Huge problem with a cat

So I have been feeding a stray/feral cat for a while now. I noticed some patches of fur missing from her neck and got worried something might have happened to her.. I lured her into my house with food and closed the door behind her. She freaked out, jumped on a shelf and pushed her way into my drop ceiling, where she has been living for about a week now.

I started hearing squeaks a few hours ago. It appears she is having kittens now... Didn't even know she was pregnant.. Who can I call for help in this situation? I can't seem to find a phone number for the ASPCA. I don't know what to do. She is in a inaccessible area of the cieling that makes it impossible for me to pull her down.

I'm pretty sure the cat isn't stupid enough to starve itself so it will come down eventually. You can also poke it with a stick.

I think you can call your local animal shelter for help. They should at least know who to contact in your situation. Just look up animal shelter databases, there's a bunch of them online. Here's the ASPCA contact page, by the way. (It includes a link to an animal shelter database too!)

First off, you shouldn't have started feeding her and second you really shouldn't have let her into the house.

Next, do not attempt to pull her down unless you want to get scratched and bitten (cat bites are the worst) and enjoy getting rabbis shots.

The ASPCA have their contact info here and if you can't see the right place to call, just try their general enquiries number and explain the situation.

Also, you can find your nearest shelter info here who will probably be the ones who will come to take the animals away.

I would call Cats protection, RSPCA or whoever operates this kind of thing in your area (im from the UK but the names will vary depending on your area), the Cat needs to be removed from your house, it might begin to get aggresive now that it has offspring to fend for. Do not assume that it will have the same personality as a regular house cat, wild/feral cats are fine when they have space to escape to but when cornered will attack without mercy. Do NOT poke it with a stick unless you want to lose an eye and/or finger.

Call your local SPCA. They have humane law officers that can help with this kind of stuff.

Pretty much exactly this. I knew someone who was in a similar situation as you op, and lets just say it didn't end well. Feeding/taking in strays seems like a good deed, but it gets... Real complicated real fast.

For the love of god, don't poke it with a damn stick Feral cat is one thing, Mother Feral cat will fucking kill you.

If they aren't in any immediate danger i'd probably just leave her some food and water and gain it's trust. Otherwise just call up your local animal catcher/vet if you don't want to deal with them.

Edit: Also we're talking about a cat here people. Unless I guess you've never seen one before it's not exactly terrifying and dangerous.

Two of her kittens which i think is all of them just fell out of the cieling. They are both alive and moving. I put them on a towel. The mother is still up there and is also alive.

Two baby kittens fell out of my ceiling - is a great bar story.

That targeted advertising...

This is a great thread

@razielcuts: GIANT BOMB KNOWS.

Kittens can't really digest solids before ~4 weeks old so if the mother is still there it'd be best to get them back to her. Really the answer is you should call the ASPCA and get a professional out to take care of them, the kittens could go on to be happy pets, but the mother will never be a pet. A cat turned feral will unlikely ever be anything but that, and feral cats can harbor really nasty diseases and parasites so for your own safety you should call someone.

The problem you have now is that baby kittens will not be able to take care of themselves, between now and when you can get some help in (if that's what you choose to do) you're going to need to put them someplace where you can keep an eye on them but Mom will feel safe to come and care for them (if she chooses)...

It's possible that the mother is not skittish of you and now that the kittens are out she'll calm down, but most cats want a very private place to watch after their tiny babies regardless of how they feel about you so wherever you choose to put them needs to be out of the way, quiet and dimly lit...

If she is still too frightened to come and take care of the babies you're going to need to bottle feed them (and you're going to have to start real soon now) which is why some help might be prudent... If Mom does decide that your setup is a good place to take care of kittens then food and water (and a litter box) nearby are the next steps...

She has more kittens in the ceiling and I got close to her and she hissed at me. Afraid to put them back up in the cieling with her because I don't want them falling again. I'm surprised they survived the drop in the first place.

This cat in particular isn't mean and could possibly be a pet. That's why i was helping her. She trusted me enough to come inside and at one point took a treat from my fingers. My cat accidentally went outside with me once. Well not accidentally i took her out there. She cried and cried for me to let her back inside and this cat came running to her and nuzzled her. It was adorable.

