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I Don't Know What To do (Story and Pic Heavy)

8K views 93 replies 29 participants last post by  Pippin 
#1 ·
(This is sad, if you can't handle sad just skip down to the cute kitten pictures)

...I really don't know...

Three weeks ago today, the feral cat whom we dubbed as Misha, gave birth to Kittens. There were four, four lovely kittens who hadn't opened their eyes yet. Misha allowed us to feed her of course and to touch her when she wanted to be touched. Soon, she let us touch the kittens.

The first was one that looked very similar to her color pattern. He had a grey body, black head and black tail with white mitted paws and a white stripe on his nose. He was the oldest and the bravest as he was the first to venture out of the nest until Mama picked him back up and put him into the nest. He was dubbed Padfoot. He was going to my friend Naomi.

The second was a White male, unnamed and unclaimed. He had light tan stripes that ringed his tail and his legs. He was very beautiful and always came up to me after their eyes opened and they recognized us.

Third was a Black Female named Fiona going to my friend Marissa. She had a grey body, black head, tails and paws. She was adorable, shy, but cute as a button. She was the first to play with me when I dragged a piece of hay around and she would try to claw it.

And lastly was a White Female, unnamed but claimed by my friend Allison. She was the quietest and the shiest of them all, rarely coming out to see us but she played with her brothers and sisters.

I kept bugging my mom, when will we take them in? When can I set up their home in the cellar where they will be warm and out of harms way? Finally we decided Tuesday (at that point Monday) would be good. Monday came and went and Tuesday came on.

I came home from a house-sitting job in the morning at 7:30, looked over to the shed and saw the door was unlocked and opened but I thought nothing of it. I ran inside and showed, changed and got ready to meet with a new person I was house-sitting for this coming weekend. I drove out, met her and her dogs (she's got fish tanks and might want to do a Betta Sorority with my help!!) I was excited for the job and couldn't wait to help her out!

Around 5 in the evening my mother and her boyfriend and I were outside doing yard work and goofing off in general. I went to the shed to go see how the Kittens were doing since the Bee's had gone to sleep already. I looked into the cubby and caught my breath. They were gone.

My mom came in and gasp as well, Misha had followed us in and jumped up onto the ledge to look into the cubby and called out for her kittens. But they did not come out. We scoured the ground for animal prints but found none and then I told them about how I saw the gate had been opened in the morning.

"Surely a Raccoon could open the gate, but the lock is at the top, why not just jump over at that point? Why bother when there are plenty of compost piles out and other things to eat?" I asked as we stood around puzzled, Misha beginning to cry out for her beloved Kittens.

What else could open the lock? We all witnessed the gate being locked just the night previous. What else could open it but another human? Has someone stolen our kittens?! All of us furious, confused and pained, but none more than Misha.

Who knew of the kittens as well as where we live? None of my friends knew my address but the few close ones and they would never do such a thing! What point is there in taking three week old kittens who aren't even weaned off their mother yet? It's more work than would happen if you would just wait!

Misha stayed by our side the entire night we were out. We went down to our pond and fed the goldfish, she never went more than eight feet away from us, soon her interest piqued in the golden fish. I would have sworn that she almost jumped in to catch one, but luckily for her, she didn't. She meowed up at us asking, "Do you know where my Kittens are?"

Searching around, we looked in all the places around the yard that would be suitable for kittens but we found no signs, not one single sign. Who or what would take our kittens? Misha had no signs of battle wounds on her and we would have surely woken up to kitten and cat screams had an animal come in the night to take them.

But if no animal and no human took them, why was Misha so sad? She would sit in front of the shed the rest of the day, meowing out loudly for her kittens but they would not come.



So now, today, I had to tell my three friends; Allison, Marissa and Naomi that their Kittens would not be coming home. I feel terrible and drained knowing that I promised them something so special and now they too feel the pain of loss. I didn't know how to start off but I eventually concluded my story, much less elaborate than this, but all the same. Allison understood completely and sent her condolences to myself and Misha. I felt terrible as she told me that she had already begun collecting toys and things for her new White Kitten. But nevertheless she understood and said that it was alright.

I wish for all, that I had just taken the Kittens into the basement myself against my mother's orders, although she would have not cared too much once I already did the work for her. But it's gone now and so are they. And now I see everyone else getting new kittens and I just really don't know what to do with myself, I've literally never felt this bad before, like I'm letting all these people down! I know things happen, I've seen it happen before!

