Urgent Help Needed with Samantha

[sillylupie]

Originally Posted by lynielime

yeah ashley! i heard that too! apparently cats don't have "mating seasons". they can get pregnant anytime!! omg!! my vet told me yesterday that when a female cat is nursing, she should not be able to get pregnant.. nursing is sort of a form of contraceptive.. but this is not always the case and some cats can get pregnant as soon as 2 weeks after giving birth.

this really worries me because i have been trying to catch this stray siamese cat in my neighborhood.. she had a litter of 3 beautiful kittens about 2 months ago. i have made friends with her but the kittens won't come near me. i've got to catch them all at the same time as i don't want to leave any kittens out there in the street without their mother.. but i also don't want her to get pregnant again before i catch her! the clock is ticking! and there are gatal male cats EVERYWHERE!!!

any tips on how i can catch mama and her brood together? am already feeding them twice a day right in front of my house. mama is used to me but the kittens run away when i bring the food and only creep back slowly when i've backed off a few meters..

Lynielime, amazing that you actually go out and catch stray cats!
Have u tried stroking the mama when u feed her? Stay with her when she eats, let the kittens watch. They will then slowly know that you are "trustable"... then again, like you say, clock is ticking!!! GATAL TOMCATS!

[lynielime]

June,
that string thing is a great idea! i have been putting my carrier outside to get them used to it, but could not figure out how to quickly and quietly sneak up on them and close the door... also usually they will not all be inside.. jsut one or two.. i will try with two carriers tonight and also with your string idea . thanks!!

Originally Posted by June

Hey!! That's sound familiar!! I have the same problem too.Mother very friendly cat but her kittens are quite defensive. I did what 1 guy from other forumer advise me to do. I put my carrier outside.Let the door open wide.Tie a string (very halus string,if possible white string) at the door.Put the food inside the carrier.Once the got inside to eat, pull the string and close the carrier door.whoa!!! really works man!!! But u must know visible to them.

[lynielime]

yup have been stroking her.. that took some time also.. she is not very trusting. i think she has had some bad experience with previous owners. i believe she msut have been a pet at one point. she is the most beautiful stray i have ever seen.. but even though she is gorgeous, she must be neutered!!! she is creating too many beautiful strays in my neighborhood!!

Originally Posted by sillylupie

Lynielime, amazing that you actually go out and catch stray cats!
Have u tried stroking the mama when u feed her? Stay with her when she eats, let the kittens watch. They will then slowly know that you are "trustable"... then again, like you say, clock is ticking!!! GATAL TOMCATS!

[ashleywong]

hi all

as for the continous stray cats problem, i wonder if it is possible to enlist the help of spca or paws or govt vet hospital in a trap neuter and release approach. i have heard of it but not sure whether this is actively pursued in msia. at least this way, it solves the immediately problem of increasing population of unwanted kittens.

i've actually thought of letting samantha out and give her a box at one corner of my porch. however there are some stray male cats around from time to time. my concern is for sam and not to lose her to the streets again and i'm not sure whether she'd run away somewhere else to give birth if she's harrassed by large tom cats. however the porch is ideal as our house is empty the whole day and also at night after we go to sleep. it's the concern of losing her to the streets again that stayed my hands.

however i may have cautious good news. the lady who initially wanted to adopt samantha has offered to help look after samantha until after her delivery and then we'd work together to rehome the kittens. however she is not free now as she is currently looking after cats for her friends and she can only know in 10 days' time.

she's really offering me a silver branch and i hope i can place samantha with her but i know i can't bank all my hopes on her alone, i need to do my part also to work to find other possible leads also.

[lynielime]

ashley you're right.. i suppose there is no guarantee that samantha will use a box set up on your porch if she doesn't feel it is right and you will not be able to control every aspect of an outside environment. i also don't want her to take to the streets in search of a place to give birth. what if she doesn't come back? how close is your bond with her? would she come back if she left?

About the trap-neuter-release program, i don't know about paws, but spca does have a program like that. i think they work together with dbkl klinik kembiri on this. i'm not sure how succesful this has been though.

[blackie007]

Bina: That's what I thought too, when I read how June tangkap the cats.

Ashley: If you can, feed the queen with kitten food now and while she's nursing. Kitten food has more nutrition and will help the mother cat produce healthier kittens. And yes, I agree with June and Bina, any place that's quiet and cozy is a good place for the mother cat to give birth.

June: My hubby is just like yours. He didn't agree to my taking stray cats as pets. He wasn't too happy when Blackie's mother kept coming to my door for food twice a day, but he didn't chase her away, just won't allow her to step inside our home.

Then, when I rescued Blackie and Brownie after their mother died, he objected. But later, realised that they're defenseless and can't survive if I don't bring them home. So I told him I'd rehome them once they have learnt to eat on their own. But I never did, and now, nearly 3 years later, he loves Blackie, too, picking him and playing with him everyday.....hehhehe.

