I am a tenant and a feral cat care giver. Landlord gave notice to move, I have to move feral cat colony!

[SweetLittleKitty]

Hello. I have a very good land lord, but he has given me more than three month's notice to occupy the cabin I rent so he can remodel it and sell the property. I have been caring for a feral cat family with his full knowledge and permission for about eight months and this was totally unexpected. If I had known I would have to move I probably would have domesticated the kittens and adopted them out. Instead, I have TNR'd them, got them rabies shots, and allowed them to live freely in the woods/forest where I live. I have a shelter on my porch for them where they sleep and eat. We have had severe storms here so it was necessary to provide them with good shelter including heating pads and a heated cat house and also a heat lamp. They have been doing very well. I am at a loss as to who I might contact to help me with this? It is going to be hard enough to move myself on a fixed income and without a vehicle (I take public transportation) and now it is going to be doubly hard. I do not think it is an option to keep them here as they will continue to come to the porch for food and shelter and it would be a traumatic experience just to abandon them and leave them to fend for themslves and find new food and shelter. I just can't do this. Does anyone have any good ideas???

 

[maggie101]

Can you keep them in your garage? My friend that rescues has a catio outside with a tunnel attached to the garage and uses chicken coop wires to keep them in her yard. All the litter boxes and food inside

 

[Maria Bayote]

Yes it is sad to leave them behind and fend for themselves, especially now that they have depended on you for food and water.

Do you have any friends who can help you with the move? You can borrow vehicle and pet cages so you can bring them to your new area. However, during the first several weeks at a new place they should also be contained first or else they could try to look for their old territory.

 

[Jcatbird]

I don’t know where you live but if you are in the states, there may be rescue groups that would help. Do you know where you are moving to? If it is a house with a yard/porch/garage, you may still be able to socialize some to be adopted. Many have faced similar situations and our hearts are with you. Start by doing a Google search and typing in the place you live with the words, feral stray cat rescue. Facebook has some cat groups that might help and the Next door site might be a resource. If the cabin has neighbors, maybe someone else can help to lead the cats to their area for feeding and shelter? Please do keep us updated. I am sure that others will have more ideas.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

Yes it is sad to leave them behind and fend for themselves, especially now that they have depended on you for food and water.

Do you have any friends who can help you with the move? You can borrow vehicle and pet cages so you can bring them to your new area. However, during the first several weeks at a new place they should also be contained first or else they could try to look for their old territory.

I have thought a one bedroom or a two bedroom to keep them inside as an option. But that would be probably more expensive than I can manage, although if I could, I would make a sacrifice financially for them. But I am beginning to re-consider just trying to domesticate them and adopt them. The kittens are 8 months old now. I wanted to keep them together as a family on their native territory, and when I TNRd the kittens they cried incessantly until I released them to their family, so I did not stick with my original plan to domesticate and adopt. But that is probably what I am going to have to do now. I will keep one of the fathers (he's not feral, just a Tom). The other father is a bonded pair with the mother, but that father is feral. The mama is not. She is pure love. But she does NOT want to be inside my cabin.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

I don’t know where you live but if you are in the states, there may be rescue groups that would help. Do you know where you are moving to? If it is a house with a yard/porch/garage, you may still be able to socialize some to be adopted. Many have faced similar situations and our hearts are with you. Start by doing a Google search and typing in the place you live with the words, feral stray cat rescue. Facebook has some cat groups that might help and the Next door site might be a resource. If the cabin has neighbors, maybe someone else can help to lead the cats to their area for feeding and shelter? Please do keep us updated. I am sure that others will have more ideas.

Most of the neighbors here are dog lovers, but there actually is one neighbor who is a likely candidate to bring the cats to their property near by. However there are two problems with this idea- one is that the property is so close that the cats would probably return to this property. The second is that I am in dispute with the male owner of the property (not so much his common law wife) because he thinks I tried to keep one of his cats that came here to feed with the kittens. He is a real jerk and I am sending him a cease and desist on Monday. But if that dispute resolves, and his common law wife is willing to care for the cats, I suppose that is an option. Best to have options to choose from. Thanks for reminding me of it.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

Yes it is sad to leave them behind and fend for themselves, especially now that they have depended on you for food and water.

Do you have any friends who can help you with the move? You can borrow vehicle and pet cages so you can bring them to your new area. However, during the first several weeks at a new place they should also be contained first or else they could try to look for their old territory.

I have not moved yet and I do not know what kind of living arrangements I will have. Probably not a garage. I am on a fixed income and generally have to limit my living arrangements to studios and cabins, etc. I am a tenant, not a property owner. I am leaning toward domesticating the 8 month old kittens if I can and finding them homes. It will be work, but it seems like it will be the easiest work compared to up rooting the entire family and finding a new territory for them. It would be hard on them as well to adapt, as a family to a new territory, and they might attempt to migrate back home here.

