feral kittens

I now have 3 feral kittens living on my front porch. They're in a nice big wire crate, safe from intruders, and with plenty of shelter. They need to stay there until I can get them tamed, cured of ringworm, and deflea-ed. I hope that I will be allowed to put them into the rescue. There are at least 5 more kittens at the trailer park where these were trapped. We've spayed 2 mama cats, and neutered one big ol' gnarly tom cat last week. I had 4 kittens, but one escaped. I am hoping to retrap him, but so far no luck. The ones I have now are 2 male orange tiger kittens, medium hair length, and one dilute tortie, short hair. I can now handle them all without welding gloves, and the boys even purr and sit in my lap ok. Pictures to come in a day or so.

If you can't put them up for rescue, what will happen to them?

Sprayed or neutered and then returned.

If I can't get them on our rescue, I will try to place them with one of the big cat rescue groups in the Denver area. Those folks put the kitties in the Petsmarts and Petcos in order to find homes for them. I don't want to put them back in the trailer park, as our volunteer who lives there, and provides food and shelter for the wild ones, is starting to get flak from her neighbors. I want to get all the adult cats fixed and all the kittens moved out. If worse comes to worst, I will fix up something for them in my garage, but I would really rather that they all got homes.

These are the wild babies. I think I'll call the tortie Dustie, and the orange boy in the middle Arlo. I'm still thinking about a name for the orange boy on the right. They all let me handle them now, and the boys both relax and even purr a little. Arlo actually approached the crate door the last time I went out. Dustie stays tense when handled, but she's coming along. She didn't hiss at me last time out.

I hate that. You know the cats are doing
them a service. If you get the chance check
this page on Facebook called Operation Save
The Trailer Park Cats.

hmm...think i'll get that little extra box ready to send out tomorrow. if you have to give kitties to the group(s) that do the adopt outs at petsmart etc maybe i can send you some things to give them they can give to the people who adopt. (that's what the lady here in town does...she does adoptions at petsmart etc and said she likes to give a blanket to the people who adopt a kitty;)If i can't fit three blankets i can at least fit toys in there for them and any others you might be able to trap:)

the middle kitty does look like an arlo...like a fuzzy arlo gunthre(gunthry?)
i'm sure the other yellow kitty will give you his name soon:) (if not, there was a kitty on Martha Stewart today named Butterscotch:) )

What a great idea. The kitties at our PetSmart sometimes have their own blankets and toys. It can't be a bad thing, right? The kitties will be going to a new home, so familiar toys will be a good thing.

I think that's a great idea. I've seen a website called Knitters
for Critters, it's a group of volunteers that knit blankets for
cats and kittens in shelters. I know cats get chilled and colds
because it's kept so cold in the shelters.

Wish I could see the pics.............they sound adorable. If they do end up in a PetSmart make sure the folks in the adoption center know the toys/blankets/etc are for their new families when they get adopted, something to help them adjust to a new home. It would be a terrible shame if they had to go back to the trailer park streets after they've had a taste of the good life and a loving home. I'm sure Dustie will come around, she's just a bit shyer than her brothers are.

I got word this morning that our TNR volunteer in the trailer park got 2 more female cats in for a spay. She's trying to trap a kitten that has an infected eye, so I'm holding a good thought there. If she gets it, I'll have to put it in a different crate than the others, as they're almost well now. Fingers crossed.

Arlo is named after Arlo Guthrie, and Dustie after Dusty Springfield. Kevin doesn't like the name Arlo--he says it sounds like a hippie name. I told him it's a folk singer name . I'm still racking my brain for a third name. I thought of Donovan, but we've had a rescue dog with that name recently.

I'm sure that any blankies or toys that may come this way will be well loved. These 3 are now very enthusiastic toy fans. I think giving adopters a blanket is a wonderful idea. The nicest people come to this forum!

I know someone who knows someone who works in a shelter. Whatever pet blankets I make, I give to the person I know. I hope the kittens get adopted when they are ready.

