Help Starting Managment And Funding A Feral Colony

Hi. I posted last year when I managed to stumble across a friendly stray, who was starving and extremely pregnant, and I've gotten some of the best advice ever on this website. I'm hoping you guys can help me figure out a new problem I've come across- A growing feral population. Ive got a long description of my situation, and the only options I've found so far. Any other possible help is very welcome.

I moved into my house 4 years ago. It's in the country, in a neighborhood surrounded by farmland. When I saw a cat paroling though my yard- I wasn't too surprised, I had plenty of neighbors with "outside" dogs, so I assumed it was someone's pet. 2 or 3 years ago, this original cat (I call Spot, I use descriptive names to distinguish between them) was joined by a friend on his patrols (Brindle). Occasionally I caught a glimpse of one of the two orange cats (Boots and Stubby) in the past three years, but nothing very regular and many people probably wouldn't have known they were the same cats as before.
This year I have a cat who for the past couple weeks almost lives in my yard (Old Man). In the past few months I've counted 8 cats total who have been in my yard multiple times, but there are some even more infrequent visitors, or cats I may not see as regularly- I'm not outside a lot, but see then as I leave and come home. None are ear tipped.

1 & 2. Spot & Brindle- Spot is white with one large grey spot, Brindle is, well, brindle. morning patrolers who stop by the tarp over my wood pile to check for rainwater each morning
3. Shaggy (long haired brindle) was around 2-3 years ago more regularly but I haven't seen him much this year, day time visitor
4. Boots- orange with white boots, had been an infrequent visitor over the years, but possibly because he prefers the roof of an empty house nearby, usually seen around dusk unless he is sunning himself on the roof during the day.
5. Stubby, orange, tiny legs but a full body, not quite a munchkin cat, like a dachsund of cats
6. & 7. Tux and Goatee Tux - Two black tuxedo cats. I know there are at least two- one has a white face with black goatee type spot. I'm not sure if there may be more or not, usually my arrival scared them off so I dont get a distinct look. (My neighbor also has a GIANT tuxedo female who is an inside/outside cat but is spayed and stays in her yard.)
8 & 9. Old Man and Sissy. I believe they are probably kittens of Spot and Brindle. They are both white with brindle spots. Sissy looks like Old Man's sister and comes through around noon. She has a healthy taken care of look. Old Man has started sleeping through the whole afternoon. I'm kinda worried about him- he's pretty easy to sneak up on, especially for a mostly white cat (I almost tripped over him in my garden) He was named for how he moves with a stiff dignity, although about three days ago when he was hiding under my truck from rain, I noticed him bathing some sores on his hind leg. These two are probably young adults- maybe last year's litter.
10. Brindle Baby- hasnt gotten a better name yet. She looks like the undilluted version (black and brown instead of grey and tan) of one of Nelly's babies right down to a tiny spot on her forehead. Im guessing she's around 5-7 months old and is very alert and concerned but semi-interested about human presence. I think she's around a lot more than I see her due to her coloring. She's usually seen when fleeing from where I've accidentally woken her up either at dusk or in early morning.

Year 1 here- I only really saw Spot. occasionally Boots would appear on the neighbor's roof.
Year Two- Spot Brindle and Shaggy were around, Stubby started visiting, Boots occasionally came through. Once there was a sleak small brindle who never reappeared.
Year 3- one of the tux cats and a friendly stray I called Smokey appeared. Smokey ended up being the friendly stray who was pregnant and is now my Nelly. My vet thinks she may have been abandoned due to female cats in heat being annoying/yowling. (Nelly's still a little underweight, a complete garbage disposal, and knows how to high five but is learning more tricks too- she's a pretty good success story) I did see one other grey that looked like Nelly after I had her, but have only seen that cat the one time.
Year 4- now I've seen Shaggy, Spot, and Brindle less, I was afraid they didn't make it through winter, but I've since seen Spot and Brindle at least twice in the past two months. Stubby and Boots have both appeared at least twice in the past two months, Goatee Tux appeared, as well as Old Man, Sissy and Brindle Baby, and those four I've seen at least weekly. Old Man is here basically every afternoon.

