Awoke this morning to find one of next doors cats had 4 kittens under our front bushes. One of them is now a good 10 metres away from the others, slightly bloody (though I can't see any injuries as such) and 'crying'. The mother is around but seems as bewildered as me.

Do I intervene, stay well away, or something else?

Get the owners around to deal with their cat and kittens.

Until they arrive, I'd watch, oi, but I wouldn't (yet) interfere as the cat might not know you too well. But if it goes on too long, you'll have to go out - maybe with a saucer of something nice for the mummy cat, put it near to the kittens.

She might be a first time mum - and, believe it or not, they often just don't know wtf happened there.....

Good Luck!

Try to bring it back to the mum use a towel or gloves so not to get your scent on the kitten if poss

It may have been the first born and the queen got a bit of surprise and did not know what to do then moved into her covered spot

if she starts licking it and letting it nurse all will be well but if she rejects again their may be a physical problem (most common is cleft palette which means they can't feed and will not usually survive)....have a little look in it's mouth if she rejects it again. Unfortunately if it's cleft there is not much you can do.

Also have a little smell of it, if it smells really bad like off meat , it probably has physical problems and unlikely to survive

If she has simply rejected it , you could hand nurse and call the local cat shelter if you have one?

Good Luck, poor kitty

Yep, as long as mum's not taken off, just shoe the kittens under her nose for her to wash them, and shove them near her teats if her maternal instinct doesn't kick in.

Years ago, when one of our cats dropped a litter behind the sofa and didn't know what to do, we found our (male) dog playing midwife. He was ragging the sacks off them and rolling them to her face so she'd clean them.

*Edit* Forgot to tell you that if there's something wrong with them, it's not unknown for mum to eat them, in order to absorb back into her body all the nutrients.

Gilly your dog sounds great

dawnbreak wrote:
He was a brilliant character, Dawn, who thought he was a cat, because he grew up with them. We only realised what was happening behind the sofa when he started crying at the top of his voice because a kitten wasn't moving so it seemed to be dead. We resuscitated it though.

oioioi wrote:
Sigh the amount of times I've given in and helped little kitties out
I should've bought shares in kitekat.

I've had to clean up the mess of a cat 'reabsorbing the nutrients' before now but this mother seems concerned, keeps coming for a gentle poke and lick.

oioioi wrote:
She must be a first time mother if she doesn't know to pick it up and carry it back to her "nest".

I'd be loathe to handle the kitty at all - unless the cat knew me well - but, after this amount of time, I'd do as dawny and Gilly say and lift it with a clean cloth, and carry it back to the others. If the poor little mite is going to die, she will carry it away then.

Go To It, Batman!

Oh, and meant to say: if/when you put the kitten in with the others, still give mummy-cat a bit of a treat on a saucer to let her know you're okay and maybe give her a bit of strength. I doubt she's hunted much today, or been fed yet.

*My daughter's dream this - going out into the garden and finding a bundle of kittens/puppies.... *

ETA: Oooo, and a drink, oi. She'll need some clean fresh water by now.

Make sure it's not a reincarnation of Thatcher first, then give it some milk.

Well the sun set so it's starting to get a bit chilly so I intervened and put the kitten back with the mother, I'll take something out for mum in a mo, get the girls to bed then I'll do my last bit fending for others before I settle down for the derby and raising a glass or several.

Space Bandit wrote:
Noooooo! Milk is bad for cats.

Is the mother cat ok with you? They often move a litter if it gets interfered with.

cantata wrote:
It was a joke really. It's not good for us either unless it's human!

no milk , fresh water only

oi if you have a blanket you could put that near the mum , and leave her a wee bit food if her owners haven't back yet. Have got a tin of tuna?

cantata wrote: You'll be saying mice don't eat cheese next...

wake_up_bomb wrote:


... and goats don't eat cardboard.

Space Bandit wrote:

Well mum seems to have re-housed her kittens though I can't figure out where, but has left a kitten behind, and not the same one!

This is why cats like me but I don't have much time for them!