You should probably just abandon the place and move somewhere else. And then feed stray dogs instead of stray cats. They're way better, and also don't hide in ceilings.

http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice

My own cat is hissing at the kittens :( Probably because they smell like their mom and she hasn't been happy about her being up there.

It seems like you actually want this cat to stay as a pet, and aren't interested in having people come to remove the cat for you. Best of luck I guess.

I feel like we should have a small gyrocopter livestreaming this entire thread.

No, i'm worried they will kill her because she is feral. Also my animal shelter doesn't open for another hour.

Please please please call the animal shelter and get some professionals in there... It sounds like you're in over your head.

EDIT: Even if you want to keep these as pets you need to get them to the vet for shots,etc

Seriously, if you actually care about the cats and the kittens call a professional and have them removed from your house. Then offer that if they can't find a home for them, you'll take the kittens in.

Don't try take care of them. If you piss the mother cat off it'll turn on you, possibly on your cat and she and the kittens could have some nasty diseases that you can't fix for them. You need to call the ASPCA and get them taken to a shelter where professionals will assess the health of the mother and the kittens.

You've already been linked by people to the proper contact pages. At this stage it sounds like you just want to try keep them in your house. Like I said. Call the professionals, have the cat and kittens removed before it turns nasty (ie it starts taking over more of your home, gets aggressive with you or your cat, pisses and shits around the place) and ask the ASPCA to contact you if they can't find a home to raise the kittens in if you really want to keep one or two of them. After they've been checked out.

I think what you did was the morally right thing to do. Though if you're having trouble then I suggest calling a friend who knows about cats better than you or a professional.

Good on you for feeding the cat though. It was the right moral thing to do and if the cat was comfortable with you already then you can probably adopt it from the shelter.

Shelters do not adopt out feral cats for the most part. Use caution, if she scratches or bites you and you cannot catch her. You're gonna be getting some rabies shots. FTR I have seen feral cats starve themselves to death in a drop ceiling.

You need to call the SPCA or whatever. Or at least get some of those rubber gloves that linesmen use to throw her out.

Bad advice. Any feral cat can bite through rubber gloves quite easily. You have to have kevlar gloves and sometimes even then feral cats can bit through them. Do not touch the cat. Either use a humane trap or get a control pole.

this sounds like a good idea.

@jennibelle: Right, being that you have a cat who hasn't been properly introduced, and no one is happy - you're not going to have a lot of luck on your own... call the ASPCA or shelter when it opens and they'll help you out... One thing to note is that the kittens will likely find a home (kittens and puppies always go first) so you can offer to take Mom in once the kittens are weaned (and she has been spayed and had her shots)... and you can do the proper catroductions with your cat at that time...

Called a animal shelter they took my name and number and told me they would call me back

(Just get animal services to come to your house, the way this is developing there will be blood if you don't)

@jennibelle: Do you have animal control where you live? Also private pest control companies can remove the cat for you too. But they usually charge a small fortune.

The animal shelter I called, called back and gave me the sage advice of try luring it down with food :(

Good luck. I would not call that sage advice. Is there anywhere in your ceiling where you could put a humane trap? That is starting to look like your best bet.

You may be exposing your other cat to disease, especially if your other cat is indoors, and it hasn't been vaccinated for feline leukemia. Even then the FL vaccinations are not foolproof. My brother's cat died, and it was outdoors and vaccinated, also. Plus a suspect cat repeatedly got in the house, and messed w/ his cat.

Get physical/tangible help!!! Hopefully the kitties can be put up for adoption. My 2 cats, Maggie and Hobbes, came from a stray litter...

Plus there is Feline FIV, URI, FIP, all kinds of skin conditions. Fleas & worms. Who knows what a outdoor feral cat can have?

Did they land on their feet?

Please call animal control...this is a serious problem and a bit beyond the scope of what is appropriate on the forums. You may be exposing yourself or those animals to danger by not calling professionals who are equipped to deal with this.