I've been feeding stray(s), but don't know who's eating. Ideas?

[MimiBliss]

Hi everyone
I have one kitty (named Mimi of course!) and also have been leaving food out on my other porch for strays this past month after I noticed at least 6 strays cats in my area who I see often. The food is gone within hours every night, but whoever is coming to eat is super shy... as I've never caught them in the act or even heard them on my porch. Hm! If I peek out, all I see is a black tail scurrying away.

But, 4 out of 6 of my local strays have black tails: one gorgeous huge Tuxedo cat who seems like the dominant tomcat here, one huge solid black male cat (although he stays further down the street probably to steer clear of big Tux) and 2 small ones (I assumed females) with various black/white colors. I want to do my part getting them spayed-neutered-cared for. But I need to know who I've attracted every night.

If I go outside at night, I also see eye-shine from *some* kitty in the bushes watching me. Which is adorable.. but they are so shy, they run if I even move my legs like I'm walking off the porch. Can't get any closer.

Do you think a camera would work? If so, how can I place a camera outside without them being scared away (whoever it is is watches me like a secret hawk when I go out- they are very interested in the yummies I've been leaving)? What do I do from here? What would you do?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Welcome!!

Setting up a camera would work well - just set it somewhere so that it's pointing at the location where you place the food. They'll be fine with that

 

[tabbytom]

The food is gone within hours every night, but whoever is coming to eat is super shy... as I've never caught them in the act or even heard them on my porch. Hm! If I peek out, all I see is a black tail scurrying away.

and welcome to TCS!

Thank you for taking care and feeding the strays outside your house. Yes, a camera would be best for such situation as what Furballsmom mentioned as the camera is in stealth mode and not noticeable by the cats.

Many strays and feral cats are super illusive and easily freaked out be human presence and movements. You can mount one near the feeding ares protected from the elements and observe them with your phone at any time without them knowing that you are looking at them.

Do you have any other wild animals like dogs or raccoons? they could be the ones too as they scavenge for food in the night when there's no one around except maybe the raccoon are braver than the dogs or other wild animals.

 

[milktea]

We have a doorbell camera (Ring), as well as another outdoor Ring security camera hanging up high in the corner near our door looking out on our porch. My husband is very techie so he does all that himself.

Here’s a zoomed in picture of the porch and you can see the cats dropping by.

 

[Jcatbird]

Awww! Hello and welcome to you and the kitties!
I have worked with shy kitties too! I put a shirt with my scent on it near the food to let the kitties get my scent and then sat some distance away and let them get used to seeing me as they ate. I took pictures with my phone of each one to be able to better identify each one. You could try taking photos out a window too. I liked to sit with them as they are to become familiar but also to remove leftovers after they ate to prevent attracting other animals. You could start putting their food up closer to the Ring camera as well. A patio table or even chairs might help. Thank you for helping them! Spay and neuter will make survival much easier for them. I was even able to socialize ferals and get most adopted if that is something you are interested in, many here can help you through the process.

 

[MimiBliss]

Thank you so much to everyone who replied, and offered advice!

I don't have Ring or a stealthy kind of camera. I will buy one soon! That is such a great idea.

In the meantime, I was getting too curious to find out who the kitty was that I decided to quietly watch until almost 1am last night! And I finally saw him! It is BIG TUX!! I'm so happy because he's the one that sweetly followed behind me to the park one day and was keeping a close eye on me.

He is one gorgeous boy! My son saw him once and was scared because Big Tux is nearly the size of a medium dog. He has to weigh 15-20 lbs or more. And despite his huge size, he is still this shy and non-aggressive. Precious.

I'll keep reading on this forum to learn more, and help our big shy Tux...
Again, thank you again to all of you!

 

[tabbytom]

I don't have Ring or a stealthy kind of camera

What I meant is that a camera record in stealth mode as it is not moving at all and thence won't be noticed by the cat that it is filming him and not I don't meant to have a stealthy camera.

That is good news that you caught sight of the Tux. I'm sure he is checking you out to make sure you meant no harm to him. Keep up the good work and earn his trust.

Do keep us updated and feel free to ask any questions and we'll try our very best to help out.

 

[Furballsmom]

It is BIG TUX!!

awww, this is fantastic!!

 

[Jcatbird]

My biggest and most elusive feral is now asleep in my lap. Lol Keep doing what you are doing. It’s working! Love big Tux!

