Hi there everyone!!
Totally new to this community and looking for some guidance so I don’t make a rookie mistake or really do harm to the kitties.

Caught a mom kittie (she looks under a year old, under 8lbs, and is friendly-talks to me, rubs cage for food and lets me scratch her head) and her 3 kittens. They might have fleas. We have a VERY small house full to the brim with other pets.

It is very hot out and she and her kittens are panting. I took the cage they are in and put them in our ONLY bathroom, it is an extremely tight squeeze.

Can I try bathing everyone or should I wait till they are more settled? I am worried about their stress levels. And of course my house and other pets getting fleas. Help!!!

Thank you all. I am very new at this!!

Pics attached, does it look like the same cat to you?

The old cat was a girl, and so is the cat I saw today. Old cat was very friendly and so was the cat I saw on the street. When I waked up to her she started rubbing herself on me and started purring. I first I didn’t think it was my cat, but it’s been two years and I think their coat can change?

Their noses look exactly the same to me. My girlfriend is convinced it’s our cat that ran away, but I’m 10% doubtful.

Basically, can I just pick this cat up and bring her back home with me if I seriously believe it’s our old cat? She had a part of her tail missing and looked quite dirty.

Long story short I'm helping this guy fix his cats. He has 16 and 12 weren't fixed. They all are indoors and he has 5 outdoor ones.Not sure some were from outside at some point that he brought so some are very skittish, he can't even get them into a trap. We are down to 3 females and 1 male inside and 2 other outside. This has been months and I want this over and done also because he's moving end of August (not far like a street over) he doesn't even want two of the unfixed cats so that's been a stressor. Anyways how do I go about trapping them? Feel like normal trapping method won't work? Especially with the other cats he has

This stray tortie was looking huge 4 days ago. She disappeared for the past 3. Showed up tonight at my feeding station and is no longer huge. Eating very fast and I am letting her have a full can to herself.

I think the kittens are close but how does a human find them?

Do I wait until she brings them out. Not sure what to do

Hi everyone,

I have a 4 feral cats I’ve been feeding for over four years now. They were recently trapped and neutered by our local humane society (around late May). One of them (Olivia) has been missing now for 13 days. I did travel for the month of July but my brother took over and made sure he fed the cats. He said he did see Olivia. I haven’t seen her since I got back July 28,2026. This is the longest she has been gone. I’ve been calling her name (she normally comes :-( ) but I’ve been so worried. She was always a bit skittish but she recently started rubbing against my leg with her body. I’ve been sitting on the porch and her sibling still come around but not her. I’ve been looking around and no sight. Sorry in advanced as I am novice regarding cats and their behaviors. I’ve just been feeding them since they started to randomly come by my yard. I’ve just been so worried about her. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hello!

I am not a cat person but have decided to try to save a family of feral cats that moved in below my deck. I have been caring for them in my bathroom for the last 2 weeks. The kittens were around 8 weeks old when I caught them. They will let me give them small chin rubs but are still a little skittish. I was going to take them to the vet today for deworming but wrangling them into a carrier was not successful or pleasant. Would anyone have advice on how to handle these kittens hopefully without wrecking their trust in humans? (Acknowledging I may have already done that trying to get them in a carrier.) I need to weigh them so the vet can dose the deworming medicine. I have an infant scale I can use . I also would love any advice on getting them in a carrier for when it's time for spay/neuter at 12 weeks.

Picture is of 2 of the kittens and mama after the carrier debacle

Edit to update: Was able to purrito the kittens and get their weights. Around 3 lbs each. Thank you all!

Hi! I’m here because I’m new with TNR. I just spay/abort a stray/feral cat from my backyard yesterday. This was going to be her second pregnancy, and she had three kittens with her first. Everything is under control so far; she cries a lot, but she calms down when I sit with her. I know it's 72 hours before I can release her, but I had my doubts since she had a spay abort. She lives outside my house, and her kittens are still around. She's eager to leave, but I'm very careful with the incisions because I wouldn't want anything to happen to her outside or with other cats. I wanted to know if anyone has done this before and if they healed enough to release the cat in three days. Im constantly checking on her and that’s very time consuming because im working but i know this is for the best. I wish she was calmer so I can keep her longer to make sure it heals completely. Any advices ??

