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Geralizze M.

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Hi,

I started recuing ferals when I had my first cat back in 2014. I rescue ferals and either keep them or find them a good home. My most recent feral is a kitty named Milo who I decided to keep because I just couldn’t part with him.

I found him in a bush where he was meowing besides his mother’s dead body, who was sadly run over by a car :/.

Found him just in time before the storm!
 

LilyRae

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Moving into a new area & apartment with a ground floor courtyard has definitely welcomed a few new experiences of the cat variety in my life, but none as rewarding and life changing as my "little one" or Tommy as he is now called! The little colony he came from was an added bonus!
I live in Sydney, Australia and have found the culture surrounding pets, especially cats, completely different than my home country. With the infamous "war on cats" and many being seen in residential areas as a pest and the fact TNR is not supported and is technically illegal I found myself (and still do find in my ongoing attempts) helping a colony let alone caring for one very difficult! This is my experience so far and know many amazing Australian cat people!

Long story short, after my little one wondered into my courtyard I was smitten, he was mine and I was completely devoted to him... I just needed to get him to realise!!! After spending hours every night without fail with him, playing at arms length, feeding and just hanging out for months, he finally moved in. It still took another month before I could progress from paw stroking to now full on belly rubbing, chin scratching purr fests.
My handsome chap is now around 7 months and is the kindest soul one will ever meet, playful, and lives for head scratches.

Most of all I am grateful for not only his gift of companionship but he has sent me down a path that fulfills my soul and I am so passionate about - helping these wonderful community cats, socialising these little beings and hoping each one finds a home full of warmth, love and dignity.

As for his colony, most of them have been TNRd now and get the level of ongoing care/feeding they allow and moved themselves further into a bush/parkland away from new developments.

Sorry for the long post!! I seem to do this, when I start talking about them all I can't stop!!
:dizzycat:
Thank you to all of you amazing souls that help these beautiful creatures, there is truly not enough space or words to describe how amazing you all are!!!
 

mani

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LilyRae LilyRae that's a beautiful post and a well-deserved badge has been awarded. :)
Tommy is gorgeous. :redheartpump: How wonderful that you took the time and care to allow him to be the cat he truly is. And wishing you all the best with your colony.

I know what you mean about the treatment of ferals here.. I'm in Brisbane and a friend recently took a feral for neutering and was told they don't do it. That's the law now. I truly don't get it. There are organisations that are finding their way around it, but if you happen to trap a feral and take it to your local vet, it seems it's a no. :frown:
 

Jcatbird

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LilyRae LilyRae that's a beautiful post and a well-deserved badge has been awarded. :)
Tommy is gorgeous. :redheartpump: How wonderful that you took the time and care to allow him to be the cat he truly is. And wishing you all the best with your colony.

I know what you mean about the treatment of ferals here.. I'm in Brisbane and a friend recently took a feral for neutering and was told they don't do it. That's the law now. I truly don't get it. There are organisations that are finding their way around it, but if you happen to trap a feral and take it to your local vet, it seems it's a no. :frown:
Truly wonderful kitty story! Glad some are finding a way to help kitties there! Yay! Congratulations LilyRae LilyRae That badge is well earned! :happycat:
 

Notacrazycatlady

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As I explained in my introductory thread as to why I'm not a crazy cat lady. SHORT VERSION: I found a stray cat, whom I now call Ambrose View media item 421668 drinking dirty rainwater off a tarp on my patio. Feeling bad for him, I started leaving clean drinking water out then food and then a simple shelter. Along came Clarence, Myst and Betty Boop (originally named Scooter because I thought male)View media item 421665View media item 421670View media item 421671. There's now two shelters and a walk-in greenhouse that serves as a feeding station on my patio. I found a local TNR effort and with their help, I trapped and fixed all four. They're not the only ferals around my apartment, but they're the only ones who come around my patio. I've continued to volunteer transporting and helping with actual clinic--working the recovery mat or doing the charting for each cat.

I now also have an indoor cat--he's the one in the leash playing with Boop in her picture and I'm catsitting my niece's cat temporarily.
 