 

[poolcat]

Three months doesn't sound like enough time to socialize 8-month old feral kittens, then there would still be the mother and fathers to worry about. Seems like convincing the cat-friendly neighbor to take over their care might be the easiest option for everyone involved--except her, of course! Offering to provide your neighbor with cat food for a while might help. Hopefully she'd get attached to them and be a responsible caregiver.

If you stopped feeding them and she started at the same time, it probably wouldn't take long for the cats to figure things out. Start soon, and you'll still be around to lead the kitties to their new feeding spot until they learn where it is. Are you close enough to the neighbor that sounds made at one place can be heard at the other? If so, start making a noise (bang a metal food dish, maybe) when you put their food out. Then the neighbor could do the same when she takes over.

If the neighbor ends up taking over, better let your current landlord know what your plan is, so he doesn't put food out for them and get the cats confused.

 

[fionasmom]

I had a situation where a feral litter was born nextdoor, under the house. The neighbor was not upset about it, but wanted them out and I was able to relocate them to my property by slowly moving their feeding stations. The one who is still outside never returns to the neighbor's house as she knows where her food is. If you are going to try that idea, you probably have to start now.

My avatar was one of those kittens. When I TNRed her and her sisters, they were all seemingly wild ferals and at the time I had no choice but to release them onto my property. They were about 5 months old at the time and lived outside until they were about a year and a half at which point Lily had become curious about the house and I managed to bring her in, along with her sister. So don't give up because of their age.

Feral Friends Network® Connect

You might try this website to make contact with feral cat rescuers in your area. I am going to be honest, I have never had any success with it, including a response, but others have had great success. It probably depends on who you manage to contact; I don't think that ACA could even come close to checking in with all these people to make sure that they still help with ferals.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

Three months doesn't sound like enough time to socialize 8-month old feral kittens, then there would still be the mother and fathers to worry about. Seems like convincing the cat-friendly neighbor to take over their care might be the easiest option for everyone involved--except her, of course! Offering to provide your neighbor with cat food for a while might help. Hopefully she'd get attached to them and be a responsible caregiver.

If you stopped feeding them and she started at the same time, it probably wouldn't take long for the cats to figure things out. Start soon, and you'll still be around to lead the kitties to their new feeding spot until they learn where it is. Are you close enough to the neighbor that sounds made at one place can be heard at the other? If so, start making a noise (bang a metal food dish, maybe) when you put their food out. Then the neighbor could do the same when she takes over.

If the neighbor ends up taking over, better let your current landlord know what your plan is, so he doesn't put food out for them and get the cats confused.

The Humane Society in the County I live in provides half a month's food supply, and I suppose that would continue wherever they go. But I don't really feel like this is a safe neighborhood for cats in general, for reasons I won't get into here- so I would actually choose the neighbor situation as a last resort. I think three months is enough to work on domesticating the kittens. I am going to start right away. There are two father cats- one is not feral, he is just a Tom (now neutered). I am keeping him. He has had a hard life until the last eight months. He comes and goes freely through my kitty door and sleeps here at night. The other father is feral, but he is a bonded pair with the mother. Mama kitty is so sweet and pure love, and she is not feral! I might keep those two, because Mama kitty will be easy to contain, and the other father cat will be more comfortably contained with her, until I move (contained in a kennel closer to moving time).

 

[Meowmee]

The Humane Society in the County I live in provides half a month's food supply, and I suppose that would continue wherever they go. But I don't really feel like this is a safe neighborhood for cats in general, for reasons I won't get into here- so I would actually choose the neighbor situation as a last resort. I think three months is enough to work on domesticating the kittens. I am going to start right away. There are two father cats- one is not feral, he is just a Tom (now neutered). I am keeping him. He has had a hard life until the last eight months. He comes and goes freely through my kitty door and sleeps here at night. The other father is feral, but he is a bonded pair with the mother. Mama kitty is so sweet and pure love, and she is not feral! I might keep those two, because Mama kitty will be easy to contain, and the other father cat will be more comfortably contained with her, until I move (contained in a kennel closer to moving time).

That sounds like a good plan, keep the adults and tame the kittens for adoption. Are they touchable at all? You need to get them inside to do it. Caging or in a small room. Are there any rescues who might be able to help?

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

Sierra Wildlife Rescue has loaned me a trap. I have a fairly large kennel I can keep each kitten I trap in. I'll work with them while they are in the kennel. No, they are not touchable at all. Most of the time they still run in terror when I go out to the porch where they are sheltered, but sometimes they won't run and will just sit and stare at me for a few seconds. They are definitely "familiar" with me by now, so even though I know trapping is terrible and traumatic, once I get them inside in the kennel and I start working with them they won't be working with a total stranger.