I was raised on a chicken and cow farm, I know wild animals come around and I know they are hungry and just feeding their families! But why, of all things, why did it have to be the kittens?

At any rate, I would like to conclude with the pictures I took, tracking their progress.

Mama Kitty Prior to giving birth:






























 
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#3 ·
Thank you Matt. We're trying to watch where she goes to see if she actually did move them. I'm praying so hard right now that she just moved them. I just feel so bad for my friends especially because I promised them a Kitten! That's not something you promise a person everyday!

We live on 5 acre's of just pure woods so they could literally be anywhere, granted I don't think she would move them that far since we are still her main source of food. But I just can't even think why she would seem so upset if she was the one that moved them.

We even though, you know maybe she hid them so well that she doesn't even remember where she put them. But that's no good, that would not happen with any animal, a mother does not just leave her young!

Sorry, I'm ranting now, I just literally don't know what to think/feel/do. :-(
 
#6 ·
Thank you! We will get out searching as soon as we can. I'll have to wait till the weekend because my job interferes but hopefully we can come up with something!

There's also about 10 acres across our road of lots of woods that is state owned. We could search there...technically illegal but no one will know haha

But I'll take any evidence at this point, even just for closure!

But thank you, it means a lot to me. I'll try to keep things updated so you all can know what's going on, can't promise much though.
 
#8 ·
I am so, so sorry. What could have happened is a raccoon or some predator took one, and she moved the rest and is still hunting for the one. I've got a farm and it's rare to have any predator but humans or sometimes dogs kill multiple things without a trace.
She may have moved the survivors and be looking for the missing ones.

I hope that's the case. I know your heart must be broken.
 
#10 ·
I'm so sorry :( I know what it's like, it's always so very sad. My feral girl would always move her kittens, and I would just watch from a distance to see where she put them, so I could get to them and catch them. I once thought that they had perished only to find she had moved them into the floor of our shed. She had two litters until we were able to catch her and get her spayed, and it took us months to find homes for them all.

However, please get her spayed. It will make her SO much happier (no more males chasing her around), and it will stop this from happening again. I know it seems easy to find homes for kittens, but trust me, eventually no one you know wants another kitten, and the shelters may not take them. I was able to get our female spayed for $40 at the Neuter Commuter, and she's never been happier. Ask your vets and humane society if they can give you a discount or even if they can do it for free since she's a feral. There are too many cats in this world to keep letting them breed, when there are millions of cats dying in shelters. I don't want to pile his all on you while you're in mourning, but please get her spayed. Kittens are cute and all, but for each kitten you let be born, a cat in a shelter loses a home it could have been adopted into.
 
#11 ·
How heartbreaking. I doubt she moved them if she hung around the shed "waiting" for them. Even a mama cat trying to fool predators and misguide them from the nest wouldn't wait that long.

I'm so sorry :( I hope you find them though.
 
#12 ·
Thanks everyone, and I was pretty sure that I said nothing about her not being spayed in my post. She is spayed now and still no signs of the kittens, we took her yesterday and the darn people still charged us for a regular cat. She was too friendly once they took her out of the trap, just like I had feared. But whatever, it's over and done with now. I'm not currently at my other house so I'm not able to watch her unfortunately but I know my mom will keep an eye out.

Thank you all very much, it really does mean a lot to me. :)
 
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#13 ·
They might have charged you regular because she is so friendly lol I think RU was referring to the last time you posted about this cat. Either way. Not the issue at hand.

Can you hear mewing when you walk around the field?
 
#14 ·
Of course, I know that's the reason and of course even if we told them that she just walked into our yard and isn't our cat, which we did, they didn't care.

