DailyStrength Pet Appreciation Group Community Group
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Though I am worried about if I am going to get them tame without the trauma of getting a pest trap to catch them, I think we have been having some good progress!
Last week, while feeding the kittens on the deck, I put the food pail down on little Havoc! That is the closest I have been to any of them! Then today the dogs were going NUTS while they played on the bench that leans against the outside of the front window. Through the window I got a good look at two healthy 10 or 12 week old kittens. One is gray with white feet (Havoc) the other is a silver tabby er more of a gray with silver stripes (Chaos) and of course mamma kitty who is long haired gray and white cat.
Momma cat has figured out that we don't mean her or her kittens any harm. Instead of bolt away like she used to do, she now takes a moment to look at us then scoots away at a trot. She also stops once she is under something rather than keeping running until she is well out of sight.
Any thoughts on how to catch my cat family would be welcome. I don't want to leave them here when I move, so I only have a few months to get them caught. I have never used a wild animal trap, and I am worried about how that will scare the other two if one gets trapped inside it. I don't want to scare them away.
Right now I am keeping the dogs from chasing them, though they do bark at them though the window and when they are in the play yard. I am also providing free fed kitten chow on the deck. I fill a large bucket with a few pounds of kitten chow and lay it on the side next to the bench in an area that is blocked by misc stuff on the deck. If I goof and let it go empty, the bag of kitten chow is on the bench - which is probably why they were on the bench this morning. I will check their food bucket today.
I have honestly been at this the whole lives of the kittens. Once I figured out that momma cat was preggo I started to feed her. We are down to two out of four kittens. I want to get her fixed before she has any more kittens. I want to get all of them fixed honestly... but I would like to get them tame enough to touch and to bring with us when we move.
I think I will ping the catch and release people...
Last week, while feeding the kittens on the deck, I put the food pail down on little Havoc! That is the closest I have been to any of them! Then today the dogs were going NUTS while they played on the bench that leans against the outside of the front window. Through the window I got a good look at two healthy 10 or 12 week old kittens. One is gray with white feet (Havoc) the other is a silver tabby er more of a gray with silver stripes (Chaos) and of course mamma kitty who is long haired gray and white cat.
Momma cat has figured out that we don't mean her or her kittens any harm. Instead of bolt away like she used to do, she now takes a moment to look at us then scoots away at a trot. She also stops once she is under something rather than keeping running until she is well out of sight.
Any thoughts on how to catch my cat family would be welcome. I don't want to leave them here when I move, so I only have a few months to get them caught. I have never used a wild animal trap, and I am worried about how that will scare the other two if one gets trapped inside it. I don't want to scare them away.
Right now I am keeping the dogs from chasing them, though they do bark at them though the window and when they are in the play yard. I am also providing free fed kitten chow on the deck. I fill a large bucket with a few pounds of kitten chow and lay it on the side next to the bench in an area that is blocked by misc stuff on the deck. If I goof and let it go empty, the bag of kitten chow is on the bench - which is probably why they were on the bench this morning. I will check their food bucket today.
I have honestly been at this the whole lives of the kittens. Once I figured out that momma cat was preggo I started to feed her. We are down to two out of four kittens. I want to get her fixed before she has any more kittens. I want to get all of them fixed honestly... but I would like to get them tame enough to touch and to bring with us when we move.
I think I will ping the catch and release people...
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I invited Bill to have dinner with me last Sunday. He wasn't willing to drive 7 hours to mid Michigan and teased me with his beautiful ribs!!! So, of course I ate alone and had cedar salmon
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check out that smoke ring. It tasted really good. I smothered it with Maulls BBQ sauce which is Local to St. Louis and one of the best I ever had.....
Catching stray kittens: http://youtu.be/n8eX69jEMQU
Looks like there is. No edit button to fix spelling. Lol!
1st and foremost, under the Trap Neuter Return project, I can get an apt for free neuter/spay and rabies shots. I just have to bring each cat in its own trap/cat crate.
My goal is that once caught and fixed, to move the cats into a rabbit type cage in the shed. There they will be protected from the elements and I can feed/water easily. My hopes is to tame them enough to be picked up when loose. I can't bring them in the house as hubby has become allergic to cats. In the past I have herded wild cats into the house (no anticat dogs in the house) and then just been careful to not let them outside. Eventually they turn into pets. Hubby did not get his cat allergies until his mid 30s. Until then he always preferred the company of cats over dogs.
Once tame, I can try to rehome one or two of them, but I do need at least one to keep the rodents away.
Anyway, I CAN rent traps, but they run $10 a day plus a $100 deposit per trap, and I need three of them for at least three days if all three cats go in the first try. Ug. On the other hand, I can buy them new for $35 off of Amazon or I found several on Craigslist for under $30 each. Or I can use one trap and just keep going out when it springs and moving the caught cat into a cat/small dog crate. It is suggested that as I am dealing with a momma and babies, that if I keep any caught ones at the trapping location, the others will stick around and thus eventually end up in a trap also.
So, the first step is to get them on a daily schedule for feeding. I put down the food at a set time and pick it up an hour or two later. That way they get used to coming at a specific time to eat. As they eat on the deck, I can set the traps and just listen for them to spring.
Oh the money I spend on wild kittens!!
Well, the local rodents take shelter in the blackberries. Away from the prying reach of the eagles, they are in HUGE numbers. The first time I found a foot long rat in my garage I had an pest control guy out who told me I would never be able to get rid of the rats because of the blackberry brambles of my neighbors. For years I gave up and poisoned when I would start seeing rodent activity.
Then it was not rats that came back this last time, but mice. One night I went outside quietly and could actually see them dashing about the driveway.. ug. It was two days before I could go buy poison, but momma cat moved in before I could lay it down! Within a week there was not a rodent to be seen!! She earns her keep!