To whomever said there was probably more than one kitten . . you were correct. Swallow your soda, go to the bathroom if you’re over 50 . . I wish I had before the fiasco began! 🙂
Earlier this afternoon, I was out checking on the chickens and I looked to my right, which is on the back side of Vince’s shop and there were two kittens, a solid orange one and a gray striped one . . the one I saw was orange and white so that means there are at last three of them. I walked towards them but they ran under a pile of brush. Later, Vince was finishing up some work and I said “come see the kittens!” Of course, they had moved on and we couldn’t find them. We have some lawn chairs out by the garden so Vince said “let’s sit here and drink a beer”.
He’s been so frustrated with the chickens getting in his shop so they’re all locked up in their run and the holes are plugged and Miss Hattie hasn’t escaped in two whole days. So, we’re sitting in our lawn chairs relaxing and we heard meowing. I looked at Vince and said “They’re in your shop!” Vince said NO! but we both jumped up and ran in the shop. We listened and decided at least one kitten was upstairs.
Looking at this photo, you might think a tornado has hit inside Vince’s shop but no . . he’s been cleaning. Don’t ask . . I cannot explain it. If you wonder why he can’t find anything .. this might help.
Shop
There is upstairs storage in the shop. More boxes of worthless stuff but there might be some good stuff up there too. We couldn’t find the kitten and finally Vince found him under these shelves. This is mostly excess stuff for the kitchen.
Shelves
Vince got a broom and stuck it under the shelves and the kitten ran. He’s a fast little dude or .. maybe we’re just slow. Then we lost him. Oh, my . . we could lose an elephant in this room!
There He Is!
Vince found him and got him all boxed in and went to find his net.
Kitten Butt
See the kitten? He thinks he’s completely hidden.
Now . . to find a net! Hmm . . have you seen the net since we moved? No .. so he’s sure Chad took it with him. No way a net could be buried in this mess . . without a doubt, Chad has it! 🙂
Net
Then I found a little net but it was just a trout net so Vince taped a piece of PVC pipe to it so he could hopefully catch the kitten.
A Lid
Then he grabbed a piece of cardboard to slap over the top of the net to get the kitten out of the room. That was a great plan . . except . . the floor for the upstairs storage stops about 4″ from the wall. (See photo of kitten above.) When Vince tried to capture the kitten, it darted towards the wall and fell between the walls. That was definitely not part of the plan.
Vince went and got a flashlight and luckily, and the reason the floor doesn’t go all the way to the wall, there’s a 4″ steel beam that runs around the metal wall. The kitten was on that beam and couldn’t fall any farther. He had only fallen about 2 feet. Vince was able to get the net down between the space and scoop the kitten up.
Before Vince could get the net up and the “lid” slapped down on it, the kitten jumped out and ran so he was somewhere upstairs. We searched and searched and couldn’t find him anywhere so we went and got a little bowl of dog food and put it out upstairs, turned off all the lights and left the doors open so he would see the light from outside and hopefully find his way out.
He isn’t meowing and we didn’t see him leave but I surely hope he’s out of the shop.
One thing for sure .. there’s always plenty of excitement around here. And, he isn’t one of the other three kittens I saw so now there are four kittens. Not good!
Micki clemens says
Oops ! There’s just no end to the fun at your house!
Helen Koenig1 says
LOL – probably a good thing I don’t live close by or I would volunteer my house for you all to donate the kittens! Right now I have only 4 cats (lost 1 to pancreatic cancer, and the other was over 17 years old when he passed!) and would love several more.
Jocelyn says
What an adventure!!
Robin says
Well I guess you won’t have to worry about mice!
shirley bruner says
i think you should just let them have the run of the place. you won’t have mice. hahahahah
Marion Morgan says
Judy,Judy’Judy, what next in your life. SO funny. Just what you need ,more critters!
Marion Morgan says
Judy,Judy’Judy, what next in your life. SO funny. Just what you need ,more critters!
Becky in VA says
I figured there were more – a mama cat never has just one!
So instead of Barn Cats, you have Shop Cats! Can’t wait to hear what happens next. LOL
Margie Campbell says
Let the cats be…they will keep the mice away
Lee says
From what little can be seen of that kitty, my guess is it’s calico, and that means “she'” not “he”. Feral kitties do not tame easily – and I’m speaking from first-hand experience, so had you got this little ball of fluff in the net, with just a piece of cardboard as a lid you might have been surprised at the fight with claws & teeth you’d experience had either of you put a hand near it. We had feral kittens in our back yard, would leave a back door open and one wandered in one day – the one I WANTED to tame. My attempts to capture left me with permanent scars on a thumb where he bit me. My daughter also tried, also received bites. I finally grabbed some welders gloves we had and grabbed it and put it back outside. Some time later, when I was prepared, we were able to catch him again and primarily kept him locked in a bathroom for a year, where I’d go in and talk and pet him. Eventually he did tame but never to the point of lap cat though I was able to pick him up and he’d no longer run from me. We called him “Monster” and had him till he was 12 when he disappeared…he preferred outdoors at night but would sleep indoors all day long. We fear he was nabbed by a predator.
Marsha says
What excitement in the shop
AngieG9 says
Judy, you should call “Turtleman” from Eastern KY to catch your kittens for you. He might even put you on his TV show, and I guarantee he would fit in fine with Miss Hattie. We were inundated with cats and kittens on the farm, and there was always at least one white one that had one green and one blue eye. My ex still walks around with a cat perched on his shoulder. And just because they are feral doesn’t mean they are good mousers. Edd discovered some mice in an enclosed grain wagon, caught one of the wilder cats and threw it in with them and the cat nearly had a heart attack. I never saw a cat jump straight up like that before, but it was out of there like a streak of lightening.
