my stray cat just had kittens under my porch...

Question
Hello! I found a stray cat outside of my house a few months ago and i have been feeding her ever since. Her name is Princess :) I am not able to bring her inside because there are no pets allowed in my house, She lives underneath the porch. She seems to be comfortable with me and trust me, she even knows her name and comes to me when i call her. She hangs out with me most of the day and loves attention :) I noticed that she was pregnant and i have been taking good care of her waiting for her babys to come. This morning she came up on the porch like usual to eat breakfast and her butt was all bloody and wet, so im guessing that she had her kittens.. I looked under the porch but i cant see far enough to tell where they might be. I cant hear them meowing and this concerns me a little, are they suppose to meow right away or are they quiet for a day or two after birth?. I want to make sure they are okay. I am also wondering if she will try and bring them to show me in a few days since she trusts me, id like to see them and make sure they are doing okay but i don't want to disturb her. One more question.. when they start to wander i will start feeding them, I dont want anything to happen to them, would it be okay to put them in a large dog kennel at night? I would like to give the kittens to people who will give them a real home once they are ready and i am worried about them getting hurt or eaten. We have a lot of raccoons and other stray cats around here so it makes me nervous to leave them alone. I hope to hear from you soon :) I could use some advise on what to do with the kittens.

Answer
Hi Maura,

Some discharge can occur before the kittens are born, so potentially, they may not have been born yet.  Kittens are noisy from the time they're born, but they spend a great deal of their time sleeping and nursing and shouldn't be too fussy if they're healthy.  The only time they should be very noisy is if they're hungry, cold or afraid (or sometimes when they're being made to potty - they're not so keen on this).  Your best bet is to listen for the kittens when mom is returning to the nest, say after breakfast.  At this time, she's likely to disturb the sleeping kittens, and they'll cry.  If you never hear any kittens and find that mom is not spending almost all of her time at the nest, chances are good that something went wrong with the delivery.  Some mothers won't leave the nest at all for a day or two, and most of them spend hours at the nest without a break.

It's impossible to predict how a cat will behave with her litter, since they all handle them so differently, but most will hide their litters for the first several weeks, typically moving them every couple of days.  They usually don't bring them out of hiding until it's time for the kittens to start eating solid foods, around 4-5 weeks old, at which time they will begin bringing them to their food source.  However, some cats with a trusted home base will bring the kittens home much younger, and I find this is often when the kittens become threats to themselves by wandering from the nest, around 2-3 weeks old.  Mom will usually look for a safe place to tuck these babies close to the doorstep if she's not allowed inside.

I think it's great to try to keep them safe, as fewer than half of kittens will survive their first few months.  It will be safe to keep the kitties in a dog kennel at night provided a few things.  One is that you raise the kennel off the ground so that there is absolutely no possibility of flooding.  Ideally, place the kennel on top of your porch.  The bottom pan of the kennel will need to be removed or have drainage holes drilled in it, because even this can collect enough rain to soak the kittens and give them a deadly chill, or even drown them when they're small enough.

The top and preferably the sides of the kennel should also be covered to protect the kittens from heavy rains and wind.  You can use ply wood, or even secure a tarp to the kennel using wire ties.  For added protection, line the kennel with some straw.

If the kittens are small enough to try to squeeze through the bars of the kennel, weave some rags through the bars toward the bottom of the kennel.  I had a little one get stuck once!

Be sure to spend lots of time holding and cuddling the little ones.  The more attention they get, and the younger they are when they get it, the better pets they make.

Mom can be spayed 10 days after the kittens have stopped nursing.

Best of luck!

Jessica