Dog Attacks & Other Dangers

[pjb755]

Something happened the other night that is really bothering me, and I just wanted to get this group's take on it. Also, I think this is a good place to vent with people who are understanding. I'll try not to make this too long. I have been taking care of 4 feral cats. It used to be 7, but three have disappeared. The cats have been spayed and I feed them every night and morning. About 4-6 weeks ago, a black and white kitty that I will call "Socks" showed up and started hanging around my house. And I'm going to call it a "she" because that's how I thought of her, but it could have been a male. Anyway, she wasn't friendly. I could put my fingers up to her nose, but if I tried to pet her, she would back away or take a swipe at me. About 4 days ago, around 8:30 at night, to make a long story short, she was attacked by three little dogs in the street on the side of my house. By the time I figured out what all the barking was about, and found her (the dogs ran off as soon as I approached), she couldn't get up. I put a towel over her and put her in a box and brought her in the house, but she didn't make it through the night. Here's the kicker..... about 4 days before this happened, I went outside on our carport, and there were three little black dogs out there. They were very friendly and all had collars with tags, so I was able to call the owners and they came and picked them up. I was all proud of myself because I got them back to their owner. Well, they were the same dogs that attacked the cat. The smallest was probably 8 pounds, and the larger ones were maybe 15 pounds (?). I don't understand why she couldn't get away from them! I've tried to take a realist view point in taking care of these outdoor cats. I know they face many dangers and that each night could be the last that I see them. As I mentioned, 3 have gone missing and I'm assuming something has happened to them. And I'm sad about that, but what happened with Socks has been bothering me so much more. Ugh! I just wish I could go back in time and chase those damn little dogs away much sooner. So how do you all handle it when something happens to one of your outdoor cats? Do you just expect that as feral cats, they just won't live very long?

 

[keeneland]

 Do you just expect that as feral cats, they just won't live very long?

I told myself that till I lost these 2 kittens. We are still dealing with it but try telling ourselves we made their lives better while they lived. It has made me understand better when I read that the average feral only lives to be about a year old. These were the 2 we thought were going to be our cats and were going to adopt out the other's. We still have their litter mates and are keeping them all after finding out the hard way how short life can be. Thank's for trying 

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• keeneland
• Feb 5, 2017

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• keeneland
• Dec 30, 2016
• 1

 

[pjb755]

Those kittens are beautiful! Love the pictures. But so sorry you lost then.

 

[Kieka]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is hard any time a cat passes or disappears.

Sadly when it comes to feral cats only the strong (and the lucky) survive. My neighbor fed feral cats and their kittens. She must have had 60-70 kittens born on her property over a five year period. Two years after she stopped feeding them there are only 2 for sure alive and possibly 2 others.

My cats are indoor/outdoor and there are dangers. I am hyper vigilant with their vet care and vaccines. Predators are a big danger so mine stay in at night after a few incidents. We also have a fenced yard that dogs can't get into. Our cats have a lot of trees and bushes they can get to qyickly if chased and all know that safety is our yard.

Do you have an enclosed garage you could start bringing the outdoor cats into at night? A lot of the disappearing will happen at night when more predators are out and cats are more likely to explore further from home. The other option is to make sure you have some safe spots for the cats. Smaller trees they can climb or bushes that can support their weight while blocking a dog from reaching them. If your yard isn't fenced having a fenced yard ( or even just fencing in an area to hold yard tools can provide a safe spot in a crunch) with some vine on it provides an easy to climb safe zone for cats from dogs. Adding climbing vines to the side of garages or sheds also provides a cat with a climbable surface to escape predators and you can plant a sweet smelling flower or some type of vegetable so vines can be decorative or practical.

 

[graywing]

We had way too many issues with dogs recently ourselves with our two TNR kitties. I think we've had loose dogs on our property about five times. I know sometimes it's just a dog gets out by accident, but I also know there's neighbors who are not very careful about their dogs and don't keep them on a leash when they let them out in non-enclosed areas.

Aside from dogs, there's various other dangers including getting ran over by a car, hawks, and people in general. Sometimes, there's people out there who are cruel to animals. Other times, you have well meaning people but they want to feed cats things they shouldn't be fed.

We finally got tired of all the hazards and brought our two in. They're sharing a large bathroom together right now. They're extremely closely bonded so we decided that no matter what we'd keep them together.

Of course, this isn't an option for everyone. But I think it's good to be aware of outside threats regardless.