Conference misery::feline

Well, my MomCat used to bring me her babies at about 5-6 weeks.  She was
totally dependent on me for her food, so when it came time to wean her babes,
naturally, she brought them to me.  Start with the Mom and get her to the
point where she knows she always has food from you.  Can you pet her?  Is
she wild, or is she just a poor waif without a home?  If she lets you pet
her, she'll let you pet her babies.  If not, she'll be raising her babies
not to be too human oriented, either.  Kittens take their queues from Mom...
if she's afraid, they're afraid.  I used to put out food and plop myself
fairly near the dish.  'Fraid or not, little kittens stomachs are more
powerful than their brains (bigger, too), so just give them time.

Mary

    I know you said it wasn't a possibility, but see if you can
    get to them now, where she has them.  If she is leaving them
    to come to you for food, then they are in danger of being
    attacked and harmed by roaming dogs, fox, even possums...
    
    L-

    opossums attack cats?  I have an opossum living in the back of my
    garage.....
    

    Hi,
    
     If I remember correctly, you said she went through a hole in the
    kudzu, right? I wouldn't go through kudzu for all the tea in China!
    There's some bad stuff hanging out in 'them thar' weeds! All kidding
    aside, I can understand why she said it was impossible to get through
    there. That stuff grows "REALLY" thick. I'm assuming you live toward
    the south if you have kudzu around.
     
     BTW, I used to go outside in the evening, and see my two cats and a
    possum eating together out of the bowl! It was a great sight. Never
    managed to get a picture, although not from lack of trying! I would be
    more concerned about raccoons than possums.
    
    Y
     

    Yes, opossums attack cats.  I saw it first hand the night Biff was
    born.  A opposum attacked Momcat and her newly born kittens, killing one
    before I could chase it away.  I spent the rest of the night chasing
    the blinking animal with a broom so the Mom could make off with the
    remaining kitten (who survived to become my Biffster).
    
    I saw it with my own four eyes...
    
    Mary
    

    Yes, I can pet her.  Actually I have come a long way with her.  She
    went from running every time I opened the door and not letting me come
    near her to automatically coming in the house as soon as I open the
    door.  Now she loves to come in for a little while and get some
    attention, and then she will go back out and eventually head for the
    woods to her babies.  She is on the back deck waiting for me every
    morning and every evening.
    
    Someone said that the kittens tend to take the lead from their mom.  I
    hope that is true and when they do come out that they will be friendly.
    
    To answer the question about the kudzu, yes I live in North Carolina so
    the kudzu is plentiful around here.

    Expect the babies to be quite shy at first.  That's normal, but as they
    see Mom being OK, so will they.  Meggie's kittens, who were born in my
    lap and we very used to me, used to hiss at me and act afraid.  Meg
    used to sit there and say "Hey, that's the future food source you're
    hissing at!"...very funny...
    
    You know what you might try??  Put some food on the back deck and make
    sure she knows it's there.  When they're old enough to venture out, Mom
    might be more comfortable with them outside than inside.
    
    Mary

    It has taken me about 7 weeks to get two of my three feral kittens to
    trust me and want affection from me.  The other one came around faster.
    We trapped these babies when they were about 6-7 weeks old.  I would
    get the babies ASAP.
    
    Jo

    Thanks for all of the replys.  Last night I was out watering the garden
    and I saw a kitten at the edge of the woods following the mama.  I went
    closer to the woods and eventually I got them all (five) to come out of
    the woods.  The mama cat laid down beside me, so they figured it was
    okay to come on out too.
    
    It has been a long time since I have had a litter of kittens, so I have
    a question.  When will the mama cat start to wean the kittens, and when
    should I start giving them milk and then solid food?
    
    Debbie

Don't give them milk.  Period.  How old do they look??  Gee, five kittens!
She's lucky that they all made it.  I'd pop open a few cans of cat food
and let them have at it.  Mom's milk will continue to nurish them as well.
They'll stand in the food, get it all over themselves, then run to Mom for
a cleanup!

If it were me, I'd get them to trust me, then I'd get them in the house and
off to the vet for a checkup.  Mom's immunities start to diminish at about
6-8 weeks, so they'll need their first shot pretty soon.

Can you get them all into your house??  That's the best chance they have to
become socialized and adoptable...

Mary (it's like deja vu all over again....)

    The kittens are five weeks old.  I wrote the date on the calendar the
    day she disappeared to have them.  
    
    Why should you not give them any milk?  We used to always give kittens 
    canned milk and then wet down kitten chow.  I've never given them
    canned food at that age.
    
    I don't know about bringing them all into the house.  I can't bring
    them all in without the mom, and the mom and my two inside cats don't
    get along very well.  Not to mention the fact that my husband would
    never go for it.  Hopefully, I will be able to find them all homes in
    the next several weeks.

    Cats can't digest cows milk well.  Try KMR which is a milk type product
    formulated for kittens.  
    
    Karen

    One of my neighbors had been giving milk to the ferals I caught and for
    the first few days I had them we were battling horrible diarrhea. 
    Then, as the kittens got older they had horrible coat texture and after
    the vet made sure they didnt have worms, he said the bad coat texture
    was probably due to the milk, diarrhea, and lack of nutrition since
    they should have been eating cat food and not milk by then.  The
    neighbors would just put out bowls of milk a couple times a day but it
    never occured to them to just put out cat food.
    
    Anyway, 7 weeks later and all is well.  No more diarrhea but the poor
    coat texture will take time to grow out.
    
    Jo

    This weekend I got the kittens to come out by putting canned cat food 
    down, as several people suggested.  Each time a couple of them would
    automatically come out and then eventually the others followed.  They
    lapped it up!  The two that always come out first will let me hold them
    a lot quicker than the others.  The others are skiddish, but if I sit
    still long enough they will come to me.
    
    I will continue to take your suggestions and give them canned food and
    no milk.  Should I try giving them any kitten chow instead of the
    canned food, wait a couple more weeks, or what?

Sure, give them kitten chow...you might mix it in with the canned, but
expect them to go for the canned first.  You can get kitten canned food, but
it's really expensive....I always fed canned food cause I thought it was
better for their little teeth.  As long as Mom is still nursing them, they're
getting her good nutrition.  When they're off Mom, then they really need
the kitten food.  Most manufacturers state that their food meets all the
nutritional needs for all stages of a cat's life, but I dunno...I don't
buy it (or that kind of food!).

As for the kitten chows, mine always liked the Friskies kitten dry food
much better than the Purina kitten chow.  But, they liked the dairy formula
of Purina better than the original.  Years of exhaustive testing......

You must be having a blast....I remember those days surrounded by kittens
with their paws in the bowls.....

Mary