Overwhelmed cat owners

JKM

Hi all,

As the title suggests I am in bad need of some advice. I (and my OH) am feeling very overwhelmed at the minute. We have 5 of our own cats, one of whom is recovering from some very serious surgery from a few months back. He's still leaking urine and may not ever fully recover. Because of this we have had to restrict access to all of our cats to one room and an large enclosed area (which despite our best efforts they are escaping from daily). We are also looking after a 8/9 year old cat (more or less abandoned by his former owners), who although is not very troublesome is frankly one to many (cost wise in particular).
On top of that we are temporarily housing a stray cat and her four 5 week old kittens. We intend getting her spayed and releasing her as soon as we fully wean the kittens.
As if that wasn't enough on it's own we think one of the kittens might have a condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia. This is self diagnosed at the minute because I haven't got the kitten to the vets, because he's very small, it would be almost impossible to bring the mother cat with him and he gets very stressed out. We will bring him in next week when he's 6 weeks old. I feel that no matter the diagnosis (there is definately something wrong) we are going to find it near impossible to rehome him. There is just no hope that we can keep him. I am afraid to say that we have considered that euthanasia may be a strong possibility. What bothers me about this is that apparently, if it is this condition, he can lead a fairly normal life. He would have to be an indoor or confined cat though. Does anyone have any advice??:(
We also have to consider rehoming the older cat, but looking at the amount of kittens needing homes right now I don't think this is possible.
We are in way over our heads here, but are honestly trying to do our best. Just don't know what way to turn now.
To add a small bit of perspective, I am self-employed and my work has recently become very demanding (15.5 hour day today). This means that my OH is feeling the pressure even more and getting very stressed out.
Sorry for the long post. I'm not sure what advice you could even give, but I just needed to get some of this off my chest. Any feedback would be appreciated.

suziwalsh

I don't know if it helps but you can get a herbal treatment called leaks no more that really helps with incontinence in animals. You put it in their water or food. I found it great with a dog I was looking after.

My heart goes out to you and the good worth that you are doing. Unfortunately its so hard to find homes for cats at the moment that you might be best taking the harder route withthe kitten that is unwell, depending if he needs medication or not. It is hard enough to find a home for a healthy kitten

Have you tried to get in contact with any of the cat rescue/welfare groups for advice/support?

Rancid

First off, you're doing great to care so well for so many cats, though despite the best intentions there is a limit to the number that you can look after and still stay sane.

Ok, best way to look at it right now is that the mother cat and her 4 kittens are probably with you on a temporary basis and you may well be lucky enough to get them rehomed when they've grown a bit. The little one with the suspected CH will be difficult to find a home for and I can see you adding him to your cat collection. So, in about 2 months you should have 4 less to look after if rehoming goes well.
The older cat will be harder to find a home for and harder to part with the longer he stays with you.

I can offer very little advice, I'm afraid, except to make things a bit easier in the short-term if you could secure the restricted area so they don't keep escaping, it would solve one of your immediate problems and maybe reduce the stress levels, too!
As regards the vet visit, under the circumstances could you get your vet to do a house call to check that little kitten? I know that always ups the cost, unfortunately.

I hope the situation improves soon for you, you're doing a great job already with all those cats.

Mr Benevolent

11 cats is a bit much, frankly. Once the kittens are weaned they've got to go. The 8/9 year old can be released too if they're not too old. You and your OH come first.

JKM

Thanks for your replies. Sorry for the late reply. We are feeling slightly better today. WE had a good morning with the little kitten, he seems to be seizing less and getting a lot less stressed out.

suziwalsh wrote: »

I don't know if it helps but you can get a herbal treatment called leaks no more that really helps with incontinence in animals.

Thanks suziwalsh, my OH actually came across that on the internet just a few days ago. We have an appointment tomorrow with the vets who he was with for surgery. Megan and Shane from Gilabbey in Cork, absolutely excellent vet BTW. We think he might have an infection which may be contributing to the problem but we think he may have to go on some kind of medication long term.

suziwalsh wrote: »

Have you tried to get in contact with any of the cat rescue/welfare groups for advice/support?

This was never an option for us. We really feel that if everyone just pawned of the problem of stray/unwanted cats/kittens to shelters, their already very difficult task would become impossible. It just wouldn’t sit well with us. We do feel a certain duty to do as much as we can.

Rancid wrote: »

despite the best intentions there is a limit to the number that you can look after and still stay sane.

Don’t I know it. :rolleyes:

Rancid wrote: »

The little one with the suspected CH will be difficult to find a home for and I can see you adding him to your cat collection.

I know what you’re saying but I just can’t see that being an option. We’re stretched too much as it is and it wouldn’t be fair on our existing cats. The unfortunate thing is we have had the intention of trapping the mother cat with ages to get her spayed. She has been coming to our window for a while and we have been gaining her trust. Just around Christmas we lured her in to our kitchen and tried to get her into a cage but she bolted through the only open window in the house, we didn’t see her again until she arrived heavily pregnant months later.

Rancid wrote: »

I can offer very little advice, I'm afraid, except to make things a bit easier in the short-term if you could secure the restricted area so they don't keep escaping, it would solve one of your immediate problems and maybe reduce the stress levels, too!