I blew through any funds I could use to take care of Nelly and her babies, Owen and Layla. Both kittens seemed to daisy-chain illnesses, despite my best efforts, and Layla's still fighting a reoccuring ear infection that started as an opportunistic infection, at over a year old. Nelly has almost no teeth left, and I fear she probably need to go into to get another yanked soon. (shes already down to one canine and one molar on one side, with the other pretty sparse, but she started with this grey film over her few teeth and gums- really weird and gross).

I want to mention something I learned when I first took on Nelly and the babies- These ferals aren't my responsibility, so I'm going to try to do my best to help, but what I can't do wasn't my responsibility in the first place. It's harsh, but I've already cried myself to sleep over Old Man's leg after I saw him licking the sore spots while he waited our a rain shower under my truck, knowing I cant afford to help him. (Now Nelly, Layla, Owen are my pets and they are my responsibility of course.)

I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to step in and take some sort of action. This year's new cats have a strong familial resemblance to the current cats. Before, new cats like Nelly seemed like new introductions, and the other cats could easily have been sterilized outside cats. With Old Man, Sissy and Brindle Baby, they look like babies of known cats.
I do not feed the cats- besides Nelly they all seem a decent weight, Old Man seems to be the only one with coat issues possibly due to malnourishment, but he doesn't look particularly underweight. I do not feed them as I havent wanted to add to the carrying compacity of the land. I dont want them to be starved or malnourished, but I dont have the money to sterilize much less feed them. I have had some medical issues of my own that forced me to medically withdraw from college (I've wanted to be a vet since I was very little). I have some hefty student loans and medical bills, so when I say I have no money to help out, Im not just saying I dont want to be the one to pay or that I'd like a discount. Besides the growing number of ferals, and that I wont be able to turn down helping issues like pregnant Smokey-turned-Nelly and Old Man's leg, Im also worried more cats means more diseases and that they will bring those into my yard and that my shoes will track things into my home to make my cats sick. My chinchillas and previous cat Tiki's emergancy vet fund took a serious hit when Nelly came into the picture and her and the kittens were unhealthy, and I'm trying to slowly regrow some sort of emergency fund for my pets, but I cant let that go to ferals. (My pets keep getting sick often enough that it's taking a while to build back up, Tiki has allergies and I had to take chinchilla in to an exotic vet because he scratched his cornea with hay and his eye got nasty). I really dont want feral cats bringing diseases into my yard, so I really need to stop any more litters.

I've contacted many organizations around me (like 20-30?) and either they are overfull, or they only cater to residents of another counties. I really don't want to lie to a charity about where I live to get help, and I wouldn't be surprised if they checked. I considered it back before Nelly and her kittens were my pets, to get help for them and it made me way too uneasy. My best option so far seems to be Humane Ohio. I live in S.E. Michigan, but they will let me drive there and don't restrict to state or county residents.
It's a refundable $60 cat trap rental
$27 each for spay/neuter and rabies, along with an ear tip
additional $15 for feline distemper (is that something you would do for feral colonies?)
They keep the cats until the next morning, and say male ferals can be released that day, and ask that females be kept another day in a temperature controlled environment, and that females that were pregnant may need more time. Would a detached garage work for this? How much longer would a pregnant female need?

My SO is a little put out with the cost of the three cats last year, and thier unexpected addition to our family, so he's not fully on board with me taking on 8 more cats as a project, but I can't stand seeing more and more cats that need help. Reaching out to the community here came back with a mix of pet lovers who are already at maximum capacity trying to redirect me to the other already full charities and some idiots who suggested bullets and Chinese restaurants. My current plan is to try some sort of Go Fund Me and see if I can get the $396 for a cat trap rental and 8 cats sterilizations and distempers though Humane Ohio, and see how much more I can get for additional help like whatever's wrong with Old Man's leg, any leftover money would then be donated to other TNR places around here. Would a goal of raising $1000 be do-able and reasonable? I at least need the $200ish for spay and neuters. Are there any places to get grants? How do you go about finding and applying for grants? Are there any places you know of to help out in Southeast Michigan or Northwest Ohio that aren't over-capacity and don't require residence there (or in Monroe County, MI)?