Julie A. says
Oh what fun !!!! I had 6 feral kittens when the momma never came back. The first thing we did was live trap them and took them in and had them neutured. Next up was taming them ….which we did. We lost 3 to the road but the 3 left are in the house. They go out in the morning and at night for awhile …..and are great mousers and mole catchers. They are so much fun to watch, especially when they get playing together.
Linda in NE says
If all those kittens grow up and stay there you should never have a problem with mice.
barbara says
i think it was me who said i was surprised there was only one. now i’d be surprised if it left. it’s scared out of it’s mind. i don’t think it’ll eat dog food, either. it can’t digest it. cats are fussy eaters. don’t give it only milk or cream or it will have an upset stomach. put a sandbox in there. hopefully Mama taught it what to do. be sure and leave water and try not to be too scarey for a while. the only way you’ll get near it is to stay calm and speak softly to it. if this was a puppy it would be just as frightened of strangers who came at it with a net.
barbara says
can i convince you to feed her/him some tuna or leftover cutup chicken? you certainly don’t want a sick cat in there. when you put out real food, cut up little, speak to him, even though you can’t see him. he sees you .soon he’ll trust you. be sure and keep the food fresh or he won’t eat it. once you can pet him, you can put him in a carrier and take him to a shelter. can you call a shelter and ask for advice? of course, vince can clean the shop and get rid of the hiding places. :). seriously, these are hungry babies who don’t know where to go for safety from predators.
Linda Smith says
Thirty years ago,, my husband tried to rescue a wild kitten that was trapped near our air conditioning unit. It scratched and bit his hand. He got a massive infection that extended from his underarm lymph nodes to his waist which had to be surgically removed. He still has problems in that arm because nerves were cut while removing the infection. I feel sorry for the kittens, but I hope Vince wears some heavy gloves and proper clothing to protect his legs and arms if he attempts to catch them again. Maybe a live animal trap with a can of food? We also had to catch the kitten and surrender it to the animal shelter to be euthanized and tested for rabies because it was wild. It was a horrible experience for everyone.
Rebecca says
Cats have to be taught how to hunt, but apparently mama is feral and therefore a hunter. It would be wonderful if you could get them spayed/neutered, so you don’t have more, but that doesn’t mean you have to make pets of them!
p.s. I don’t think a cat “whisperer” would need a net! Best wishes for all of you.
Tam says
Please take Barbara’s advice and set out bowls of water and tiny bites of food, and a box of sand. These kittens are probably starving and now scared of humans. Please stay calm and don’t chase or try to trap them.
Sheri says
Oh my goodness! Those poor kittens. I bet they’re scared to death.
Jan says
I would recommend using a Havahart trap to catch them and remove them from the shop. I rescued two feral kittens from under my deck that way and after three years they are now friendly and affectionate pets. It took a long time and great patience to reach that point. It doesn’t sound like you want cats for pets with all the critters you already have to deal with! I hope you will find a way to deal with them kindly.
Carolyn says
LOL what an adventure! Ilike Julia’s adea of live trapping them. We had some ferral cats, the mom never tamed,but the 2 kits did some what. They eat grasshoppers too, as well as mice.We rented on a peice of property that had a barn that the owners kept a horse,. The kittens lived in the barn, the momma left when they were about 6 mo old. Tehy stayed in the barn mostly, but would come into the house for food, petting no laps though. Picky kittens.
Linddylou says
Yep if the kittens grow up and all have kittens you could be the cat women. What would that make Vince??? Maybe he can figure it out. LOL
Helen Koenig1 says
About 12 years ago a friend trapped a small kitten with and called me. I immediately got it (she had trapped it in a cage) and set it inside the house facing a corner in the kitchen, door open and a baby kitty sandbox made available for it as well as some of that kitty chow and some soft food as well as water. It took something like 2-3 days for the baby to decide to come out of its shelter – but would hide whenever anyone approached. Nevertheless, I would talk to him and make sure food and water were available and leave him alone. LOL one night I woke to a sandpapery feeling on my face. Baby had found his way to my bed, jumped up and was washing my face. I guess he figured I must be his new mommma! From that day on, kitty baby (named Widget) and I were friends.
Fast forward to now – kitty baby is now a HUGE kitty – and STILL thinks I’m his protector! Around other people however – he disappears. My son saw him only 2-3 times in all his visits home then as well as up to this year. This year however, Widget will carefully let Nathan stroke his back and talk to him – but anyone else – and he is still that frightened kitty (he was severely abused by a little boy who was neighbour to my friend).
Nancy Garner says
Judy,
My best cat I own is a feral cat,, a calico named Lucie. About 8 or 10 years ago she started handing around the front door, I finally got the skinny thing in the house and keep her in for about 3 months. My vet came over and fixed her so she could not have any more kittens. She fatten up, became my friend, and now is the nicest cat I have. Oh, your asking how many cats are living at my house….. 5 … all are rescue or feral cats I am taking care of,and they are all get mousers. If you and Vince can catch those little buggers and handle them, they will be your mousers and you will love them all. All they want is a warm place to sleep, some food and water.
Take care and keep the funny stories coming.
Nancy Garner .
Susan says
Good exit strategy!