Originally Posted by sillylupie

Eh ... June, macam tangkap tikus only....

[June]

heh!!heh!! tangkap tikus kena pakai gam supaya tikus melekat cannot run away.

Originally Posted by sillylupie

Eh ... June, macam tangkap tikus only....

[June]

Ashley,are u refering to lady as Nurul/Phylis?? If she give her offer you can rest assure your cat will be in good hand.She's our friend and recently join the petfinder forum.

I did quite many time TNR around my area too. But I dunno why recently number of strays increasing. I normally spay the female first and then male. I got 2 mother cats that on waiting list to be spay once their kitten reach 2 mths. I cannot tahan see her flabby belly.huhuhuhuhu!!!

Blackie,now my hubby loves the cats very much.He always play with them when comes home.he likes 2 particular cats among all.Tomtom aka Gemok and Bonnie because they always response him back when he play with them. he!!he!!

Originally Posted by ashleywong

hi all

as for the continous stray cats problem, i wonder if it is possible to enlist the help of spca or paws or govt vet hospital in a trap neuter and release approach. i have heard of it but not sure whether this is actively pursued in msia. at least this way, it solves the immediately problem of increasing population of unwanted kittens.

i've actually thought of letting samantha out and give her a box at one corner of my porch. however there are some stray male cats around from time to time. my concern is for sam and not to lose her to the streets again and i'm not sure whether she'd run away somewhere else to give birth if she's harrassed by large tom cats. however the porch is ideal as our house is empty the whole day and also at night after we go to sleep. it's the concern of losing her to the streets again that stayed my hands.

however i may have cautious good news. the lady who initially wanted to adopt samantha has offered to help look after samantha until after her delivery and then we'd work together to rehome the kittens. however she is not free now as she is currently looking after cats for her friends and she can only know in 10 days' time.

she's really offering me a silver branch and i hope i can place samantha with her but i know i can't bank all my hopes on her alone, i need to do my part also to work to find other possible leads also.

[ashleywong]

Hi All

Cautious good news. I may have found help for samantha. one of the forumer here has offered to help but only if she's free from her current obligations at a certain date.

thanks to all who read and helped out. i'll keep you all posted about samantha from time to time.

gabriel last night turned into a pro-footballer. he was so tangkas. i just cruched up a piece of newpaper and off he goes!

samantha is coming along well. i can now see the swell on her tummy and she's due back for her checkup tommorow.

thanks all

[lynielime]

Hi everyone!
June your tangkap tikus carrier idea worked! I caught two of the kittens last night. I hope to catch the last kitten today. Then i can bring mama in. Mama's great she was totally fine with me taking her babies last night. Unfortunately only two of them were with her. I don't want to leave the last one out in the world alone so i let mama go. Let's hope that when mama comes for her meals today, the last kitten follows her. Wish me luck ladies! We're almost there!

[June]

CONGRATULATIONS!!! keep us posted on your cat hunting

Originally Posted by lynielime

Hi everyone!
June your tangkap tikus carrier idea worked! I caught two of the kittens last night. I hope to catch the last kitten today. Then i can bring mama in. Mama's great she was totally fine with me taking her babies last night. Unfortunately only two of them were with her. I don't want to leave the last one out in the world alone so i let mama go. Let's hope that when mama comes for her meals today, the last kitten follows her. Wish me luck ladies! We're almost there!

[ashleywong]

Hi all

yes, that big-hearted lady is phyllis. she agreed to help me with samantha soon.

i took samantha back to the vet yesterday for 2nd x-ray. 1st x-ray on 9th august only showed up 1 kitten although the ultra-sound taken at the same time showed two spines.

yesterday's x-ray confirmed two skulls and two spines clearly. so we can expect at the very least 2 kittens. i hope it is only two kittens. it' be easier for everybody.

how close is her bond to me? i'm not sure but i'm certain she understands that my house is a current safe place for her and her unborn kittens. samantha escaped on saturday morning just about the time i wanted to load her into her carrier. i was to take her, gabriel, my nicky and ginger to the vet for their checkups. my fault i forgot to latch the door of her pen and i had the windows thrown wide open to air her room. we left without her and when we returned 3 hours later surprisingly she was already home back in her room hiding underneath the bed. and she jumped right back into her pen after that for her toilet needs and food. don't think she went far, just sunning herself on the roof (1st floor window). but if she were to be out at the front (ground level) with all noises, distractions and stray cats around, i'm not sure she won't bolt t the first opportunity.

now that gabriel has been successfully rehomed, we can turn more of our attention to samantha. but reality is i still lack the space for her to birth her babies comfortably.

i'd would appreciate it if there are also others who can help out with samantha from this sunday onwards , in case unforseen circumstances prevents phyllis from helping out. ginger boy's neutering has been postponed to this week as he's not feeling well now. and my brother is coming back..

so i'd really appreciate other offers for help also.