Jcatbird

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I love your story. Great and kind work!:rock:

You are not a crazy lady, just one who cares about the world. I love your kitties. You are not alone in what you are doing. TheCatSite is full of people foo g what you are doing. It’s all about the rescue, the spays and neuter, the care and the love. We do what we can. I’m glad you saved them. I’d do it too.

Keep posting please. I really love hearing about your kitties. The kitty on the leash reminds me of the silver tabby I rescued. I just love that picture!
 
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Kgrl2018

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Hello, I have rescued 4 feral kitties in my living area,a mobile home park,that has alot of ferals..alot of older people live here and either hate the cats,or feed them alot,it's been difficult,I work with animal control and do the TNR program,these cats require alot of time and patience to earn there trust,and eventually get them captured and spayed/neutered, I find it very rewarding and I'm glad that I'm doing something about the overpopulation of cats in my area,I know feeding is not enough,that creates more problems,some I have been able to tame,others I've had to let them live there lives outdoors,but I feel like they will be in better shape than way they were before, ..
 
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Elphaba09

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Firstly, I want to thank all those who help ferals! Too many people see them as the trash of society.

I will start with my cats who now live in our home in the order of how they came to me.

When my daughter was visiting her father, one of his friends came home with two kittens he found. He planned to tie them up and use them for target practice. My daughter called me, so I went and took the kittens from him. We named them Astrid Cordelia Rose and Estella Flannery Thyme. We planned on them being our only cats, since I had recently lost my three other cats to old age.

A few months later my friend and fellow cat advocate contacted me about her friend finding three kittens. Their mother and two siblings had not been seen for a couple of days and it was feared coyotes got them. They were wild and needed a lot of work, but they came around. We named them Fennimore Strider Black, Willow Elizabeth Sage, and Pip Thackery Blue. I ended up taking Fennimore and Willow, while Pip stayed with my friend because her elderly cat was in love with having a baby. So, we went to four.

That same friend's mother found a stray. She noticed the stray was not always eating the food she put out but seemed to be running off with it. She ended up catching the stray, who promptly got loose and led her to her very sick and weak friend. The first one, Tara Lenore Tierney, seemed to take to me right away. Simon Greystoke Thane, once he was healthy, came home to us because we could not part him from his friend. That put us at six.

Freya Adaline Pryne was a baby feral my daughter found in a bush near our home. She sat and watched, but after several hours, no other cats came and Freya just kept making little noises. My daughter brought her home. She was wilder than Willow and Fennimore ever were and did not take well to the other cats, so she had to be separated longer than the others were. (Three years, and she is not very affectionate to anyone except my daughter and two of our other cats. One is Astrid. The other is the last on the list.) Again, we did not plan on keeping her. The shelters near us were full and said that her personality would cause her to be rejected. Freya is number seven.

My son works at an upscale restaurant as a sous chef. When he started, he noticed the owner would take out scraps of salmon and leave it near the dumpster. Soon, he noticed a very pregnant black cat eating the food. She was called Miss Kitty by the owner. No one could get close to her, and she had avoided all the traps they had set. My son started sitting close to her food after work to try and gain her trust. Her kittens were born, and they were eventually caught and fixed. Miss Kitty was not easily tricked. After almost a year, I received a phone call from my son stating that he had finally caught her. I rushed over and got her. When we got her back from the vet, we were told that she was deaf. We planned on releasing her but once it was determined she was a stray and not a feral, we started looking for a home. Eight cats just sounded crazy! Instead, she won our love with her sweetness and became the princess of our home. We named her Evangeline Evayne Snow. She was later given the titles "Her Royal Highness" and "Princess Piggy Piggy."

Two weeks ago, I found a tiny starving kitten who was covered in fleas, had spots of mange, and what turned out to be a burn on his hip. He was so tired that within the 18 hours between us finding him and getting him to the vet, he was only fully awake for about 20 minutes, during which he ate formula mixed with wet food. The vet said he would have been dead within a day had we not found him. We planned on getting him healthy and finding him a home, but we is our baby now. We named him Silas Endeavour Book.

