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HI
This is the first time I have posted on a forum as I was looking for advise and came across this site. Apologies it is a long one.
We have always thrown our meat scraps out as we live in the country but December last year I happened to have the window open and realised there were 4 young cats eating what I thrown out. They started to come around every night so I continued to feed them...now after reading through some of this forum I realise that it probably isnt a good thing unless I intend to capture them and get them spayed (I know one is definitely female and pretty sure one of the others is, 2 of them are definitely boys)
We put an old hutch out for them during the bad snow we had as they seemed to be staying under our house and they use it when the weather is bad but dont generally sleep in it.
I go and sit out and feed them every night and they know and trust me although I can only properly stroke one of them but they will all eat from my hand.
The one I can stroke who is a beautiful grey and white little girl was in the hutch for 2 days and I could see what looked like another cat or a paw sticking out and thought she may have had kittens but didnt want to disturb them. She was still in there this morning but when she saw me at the window she came out to see if I was getting her food and I noticed that what ever else was in there was in the same position so was probably dead..
While she was eating I went and checked the hutch and there were 2 dead kittens and 2 live ones.
I removed the 2 dead ones as I didnt want them rotting and making the others sick but she came back whilst I was doing it.
She watched me with eyes like saucers and once I had left I watched her move one and then the other, I couldnt follow her as she went into thick bushes and I didnt want to stress her out anymore than I just had.
I now feel awful for making her move her babies to possibly somewhere more open to the elements and predators.
Was removing the dead ones the best thing to do? I couldnt have left them for too much longer as they would have started to break down. Should I have taken the 2 live ones away and got them checked out?
In anyones experience will she bring them back to the hutch or will she stay well away now?
If she does bring them back should I just leave her to it but continue to feed her and when they get a bit older try and capture them to get them checked out and later spayed? What would people suggest?
How do you go about capturing feral cats as they are quite jumpy when you make sudden movements or try to touch them. Although they will take food from my hand, I cant touch 3 of them with out them pulling away (so I dont even try) They quite happily sit out with me and clean themself or shut their eyes for a cat nap but if I tried to pick one up they would go bananas.
Are there rescue places that will spay feral cats or do you take them to the vets?
Any advice is welcome...I know feeding them was probably not a good thing to do after reading this forum but I thought I was being caring and would help any animal I could, wild or tame, Thanks in advance Sorry there are a lot of questions amongst all that!!
This is the first time I have posted on a forum as I was looking for advise and came across this site. Apologies it is a long one.
We have always thrown our meat scraps out as we live in the country but December last year I happened to have the window open and realised there were 4 young cats eating what I thrown out. They started to come around every night so I continued to feed them...now after reading through some of this forum I realise that it probably isnt a good thing unless I intend to capture them and get them spayed (I know one is definitely female and pretty sure one of the others is, 2 of them are definitely boys)
We put an old hutch out for them during the bad snow we had as they seemed to be staying under our house and they use it when the weather is bad but dont generally sleep in it.
I go and sit out and feed them every night and they know and trust me although I can only properly stroke one of them but they will all eat from my hand.
The one I can stroke who is a beautiful grey and white little girl was in the hutch for 2 days and I could see what looked like another cat or a paw sticking out and thought she may have had kittens but didnt want to disturb them. She was still in there this morning but when she saw me at the window she came out to see if I was getting her food and I noticed that what ever else was in there was in the same position so was probably dead..
While she was eating I went and checked the hutch and there were 2 dead kittens and 2 live ones.
I removed the 2 dead ones as I didnt want them rotting and making the others sick but she came back whilst I was doing it.
She watched me with eyes like saucers and once I had left I watched her move one and then the other, I couldnt follow her as she went into thick bushes and I didnt want to stress her out anymore than I just had.
I now feel awful for making her move her babies to possibly somewhere more open to the elements and predators.
Was removing the dead ones the best thing to do? I couldnt have left them for too much longer as they would have started to break down. Should I have taken the 2 live ones away and got them checked out?
In anyones experience will she bring them back to the hutch or will she stay well away now?
If she does bring them back should I just leave her to it but continue to feed her and when they get a bit older try and capture them to get them checked out and later spayed? What would people suggest?
How do you go about capturing feral cats as they are quite jumpy when you make sudden movements or try to touch them. Although they will take food from my hand, I cant touch 3 of them with out them pulling away (so I dont even try) They quite happily sit out with me and clean themself or shut their eyes for a cat nap but if I tried to pick one up they would go bananas.
Are there rescue places that will spay feral cats or do you take them to the vets?
Any advice is welcome...I know feeding them was probably not a good thing to do after reading this forum but I thought I was being caring and would help any animal I could, wild or tame, Thanks in advance Sorry there are a lot of questions amongst all that!!