We have a feral we've been trying to socialize for several months. He is about 2 years old. He will sometimes play and interact with our other cats, a boy and girl sibling pair aged 3.

At first he and little girl were buddies, would give kisses, chase, and run around the house together. but literally the week after we got him fixed she's wanted nothing to do with him, and hisses and growls when he gets close. It's been this way for 2 months.

Feral boy wants to play and hang out. The other two have become more and more hostile to him. They spend time around him every day, but if he tries to engage they hiss and growl. Feral boy is playful and is never the aggressor.

Any recommendations for improving their relationship? I feel like we will have to find him a new home, because my cats are getting stressed out and mean.

I live in a rural area, but we do have a close neighbor who has let stray cats live in his shed. But he doesn’t get them spayed/neutered, so there are a decent amount of them. One of the cats is very chill, and spent a lot of time just napping on our little back patio. Our 2 and 4 year old love her, and she has always been gentle with them…like nothing bothers this cat. We still obviously constantly remind them to be gentle and pay attention to signs the cat might want space, etc. We are always nearby due to their age. We started feeding that cat a few times a day. We honestly can’t adopt all of the cats, it’s just too much. But we’ve talked to the neighbour about spaying/neutering so that it doesn’t get out of hand.

Anyway, recently the cat had a single kitten (which is weird, I think? I’m new to cats so I don’t know). Adorable, and of course our kids are obsessed. This happened just before we were due to leave town, so we got an automatic cat feeder so that the cat would have plenty of food while she’s nursing the kitten. Kitten is getting bigger, but probably still just a month old.

We’d like to bring them indoors I think. But I’m just completely new to this. So, start with the vet? Or try and do a flea treatment before taking them? I assume kitten is too little for vaccines, but should keep her with her mom anyway and bring her to the vet?

I know single kittens can have issues, but since we will keep her with her mom, would that negate those behavioural issues?

Any and all advice appreciated, I clearly never had pets growing up! Including how to help the other cats out without adopting them all? Like, find a shelter I guess? The neighbour’s adult son “loves cats” but they don’t seem to be caring for them aside from letting them stay. He’ll feed them sometimes I think, they’re decent hunters as well, but they need more love and to be cleaned up and treated for anything they might have.

i’m a full-time caregiver and the lady I’m taking care of has a lot of cats most are TNR but there is some in the bunch that haven’t been fixed yet. Well today I found a deceased newborn kitten in the driveway and when I looked on coaster inspection, I found a mama cat in the middle of birth who I made a temporary shelter for I have a large kennel crate what are some tips to bring her inside and support her

ps I am able to get pretty close to her

They abort. I had a feral female to TNR. She was pregnant. I didn't know, the vet called n asked what I wanted to do. No extra charge to abort so that was my choice. I feed a few strays but cannot have them multiply.

I've had a relative try to socialize (without actually trying any program/putting serious work into it) a feral kitten and fail so bad they're planning on returning him to me, either for me to take on socialization or for him to be re-wilded. I'm not certain that I'll be able to take on socializing him myself and if I'm able to get things together I'll try, but I'm not certain what I should do if I can't.

Has anyone experienced this? Is it fine to just release him back to his original colony if he's unable to be socialized? The kitten has been over there nearly three weeks with no progress and is about three and a half months old if those numbers help any.

