aware of it, and want to deal with it asap.
Good luck, those kittens won’t be hard to sell, they’re really cute.
Thanks for looking out for them, you’re good people!!
Chaz
More photos here and here!
The vet says they are basically healthy. We just finished combing them for fleas. So. Many. Fleas. After roughhousing for a while they are now sleeping in a cat pile.
Zuzu
@Meg: Chaz’s wife here–that’s exactly where I took them this AM! Dr. Sahi was lovely, very helpful and patient (I had a million questions, have never cared for such little kitties before!). We’re working with the Cat Posse in Altadena to Trap/Spay/Release Mama–set a trap this evening, but no luck. Fingers crossed we’ll catch her soon! Thanks everyone for the advice and support–I have a feeling one of these little loves is going to find a forever home with us.
Meg
@Zuzu: Good luck with the Mama Cat!
Damned at Random
Bonnie got the sexing reversed. Colon is a boy; exclamation mark is a girl (I hold them on their backs to sex, easier with the little ones I find). If in doubt the calico is a girl. All tortoseshells and calicos are girls except in rare cases of sex chromosone triplody (XXY males) which are sterile
Chaz
The kitties all have homes now. Thanks everyone!