Five kittens have disappeared
The mom had them March 1st on my back porch, under a wicker couch. I provided her with fresh blankets and lots of food (March was very cold here). The kittens were starting to eat canned food.
A couple nights ago I came home from work and all five had disappeared without a trace: no blood, no fur, nothing. The mom has been wandering around looking sad, calling them with that 'yip' mama cats use.
I have a chain-link fence around my backyard with locked gates. I have no clue. It's just beyond creepy.
by Anonymous | reply 72 | July 3, 2018 11:46 AM
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Coyotes? They live even in small urban areas. Rats? Possibly other animals, maybe raccoons? The mother may be agile enough to flee,but not the kittens. Mother kittens have also been known to eat there young.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | April 14, 2015 4:31 PM
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They probably went to someone's house who will let them in the house instead of confining them to the back porch.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 14, 2015 4:32 PM
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If she had them on March 1st, they are certainly old enough to wander out on their own. Or an animal could have carried them off. Hopefully it was a caring and concerned neighbor who realized the foolishness of keeping tiny kittens outdoors, and moved them to a safe and protected area. I hope you at least live in a warm climate.
And it's actually remarkably easy for humans, or small animals, to get in an out of your fenced in yard.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 14, 2015 4:33 PM
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Other cats is a big possibility or even the mother could be to blame. Snakes, owls, hawks, predatory mammals etc.
It is nature darling.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | April 14, 2015 4:34 PM
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Mom cat moved them to a more hidden spot or predators got them. OP there are feral cat rescues which take mother cat and kittens. When the kittens are tiny they have a better chance of bonding with people and being adoptable. Next time consider doing that instead of setting up feral cat housing on your porch.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | April 14, 2015 4:37 PM
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Owl. We had one that swooped in and took a whole family of chipmunks.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | April 14, 2015 4:37 PM
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Entered a vortex into another dimension.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | April 14, 2015 4:38 PM
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Shouldn't this be
BREAKING: FIVE KITTENS HAVE DISAPPEARED
by Anonymous | reply 11 | April 14, 2015 4:38 PM
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If you saw 5 kittens one night and 0 the next, then probably somebody took them. Owls and other predators would be inclined to pick 'em off one at a time (meal rationing).
by Anonymous | reply 12 | April 14, 2015 4:41 PM
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I'm very disappointed in you, OP. How could you have been so foolish? You realize I am holding you personally responsible for the disappearance of these five young lives.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | April 14, 2015 4:42 PM
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you will have to be mother to the mother cat now
by Anonymous | reply 14 | April 14, 2015 4:42 PM
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Withe the price of meat what it is, when you get it. If you get it.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | April 14, 2015 4:43 PM
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Do you live near a Chinese restaurant?
by Anonymous | reply 16 | April 14, 2015 4:47 PM
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R7 You are probably right. Mother cats like to have their babies tucked away in a secret place that they feel is safe.
Just keep an eye out for the family OP. The kittens are still young so they are probably staying close to their mother right now.
They will be coming back up for food in a couple of weeks. Cats never, ever forget their food sources (especially the free and easy variety).
by Anonymous | reply 17 | April 14, 2015 4:49 PM
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Raccoons engage in overkill and climb fences.
But I think owls. They are silent. Their prey never hears them coming. And they have fledglings at this time of year, so they need more food.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | April 14, 2015 4:50 PM
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It was the dingos what ate them. The dingos ate your babies!
by Anonymous | reply 19 | April 14, 2015 4:50 PM
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Have they located the mittens?
by Anonymous | reply 20 | April 14, 2015 4:51 PM
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LMAO R19! (Or maybe Bindi ate them.)
by Anonymous | reply 22 | April 14, 2015 5:13 PM
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OP, I have a feral cat who has had several litters under my house despite my attempts to trap her and get her fixed. We have a neuter/release program for free here. If they were born March 1 they are weaned and old enough to wander off though in my experience they kind of hang around the mom as they want to set up a cat colony in familiar ground. Could a neighbor have possibly seen them and taken them?
