In case you were wondering: 

 We just can't trap fast enough. We try our hardest, but we are sometimes unable to trap a female cat in time to prevent her from having a litter of kittens. As much as we want to prevent new kittens from arriving each year, once they're here we do our best by them, and; if we get to them in time we can prevent them from adding to the numbers of outside cats.

On to Plan B: trapping mom and her litter together:

A momma cat taking refuge in a basement was trapped for spay surgery last year. Shortly after trapping her, kittens were discovered. She had recently given birth. Because we knew they needed her she was returned to the basement where she'd stashed them and released her to do her job,in hopes she'd lead us to them. Momma, (who was called "Mona") did not make it easy to capture them as a family. In one of her attempts to hide her kittens from us, one kitten disappeared. When eventually he started crying, we followed the sound of his voice and finally located him behind a wood paneled wall. After removing panels we still didn't see him, and then he stopped crying. We wondered if we were just a little too late. After a few minutes that seemed much longer, he cried again. Our eyes adjusted to the dark and then we saw him move. We happily extricated him from the wall and returned him to to his mom. 

The best scenario was to give mom a safe place to care for her kittens for 8-10 weeks. Mona wasn't having it, and she wasn't going to be fooled by our trap again. She would not go in for food, no matter how hungry she was. After several failed attempts at trapping this smart girl with food, we placed her kittens inside of one trap and set another trap for her in front of it.  This time, she went in within minutes. Never underestimate the risks a mother will take for her children.  

Mona and her kittens spent 10 weeks in foster care. She took wonderful care of them, and she even came to tolerate us a little, eventually.  Because her kittens received lots of cuddling and handing as babies, all five kittens became social, affectionate, loving pets. Eventually all of Mona's kittens were vetted, fixed, vaccinated, and; finally, they were all ADOPTED!

Mona has retired from kitten making. She returned home to her former life to enjoy "just being a cat". Today she is a very chunky, fluffy, petite lady, and an adored indoor/outdoor community cat. 

This is Mona's kitten, 'Milo', in the photo. He narrowly escaped being separated from his mom and littermates at a few days old. If we hadn't found him, he likely would have died from dehydration and starvation. If his mother had given birth outside, Milo's life and death may have gone unnoticed. Thanks to a lot of peoples' determination to create a TNR program, a HUGE dose of providence, and some good luck to boot, here he is today making his adopter's life a whole lot sweeter.🧡

TNR, rescue and adoption make the world a better place for cats and for people. We would be grateful if you would support our work and help us keep going.