On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 15:43:39 -0700, Calvin Rice wrote:

Candace wrote:
Maybe the mommy cat will get tame meanwhile and you can keep her, too.
Or wouldn't the owner allow that?

The person I've been calling the owner is the son of the lady whose home
the 'feral' cats live around. He has been carrying out a
trap-spay/neuter-release program for a year or more, with this particular
cat being the hardest to catch. In fact she had already had one litter,
causing him to have to have to catch several more cats than originally
planned. Then this cat became pregnant again.

I became aware of the whole thing only when he happened to mention that he
really needed to catch a pregnant cat soon. But the pregnant cat was the
favorite of his mother. The cat had been rubbing around her legs at
feeding time, and the lady was quite attached to it. There are a few
other of the already-fixed cats around, and the lady is glad to have them.
But she didn't want another litter to be born, so she was in agreement
with her son's effort to catch her. They call these cats feral because
they are unable to pet them. But the cats hang around the yard and are
fed.

When I got involved, the lady agreed with my desire to save the kittens,
though she hated to be parted from the cat for so long. Therefore I have
planned all along for the mother cat to go back home to her, after the
proper time for separation from the new kittens, which will be at least
six weeks from now. The son will have the mother cat spayed before he
returns it home to his mother.

So, the answer to your question is no, I wont be keeping the mother cat.
In the following weeks I will be trying to find out what will be the
proper time to separate the mother from the kittens. All I know at this
point is that it will be at least six weeks from today.

-cr


IMHO eight to 12 weeks would be better. MLB