Mine currently has another litter still suckling in my outdoor storage closet that I made the mistake of leaving open one night. I hear their squeaky little mewls if I go outside.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | April 14, 2015 5:19 PM
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Is your neighbor an insatiable bottom? He might have mistook them for gerbils. Check his ass.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | April 14, 2015 5:42 PM
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Any pools around? We found some when we opened ours, not pleasant.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | April 14, 2015 5:52 PM
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I have heard of dissolving kittens.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | April 14, 2015 6:29 PM
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I figured that Xenu sucked them into a time/space vortex.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | April 14, 2015 7:36 PM
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Another vote for raccoons. Sorry OP.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | April 14, 2015 7:54 PM
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Did you report this to the cops? Maybe they can find the precious little things. Good luck, OP!
by Anonymous | reply 30 | April 14, 2015 7:57 PM
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The mother cat is known to take her litter to a safer place, if threatened. I'm thinking the mother can't find them...poor things.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | April 14, 2015 7:59 PM
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Wait, are you talking about these kittens? I found them two blocks away from my home.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 32 | April 14, 2015 8:01 PM
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Someone at the pound in my town told me that many of the kittens who are turned in there were probably not in need of rescuing. People come across them while the mother is out looking for food and assume they have been abandoned.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | April 14, 2015 8:01 PM
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So, maybe one of your neighbors heard them meowing and decided to intervene.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | April 14, 2015 8:02 PM
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Buck never would've LOST five kittens!
by Anonymous | reply 38 | April 14, 2015 8:14 PM
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Raccoons typically have a very small territory of just a few blocks. And they are very territorial. If something then gets the mama cat, it will have been raccoons.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | April 14, 2015 8:20 PM
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Spontaneous pussy combustion. Did they find any ashes or charred remains?
by Anonymous | reply 40 | April 14, 2015 9:02 PM
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Do you take ambien, OP? Sleep-snacking?
by Anonymous | reply 41 | April 14, 2015 9:05 PM
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Op, did you find them yet?
by Anonymous | reply 42 | April 15, 2015 1:13 AM
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I'll light a candle for them, OP.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | April 15, 2015 1:16 AM
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[quote]Did you report this to the cops? Maybe they can find the precious little things. Good luck, OP!
Oh I would love to hear the cops reply to missing kittens.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | April 15, 2015 1:17 AM
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I suggest firemen to find the little buggers.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | April 15, 2015 1:23 AM
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The Mystery of the Disappearing Pussies
by Anonymous | reply 46 | April 15, 2015 5:12 PM
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I did not! You have to be gay to like cats!
by Anonymous | reply 47 | April 15, 2015 5:17 PM
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A mother cat we had once hid her kittens inside an under the sink bathroom cabinet. She would drop them through the hole that goes around the evacuation pipe. She put all 5 in there but couldn't get in herself. She wandered around meowing for them like she couldn't remember where she put them. We only found them when we went to take some toilet paper out of the cabinet.
Mother cats freak out sometimes and suspect their kittens are in danger.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | April 15, 2015 5:21 PM
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Will someone help find the kittens, please?
by Anonymous | reply 49 | April 16, 2015 2:26 PM
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OP, here. Follow-up: never found a trace. The mother has already gone into heat, so they're not hidden anywhere.
They were 7 weeks and small for their age- not able to "go off on their own".
I live in an urban area- no owls, coyotes, etc. And I put food out for strays, no one is hungry enough to eat a kitten- let alone five.
It haunts me. My only guess is that someone discovered them out back and snatched them for some reason. Trespassing thief with perhaps not the best intentions? Shivers.
The worst thing is I bonded with them. And was intending to bring them inside within the next few nights to litter box train them and try to adopt them out.
