Feral kittens at our allotments - advice please

[Squash64]

We have a couple of feral cats at the allotments and they have had a litter of kittens, now about five or six weeks old.

The kittens were huddled together near the pavilion today and when we looked at them it was obvious that one of them has an eye infection.

We caught it, and bathed the eye with salt water.

What can we do about it?  I'm thinking that even if we take it to the vet, how are we going to keep giving it drops or whatever afterwards as it could be anywhere on the site. Would the Cats Protection League help?

Any advice please?

[Squash64]

[grannyjanny]

I think they might. There were several feral cats in our village & the CPL caught them & they were spayed or castrated & then freed.
Janet

[grotbag]

you could give the rspca a call,or catch em yourself and try to find new homes for them.

[Suzanne]

I had heard that CPL sometimes offer feral cats for release to farms and lottie sites where someone keeps an eye on them but they generally live a free life. Not sure how I feel about this - would keep the mice down - but also decimate the songbirds we have on our site, some of which nest in the long grass to the edge of the site.

[Tin Shed]

I certainly think that the kitten needs to be checked - it might have cat flu.
One of our rescue cats had cat flu when we chose her from a rescue centre and had another bout of it  a few months later. She was quite poorly and needed a lot of care, nearly needing to be hospitalized at the vets.

[lewic]

As they are so young they could probably be tamed and found homes. The RSPCA should be able to advise.

I'd have been tempted to take the kitten home myself!

[Squash64]

I think I will contact the CPL tomorrow, I hate to think of any animal suffering and nothing being done about it. 
What are the symptoms of cat flu?  The kitten has one eye closed with yellow stuff coming out of it.
Nobody objects to the cats being on the site but I do understand the problem about birds.  Maybe they are full up with mice and leave the birds alone?
If I didn't have two manically cat-hating terriers at home I would have taken the kitten, but it is impossible in the circumstances.

Thanks for your replies.

[Tin Shed]

Our cat had a high temperature, sneezed and had gunky eyes and a blocked nose. She was generally unwell and lethargic and as she had lost her sense of smell , because of  her blocked nose , it was very difficult to tempt her to eat.
She recovered well and continues to have all her innoculations, but the vet reckoned that she could still go down with cat flu again if she got very stressed or unwell as the virus apparently remains dormant. The only  problem she has from the flu is a blocked tear duct which sometimes makes her eye water.

[grotbag]

kittens often get eye infections ,it is easily cured  with eye cream .(you can get some  drops from a chemist (dont remember the name ,but the active ingredient is Fucidic acid )

[Kea]

Cat flu's first symptom is quite often a 'gunky' eye. It's a horrible way for them to die.

[norfolklass]

I'd go for the CPL rather than the RSPCA. my friend had feral cats in the basement of the building she lived in. we took a box full of kittens with the beginnings of cat flu to the RSPCA hospital and they destroyed them all :(
hope this has a happier outcome!

[betula]

The RSPCA are very worthy and do a lot of good work.However they do put animals down a bit to quick for my liking.

A charity dedicated to cats is much better. :)

[Mr Smith]

Betula,
           What knowledge do you have that the RSPCA put animals down in the way you described, :)

[Borlotti]

Some animal charities do put animals to sleep, I will check with my daughter as she only gives to the ones that look after the animals.  Baby (my lovely cat) came from a farm where they drowned all the kittens, but baby was lucky and smuggled home in my son's blazer pocket, and we already had a cat and a dog and baby had 7 kittens at 5 months old, before I got her done.  She was obviously a survivor.

[shirlton]

Hi Betty. I would definitely go for the C.P.L as they will do their best to find homes for them and they may even get the ferrels speyed for you.

[Squash64]

Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies.

One of our plotholders has contacted an animal charity that she has rehomed cats from in the past.  I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Yesterday I almost squashed one of the kittens  :o  It was behind the pavilion door but luckily I glanced down before I opened it fully.  I picked the kitten up and it didn't struggle at all.  In fact, I thought it was too calm for a feral kitten.  It snuggled up to me and I carried it around while I looked for the other kittens.  When I found another kitten and put it down, it walked straight back to me.  If I didn't have dogs, I would be very tempted.....

One of our plotholders has brought some kitten food and milk and will leave food down for them every day.  He has ELEVEN cats of his own!

I haven't seen the kitten with the infected eye today.  The eleven-cat-man has brought some ointment he had at home for his own cats and he will treat it IF we can find it.

Nobody has seen the mother cat for days :(

[Jokerman]

shotgun may help......................    ;D

[amanda21]

Even if they seem healthy I would call the CPL or Blue Cross Cats in the hope that they may spade or castrate them, otherwise they will all just interbreed and interbreed causing more problems in the long run. 

[lewic]

Kittens who snuggle up and purr when they are picked up will be snapped up, especially if you can get their cute little faces in the local paper. I suspect its the pissy ones who run away when humans come near that might face a more uncertain fate.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things!

[CDave]

My mrs does voluntary work for a local cat shetler and has loads of experience in taming down feral kittens. Not sying that this is the "correct route" but this is what our shelter does.

Starting point is that we rely on donations and can't possibly assist every in case. We will try to trap / catch any feral kittens. Not always easy - particularly when the get over, say, 8 weeks. We try to trap the mother too. For kittens under, say, 8 weeks, we can usually tame them down. We have 2 pens of youngsters (11 kittens) in our house at moment. Regular handling and getting used to noises, kids and our dogs usually does the trick.

For older kittens, unfortunately, these are usually beyond help - they usually can't be tamed down sufficiently to make pets - or, they might get used to people to an extent but remain "flighty" and very nervous. We normally put these to sleep. Same with mothers too. Sad fact of life is that even if castrated/ neutured, and released, these cats will have difficulty finding food and will probably succumb to disease. Not much of a life in the cold winter - even if you you are neutured.

My advice is to get in touch with an animal/cat rescue society quickly. A few will neuter cats and let them go. In our opinion, not the best option - but thats our opinion. A few will neuter and keep in semi open pens. A shelter near us does that - but there are obvious implications for space. There just isn't enough to house everal feral. RSPCA?? In our experience, they might help. They might not. Thats not a pop at RSCPA either. Its our exerience and maybe reflects the fact that all animal charities have finate resources.

As an alternative - why not try to get friends and fellow plot holders to take in a kitten. Its extremely rewarding to turn a hissing, terrified beautiful ball of fluff into a laid back, loving cat. All our 4 cats are rescued feral kittens that we've tamed down but haven't been able to pass on to new owners.

Good luck and well done for helping.