Now on to our ferals.

We live in a small village of about 1,000 people. Our feral cat population is thankfully not as bad as it was were we used to live. One of the first things we did when we moved in was check the laws about feral colonies. I was pleased to find out that they support TNR and the care of the colonies. They work with a county cat clinic. We are one of the families that care for the colony near us.

We set up a small shelter area for them in our backyard and keep it stocked with food and water. We have helped with 11 TNR in the past four years. I also make blankets for and donate to the clinic. (Amazon Smile even has them listed, so win!)

One of those TNR decided that our front porch is his home at night. He started showing up around the same time we found Freya and looked to be a couple of months older. It was the summer, and he just sat down on our porch and spent the night hanging out. After he came a few nights in a row, I started calling him Linden (Linden Maximus Poe). We have one picture of him, and the only time I have gotten close to him is when we had him fixed when he was just over a year old. He lets me as close as two feet before he jumps up and moves away from me. We bought him a house and a heated bed and water bowl. For more than three years, he has been a nightly visitor.

In order of appearance: Silas, Tara, Evangeline, Fennimore, Freya, Estella, Astrid, Willow, Linden, and Simon
 

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mani

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Kgrl2018 Kgrl2018 and Elphaba09 Elphaba09 .. Welcome, both of you, to TCS and thank you for the wonderful job you're doing for ferals. :clapcat:

Badges awarded. :)
 

Echy

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First off, I would like to thank everyone who saves feral cats, they are animals too, just because they don't have a home, doesn't mean they don't have feelings, so once again, thank you.

I've rescued 17 feral cats in total (I rescued Cream a few days ago, read the rest below.), and 12 of them have been adopted, I kept two. Their names are Cookie, Chessa, Liam, Drama, Echy (I kept Echy and renamed him Echo.) Verismo (I also kept Verismo since they were from the same litter that I discovered in a trash bag, sad right?) Delissa, Charmer, Margret, Lizzy, Yvone, Asuna, Luna, Cruze, Nami, Max, and Trisha. Cookie, Asuna, Luna, Nami, Yvone, Charmer, Liam, Drama, Margret, Lizzy, Max and Trisha were adopted.

I recently rescued a little kitten and I may keep him, but with Echo and Verismo, I don't think I can. I'll find a loving home for him. He's about 3 weeks old, he is orange and has splotches of white on his head and hind legs. He's such a little drama queen and I'm already attached to him, it will be heartbreaking to let him go to a new family but it's for the benefit of him. I named him Cream, he doesn't look very healthy which worries me a lot. I found him dehydrated, starving and on the brink of death on the sidewalk. He was about to kick the bucket but I took him in. (When I found him, he was only 1 week old.) I nursed him back to like but recently, he's been looking pretty sick, I took him to the vet and he had a high fever. I'm sure he'll pull through and get to live his life to the fullest. He's a long-haired Maine Coon. He's a real beauty and he knows it.
 

Q2U

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My wife and I just finished trapping, neutering and releasing a colony of nine (9) feral cats. We discovered this colony after one of the colony members (a 5-week old feral kitten originally named "Honda" but now renamed our "Andy") snuck into my car's engine compartment and went on a 90-mile ride before my Honda dealer dismantled the bumper and engine cowling to free him. I then took him to a local no-kill shelter and gave a $100.00 donation to get him started. The Shelter named him "Honda" and, 2-weeks later, we adopted Andy. It wasn't long before we discovered Andy's family ("Midnight", "Dwight", "TygerGirl", "Odie", "Uno", "Dosie", "TreyTrey", "Fluffer (Nutter)" and "Bee") were living in a wood-pile in the woods behind our house. We started to feed them and after "Uno", "Dosie", and "TreyTrey" were born we realized we had to TNR the entire colony. The colony TNR was completed several weeks ago and now many of the colony members appear to be gaining weight and we see them playing; several colony members appear to have adopted our patio.

You can ready the entire story here...

Andy And The Feral Cat Shelter

I'd like to believe that Andy has a great spirit and perhaps he was guided to us so that his family could be rescued and that's a happy thought to accompany a happy ending.
 