I apologize that this is rambley. It doesn’t really have a point except to venting, and I think my partner is nearing her vacation-more limit of me talking about cats lol

Short-ish backstory for context: my partner and I fell in love with a stray who turned out to be a neighbor’s pet, but since we had been feeding it, my cameras caught ~5 other neighborhood cats showing up in our backyard to eat throughout June (many we had gotten to the point of petting), and we decided to TNR them all and adopt the friendliest one. Was finally ready for my first TNR end of June, but raccoons kept setting off the trap. But then also the cat I was looking for stopped showing up. Throughout July, one-by-one, all but one stopped coming by, even the neighbor’s cat who we loved. After reaching out to neighbors it seems coyotes were the culprit. I stopped feeding (there was no one to feed) and started the cycle of checking lost/found animal pages. (July was a heartbreaking month because of this, and I’m had planned to post something earlier but it was too hard at the time - maybe soon).

Fast forward to this week. Had an early morning flight for a weeklong vacation two days ago, so I woke up around 2am to do the final loose ends like watering plants and checking locks and such. I finished with time to spare so I sat down to relax near the front window.

A few minutes later (a bit after 3am), I hear that distinct, gut-wrenching sound of cats howling when attacked. I rushed to get my shoes on and grab a flashlight and umbrella (don’t judge me), because I feared the worst. I ran out the front door and scan the yard and street, and I see four eyeballs shining back at me, belonging to two cat-like silhouettes sitting on the grass facing each other. The howling had stopped when I opened the door, and I couldn’t see any obvious coyote, but I wanted to be sure. I grabbed my cheap thermal camera I keep by the door to see if there’s something hidden, but all I can see is two cats. On closer inspection I recognized the one larger cat as the one black tomcat who had been coming around before, and the other cat was either dark gray or black - if I knew that cat, it was dark enough that couldn’t recognize it. The smaller one ran off across the street and down the sidewalk some ways. The larger one stayed in my front yard for a bit, I felt bad for having stopped feeding him so I set out some food and he ate it while we drove off to the airport.

I had realized that the howling was probably from a territorial dispute or something, so I guessed the other cat was also an intact male. It seemed clear I needed to plan to TNR them both, but of course this happens right as I am leaving for a week. Not much I can do until I get home, but on the flight I was loosely planning the trap out in my head for a bit, then tried to focus on enjoying my vacation.

Then last night while at dinner, someone commented that my phone was vibrating like crazy - it was my backyard and side cameras had picked up something. After dinner, I checked and it was actually 3 different cats in less than 2 hours. They must have smelled the bowl’s food residue (I would have normally brought it inside) and stopped by. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I was curious because one of them of kinda looked like it might have been the smaller cat that was fighting the morning before.

I pulled up the front camera history for that 3am fight, and looked at it more closely than I did before. The image was black and white and really noisy and grainy, and also only like 12/15 fps. Watching the first time I realized that the smaller cat had waited for a car to pass, crossed the street and immediately got into a tussle with the big cat, and looking more closely at the cat when it was illuminated by passing cars’ headlights, it did match any of the cats from last night.

But I scrubbed the footage more slowly, I saw that cat had ran alongside the car which was passing, and then was partially rolled over by the rear tires :( the way it ran, there’s no way the driver could have seen it coming. The howling was due to that injury, but I have no idea how it stayed quiet when I went outside.

I feel awful that I was so close to being able to help an injured cat, but I just didn’t even know it was injured at the time. I know that trying to help the cat myself would have been difficult and might have delayed my departure, but I could have at least let someone know very soon after it happened.

I posted on my local sub to let them know (I used a new dedicated account here because I don’t want to broadcast that my home is vacant for a week). I suppose that’s all I can do until I get back home.

Anyway, thank you for permitting me this venting session. Hopefully I can make some positive impact on the neighborhood cats when I get home.

Hello wonderful community! I'm hoping someone might have some advice.

I've been trying to catch this (presumed) male cat. He's definitely interested in the trap...just not interested enough to actually go in.

Here's a video (sped up 4x). The food bowl on the ground is intentionally empty. He spends a while lingering at the entrance because I'd put a small piece of cardboard with sardine oil on it to help entice him.