 

[Maria Bayote]

I have thought a one bedroom or a two bedroom to keep them inside as an option. But that would be probably more expensive than I can manage, although if I could, I would make a sacrifice financially for them. But I am beginning to re-consider just trying to domesticate them and adopt them. The kittens are 8 months old now. I wanted to keep them together as a family on their native territory, and when I TNRd the kittens they cried incessantly until I released them to their family, so I did not stick with my original plan to domesticate and adopt. But that is probably what I am going to have to do now. I will keep one of the fathers (he's not feral, just a Tom). The other father is a bonded pair with the mother, but that father is feral. The mama is not. She is pure love. But she does NOT want to be inside my cabin.

You are one of a kind. Thank you for doing this under very limited resources.

 

[Meowmee]

Sierra Wildlife Rescue has loaned me a trap. I have a fairly large kennel I can keep each kitten I trap in. I'll work with them while they are in the kennel. No, they are not touchable at all. Most of the time they still run in terror when I go out to the porch where they are sheltered, but sometimes they won't run and will just sit and stare at me for a few seconds. They are definitely "familiar" with me by now, so even though I know trapping is terrible and traumatic, once I get them inside in the kennel and I start working with them they won't be working with a total stranger.

I forgot to say if you can get them inside all together in a small room it may help and will hopefully go faster. The kittens.

 

[dahlia]

The animal shelter where I live has started a TNR program and they helped one person relocate a colony of 12 cats when the cats could no longer stay where they were at. They did all the transportation and provided the traps. Maybe there is some organization near you that could help in a similar way.

 

[wvcatguy]

I so understand your situation. My mom cared for anyone that visited her porch. She had cats that lived inside and threw that lived under the house. She had little shelters for the ones outside. The inside cats had mostly been ones abandoned when neighbors moved. She was such a good lady. The lousy landlord didn’t care for his vacant properties nearby and eventually, homeless set them on fire. He decided to demolish all the homes including my mom’s. She was very sick too. I worked as hard as I could to care for her & find a place.

I lost my mom in September. We’d gotten the house mostly emptied and I was trying to find homes for the cats. The landlord promised to notify me when the home was to be demolished but didn’t. I drove by seeing the house torn down. I attempted to rescue the cats but they’d scattered. Eventually I found I lost 2 in the demolition. Dear sweet angels. Fortunately the rest we’re hiding nearby. Over the weeks I caught some of the cats and found them homes. It took from October until the end of January but everyone has a home. I fed the strays twice a day until I could catch them. I was determined to save everyone I could. Mom would’ve wanted that. I now have 4 cats. One has always lived indoors & 3 very happy outdoor kitties. Mom is happy.

God forgive me for not saving these two angels.

 

[fionasmom]

W wvcatguy you saved all the ones you were able to against all odds. You aren't the one that God needs to forgive.

 

[SweetLittleKitty]

I so understand your situation. My mom cared for anyone that visited her porch. She had cats that lived inside and threw that lived under the house. She had little shelters for the ones outside. The inside cats had mostly been ones abandoned when neighbors moved. She was such a good lady. The lousy landlord didn’t care for his vacant properties nearby and eventually, homeless set them on fire. He decided to demolish all the homes including my mom’s. She was very sick too. I worked as hard as I could to care for her & find a place.

I lost my mom in September. We’d gotten the house mostly emptied and I was trying to find homes for the cats. The landlord promised to notify me when the home was to be demolished but didn’t. I drove by seeing the house torn down. I attempted to rescue the cats but they’d scattered. Eventually I found I lost 2 in the demolition. Dear sweet angels. Fortunately the rest we’re hiding nearby. Over the weeks I caught some of the cats and found them homes. It took from October until the end of January but everyone has a home. I fed the strays twice a day until I could catch them. I was determined to save everyone I could. Mom would’ve wanted that. I now have 4 cats. One has always lived indoors & 3 very happy outdoor kitties. Mom is happy.

God forgive me for not saving these two angels.

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Wow. That's quite a story! And I thought *I* had it bad. Well, the Humane Society has found a home for my ferals. It's quite a distance away, and unless I get transportation I will never see them again, which breaks my heart. But at least it does not snow where thy are going (it snows a LOT where I live in the mountains). They are supposed to move to their new location this Saturday, so I have five days to trap some or all of them so we can make as few trips to the new location as possible. If it takes two trips, I'll probably go on the second trip to check things out and see how they are doing. I know it's going to be hard on them, but I have done everything I can for them, and I know for certain I have given them a better life than they would have had if I did not intervene. I only hope it does not turn out that I find a place where I could bring them and I will have already surrendered them. On the selfish side, I'll be getting some sleep I need because I have been waking up at 4:40-5:30 am to feed them, and I'll spend less money that could go to the house instead of the cats. It seems to me money is always the problem and it is always the solution. I'll try to update when I can.

 

[maggie101]

drop trap size at DuckDuckGo

would a big trap help?

 

[Jcatbird]

Thank you for caring! I am short on time due to having to transport a cat for medical care but I can tell you that where there is a will and love, there is hope. I had to get a lot of cats socialized and to a better place and just kept trying. We do what we can. My heart is with you and the kitties.