[ashleywong]

Hi

thanks to all who have been following this thread and offering support in terms of advice and offer for help.

felix the cat has very kindly offered to help me foster samantha for the time being.

samantha has not given birth yet. we and samantha are still expecting. her delivery date, estimated at best guess, was supposed to be either last week or this week - and this is not absolute as the we don't know the exact date of conception.

for now felix is able to take care of samantha and she is truly generous as she has 6 cats of her own to take care of, besides her family also. for this i'm greatly indebted to her.

however i'd like to prepare for worst case scenario and therefore would like to line up some volunteers in case another fosterer is needed for samantha and her kittens.

volunteer needed to help foster samantha from now until birth of her kittens and for a few weeks after that (as the kittens would be too fragile to be moved about so soon). looking for a fosterer with space/room and lots of love to spare. i will provide samantha's food and litter box as well as litter material but i really lack the space now , especially that ginger is now recuperating from his castration (it went on schedule after all) and nicky is recovering from a bacterial infection and is now under quarantine.

i hope there'd be more volunteers stepping up to the plate. i don't want to burden felix more than she can reasonably coop with.

[ashleywong]

Hi All

thanks for all your concern and support and thanks especially to Felix for bestowing such wonderful care on samantha during her pregnancy and be there by herself during delivery. my salute to felix.

samantha has safely delivered a healthy baby kitten last friday at 8.30pm. felix was there all the time with her offering samantha support and encouragement and even assistance. that was much more than what i could do and did for samantha.

felix and i are now proud foster-feline grandparent. when the time is right, the black kitty will be rehomed.

the kitty is black with silver socks. i'll be looking in on the

[lynielime]

Originally Posted by ashleywong

Hi All

thanks for all your concern and support and thanks especially to Felix for bestowing such wonderful care on samantha during her pregnancy and be there by herself during delivery. my salute to felix.

samantha has safely delivered a healthy baby kitten last friday at 8.30pm. felix was there all the time with her offering samantha support and encouragement and even assistance. that was much more than what i could do and did for samantha.

felix and i are now proud foster-feline grandparent. when the time is right, the black kitty will be rehomed.

the kitty is black with silver socks. i'll be looking in on the

wowee!! congratulations!! only one kitten? that's pretty rare! is he/she a big one?

[filinlee]

Originally Posted by lynielime

wowee!! congratulations!! only one kitten? that's pretty rare! is he/she a big one?

ermm not sure its a he or not.. but he's not that big... the other fella did not make it as he was delivered legs out first...so he sort of mati lemas...

that's what i heard from phyllis/nurul who's taking care of samantha... ssaw her n the other forumers last saturday during the blackwud party... ehehehhe

[lynielime]

Originally Posted by filinlee

ermm not sure its a he or not.. but he's not that big... the other fella did not make it as he was delivered legs out first...so he sort of mati lemas...

that's what i heard from phyllis/nurul who's taking care of samantha... ssaw her n the other forumers last saturday during the blackwud party... ehehehhe

oh no!!! poor baby...

[filinlee]

yeap.. kesian him....

[ashleywong]

hi all

yes the second kitten was a breach. we expect two kitens indicated by the x-ray. i dunno maybe it was a nasty twist of fate. the legs came out first. i didn't mention it as i didn't want to dampen everybody's enthusiasm. i was also to blame as i was over-confident and didn't call on phyllis to check on samantha's condition. since she didn't give birth earlier i thought she'd be exactly due on 31st august. as fate would have it, phyllis lost my hp number...maybe it was fate i dunno. i feel very sad i have failed samantha. i told her i'd make sure she and her babies will be okay and i didn't.

i hope god bless its soul the poor kitty.

[sillylupie]

Originally Posted by ashleywong

hi all

yes the second kitten was a breach. we expect two kitens indicated by the x-ray. i dunno maybe it was a nasty twist of fate. the legs came out first. i didn't mention it as i didn't want to dampen everybody's enthusiasm. i was also to blame as i was over-confident and didn't call on phyllis to check on samantha's condition. since she didn't give birth earlier i thought she'd be exactly due on 31st august. as fate would have it, phyllis lost my hp number...maybe it was fate i dunno. i feel very sad i have failed samantha. i told her i'd make sure she and her babies will be okay and i didn't.

i hope god bless its soul the poor kitty.

Ashley, don't be so hard on yourself. I am sure Samantha appreciates all the help, efforts that you and Phyllis have given to her.

Looking forward to pictures of kitten as he/she grows.... :)