And no, I've heard no mewing so far and ufortunately we don't have "fields" it's all woods so some parts are difficult to search just because it can get so dense. But we had gone down to the pond on Tuesday while Misha followed us and I could have sworn I heard a kitten mew, found out that it was the stupid Mockingbird that follows us around, the darn thing mocks us and the cat all day long! And it's not afraid of us either, I mean, beautiful bird but very inconvenient at a time like this lol :shake:
 
#16 ·
That's so odd. I am sorry for your loss. We have a feral cat out at our pastures and machine barn. For almost 10 years she had litter after litter. We couldn't catch her, but we fed her and cared for her. We actually experienced the same thing as you are talking about multiple times. But, it was because she would move them and forget where she moved them to. My poor cousin (who lives out at our pastures) would spend days ripping apart her garages (she had two), the barns (there are three of them, two smaller ones and one huge one), and walking through the probably 10 acres of woods looking for them. Sometimes she would find them, and sometimes she wouldn't. But, there were times she wouldn't find them and months later another cat would turn up about the right age. We finally were able to spay the mama cat, and the other cats that were around were all male. But, they have vanished so I'm guessing they either died or left for new territory.
 
#17 ·
I know it is weird! I literally am going to tear apart our land, I mean...I promised people kittens! And I think that's the worst of it, they were all preparing for a little bundle of spazzy kitten fluff and now they've got nothing!

We were thinking maybe she was just trying to throw us off but she's never spent a whole day with us like that and sitting in front of the shed to cry was just weird too.
 
#19 ·
RU, sometimes, you fall in love with a specific animal. You've been planning and planning to bring them home and imagining yourself spending many happy years with that one. Then, you find out that you will not be bringing it home. You cannot just get another. It's not the same.

I'm so sorry, lilnaugrim. That's heartbreaking. I hope you find them soon or they turn up.
 
#20 ·
Yeah, that is why I feel terrible because I know that feeling. And thank you Feng! I also hope we can find them, for my friends but also for Misha, she just seems way too heartbroken herself to have just "misplaced" her kittens, you know?
 
#21 ·
Does she let you give her belly rubs or pick her up? Check and see if she's still producing milk, if she is after 2 weeks or so she's got them somewhere. See if her teats look really swollen, if they are then she's not being able to release the pressure on them (which can be slightly painful until it re-absorbs). If they're swollen and red then she may have lost them somehow :(

I wouldn't give up hope yet. I think it's possible a snake or other predator may have gotten one and she's looking for it, but moved the others. Cats are sneaky, if they don't want you finding those babies it's gonna be near impossible to track them down. And if she lost one, she's going to be hyper protective of their location. And they only take a few moments to feed them and then leave, so she could dart off, feed them, and come back within a few minutes, if they're close.

Do you have a dog, or can borrow someones? That's how I found the first litter, my neighbors dog started barking at the shed floor :roll:. A few days later, lo and behold, momma cat was leading her troupe out of the floor.
 
#22 ·
Thank you, and no she doesn't let us pick her up. Occasionally she'll roll around in the sand in our driveway so I can see her tummy. I'm not sure how spaying her will effect her, that was thing we were worried about, if she'll keep producing for her kittens (provided they are still there) after.

I'm definitely not giving up though, it's hard seeing the light at the end but I know it's there somewhere! And I'm sure they are out there somewhere too!! When I informed the people I did tell them that there is still a small chance they are alive and well hidden and that I would keep them updated, so we'll see how it comes out!

And no, no tracking dogs out here. There are dogs, but they are either old and don't care or they are ankle nippers and don't want to be bothered lol Besides I think Misha would kill a dog if we brought it onto the property haha I plan on going to search myself tomorrow when I can get back to my mom's so I'll keep everyone updated to what's going on with her and them.

Thank you again everyone for your support!
 
#24 ·
That's also good to know, we weren't sure how it would effect her. I'll certainly keep an eye on her when she goes back out. Thank you!
 
#25 ·
I'm sure your friends will continue to be understanding and compassionate. Misha is the one with the biggest loss.

Also, I agree with Fenghuang. It's very disappointing to prepare and wait for a pet, and then to lose them before they could come home to you. Just recently had it happen to me twice. While it's true that they can potentially adopt from a shelter, not everyone CAN adopt from a shelter. We were always turned away because our dogs only went to the vet for their rabies shots, they were never sick, so we never took them, but because our dogs didn't go every single year, we weren't considered "good owners", and couldn't adopt.
 
#26 · (Edited)
I am so very sorry...Hugs Dont give up hope maybe the mother only moved them and since you live in such a big area they could be anywhere. Misha is so beautiful and so are her kittens and you did the best you could in taking good care of them this is not your fault in any way and your friends will be sad like you are but they will understand. There are so many homeless kitties out there that need a good home.