I would like to add rain/winter shelters, but my SO is worried that neighbors will blame us for the feral population if we are seen sheltering them, and Im a little worried that shelter will bring more into my yard more consistently and bring diseases. So for now the plan is just TNR, and I'm estimating for 8 cats based off of who I have seen multiple times in the past couple months. (If I can find a way to get enough funding I could make some "raised gardens" that are over disguised cat shelters with totes foam coolers and straw, but that would mean enough funding to flea spray my yard regularly or some way to ensure the ferals aren't going to spread things to my cats, which I don't anticipate happening) I would love any tips on setting up and managing feral colonies, especially how to do that while keeping your pets safe and healthy.

Hey! I am glad you wrote in. I have been doing exactly what you have been doing. I tried not to see but then neighbors started abusing and killing. I had to stop it. I wish I had started earlier. The spays and neuters are the key. Stop the population increase first. There are grants. I am not in your state but I can help you look. Many shelters get funded through grants for spay/neuter but the funds go quickly. You need to get on every list you can now and keep calling and bugging them. Do you know that there are some national programs as well? Spay USA is one. I know the process to get accredited as a rescue requires some work but if you can do that it would be fantastic. I recently got some tips on that myself. @Mamanyt1953 If you could give a referral here it would be great! The expert who helped me if she doesn’t mind repeating the info. I know your SO is stressed but the stress will drop considerably when things are under control. It’s great that they have hung in there with you. Kudos to them. What you are doing is a great thing. If more people took responsibility then this would not be an issues. Just to give you a look at the light at the end of the tunnel......I started with over 100 cats and kittens outside. All but 5 have been spayed/neutered and adopted out with the exception of the ones I have inside that I am socializing for adoption. Only 5 left for me to catch and only two are adults. I never thought I would make it this far. I have a very limited income, vision loss so that I can’t drive far and I am an older person. The odds seemed against me. I was alone in this effort for months. I started this at the end of last year. My whole world has now changed for the better. Tell your SO that it can end. The neighbors here love me for stopping this. The ferals were actually stopping the mice and snake population so now some of the neighbors actually miss the cats. My county is now working to help me and I am helping them. It’s really just a matter of getting networked and learning the system. Once you do things will change for the better. I was amazed how everything turned around. This website is a wealth of information and great people. You can do searches on other threads for info on funding, feral rescues, spay/neuteres and any other topic you have questions about. You are not alone. The person i referenced is a great resource to helpful threads and info. If you need more info from me feel free to PM me. I am not an expert on the paperwork but have lots of practice hunting for help. Thank you and your SO for all you are doing!

I can vouch for Jcatbird's extremely diligent efforts on behalf of feral cats/kitties. She is an amazing person, a cat's best friend.

I have a question that should be asked of all private practice veterinarians? If you're truly into spaying/neutering FOR THE RIGHT REASONS, why not do FREE spays/neuters (not what amounts to 'half-hearted' discounted surgeries for it)? For starters, donating your services to a 501c3 non- profit would be deductible on your yearly income taxes, and would actually lower your IRS tax bill at the end of the year. A good accountant could even tell you (based on your usual income) how many free S/N to do to most benefit your tax position at year's end. Think outside the box!! Only the "can't get enough money" types choose to charge for every little thing they do. Even attorneys know some PRO-BONO cases benefit their financial bottom line, not to mention their contribution to social consciousness so desperately needed in today's world.

There are even a few wiser-than-most counties in a couple of states who get their local govts. (county commissioners) to make spay/neuter FREE (or on a sliding scale, at the very least) to those on govt. assistance programs (i.e. food stamps, disability, etc.). Proof of status is easily gotten from local DFCS office lists of recipients. Social consciousness knows no bounds, it just requires people "put their money where their mouth is" (talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words).

Are you getting any help?

Jcatbird said:

Are you getting any help?

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Time will tell.