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mani

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That is such a wonderful story Q2U Q2U . Thank you for all you do. :)
Badge awarded, of course.
 

Asteria

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I used to live in the middle of nowhere and had no experience with feral cats. In that rural area with countless predators everyone who had cats kept them indoors.

A few years ago I moved into a busy part of town and got involved with my first feral colony. The manager here had been feeding them and had coordinated a TNR program to come out here. She retired shortly after but I took over her duties (with the cats I mean, not as apartment manager). I feed them daily and a few have come to trust me. A big black DLH is the most sociable. He gets mats quite often and lets me brush him and cut the mats out. He is mostly friendly with select people but he refuses to be kept inside. I've tried it with disastrous and very noisy results. So I just keep an eye out for him and make sure he has a full belly. My goal with these cats is to get as many off the streets and into good homes as possible. Some are just truly 100% feral though and trust no one. Even after years of feeding them, a few of the cats still won't let me within 5 feet of them.
Of course the TNR program helps a lot in keeping the population under control, but some slip through the cracks and sometimes either pregnant cats or orphan kittens show up. I always try to intervene if possible so at the very least the babies grow up to be sociable and adoptable.
I've fostered three litters of kittens this year so far. One was a litter of three born outside in April. (I may or may not have one of them next to me right now. :p) The mother accepted being brought indoors and let me handle her kittens. All was well until they were about 3 weeks old, and then she was just done with them. I bottle fed them for a bit before they started on solid foods. I found them homes (including the mother) but one ended up coming back to me. I feel it was meant to be though. <3
Most recently I took on another litter of three found alone by the dumpster at roughly 4 weeks old with their eyes crusted shut from infection. I got them care, raised them, and adopted out the two females but I was devastated when the male (my favorite) suddenly died. I have no idea why. He seemed a little "off" one evening, I was planning to schedule a vet appointment in the morning, but he was gone when I woke up. :( That's the first time that's happened to me and I really was just heartbroken. I named him Theodore and found a place to bury him that I go visit. He was such a brave, sassy little guy, the first to explore somewhere new, never hid from anything. I hope it counts that he at least got spend his short little life inside and loved.

I'm planning on moving in the next few months and I feel so anxious about leaving the cats. Unless another tenant at this complex wants to take over I think I'll be visiting to still feed these guys every day. It's crazy how attached I am to them all, even the ones who never come near me. It's important to me that every single one of these cats, whether they know what a real home is or not, whether they ever accept a human's touch, are still loved and cared for.


P.S. Sorry for the novel!!!
P.P.S. My phone is being fussy but I'll edit later with pictures.
 
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mani

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Asteria Asteria long posts are absolutely fine when they're relevant and yours certainly is! It's wonderful to read your story.
Thank you for all you do.
Badge awarded!
 

purrs123

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I have been helping ferals since Feb. when I discovered a colony about a mile or so from my house. I then found two women who are now my friends who were working to TNR the colony and also trying to find homes for as many as possible.

I am disabled by chronic illness so I am very limited in what I can do. I tried helping with the physical aspects....feeding & watering, taking head counts and photos, trapping and transporting the cats, etc. It was too much for me. But what I do now is assist my two friends by doing as much online work that I can to find barn homes or garden homes or more volunteers to help out.
Monica's kitten.jpg
laredo cat 2 female kitten A.jpg
laredo cat 4 female.jpg


We were eventually successful in TNRing and actually finding barn homes for all 11 cats in that first colony. I have since found homes for ...well, I've lost count of how many cats. :) Through word of mouth, people keep contacting my friends and we keep discovering colony after colony of ferals. It's a really sad situation. There seems to be no end in sight, but we keep trying to help as many as we can.

I also advocate for TNR and whenever possible rehoming into barn or garden homes. I talk to people about it when it comes up, I'll post on blogs or reply to articles. I always stick up for the cats.

I don't have any ferals of my own that I take care of because I don't have a safe place for them to live (too many coyotes and cars around here). But I do what I can online and in other ways.
 
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