But I was too late.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | April 17, 2015 1:26 AM
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Did you check with your local animal shelter to see if someone brought them in?
by Anonymous | reply 51 | April 17, 2015 1:32 AM
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if the mother's gone into heat, she knows they're dead.
she may have killed and eaten them. It happens.
by Anonymous | reply 52 | April 17, 2015 1:35 AM
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We have them!!! They are INFIDELS!!!
by Anonymous | reply 53 | April 17, 2015 1:35 AM
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Why has there not been an Amber Alert issued?
by Anonymous | reply 54 | April 17, 2015 1:36 AM
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No, she was the best mama cat ever. Even through some brutally cold weeks she never abandoned them. I'd see her out there cuddling them (I made a sort of tent over the whole thing with blankets). The slightest peep and she would spring to their side. She fought off a male who tried to get too close.
One strange thing: there is a white trash stay-at-home mom a couple houses down. One night I came home and thought she drunkenly stage-whispered, "You better stop feeding them". But I brushed it off. Last night she had a small bonfire in her back yard and I almost called the fire dept. because I have a bunch of straw in my backyard (trying to grow grass).
I'm not making this stuff up. If I find out that woman did anything to those kittens she will be found dead.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | April 17, 2015 1:51 AM
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Speaking of kittens did anyone see Modern Family tonight? The gay couple went to adopt a kitten but were totally unprepared for the "rules".
by Anonymous | reply 57 | April 17, 2015 5:10 AM
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OP, isn't it possible there are five, cared-for teenage cats out there somewhere?
by Anonymous | reply 59 | April 17, 2015 5:22 AM
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Tom cats will kill kittens so the mother will go into heat, but normally they don't go into heat until their milk has dried up. At 7 weeks, she would still be producing milk. If her teats were full of milk, you'd know the kittens didn't make it.
Females rarely eat their young, and it if they do it's at birth.
Dogs will kill kittens, too.
I'm sorry, OP. Never easy getting attached and losing kittens.
by Anonymous | reply 60 | April 17, 2015 7:50 AM
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Update: it was a hawk. I saw it today, as a bunch of blackbirds routed it out of the tall pine tree out back (stealing hatchlings?).
It was about as big as an owl. I've been hearing a squawk back there for a few days, even at night. But had no idea that was where it was coming from.
I had the mother spayed on Thursday. She tested negative for all the cat diseases, so I may keep her (she's recovering in the spare bedroom).
by Anonymous | reply 61 | May 10, 2015 1:10 AM
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Damn, OP. But at least you know what happened. Good luck with mumcat.
by Anonymous | reply 62 | May 10, 2015 9:12 AM
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OP, the corner Korean BBQ joint.
by Anonymous | reply 63 | May 10, 2015 9:16 AM
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You see cats. I see Korean barbeque!
by Anonymous | reply 64 | May 10, 2015 9:17 AM
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Blaming the hawk is a good idea, and hopefully the solution. But, animals do eat their young, so glad you got her fixed.
by Anonymous | reply 65 | May 10, 2015 9:28 AM
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The mothers don't eat their young but male cats will eat them, hoping the female will go back into heat.
by Anonymous | reply 66 | May 11, 2015 9:07 PM
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[quote] I'm not making this stuff up. If I find out that woman did anything to those kittens she will be found dead.
What are you going to do, OP? Mince over to her house and slap her viciously? You fluffy-lovers are so neurotic.
by Anonymous | reply 68 | May 12, 2015 7:04 AM
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This is what happened to that kitten I bet.
by Anonymous | reply 70 | July 3, 2018 11:20 AM
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Some times tom cats in the area will kill kittens in an attempt to make the mother go back into heat. A lifetime ago one of our neighbor cats had a bunch of kittens. They caught another neighbor's tom cat trying to attack the kittens one day in the back yard and ran him off. A few days later as I was leaving for school I noticed some "things" in our front yard. I walked over and found the heads of all the kittens. I don't know if it was the tom cat that did that or if a dog killed the kittens but it was a grizzly sight. And the bodies of the kittens were never found.
by Anonymous | reply 71 | July 3, 2018 11:40 AM
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