No. I haven't found anyone to help yet, but I'm still bugging everyone. Most people are redirecting me to the same TNR organisation, so I'm centering my persistence on that group and hoping they may be able to help. I'd hate to TNR in winter when shelter is more of an issue, but it may be better to do that than never get help because of kitten season and all that.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I get upset and write out long, but rambling emotional posts and then quit before I edit them down into something coherent.

I have talked to more people in my town, and have found out more. My neighborhood is across a main road from a VFW. Apparently the neighborhood on the back side of that has a woman who feeds the cats and regularly has about 30 in her yard at any time. It sounds like a lot of people have been taking in cats and many have 1 or two they've taken in already (some not realizing the new indoor cat would stay feral). So I guess the community kind of knows about the feral issue that's growing, but no one has organised everyone to fix it. I think a big part of it is going to be educating people about the necessity of neutering to prevent population growth. Most people I've talked to notice some are skinny and want to help feed them, or remove the cats into a home or shelter as a way to help out, but don't really realize that those really don't stop the population growth. (nobody wants cats to starve, but allowing them to grow overcrowded will just mean diseases kill them off instead, so in my opinion neutering is my first use of funds where feeding would be a secondary use of funds)

It's going to need a lot more funding if we have that many more cats. I know Go Fund Me is popular, but also takes a chunk of the money. I think it may be better to try to partner my efforts with an already established charity/group and sort of have this be a special fundraising effort. I've asked the local TNR (that I keep being redirected to) if they would be willing, when they have time, to do a fundraiser in their name, but where the funds I raise (and would be donated to them) would go first toward these cats and hopefully extra could overflow into their general fund. I'm waiting on a reply- They do seem pretty swamped though.

My SO is very hesitant to do anything involved in the community, so I'm still struggling with want to be active in pushing for help with the cats while respecting his wish that we try to stay more anonymous. I'm not sure that's really possible, since to push for help I'm going to have to really keep after a lot of organisations and friends and family and neighbors into helping. I've bee reading up on TNR stuff and I cant figure out how it cant be a community effort with over 3/4 of the cats not in my yard.

tikishenanigans said:

No. I haven't found anyone to help yet, but I'm still bugging everyone. Most people are redirecting me to the same TNR organisation, so I'm centering my persistence on that group and hoping they may be able to help. I'd hate to TNR in winter when shelter is more of an issue, but it may be better to do that than never get help because of kitten season and all that.

Sorry about the lack of updates. I get upset and write out long, but rambling emotional posts and then quit before I edit them down into something coherent.

I have talked to more people in my town, and have found out more. My neighborhood is across a main road from a VFW. Apparently the neighborhood on the back side of that has a woman who feeds the cats and regularly has about 30 in her yard at any time. It sounds like a lot of people have been taking in cats and many have 1 or two they've taken in already (some not realizing the new indoor cat would stay feral). So I guess the community kind of knows about the feral issue that's growing, but no one has organised everyone to fix it. I think a big part of it is going to be educating people about the necessity of neutering to prevent population growth. Most people I've talked to notice some are skinny and want to help feed them, or remove the cats into a home or shelter as a way to help out, but don't really realize that those really don't stop the population growth. (nobody wants cats to starve, but allowing them to grow overcrowded will just mean diseases kill them off instead, so in my opinion neutering is my first use of funds where feeding would be a secondary use of funds)

It's going to need a lot more funding if we have that many more cats. I know Go Fund Me is popular, but also takes a chunk of the money. I think it may be better to try to partner my efforts with an already established charity/group and sort of have this be a special fundraising effort. I've asked the local TNR (that I keep being redirected to) if they would be willing, when they have time, to do a fundraiser in their name, but where the funds I raise (and would be donated to them) would go first toward these cats and hopefully extra could overflow into their general fund. I'm waiting on a reply- They do seem pretty swamped though.

My SO is very hesitant to do anything involved in the community, so I'm still struggling with want to be active in pushing for help with the cats while respecting his wish that we try to stay more anonymous. I'm not sure that's really possible, since to push for help I'm going to have to really keep after a lot of organisations and friends and family and neighbors into helping. I've bee reading up on TNR stuff and I cant figure out how it cant be a community effort with over 3/4 of the cats not in my yard.