 

[vyger]

There are a lot of wild and not so wild animals that like to eat cat food. It is probably good that it is all disappearing quickly otherwise the leftovers would draw other wildlife in. One of the visitors that is common here is magpie's. They will often "tag team" the cats to get at the food before the cats get it all. One will hop around and draw the attention while the other moves in on the food from the other direction.

It takes a while usually for cats to start getting less timid. They will watch and learn. I don't know if you are interested in making friends with these guy or are happy just giving them food. If you want to make friends you can try showing them that you are a person that can be trusted. A way to do that would be to take your inside cat with a leash and harness and when the strays are watching just sit for a while with your cat where the food is. Seeing another cat with you and not dying from it will help them to understand you are OK and they don't have to be so on guard.

 

[Meowmee]

Hi everyone
I have one kitty (named Mimi of course!) and also have been leaving food out on my other porch for strays this past month after I noticed at least 6 strays cats in my area who I see often. The food is gone within hours every night, but whoever is coming to eat is super shy... as I've never caught them in the act or even heard them on my porch. Hm! If I peek out, all I see is a black tail scurrying away.

But, 4 out of 6 of my local strays have black tails: one gorgeous huge Tuxedo cat who seems like the dominant tomcat here, one huge solid black male cat (although he stays further down the street probably to steer clear of big Tux) and 2 small ones (I assumed females) with various black/white colors. I want to do my part getting them spayed-neutered-cared for. But I need to know who I've attracted every night.

If I go outside at night, I also see eye-shine from *some* kitty in the bushes watching me. Which is adorable.. but they are so shy, they run if I even move my legs like I'm walking off the porch. Can't get any closer.

Do you think a camera would work? If so, how can I place a camera outside without them being scared away (whoever it is is watches me like a secret hawk when I go out- they are very interested in the yummies I've been leaving)? What do I do from here? What would you do?

I set up blink cams to watch my outdoor cats. It is not foolproof because they don't always trigger it and it only records for a few seconds but I do get a lot of vids of them and other critter etc. I feed in three areas close to the house so they are set up on the house. I had a copcam too which was pretty good for longer videos but I lost it. The blink system works on wifi and gives you alerts etc and stores videos in a cloud which you can view and save on your phone. I need some more near my farther away shelters to see if anyone is using them. They have pretty good phone help as well. They run on lithium batteries so no wires etc.

 

[moxiewild]

We have not ever been in the physical presence of most of our ~16 cat colony at our house, other than when they were TNR’d. We very rarely even spot them through windows. They are very elusive, and we’ve had virtually no opportunity to get them used to us in 2+ years.

So, we started using cameras to keep an eye on them. Now we use cameras at our other colonies too because it’s turned out to be such a useful tool!

We use game cameras on the ground (mostly, but not always), and then also have a regular security camera up high on our front and back porch. Most of these can be linked to phones and send you notifications when movement is detected so you can watch in real time.

In fact, today on Nextdoor someone posted about a cat that had been killed by a car in our neighborhood, and his description of the poor cat sounded just like one of our boys, Bullseye (brown and white, marbled striping, long haired).

Right as I was replying to the post to ask for further detail, I got a notification that someone was on our porch.

It wasn’t Bullseye’s usual time to show up, nor was it the feeding station he usually goes to, so I almost didn’t even bother to look - but lo and behold, there was our little pile of floof -

It would have been nearly impossible to find out in any sort of timely manner without our cameras (the carcass had mysteriously disappeared) due to the elusiveness of this specific colony, so the instant relief was very welcome.

If you stick with caring for these kitties, rest assured that a camera like this will be a huge asset!

Our cameras have allowed us to keep track of colony dynamics, injuries, illness, kittens, unneutered newcomers (we have the ground camera above labeled “ball cam” because it makes intact males VERY easy to spot ), aggressive newcomers, threats from wildlife and our stupid neighbor’s dogs (to clarify - it is not the dogs who are stupid ), ferals who go missing or suddenly return, pregnant females, suspicious/nosey people, and they’ve even helped to recover 3 lost pets and contributed to sightings for others. They’ve been an incredible investment for us!

They can be pretty affordable too! So far we’ve not spent over ~$60 and we haven’t had issues in about two years.

Also, I know raccoons are out whenever our bowls empty rapidly, so that’s another thing cameras help to verify!

We’re right on the cusp of baby season, so this is about the time activity will increase for wildlife.

Regularly feeding wildlife is harmful for them, and presents a risk to the cats, you, and potentially other people. Maintaining a healthy fear of humans is vital to their safety and survival, so boundaries here are important. If wildlife is coming to feed, you’ll want to pick up the bowls at night.

Thank you so much for being so responsible and compassionate with these kitties!