My daughter just a few days ago found a young cat that someone had dropped off at the school she teaches at right behind the dumpster with only enough food for a couple of days so she took her and now I am happy to report we have another cat in the family, but since my daughter lives in NC I only have seen pictures of her. I was so happy that she could take her and give her a nice loving home because she was not sure if she would be able to keep her or not but it all worked out so that she can YAY !

Keep us posted okay and we will all hope for the best, you have lots of support here when you need it.
 
#27 ·
I am so very sorry...Hugs Dont give up hope maybe the mother only moved them and since you live in such a big area they could be anywhere. Misha is so beautiful and so are her kittens and you did the best you could in taking good care of them this is not your fault in any way and your friends will be sad like you are but they will understand. There are so many homeless kitties out there that need a good home.

My daughter just a few days ago found a young cat that someone had dropped off at the school she teaches at right behind the dumpster with only enough food for a couple of days so she took her and now I am happy to report we have another cat in the family, but since my daughter lives in NC I only have seen pictures of her. I was so happy that she could take her and give her a nice loving home because she was not sure if you would be able to keep her or not but it all worked out so that she can YAY !

Keep us posted okay and we will all hope for the best, you have lots of support here when you need it.
Oh that's fantastic about your daughter! That kitty is a very lucky cat indeed!

Yeah, all three of them do understand, it hurts but they understand. And thank you, Misha is adorable :) Not as good lookin' as my other two Maine ****'s but she does well enough haha And thank you, it's generally why I like this thread, most everyone is very supportive and it does make me feel better and then I can help Misha out a little more :)

:thankyou:
 
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#28 ·
Oh my gosh!!!!!!!! We found them!!!!!!!!

So actually one of the people that a kitten was going to came over the house today to give me some tin pictures she'd found (knowing I love Capt. America and Iron Man) so I took her out back to see the goldfish in our pond and then we found Misha.

Misha had been going and coming after we let her back outside and we never did an extensive search. I went through our five acres but half of the wooded area I couldn't get to, even my paths I had created through the woods had grown over in only a few years.

So we were sitting on the lawn petting her, she went to the bird bath to get a drink because she'll silly and won't drink the fresh water we give her (it's well water and the same water that goes into our pond) so then we kept trying to call her and she just rather ignored us and walked back towards the house calling out for something.

My mom and I looked at each other and wondered...a little spark of hope came up when Misha laid on the grass and mewed towards the part under our deck where our gas tank is located.

We carefully crept up and found all four kittens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friend and I nearly squealed with delight...okay that's a lie, we actually did squeal lol.

After careful planning and thought I was able to pick up the kittens who were cornered behind a plastic bin that held our outside toys like frisbee's, volleyball, etc.

Each kitten was picked up and place into a box, Misha looked like she couldn't care less that I was handling them. She likes me but hisses at anyone else which is normal, I'm the animal lady in the family lol.

So we were able to usher the kittens and mama inside and held them for a little while. Man, got to say, the white boy is a handful and he can climb up shirts extremely well haha.

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited though! I told everyone and they're all excited and about two more weeks and they can go to their forever homes!! I'll be sad to see them go after this whole ordeal but I know the homes they are going to are good homes! At least I'll be able to keep Misha if she sticks around and I'll get to visit the white boy occasionally at my aunt's house :-D

I just can't express how happy I am right now! Thank you all so much for your support through this!!

:thankyou:
 
#30 ·
Oh hooray!!!

That is WONDERFUL!

Now, I know that you've got folks waiting and I know that it can be hard to keep them, but as someone who has fostered MANY litters of kittens let me tell you they will grow into MUCH friendlier cats if you can keep them with their mother for at least 9 weeks AND gently handle them every day.
LOL, all my kittens grow up to be purry cat scarves.
If you'd like more tips on raising uber-friendly kittens let me know.

Congrats again!
 
#33 ·
Thank you all!!! I'm so excited!! And so are my friends haha.

Yup we're keeping them at least 2 more weeks so they'll be 7 weeks by that point I believe but if you suggest it Riverotter, we might keep them till 9 weeks? I'll PM you about that soon because I would certainly love uber-friendly kitties!! I know my friends would too!

:thankyou: :blueyay: :greenyay: :redyay:
 
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