Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out...

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Phil & Garfunkel

Phil & Garfunkel

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Hey everyone,

I work at a college and while I've noticed the same cat hanging around on campus the past few weeks, today I finally found out she has two kittens she's been caring for. Apparently a few people in other departments have known about the kittens for a week or so.

Right now their "home base" is a fenced in area near a power generator attached to our building. I don't think the kittens can actually get out of there, at least not yet, but the mom can hop out and explores frequently.

I went to 7-11 during lunch and got some Fancy Feast, which she gobbled down without letting the kittens touch, but later I saw they were nursing. Tomorrow I'm going to bring in some cans of Evo.

Our campus usually has 15,000 students a semester roaming around, but it's much less quiet during the summer. The mother may be a runaway from a nearby house, as she doesn't seem to be feral. The kittens are probably a few weeks old, I'm not really good at guesstimating.

What should we do with them? I think two people from one department plan on taking the kittens home in a box to bring in for shots/spaying/neutering and then hopefully finding them homes. What about the mom?

Here are photos:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._766817255174_26301090_37823395_1316402_n.jpg
- Momma cat

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._766817644394_26301090_37823411_3667253_n.jpg
- All three

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._766815838014_26301090_37823341_7484486_n.jpg
- I CAN HAZ SHIELD?
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Well, kittens need their mom until they are weaned...8 weeks old.

They look pretty big to me.

I would try to keep them together, if possible, until the kittens are adopted.

The mom needs to be spayed. If she is 'tame' she needs a new permanent home, too.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

i'd scoop them all up and take them home :-) they're all adorable. mom looks pretty young herself too

the kittens are big enough to tell the one is a boy from what i can see in that last picture ??

if the mom is that friendly perhaps someone can get her spayed and a shelter may be able to adopt her out or a rescue group. pretty kitties that are already spayed and are friendly should go fairly easily maybe?

at the very least get mom spayed too and either release her or if someone could take her in while everyone tries to find her a home. that way she's not out having more babies or she's safe while trying to find her a home.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Phil the city is a tough place for a cat to be feral....in new york.
I am so glad you are feeding her, don't forget water! In this heat!
Do whatever you can to get her spayed...and hopefully a home.
Is'nt Garfunkel lonely? Swore I remember you saying something about that......
Lori
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

lori and tom said:
Phil the city is a tough place for a cat to be feral....in new york.
I am so glad you are feeding her, don't forget water! In this heat!
Do whatever you can to get her spayed...and hopefully a home.
Is'nt Garfunkel lonely? Swore I remember you saying something about that......
Lori
Click to expand...

Garfunkel is lonely, but I wouldn't want to split the two kittens up and there's no way I can handle three cats. Not to mention with me being gone for 12-hour stretches because of work, I'd come home and probably find the kittens have destroyed my apartment.

As for the mom, she walks away from people and doesn't let them get right near her, but she doesn't seem aggressive and doesn't hiss at people either. It'll be difficult to actually trap her, at least as random cat fans working at a college without calling in animal control or something.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

The kittens appear large enough to start on canned food, if mom will let them. Separate plates, a bit apart may help. If you see the kittens eating canned food, it'll be OK to trap mom and the kittens separately.

If you (and the others?) have time, consistently feed on a schedule and stay around while they eat (maybe on a lunch break, or after work. Attempt to enlist play behavior with remote toys, etc., as it will help socialize the kittens and if you're lucky, enlicit a response from mom cat, suggesting she is not completely feral.

I suspect right now, mom cat is very hungry since she is feeding the kittens. That should make it fairly easy to set up a humane trap to catch her. If coworkers are willing to manage the kittens' trapping, vetting, and placement, perhaps you could work with the mom only.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

You took the words right out of my mouth BJ.

I say the kittens look old enough not to be nursing anymore either. Try the three separate plates I would also try contacting a local rescue (not shelter) and kind one on Petfinder.com. They may be able to help you or let you borrow a humane trap for the mom and kittens. Important to feed at same time and place also. Try to keep in the area until you get them. Momma is staying around because of the kittens so try to get all three. Ferals don't always hiss they just keep their distance from humans so unfortunately that isn't always a way to tell. You will need to see how momma does after she has been caught and in more close up environment. She looks really good though so she may just be a stray. They are BEAUTIFUL. You need to start working with the kittens though to get them socialized because the longer you wait the hard it is. If a local rescue can't help try contacting Ally Cat Allies or another feral organization to see if they would have someone you could work with.

Hope they are just strays and you can find them a home. (secretly hope you take momma and see how Garfunkle would like her)
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

They are definitely big enough to start on solid food. Even after they do start eating cat food, they will continue to nurse on momma until she thinks it is time for them to quit. I think they just continue to nurse because of the comfort and not necessarily because they are hungry. When Cracker and Indie were small, they continued to try to nurse on Duquessa until they were about 4-5 months old.

