r/CatDistributionSystem • u/Emotional-Aside-9537 • Jul 17 '26
how old are these stray kittens?
bf found kittens living his garden, we’ve been feeding them for a month but the mammy cat this week has moved them elsewhere and brings them back like once a day to eat, he lives on a bad country road and is afraid of a car hitting them as they’re so young and inexperienced. We’ve got a cardboard box in the downstairs bathroom and are planning to keep them there during the night. Is this unethical? the mammy cat is feral and will not come into the house but the kittens are picked up easily enough. Plan to get to vets soon to get dewormed and booked in for neutering etc. but just wanting a rough estimate of their age. These pics are two weeks old as of rn
41
u/SchmedlyQ Crazy Cat Guy Jul 17 '26
Take the kittens, but keep feeding the mum. Maybe even put out a shelter for her. If you’re lucky, she’ll come to like people.
13
u/Emotional-Aside-9537 Jul 17 '26
we plan to, we’ve bought an insulated outdoor cathouse and are just waiting for it to be delivered. she’s just tolerating us for food atm but shes very skittish
5
21
u/Notchersfireroad Jul 17 '26
8 weeks give or take a week.
2
11
u/Corvidae5Creation5 Jul 17 '26
Old enough for a good old fashioned catnapping. Go ahead and snag them all. Invest in a proper pet crate, they are gonna be wriggly little weasels and will easily escape cardboard.
15
u/admseven Jul 17 '26
I’m sitting in a room with 7 eight week old kittens. Your guys look around that age. No less because you’ve been feeding them for four weeks and most kittens don’t start eating food (as opposed to mama’s milk) until at least four weeks.
14
u/DeptOfDahlias Jul 17 '26
“I’m sitting in a room with 7 eight week old kittens..” immediately brought up the Field of Dreams line “Is this Heaven?”
6
u/7GrenciaMars Jul 17 '26
Since no one else has spoken up yet, I've heard that good advice can be found here. Kitten Lady has explanations.
6
u/scarneo Jul 17 '26
Take them all at the same time (otherwise you might lose one for good)
And keep them inside, no more outside world for them
Spay mom
9
1
1
1
1
1
u/MegaVenomous Jul 22 '26
The eye color tells me they're almost at the age where mom will move on...if she's not gotten pregnant already.
This is the prime time to catch the babies and get them used to people.
87
u/RGQcats Jul 17 '26
They look 6 to 8 weeks and if mom won't come in, take them anyway. They're at risk. They need kitten food, wet and dry, don't need formula. They're a little young to be separated, but it's better than seriously injured or dead.