Operation Kitteh!

Hi all, this is the human, Margaret.

So 2 days ago while the dogs were out in the fenced backyard with Tony, 1 of the many strays jumped into the yard and Royal killed her. It became immediately apparent that her death left her 4 kittens orphaned.

We have been wanting to trap these ferals and hand them over to a rescue since before we moved in (the day we looked at the house we saw a kitten in the yard and knew then there was going to be a problem..) but without much success. After Royal killed this cat however, we were prompted to get this situation taken care of immediately- to prevent more deaths, to prevent more litters, and to save these kittens that would surely die within days without their mother.

Long story short, we rented 2 traps that evening and set them that night. By the end of the day last night we had caught all 4 baby kittens (approx 5 wks old), 4 older kittens (approx 4-5 months old), and 1 adult. This morning we caught the 5th older kitten. Thus we are now caring for 10 additional cats (on top of our existing 5).

Im desperately trying to find rescues to help us place the 5-week olds when they are ready, and to take the older kittens & adult into foster homes to socialize and rehome, but so far have had no luck- 2 of the 4 rescue groups Ive contacted are full, and the other 2 have not written back.

The 4 baby kittens will be easy to find homes for, and I already have 1 lined up, but the older kittens and their mother will be very difficult. At this point Im already too attached to them to just hand them over to animal control where they will likely be euthanized as they are un-adoptable at this point being freshly caught ferals. It will likely take a good 2 months of "re-hab" to get these older cats to accept us and come out of their shells. I hope to be able to work with them, feed & medicate them, take photos & videos and show people their good qualities to hopefully get them adopted. But I cannot do it on my own.

Basically Im asking for any help anyone can give. Ive already spent over $50 on supplies, not including the food I already had. Food & litter for these 10 cats for the next 2 months will likely cost me at least $50, and then I need to get them vaccinated, treated for fleas, get blood tests to check for FIV/FeLV, and fixed. I found a group that offers free spay/neutering to ferals, but I have yet to hear back from them on availability. I have also found a low-cost vaccine clinic that I hope to use.

If you can even just spare $5 or $10 it will make a difference. Of course if you can afford $25 or $50 it will make a HUGE difference. And if you can help spread the word, that will make a big difference as well.

We are confident we have caught this entire family, and have prevented any more litters from being born. Even if worse comes to worse and the 6 older cats get euthanized, at least we were able to save these 4 babies, and prevent countless more cats from being born into this awful life.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for any help you can give.

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Also note I am in Sacramento but would be willing to travel up to 4 hrs in any direction to potential adopters! And you can expect plenty of photos and videos to be posted here over the next few weeks. :) Check out my flickr album for all the photos and the whole story.

P.S.- If I have money left over after all this, I will be donating it to my favorite group in the country, Best Friends Animal Society.