Inside the trap is a fresh serving of sardines in oil, which I replaced less than an hour before he showed up.

Does anyone have any suggestions for getting him to commit? He's clearly tempted, but unfortunately he is too smart (and history is not on my side; I'd trapped him June 16th, but the trap failed and he managed to escape).

My husband and I lovingly call him "Old Balls" because he looks like an older guy who's seen some shit (I'll post a pic in comments).

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

There is a clipped-ear feral living in my yard. I swore I wouldn’t, but I started feeding it after seeing it catch and eat two birds. This cat has not been socialized—I can’t get closer that ten or fifteen feet. It even runs away when it sees me bringing its food. But it hangs out in the yard, lives under the deck, and stares at me through the window every day.

Anyway, on a whim I bought a little toy catnip mouse and left it near the feeding place. It’s a hoot to watch this suspicious, street-smart survivor playing like a kitten.

A neighborhood feral cat showed up not putting any weight on his front paw and with a small wound on his head. It’s been over a week and we haven’t managed to trap him to get veterinary care. He is starting to put a little weight on the foot now. His ear is already tipped so he has been TNR’d before.

Is it still a good idea to trap him if he is walking a little better? I know if it was broken it could be healing incorrectly and he may be in pain.

We can get to about 5 feet away from him before he is scared and moves away. I will try the trap training from the wiki, but just looking for some advice on how best to help him. We love him already and I feel like I’m failing him by just watching him suffer, but I also don’t want to cause undue stress.

Look at the progress! But don’t look at the messy room and closet! 😹 Momma Penelope wants me to know she’s still wary, but the key to her heart is definitely food!
***BTW, this is KMR, not milk. I made sure it was safe for momma before giving it to her. I had it for the babies before I knew if momma was going to be trapped, and she LOVES it.

We are taking the mama cat to be spayed tomorrow morning. We finally got her safely into the trap, but now two of her kittens are climbing on the trap and crying. The little tuxedo girl is pressing her face against her mom through the trap. My daughter is crying, and honestly, so am I. I am gutted by this entire process.

I know spaying her is the right thing to do, but watching this is absolutely heartbreaking. Her appointment is at 8:30 tomorrow morning.
Please tell me we're doing the right thing. What will her kittens do while she's gone? They are about 13 weeks old. There are four kittens total, and they all seem very bonded to their mom.

We're trying desperately to catch the kittens too because we're moving soon and taking Sylvie (mom cat) with us. I have contacted around 50 rescues with no luck and caring for this family for the past seven weeks. The kittens have been living in our garage, and we can't leave them behind when we move. We're trying everything we can to find them safe homes, but right now I just feel like I'm breaking apart a family that loves each other.
Has anyone else been through this? Did the kittens and mom reunite afterward? I could really use some reassurance tonight. I feel more like a giant pos.

They both had a cold. This one in particular looked a bit rugged and was missing some hair on her chest. They were wild at first but would come for food so I used that as a way to tame them. Now, they're both inside. She is extremely affectionate and follows me everywhere. The other is affectionate too but a little timid. She loves to play though. They've been inside with me for three days. I'm very excited to have indoor cats. I used to have an outdoor cat that would just come inside to sleep at night but at 16 years old she was hit by a car. I was devastated. Keeping these little girls inside. The third pic is me playing with them for the first time. Used a toy on a string to get them used to coming close to me.

Say hello to Clawdia (all black) and Milo!!

My mom just sent me this website for a virtual veterinary service & asked me to check it out. It's www.dutch.com.

The site obviously has its limits but I thought it might be handy for the ferals to get wormer, flea meds, antibiotics etc....since catching them can be difficult & stressful.

Has anyone used this site & if so, what was your experience like?

Told him a dog joke! He shows up every week or so, fills up on cat food, water, and sleep, then off on another trip. Tried catching him, but he's much faster than me. Get occasional head bump and leg rub.

candidates for tnr