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Your heart and efforts are so commendable. We are in somewhat the same "ditch" in getting the right kind of help, not just skimming the surface with generalizations about how to help cats. "Where there's a will there's a way". With God all things are possible.

Now Ive found a dead young cat and I'm devesatated. The beautiful Brindle Baby that looked like my cat. She's/He's (I didnt check the sex) got to only be about seven months old. I don't think she's skinny enough that she's been starving, but she wasn't well fed either. She's been in my yard and frightened if approached but wasn't running away unless there was an immediate threat (normally she fled as soon as she saw a person) for a couple days. We broke and were going to try to trap her and try to take on her costs ourselves and we had had put out kibble, but she didn't touch the food or anything. I don't know why she's been in my yard more visably lately, or what she died of, but I don't think it was long term starvation. I'm guessing diease or infection of some sort. I'm completely heart broken at this point. I don't know how to wait months hoping for help with the others or what. Like I said I'm devesatated. I need to emotionally step back for a couple days for me, but I'll get back to pestering people in a few days

At least I got a good picture of the cat a few days ago, and was able to give her a safe calm yard at the end of her life.

Don’t give up. There are ways to get other groups to help. The National Spay alloance is one. I made the dozens of calls, texts, emails and then I went back and repeated every one. I did that for months. I finally started making progress. If you feed the cats in your yard, they will come. Then feral TNR can be done. I am so sorry you lost a kitty. That is the horrible part of doing rescues. I had a message just yesterday from another TCS member who lost one. We all do. I can promise you that we all share your grief. Each one lost is painful to us all.
You mentioned ferals being brought in but remaining feral. Just so you know, I have brought in, socialized( tamed) 64 ferals this last year. All have been successfully adopted as House cats. Some were kittens and others grown. It takes time and patience as well as an understanding of what the cat needs but it is done all the time. Each cat removed from the colony is one less to breed. I get all fixed but hopefully all the people around you will do the same. You are doing a really great thing. Just keep trying. Getting networked takes time and effort but it works. If you google cat spay and neuter rescues in your area you may find more help. Also do a national search. If you still can’t get help the let me know and I will help you look. TNR will save many lives and many problems for the cats and your community.

Jcatbird said:

Don’t give up. There are ways to get other groups to help. The National Spay alloance is one. I made the dozens of calls, texts, emails and then I went back and repeated every one. I did that for months. I finally started making progress. If you feed the cats in your yard, they will come. Then feral TNR can be done. I am so sorry you lost a kitty. That is the horrible part of doing rescues. I had a message just yesterday from another TCS member who lost one. We all do. I can promise you that we all share your grief. Each one lost is painful to us all.
You mentioned ferals being brought in but remaining feral. Just so you know, I have brought in, socialized( tamed) 64 ferals this last year. All have been successfully adopted as House cats. Some were kittens and others grown. It takes time and patience as well as an understanding of what the cat needs but it is done all the time. Each cat removed from the colony is one less to breed. I get all fixed but hopefully all the people around you will do the same. You are doing a really great thing. Just keep trying. Getting networked takes time and effort but it works. If you google cat spay and neuter rescues in your area you may find more help. Also do a national search. If you still can’t get help the let me know and I will help you look. TNR will save many lives and many problems for the cats and your community.

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You are doing a really compassionate thing, tikishenanigans; too bad there are others who will not support you except with easy, worn out answer. You CAN TRUST Jcatbird (and a few others on TCS), listen to her help, she knows what she's talking about. Too bad most other members are apparently only interested in the "fluff" of cat ownership. Your plight is obviously not of much real interest to them.
A wonderful program is www.homelesspetclubs.org. It shows you how to organize local schools, all levels, to get involved in a direct way with animal adoptions, sponsorship, etc. Teaches children and the community how to make a real difference in local areas regarding helping abused animals, etc. I can't say enough good things about them. THEY can be a REAL source of help for you, too. Not the worn out generalizations most "help" likes to offer. People should never forget, what goes around, comes around - Karma.