I feel so sorry for the feral cats in my neighborhood.

[Critters2]

There are two feral cats who are always in my yard or the church yard. They're so thin, and life seems so hard for them. I wish there were something I could do to help 'em. But I can't have more cats, and even if I could, they won't let me near 'em. And the local shelters always say they're full. I always have to fight the temptation to put food out for 'em. They're around so much that I've become fond of 'em.

I'd like to get my hands on people who let cats out without spaying or neutering. This is no life for these beautiful creatures.

[stuntcat]

1. they deserve love

love and respect, and names. And now they'll just have more kittens and live short scared lives.

November before last I went to my grandma's old house with my aunt to sort through her old newspapers, so every night we'd go to the dumpsters and there were about ten wild kitties there. We always took them water and we could see that someone was feeding them. They were totally wild though, it was so sad. And that was a year and a half ago, I bet a third of them have either died or had more babies.

[succubus.blues]

2. That's so sad.

It would be really hard for me not to feed them.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[flvegan]

4. Do you have a spay/neuter program available?

If they haven't been to a vet yet, they should be trapped and fixed.

End the cycle.

Nothing wrong with putting food out somewhere for them, either.

[Skittles]

5. I do both

I feed them, then set up a trap. I get 'em fixed and put 'em back where I trapped them. The vet puts a "V" mark in their ears. If they are cute and young enough I take them to the pound with a note to call me if they don't get adopted. It's pricey for me but worth it.

[flvegan]

12. Awesome. Nice work.

Pricey, but in regards to value, worth it, yes?

[Skittles]

14. to me it is

I feel incredible despair to see suffering and not do anything about it

[femmocrat]

6. Yes, it's sad, but....

they are also dangerous. They carry disease and they really frighten me. One attacked one of my dogs once and we had to take the dog to the vet. Our property backs on to some woods and fields, and there are lots of them out there. I can hear them screeching at night... blood-curdling sound. We have an outdoor cat (neutered and well-cared for), and I'm afraid for him when I hear them.

I don't know what the solution is, but ITA, people are to blame!

[Texasgal]

7. You know you can always call

your counties rescue group.. or the humane society!

[Critters2]

15. We don't have a rescue group or Humane Society.

We have a shelter, but that's all they do--provide shelter and adoptions. No spay/neuter programs, no humane education, nothing. Drives me crazy. I helped to start a Humane Society in Iowa, did Humane Ed for it, fostered kittens, and served on the board. Whenever I suggest starting one here, people say we already have a shelter. I can't get them to see that a Humane Society is more than a shelter.

[Texasgal]

8. DUPE

[Debi]

9. Today was a frustrating/sad day at the Debi's

Just brought feral Mom (that had been living on our sun porch with her three babies for the last six weeks) in to the vet to have her spayed (we try to get the pregnant moms in on the sun porch and then don't let them out until after they're spayed). It was a battle to get her into the carrier (she actually escaped into the house and hid under our bed - we lifted up the bed and 'coaxed' her into the carrier with a broom x(. She's woozy and in pain on the sun porch - she'll go back outside in the next couple days. (that was the frustrating part)

The sad part? the three babies went to their new homes today. They are already missed as they were the cutest, sweetest furballs ever (well, since the last batch we had here).

We have one more female 'visitor' that we hope to get spayed BEFORE she gets with kitten. Then we should be in the clear (until some other douchebag dumps their cat on a country road...x( ... I hate those guys!)

[BuelahWitch]

11. You're a good person for taking care of Mom and babies

I hate people who dump animals too. My kitty was declawed and someone dumped her in the country. I'm lucky a coworker found her. Now she's got her forever home! :loveya:

[Roon]

21. Forever homes are wonderful!!

I am pleased that I gave my three kitties a forever home!

[littlebit]

10. A few years back

we had a few feral cats that hung out on our property. Girlfriend kept feeding them and became very attached to them. We were able to catch three of them and took them to the vet. I got them checked out fixed and their shots. Two of the three still hang out at the house. They are part of our extended little family.

[Mutley]

13. Why not put out food for them?

They're already hanging around your house, so it's not like you'd be encouraging them to stay.

[GoneOffShore]

16. We have a feral in our backyard.

We feed her daily.

She's had 2 litters that we know of until we finally trapped her and got her spayed.

The litters we found homes for and are doing well.

Momcat will probably never let us touch her, but she knows where to come for food. And she's lonely so she hangs out in our yard.

If you don't feed them their short, unhappy lives will be even shorter.

I suggest that you investigate how to manage a feral colony.

There is probably a feral cat group in your area.

[east texas lib]

17. There are several under my porch...

We feed and water them, catch the ones we can for spaying/neutering/vaccinations and release them.
I suppose they live a decent life for feral cats in the sense that my home is in a way a haven
for them.

[Mz Pip]

18. We have an organization

here, Fix Our Ferals, that works to trap, neuter and release feral cats. We have people who feed feral colonies and work to socialize feral kittens so they will be adoptable.

If there isn't a group like this where you live my advice would be to try to trap the cats on your own, get them neutered and release them. Some vets will do low cost spaying for ferals.


I became involved with this when 3 pregnant females turned up in our neighborhood 10 years ago. My neighbor and I trapped the kittens, socailized them, found homes for them and got the moms fixed. This took a while. One was slick and had another litter. But we worked at it and got all of them fixed. Then we just put food out for them. It's been ten years. The colony stablized. No new cats arrived. We had a total of 13 but now there are about 5 left.