I would try to catch all of them and get them vetted and spayed/neutered. If you have problems finding homes for them, you could also check with local rescue groups to help find new homes. They also may be able to refer you to a clinic that offers free or low cost spay & neuters. The problem with letting them remain where they are is that even if momma is used to being around people, unless the kittens are socialized, they could become feral.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

All three are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I know around here at least you can call your local shelter or humane society, claim that your cat got outside but is too scared to come to you and they will let you borrow a trap. If you can get them all trapped it shouldn't be that hard to find homes for those 3, pretty kitties find homes fairly quickly, especcially in a college town where they already have admirers. Judging by the size of the kittens they are big enough to be socialized and taken from mom. She doesn't look that old herself, and if she isn't sharing the canned food with her babies, then she probably isn't much of a hunter, so don't think she would be hard to socialize either. Most feral moms I have met will let their kittens eat either first or along side of them. So she is probably a stray, and would be very happy to have a warm bed, and plentiful food again. Once she is use to people again.

(secretly hoping you take mom too and let the folks from the other departments adopt the kittens)

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Today's update:

Some of the people on campus who apparently know about these cats are ridiculous, because when I came out at lunch to feed them (I fed them three times today), I noticed somebody had slid a plate of leftover Chinese food ribs under the gate. Seriously? Chinese food ribs? I also noticed somebody else has apparently been routinely feeding her cans of Friskies, because when I came out at about 6PM I noticed she was in the bushes eating that. Yesterday in the bushes next to her Friskies somebody left the remains of a sandwich. I don't know who these people are trying to feed her random things.

Momma seems to be getting used to me, as I went outside numerous times today and as previously mentioned, fed her three times. She won't come to me, but I can be a few feet away while she's eating and she doesn't hiss or try to back away. Granted, there's a gate in the way. However she was also laying on a wooden support beam for the power generators looking at me while her kittens were basically sniffing my hand through the gate and she was cool with that.

The kittens seem to be getting more adventurous. I noticed they were climbing a lot today and ventured out beyond the gate perimeter a bit.

My hope is that this one woman in our marketing department can take them. She lost her cat about a year ago, but she lived to be either 21 or 22. She's on vacation at the moment, but she's kind of wanted a cat, but also at the same time isn't sure if she's ready for a new one.

I'm a bit concerned about the upcoming weekend, which is three days since we're on a M-Th summer schedule. I might have to put out a dish of Evo dry for them tomorrow night. The maintenance guys in the buildings & grounds dept. have apparently been taking watching over them too though and there's always someone around from there on campus.

Over the weekend I'll investigate options for capturing them.

Here are some more photos from today.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767045073624_26301090_37828399_4490148_n.jpg
- explorer club!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767175372504_26301090_37830671_5765359_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767175901444_26301090_37830694_5645563_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767175806634_26301090_37830690_2328206_n.jpg
- mama exploring

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767242582814_26301090_37831506_1371865_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767243985004_26301090_37831527_1592987_n.jpg
- mama keeping an eye on me

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767242972034_26301090_37831515_4161156_n.jpg
- peek-a-boo

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767175532184_26301090_37830679_6239382_n.jpg
- "take me homes"

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767243191594_26301090_37831520_7088678_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767243411154_26301090_37831522_7546823_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne..._767243665644_26301090_37831524_5294562_n.jpg
- climbing adventure!
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

How about posting a sign at the cat's location that you would like everyone who is feeding/watching
the cats to contact you so things can be co-ordinated.

Also, are you providing drinking water for them ?
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Karen & Smokey(GA) said:
How about posting a sign at the cat's location that you would like everyone who is feeding/watching
the cats to contact you so things can be co-ordinated.

Also, are you providing drinking water for them ?
Click to expand...

I'm trying not to draw additional attention to them. The last thing I really want is a sign out so the summer students walking by know that there are cats here.

Also yes, of course there's water in a big bowl.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

I have done some trapping of litters and socializing/finding homes. I would say that if these kittens are starting to climb and adventure, the window of opportunity to trap and domesticate is narrowing quickly. Mom may be a tnr - she may not be so tolerant of humans once her babies are no longer contained. Don't mean to be negative, but they survive by being wary and they are quickly learning their escape techniques.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

So far today they're hanging out in the shade under the leaves. The kittens are still nursing and I just fed her lunch. This time I noticed ants had swarmed whatever was left of the breakfast, so I actually entered the cage to put the lunch plate in a (hopefully) less ant-friendly area. I was standing about four feet from her. She hesitated a bit, but didn't hiss, growl, or try to attack. She's still clearly nervous of humans though.

I called the Humane Society (where I adopted Garfunkel) to see what our options were, but the woman in charge of cat adoptions wasn't in yet. She hasn't gotten back to me yet, but if there's room (and I can't get anyone else to take them), they would be willing to take them in and they're a no-kill shelter.

Even though the kittens seem old enough that they're plotting their escapes, is it normal that they're continuing to nurse from the mom?

Also, does anyone here live in Queens, New York that has preformed a capture? I'm pretty sure I can just scoop the kittens up and put them in a box, but mom is another story.
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Oh Mama! What beautiful babies you have! Mama's eyes say she's just wary and takes a while to trust....tape your sign on the ground in the area where people are putting the people food - it won't draw unnecessary attention but will be noticed by the ones trying to help. They DO all care too....

Squeaky and 12 kitty fur persons - 1 a newly diagnosed sugarcat
....and 7 dogs we tolerate.... ;-)
 
Re: Apparently my college campus has three cats hiding out..

Phil & Garfunkel said:
.....The maintenance guys in the buildings & grounds dept. have apparently been taking watching over them too though and there's always someone around from there on campus....
Click to expand...

They may help you with feeding over the weekend, and with trapping when you're ready.
 
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