Catching a stray cat

I have problems. Big problems. Big cat problems. Big stray cat problems. Big pregnant stray cat problems!

I have had this cute little stray cat hanging out on my back porch for months now. I started feeding her when I realized that she didn't belong to any of my neighbors, but was living in a hole she dug under my porch. One day a couple of weeks ago, my niece Kara made the observation that she looked pregnant. PREGNANT? I knew that having a stray pregnant cat was not an option. I live in a neighborhood that really isn't safe for animals (the interstate is my front yard and my backyard is ruled by ducks and geese) and I think our homeowner association bylaws state that animals can not run loose.

So I started calling around to shelters, vets, rescue groups, friends, basically anyone who would listen to my story and give me advice. The humane society said they would take a pregnant cat, but could not guarantee the outcome (meaning it could get put to sleep). Another group already had 150 cats in their care and could not take any more. So then I thought maybe I should just keep it and make it an inside cat. The only problem with that is Lewis. He is my indoor cat that i have had for 5 years and he is a little domineering and not afraid to attack and bite me when I am not pleasing him, so I'm a little concerned of what he might do to another cat. But I decided to try it anyway. And I thought, maybe it's not really pregnant, it's just really fat from all the food I've been feeding it (it eats a lot!).

So one night I saw the kitty sitting peacefully on my deck and I slowly approached it to see if I could pet it. It freaked out and ran off for several days. That's when I realized this was not a tame cat, but a feral cat. So then I started reading all kinds of stuff on the internet about feral cats, pregnant cats, etc. I realized this wasn't going to be easy.

I talked to a very nice vet at the Wichita Cat Hospital who gave me some tips on using food to make friends with the cat so she would start to warm up to me. I've been doing this for a week and it seems to be working, although she still won't let me touch her.

Since I can't seem to touch her, I decided I would trap her to take her to the vet. I needed to find out if she was pregnant or not, get her tested for diseases and vaccinated, and finally get her spayed. So this morning I took off a few hours from work, had a live trap I borrowed from the vet, got some really yummy seafood smelling cat food and set the trap in my backyard. After much hesitation, she finally went in and we were off to the vet. The vet explained to me that she could go ahead and spay that cat even if she was pregnant (which was still an unknown), but it would terminate the pregnancy, but if she was a stray, this might be the best option. So I agreed, and realized I was funding an abortion. What a horrible thing! But I was preventing more cats who might end up having to be put to sleep. Everytime a litter is born, it prevents other cats from being adopted. Did you know that one female cat and her offspring will produce 100 cats over seven years? That's why it is so important to spay and neuter all cats, but especially wild cats.

So i went back to the office, confident that the vet was taking care of everything and tomorrow I would be picking up a healthy vaccinated, non pregnant cat to bring home. But no. As soon as I got back to the office i had a call from the vet. Apparently the stray kitty was to far along in her pregnancy and they could not spay her. They went ahead and tested her for diseases and gave her the vaccinations, but they said i would have to come pick her up and take her home to have the kittens, which should be arriving within days. YIKES! This was the worse case scenerio!

So I debated whether to let her loose outside again, as she had clearly picked out a spot under my porch to have the kittens, or to keep her locked in my garage to have the kittens. I don't think I can bring her inside yet because of my crazy indoor cat. I'm sure the end stages of delivery is not the best time to help them get to know each other. So after talking with the vet, I opted for the garage. We decided that even though she will be very scared, at least she and the kittens will be safe. So I set up a litter box, food, and a couple of soft beds for her in my garage and let her loose. She's been hiding in a corner behind an old door for the last 8 hours and won't come out. So now i'm sitting in the garage with my laptop for a few hours talking to her to try to calm her and coax her out. It's not working. I feel so terrible because I know she must be terrified. She won't even come out to eat her food. Now I'm wondering if i made a bad decision I should either let her in my house (and send my other cat to my parents house for a few days) where she can explore and be comfortable and get used to me more, or if i should let her back outside to the environment she is used to.

The only good news from this is that now i will have kittens and kittens are so cute, and I will have something to update on my blog. When I went looking for my blog today I couldn't even remember the web address because it had been so long since I visited it. I had to go to the church website to click on it :)

So stay tuned for kitten updates and photos. Here's a couple photos of my cute little pregnant stray cat. Lewis is the orange tabby looking out the window.