If you could only see our place, it’s like fort knox. :eek: We were completely at a loss as to how they were getting out and have been sneaking out day after day to try and catch them in the act. Low and behold just a few days ago I was Oscar jump 7ft, (absolutely no exaggeration, we measured it) and catch a hook in the wall to get over the fence. :eek: Then a few minutes later Mylo scaled the 6ft boundry and defied gravity to climb upside down to get out and over the ‘cat proof’ fence. They are like super cats.

Confab wrote: »

11 cats is a bit much, frankly. Once the kittens are weaned they've got to go. The 8/9 year old can be released too if they're not too old. You and your OH come first.

I agree completely, but it was never intended. We started with Ollie in ’08, then came Lucy and Oscar in ’09. That is where the intended additions ended. My OH took pity on the very scrawny and neglected older cat who little by little wiggled his way into his affections (not mine though, we don’t get on). Ruby arrived in winter into our garden tiny, alone and hungry, and never left. Same for mylo, except he was completely wild and needed to be socialised (he’s a total pet now). I’ve explained the situation with the stray and her kittens above.

Thanks again all for your kind words. I definitely feel a bit better today. Off out now to try and round up the escapees.:rolleyes:

ToniTuddle

JKM wrote: »

As if that wasn't enough on it's own we think one of the kittens might have a condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia. This is self diagnosed at the minute because I haven't got the kitten to the vets, because he's very small, it would be almost impossible to bring the mother cat with him and he gets very stressed out. We will bring him in next week when he's 6 weeks old. I feel that no matter the diagnosis (there is definately something wrong) we are going to find it near impossible to rehome him.

If you can possibly look after him for another few weeks(I'm moving into new place) then I'd take him in and look after him for as long as needs be until I'd find a suitable home.
Like you wouldn't have to do anything apart from just keep him for another maybe 3 weeks, 4 at the most. Would that be ok?

JKM

PM'd

dan_d

Hi OP - can I hijack your thread? We've found (and caught) 3 feral kittens this evening who were around the side of our house. Don't know if they were born there, but they certainly appeared to have moved in there in the last couple of days. Their mum is around somewhere, so we'll try catch her too. We have 2 of our own aswell. How did you manage with the stray cat and kittens? We don't really know what to do with them....they're maybe 7-8 weeks ish, blue eyes but still well able to move. Currently our own are in one room and the kittens are in a box on the patio to try and lure the mother back...but once she's back we don't have a clue what to do. Any suggestions? Or maybe PM me if the mods feel it's dragging the thread off.

JKM

dan_d wrote: »

Hi OP - can I hijack your thread? We've found (and caught) 3 feral kittens this evening who were around the side of our house. Don't know if they were born there, but they certainly appeared to have moved in there in the last couple of days. Their mum is around somewhere, so we'll try catch her too. We have 2 of our own aswell. How did you manage with the stray cat and kittens? We don't really know what to do with them....they're maybe 7-8 weeks ish, blue eyes but still well able to move. Currently our own are in one room and the kittens are in a box on the patio to try and lure the mother back...but once she's back we don't have a clue what to do. Any suggestions? Or maybe PM me if the mods feel it's dragging the thread off.

Hi dan_d, I don't mind, so i'm sure mods won't.

I don't know if I can give you much advice. See we had spent probably the bones of a year earning the trust of the mother cat before she turned up pregnant. So even though she was still a little hostile when we trapped her she trusted us somewhat. She still hisses quite a bit but still loves a good rub. We decided to back off a little bit from her now because it's evident she will not be able to be socialised and we don't want her to build up too much of a trust/dependance in humans before we release her.

Basically what we done was confined mum to one room (a spare bedroom) with everything cleared out, bed against the wall etc.. We set her up with a litter tray (which she took to remarkably well) and a comfy bed. We also put in a couple of big boxes with holes cut out, so she would have somewhere safe to retreat to if she got spooked or anything. She settled in fairly well. She did try to escape a few times but we decided to do our best to keep her in. The last thing we could bear was the thought of yet another litter of stray kittens with no chance at life.

Once the kittens were born she was well settled in and they kept her occupied for a few weeks. She was very protective over them but her bark is definately worse than her bite and she allowed us pick them up and all (although reluctantly). Saying that we didn't really go near them for about the first 10 days or so. She has since started trying to escape again but we are trying to keep her as long as possible with the kittens. We have handled the kittens a lot so they are well used to human contact.

I would try if I were you to have a couple of doors between the kittens and mother cat and your cats, so that neither group get to stressed out.

I don't know what else to tell you except I wouldn't bother trying to socialise the mother, concentrate on the kittens, she'll probably do better on her own. How old are they by the way? This may determine how well you might be able to socialise them. I have socialised a wild kitten before (he's one of our brood now) if you need advice on that.

Please please please consider having mum spayed before releasing her. If you can't afford it you can find organisations who can help, or maybe your vet would do it at cost or something. This will possibly be the most importnt part of the process to prevent her breeding again, which she will do. If you look up the statistics on how many cats one female can be responsible for you'll be amazed (and horrified).

If I think of anything else i'll let you know.

Well done by the way... it's stressful and hard work, but ultimately very rewarding.

ToniTuddle

Hi JKM, sent you PMs but you haven't got back to me yet, just wondering what the story is now? Have you found another home for him or am I still taking him in?