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Stray and Feral Kittens are an Epidemic
Between the months of March and September, every shelter in the region will be overrun with kittens, both orphaned litters and those with a mother. Many of these litters are either strays or ferals. Neither one has a legal owner, but this is the difference between a stray cat or a feral cat:
- A stray cat is domesticated and accustomed to people.
- A feral cat has lived in the wild and has been self-sufficient with little to no contact with people.
Stray cats can often be socialized and then adopted. Feral cats often cannot be easily socialized and adopted. Kittens can often be socialized and adopted even if born to feral cats.
What to do if you find kittens outside:
Resources if you cannot foster the kittens yourself:
If caring for the kittens and socializing them until they’re old enough to go up for adoption isn’t feasible for you, then take them to your local animal control. Many shelters have volunteer foster programs (volunteers who care for kittens until they’re ready to go up for adoption) and can try to set the kittens up with a volunteer to give them the care they need.
The East Bay SPCA takes in many underage animals from local animal control when shelters don’t have any available foster homes. Consequently, there’s a chance that a litter you surrender to a public shelter in Alameda County may end up in an East Bay SPCA foster home. Because of the sheer numbers of kittens in shelters during kitten season, if you cannot foster and they need a home for a while, their chances of survival are not great.
The East Bay SPCA cannot, nor will most private shelters, take in strays from the public. Private shelters generally take in strays from the very crowded public shelters where they are at even greater risk than in your hands. The aniaml control facilities we work with receive thousands of kittens a month, and without our help, many have to be killed for space.
Resources if you CAN foster the kittens yourself:
Feel free to contact the East Bay SPCA Feral Cat Hotline at 510-563-4635 if you find kittens and need advice on caring for them. If you’re able to keep the kittens and care for them until they’re 8 weeks old and weigh 2 lbs, then the EBSPCA or another rescue group could possibly accept the kittens into an adoption program and find homes for them. You can also try to find homes for them yourself.
Kittens need to weigh 2 lbs, since that’s the minimum weight at which it’s safe to spay and neuter them. After all you’ve done to care for these kittens, I’m sure the EBSPCA doesn’t have to convince you what a good idea it is to alter all pets! We also, by law, cannot adopt out unaltered dogs and cats, so we would be unable to place them until they are altered.
Determine if there is a mother cat:
- Resist your instinct to scoop up abandoned kittens right away. Even though they are adorable and helpless! It may seem counterintuitive, but the best thing to do for the kittens is not to move them.
- Keep an eye on them and see if a mother cat comes for them. Feral mom cats move their kittens a lot and she might be in the middle of changing location and on her way back to these seemingly abandoned kittens. If you move the kittens, she won’t be able to find them and continue to care for them when she returns for them.
- If there is, indeed, a mother cat, is she nursing them and caring for them? It’s best to leave them with mom until they’re weaned. Kittens begin to nibble at wet food at age 4 weeks and are fully capable of eating on their own at 6 weeks. (Hint for determining the age of nursing kittens: if they are nursing and their eyes haven’t opened yet, they are under 2 weeks).
Although ideally mom and the kittens could be trapped and live indoors in a safer environment—a garage or cage or bathroom until the kittens can eat on their own, trapping mom and all the unweaned kittens can be difficult, since she moves the kittens around so much. It would be easy to trap mom and then realize that her kittens aren’t where you thought they were! The kittens would not only be lost, but also vulnerable, since if they are under 4 weeks, they cannot eat on their own, they either need to nurse or be bottle-fed.
If you see no visible health problems, go ahead and leave food out for the mom and just monitor her as she cares for her kittens until the babies are eating solid food and are 5-6 weeks old.
What to do if there isn't a mother cat:
- If there isn’t a mother cat and the kittens are not yet eating solid food, they will need to be bottle-fed every 2-3 hours.
- It’s important not to offer them cow’s milk (this will make them sick). Buy Kitten Milk Replacement (KMR), a product either in liquid or dry form that you prepare for the kittens and that is available at pet stores.
- Please contact your veterinarian or the East Bay SPCA Foster Department at 510-563-4632 for more info on bottle-feeding kittens.
- After each feeding, kittens need to be stimulated (rubbing their bottoms, underneath their tails, with a warm washcloth) to go to the bathroom, since they cannot do this on their own, either. If the kittens are eating on the own and if you’re able to socialize them until they’re 8 weeks old and weigh 2 lbs, then they can be surrendered to a local shelter for adoption.
- More information on raising kittens is available through Berkeley-based Fix Our Ferals.
What to do if there IS a mother cat:
- Mom should be trapped and spayed (help make this litter her last!) but not until her kittens are able to eat on their own.
- She should also be re-released into the wild after her spay recovery. An adult feral cat cannot be placed up for adoption and made a pet. It’s unlikely that she could ever be tamed.
- If surrendered to a municipal shelter (where strays should be taken), she would be euthanized because she cannot be handled by people and wouldn’t be a safe pet to have in a home. If someone attempted to handle her, she might injure them.
Kitten Socializing 101:
- When the kittens are eating solid food, (at approximately 5-6 weeks and older), they should be trapped and socialized. They’re young enough that they can be tamed and learn to trust people and become loving pets. After the age of 12 weeks (4 months), it’s often too late to socialize, so how you handle them and interact with them when they’re 6 weeks old is important.
- To socialize, set them up in a small bathroom or cage. Separate littermates from each other so they need to focus on you and your interactions with them. The smaller the space, the better! Too much space will be overwhelming to them and they will hide in the hardest to reach, most out of the way place to prevent you from gaining access to them.
- If you’re more comfortable wearing gloves at first to protect your hands from kitten claws when you pick them up, that’s fine. The important thing is to approach and handle them with confidence.
- Wet food is your friend! Only offer them the good stuff when you’re there to feed them by hand (without gloves). They’ll soon learn to associate outstretched hands with delicious food— you’ll be surprised at how effective this is! Chicken or turkey flavored baby food (with no onion powder in the ingredients; this is poisonous to cats!) is also irresistible to kittens.
- Leave the radio or TV on for them, if possible, while you’re gone for the day. Don’t worry about time spent away from them. Just being in a home and listening to domestic noises is still good socialization for them. Even when you’re not there to fuss over them, they’re continuing to learn what it’s like to live indoors as opposed to outdoors.
- When you can pick them up safely—scruffing is the best way to go at first—use the "kitten burrito." This is the technique of wrapping a kitten’s body snugly in a towel (allow their head to peek out, though) and carry the kitten burrito around with you on your chest. Talk to the "kitten burrito," pet its head and even offer it more food off your fingers. Being wrapped in the towel will help the kitten feel safer and more secure while being handled by you, a strange and scary person.
- Play with the kittens with wands and cat dancers to encourage them to interact with the toys (and you, indirectly).
Surrendering a kitten to the East Bay SPCA:
The East Bay SPCA arranges kitten surrenders by appointment and we will do an evaluation of the animal’s health and temperament. There is a fee to surrender cats and kittens. To make a surrender appointment, visit this section of our website.
Surrendering kittens elsewhere:
Your local animal control will take in all animals found in that city with no appointment or proof of ownership required. Please contact them directly to find out more about their process. The same advice applies to any other rescue you’re interested in working with to place them.
All shelters do not have the same surrender procedures, so it’s important you understand those that apply to the group you’re working with.
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