Ok... If you want a REAL hippie name, you could always go for Jerry. ;-) Or, how about completing the name "Arlo Guthrie"? One could be Arlo and the other Guthrie. (Feeling silly this morning.)

Well, I have one more wild boy. My TNR volunteer got a kitten with an eye infection last night. Turns out that it's not the one she told me about. That one is worse! Anyway, this little boy is slightly older than the 3 I have, and his eye looks pretty bad. He went limp when I grabbed him with the welding gloves this morning, so I scruffed him, took off the gloves, and was able to get a dose of Amoxi and a dose of wormer into him. I also cleaned out his eye with saline. I have a friend (Sherbet's foster mom) coming by later today, and she'll bring some medicine for his eye. He is in his own crate, but he can see the other kittens. He wants to be with them, and is meowing at them, but he has to be separate for now. I finally have the flea situation on the first three under control, so he'll have to wait until I make some progress with his critters.

Awwww, another wee one to take care of. Poor baby, I hope that med helps his eye to clear up. I know the amoxi will help and the wormer will do him a world of good. What does this lil guy look like?
If you want another folk singer to name a lil guy after: how about Jim Croce?

At the rate you're getting lil rescue kittens, I think you're gonna need a baby name book. And if anyone can tame a scared lil unsocialized kitten it's you!

I may go with the name Jerry for the third kitten. I have always loved Jim Croce, but my dad was a Jim, so that might be a little weird somehow. For the new boy, I'm thinking of something like Errol Feline. He's always jumping and scrambling around in his crate, hollering at the top of his lungs. He's an orange tabby too, only short haired with the really wide stripes. He looks a lot like our much missed Julius, actually.

well,if you ever decide on Arlo for a kitty and you have a girl kitty too you can name her Alice;)
Arlo is still around and doing concerts with his grown up kids and maybe grand kids. he's still got the long frizzy hair its just mostly gray now. but his music is just as strong and he's just as funny as ever!

I read some place that he no longer does Alice's
Restaurent.

i don't know about singing it ,but he does talk about it or at least he did on the PBS special i've been watching for the past year!

I was able to flea comb Errol today, and found no fleas. I also cleaned out his ears, treated his eye, then I put him in with his trailer park cousins. Everyone is delighted with the reunion. In Errol's crate I now have a 4-5 month old kitten that was dumped at the trailer park last night during a rain storm. He's completely tame and gentle. I flea treated him (he's old enough), cleaned out his ears, and vaccinated him. The gals at the trailer park called him Julia, but since he's not a girl, Julio is better. I'm hoping he'll be able to go home with Sherbet's foster mom today. I need the crate for more wild babies!

I like it Errol Feline, Hey it's better than Willa Feral.

Poor Julio, they probably dumped him because he's now old enough to not be so cute anymore and needs to be neutered. Definitely not a feral, just a poor dumpee who needs a good loving home for keeps.

Errol Feline, very cute name!

If you get a few more little wild ones in you can always name them Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Arlo in a playful mood.

Jerry loves the turbo track toy; he even sleeps on it.

Dustie and Errol wouldn't be cute.

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that I got 2 more feral babies today. One is another orange tabby, and the other one is a siamese. Almost all of the trailer park cats I've seen are orange or yellow tabbies. If you go to the home of the lady who is trapping them close to feeding time, it looks like someone is filming the cat version of "Village of the Damned." The siamese was a surprise, although I had a flame point siamese (Frankie) last fall. No pics yet. These guys are huddled in the carrier, which I had the sense to set up with a towel before I picked them up. Their big crate doesn't have an upper level, but when they get up and about, they can use the top of the carrier as their "upstairs." Anyway, I don't want to upset them with the camera flash just yet.

there must be a very prolific yellow stripey cat out in that trailer park! esh! but yellow cats do get adopted out when some others might not. (the kitty on The Closer is a yellow stripey tiger kitty)
i'd love to see the new kitties but i can wait until they're settled in;)