I went to my mums last week and found that on of the strays that turned up about 6 months ago had a litter of kittens under the house ( how many times did I tell her to catch them and get them desexed GRRRR) there were 3 black and white and 2 tabbys but unfornuatly one the them was already dead. I told mum to keep an eye on them and if anymore die to let me know, well mum being mum didn't check on them (cause she didn't want to see any dead kittens) so I went up yesterday to help her with a few things and checked on them myself, the mother cat had moved them and there was olny 3 left so I said thats it, I grabbed a torch and the broom and ever so gently fished them out, good job I did to cause one of the is missing a hindleg, other than that they seem okay, I have a vet appoinment set up for tuesday. they are about 10 days old and sooooooo cute, I am hand feeding them every 3 to 4 hours and so far seem to be doing an okay job I hope. My husband refused to admit how cute they are cause he doesn't want to get emotionally attached but I busted him giving them a pat this morning I will get pics for you tomorrow and let you know how they are coming along

Your hubby sounds just like mine who hates cats but secretly snuggles my cat

 

Poor baby missing the leg, was it born that way or does it have an injury? Could be an indication of a bit of feral cat inbreeding going on there

hubby is great with all aniamls just doesn't want to get attached cause they might not survive or if they do they will be going to new homes (well I might keep the 3 legged one if my dog takes to it, but dont tell hubby that:P ) I think it lost it's leg early on cause there is a wound there, I cleaned it up and it looks okay with no infection but the vet with tell me more when I take them on tuesday, had it looked nasty I would have taken it straight in.

If it lost it very early on (in the first few days) the bones would have been very soft, not much differnt to docking the tail of a tiny pup. She sounds like she's a maiden queen as a more experienced mother should have done a better job of raising her kittens. She may have even been overzealous and chewed the leg off during the birth

yeah she is only a baby herself, I would say 7 to 8 months, and as far as I can tell she is a first time mum, her sister arrived at the sametime and I think she already had one littler that must have died but looks about ready to drop another lot. I am so annoyed at my mum cause I have been telling her ever since they turned up to get them fixed but she hasn't done anything so now I am raising these ones and with try to fing the others and catch them when they are about 4 weeks, that way I can handle them and rehome them, I will also be trying to catch the mums, only problem is they are completly feral so it should be lots of fun

If you speak to the council that should loan you a cat trap

Yeah I think that will be the way to go, I nearly got the mum of the kittens but she was just abit to quick for me.

Having worked for a coucil vet who did the pound euthanasias of feral cats, etc and having chased one that got out in the surgery I would say definately get a trap!!! Trust me when I say catching it is one thing, keeping a grip on it as it tries to claw your eyes out is something else altogether

good on you trying to help these cats and kittens out, keep us update.

How did the vet visit go? And you have to post some photos of Tripod, he/she sounds georgous.

The leg would have been from mum accidently chewing it at birth or overzeolous cleaning when young, I know someone that gets rabbits like that, even the ears missing.

 

Good luck

and there is only 1 way to get a feral cat out a trap safely

Dont expect to catch a feral cat in a trap straight away, they are heaps clever. It takes time to "train" them into into it. I know with really ferral things, they need leave crates with food out for a few weeks to months just so she gets used to it, and thinks its safe - then change it to the trap. But you'll never catch her twice