Ugh!
Can the SPCA be any less helpful?!
Ok, If anyone has been following the post about the stray cats, you'll know that the momma kitty had her kittens in the floor of my laundry room last night, then later, moved them behind the washing machine.
I've uploaded photos of the momma kitty and 3 out of 5 of her kittens (2 were yet to be born) You can see how much room there is in that laundry room. She's filling up what little space is left of walkspace for people to get in and out of there. the dryer door doesn't even open all the way, it hits the wall. The washer is wedged into the corner next to the water heater. there is a grand total of about 6 inches between it and the wall. and somehow, the momma kitty wedges herself between it to take the babies down there, and get in and out herself. She doesn't even have room to stretch out and easily feed all 5 of her babies.
Ontop of that, I have no idea if they can get under the washer, because there's no way to get back there to check. If I could get back there, I'd get them out. But I can't. So they're still back there.
So, my brother and I try a few different things we can think of to try to convince the momma kitty to move them. turned on the dryer, with dryer balls bouncing around, making the room hot and humid and making a lot of noise. Nope. she kept them right where they were. I even tried closing the door seperating her from the litter for a short while, hoping she'd become worried enough at the seperation to move them. Again, no.
So, I called SPCA for advice, and to see if they had room at their no kill shelter for a momma kitty and 5 newborn kittens. The lady was not very helpful, telling me "move the washer out" and "we're getting ready to close, call back on monday"
So. move the washer out.
Ok.
First. I am not strong enough to move them on my own. Yes, THEM. to move the washer, I have to push back the dryer, because the damn cord is too short to reach the outlet, and maintenence never brought us an extension cord like they said they would. So, first, move the dryer. May have to move the dryer out of the room entirely. cause there's not room to get around the washer if the dryer is in place.
then, pull the washer out. wedge myself around it, and carefully gather up the kittens, and move them into the covered box I set up for the momma. And then hope she doesn't move them back afterwards.
Now.. I have a brother who normally could move the washer and dryer fairly easily. But, he has an injured hand, and is forbidden to do certain activities, lifting heavy objects being one of them. (he stabbed his finger a couple weeks back) So. He SHOULDN'T be helping, but he's the only one with the strength to do it right now.
So.. kinda stuck. don't know what to do.
>.<

Update: midnight
my brother checked behind the washer, and decided that the kittens were safe from going under it, so, at my mom's suggestion, he turned it on, with cold water.
Momma moved the newborns to the box like we wanted her to. After that, we closed off the laundry room.
Tomorrow I'll check on them when I put the food and fresh water out, and see if she hasn't decided to move them elsewhere again.