Pregnant stray cat...tips!

You're both doing really really well. Seriously well done.

I can't wait to see pics and updates on these babies.

That's so sad, anniehoo. Poor Molly and poor you, too, you did everything right for her and now this sad ending.
At least you know that she is safe and if she'd given birth somewhere else that might not be the case.

Oh Anniehoo, i feel so bad for you, you've gotten so attached to Molly and seeing her babies probably only made you closer, its terrible when kittens don't survive, but it does happen. My heart goes out to you XXX

Well now you can work on socialising her.



The best thing about cats like that is never to move too quickly - both physically and in terms of her timeframe.

Be prepared to spend a LOT of time sitting on the floor at her level with smelly, yummy treats. It's a bit like slow motion yoga - all your movements should be fluid and unrushed, and limbs should be curled - curled arms, fingers curled under, so on. Contact, if you do make it, should be firm - so for instance if you reach out a hand to gently stroke her side, run the backs of your fingers slowly and firmly along her side. However if you go to stroke her back, and she ducks under your hand, don't make the mistake of increasing your pressure to stop her running away (I saw a family member one day practically squash a cat to the ground as it was ducking under his hand - it refused to come near him again for a week).

Never pick the cat up until she's comfortable being near you to be stroked - and then if you do pick her up, it needs to be a short trip - you sitting on the floor, lift her onto your lap and immediately let go of your lifting grip but keep hand contact in terms of stroking her. The first few times you do it may literally be lifting the cat onto your lap and letting go to have her dart off your lap - and that's fine if that's what she does.

Also use food - smelly treats, dried fish, dried liver (the dried liver treats they make for dogs are great for cats - for some reason they mix the cat-specific ones with flour and oil to make chewy pellets, where I find my cats far prefer the dog liver, which is just dried and pressed beef or pork liver - the really thin stuff so they can chew it up easily).

Also go to play some games with her - you'll never tempt her over to you if she's hiding by flicking a bit of string at her - you're more likely to scare her off. Wait until she's at your knee and has been stroked a few times and had a treat, then introduce a shoelace with, for instance, a piece of a pair of old tights tied in a knot at the end of it (cheaper than store-bought mice!)

If you go to lift an anxious cat up off the ground into your arms in a standing position, they'll often accelerate up and over your shoulder and they can rip you to bits trying to get away. You also need to be relaxed with a sort of 'lift and let go' attitude, as grabbing a very anxious cat more tightly to stop them jumping away can break their trust. (There's a complicated flip side to this where 'hugging' a nervy cat can actually cause them to relax in your arms, but you need to know the cat and judge the situation.)

Finally, take any scratches or bites you're unfortunate enough to get very seriously, always clean them and use antiseptic, and if you've got a deep puncture bite seek medical assistance and antibiotics.

Good luck with her!

+1 on the Feliway and also +1 on the earplugs! I used earplugs for one or two nights after my kitty had gotten into the habit of whinging at 3.30am to be let out and it worked great- I slept and she gave up on asking to go out. Good luck!