[Maraya1969]

19. Animal control here will lend you a cat trap and you can catch them and maybe

someone would want them. At least they would have good food and water.

Or you could make sure they have good food and water. But I think letting animal control take them is better. It is horrible to think they may be put down but think of all the kittens that die because of these breeding cats. They also are ruining the bird population, (learned that one when I took a bird to a wildlife conservation place last year.

Sometimes there is just no happy answer.

[Critters2]

20. I stopped on the way home from dog class and bought them some food.

I got a big bag of Purina One cat food and put some under the deck where they like to hang out. Each of my indoor cats is on a specific diet (one, an Rx food for flutd; one, a "sensitive skin" formula; one, a weight management formula), so I didn't just drop some of their food out. I bought a general kind of food. Considered getting something wicked cheap--Alley Cat, or Kroger's house brand. But I thought better of it, and bought what is probably the best quality Kroger has. When I was shopping, the two pet supply places in town (well, the two that don't sell puppies, so the two I'll actually shop in) were already closed. I kept telling myself, "They're not my cats. They're just strays. Just buy whatever's cheap." But I didn't. Not as good as my companions eat, but not Kroger Cat food, either.

Maybe they'll come to trust me and I'll be able to get them altered. One can hope.

Thanks, everyone!

[stuntcat]

22. this all..

this has me thinking.. I need to order my own Havahart trap and find a way to get the 2 or 3 ferals in my neighborhood spayed & neutered. They're really wild but once in a while one walks through the yard when I'm out there, I think they want to trust me (or maybe they just want my help) It's rare I see them but I know they're out there. When I tried to check out a trap from the local shelter it was so expensive and complicated.. so I'm thinking of just ordering my own trap, and maybe I can find a group that neuters feral cats. Someone's FAILED at getting some kitties fixed but now if no one helps them they'll just keep having kittens.

Good luck and *vibes* to the kitties in your neighborhood.

[sammythecat]

29. Bless your heart for being kind to these guys.

The world is such a harsh place for most of the creatures (Man and beast) in it. I wish it wasn't so, and it makes me sad, but it is heartening to know there are a lot of people that do care for the unfortunate. We just don't have nearly enough of these people.

[Inchworm]

23. I want to wring their necks too

People who abandon critters suck.

I'd say try all you can to figure out a way to trap and spay/neuter them both. Feed them by the church. Like someone mentioned above it ends the cycle. Just imagine if the adults are skin and bones how their litters will fair.

Good on you to even consider the little guys. Many will just step over them or throw rocks at them.

:hug:

[Carnea]

24. I have a feral cat at home.

And after a year and a have she is fat and happy and purrs so loudly when you pet her belly the whole neighborhood hears it.

Helpful hint if you adopt one put the bed on the floor and make sure the holes in the floorboard are sealed up. We called her Newt after the little girl in Aliens a well deserved moniker when we first got her.

[distantearlywarning]

25. We have a feral cat on our block. She's very young.

Last summer she had a litter of kittens (even though she wasn't much more than a kitten herself). We took them to a no-kill shelter down the road and then trapped her and had her spayed. We released her back onto the block after she healed up.

This winter we let her shelter in our semi-heated garage (definitely not the high life, but temps never go below about 40 in there so at least she doesn't freeze to death). And we feed her regularly.

I feel so sorry for her, and would maybe try to take her in if she wasn't so hostile (not sure how our existing cats would react to that, though).

Because of structural changes we are making to our yard and house this summer (too complicated to explain in detail, but they involve making life better for our own cats, who will have a safe and totally enclosed yard to hang out in afterwards), she won't be able to use our garage next winter, and we don't have any other place to build a shelter for her either. So I am worried about that, and not sure what she will do. :-( I wish my neighbors would help her out a bit too...It always seems like we are the nice people getting stuck taking responsibility for all the sad things and all the problems in our corner of the world while everyone else just goes about their business with no cares in the world...

I think she might have been someone's kitten who got dumped at an early age, because she's not completly feral, just unfriendly. She meows at us when we come outside and will get within about 5 feet (but no further!). We have been unable to tame her at all, though. I often wish horrible things on the asshole who abandoned her as a kitten and thus pushed their responsibility onto other people. :-(

[stuntcat]

27. You are good, thank you!

You have totally helped her and the kittens she had. Maybe there's a way to give her something.. maybe just make a spot that would stay dry on cold wet nights..

[Dogtown]

26. Feed them

Life is very hard for ferals. Being feral, they won't hang on you or try to move in like a stray will.

Whatever you do to ease their lives will be a kindness. Dry food left out will supplement the little amount of prey they can find. If you can secure some Program type flea treatment you can add it to the food once a month and really stem the blood-loss and wounds from fleas, and reduce the incidence of tapeworm. There are other meds that will mix well with food to help reduce or prevent other parasites.

Any vet or animal control agency can lend you humane traps, portable enough to use as a carrier to the vet where they can be tested for epidemic disease and get neutered. The neutering will prevent the strain of pregnancy, a population boom of sickly kittens, and will minimize fighting.

Many cats die form infection started in a fight wound. It's a slow and painful death.



You can make life much more pleasant for these guys without increasing your already laudable commitment to cats.

:hi:

[hamsterjill]

28. Alley Cat Allies

This website might be helpful:

http://www.alleycat.org/


And yes, I second what has already been said here, that anything you do for them to make their lives a little brighter is a wonderful kindness on your part.