Korea - Need Advice For Our 3 Ferals

[no-good-deed-unpunished]

Hi All,

I apologize for the rather long post but I need some advice. I care for 3 ferals who come to their perch outside the window every morning and evening for food/water and of course treats ranging from chicken to tuna, they are totally spoiled. After four years I can touch them, if I do so very slowly and carefully, but I have no illusions, they are feral and would open up my wrist in a heartbeat if I moved too fast and scared them. A couple of close calls taught me a healthy respect.

My wife and I (mostly me) have cared for them for about four years and know that one is the mother (Sweetie) and one is her kitten (Bambles - now grown) and there is a male (named Charlie, for his Chaplin mustache) who we think is the actual father but we have no proof. Amazingly, we caught them all a few years ago and had them all neutered/spayed. There were originally three kittens but only one survived to full adulthood. It wasn't Sweetie's fault because she was and still is an amazing mother. When I first fed them I would toss out some food in a plastic baggie and she would pick it up and run off with it while Charlie stayed to eat from another baggie (they later learned to climb up on top of A/C unit outside window). When Sweetie eventually showed up to eat with her kittens, we figured out that she had been feeding them before eating herself. She still does this for her one remaining kitten (Bambles) even though she is now fully grown.

The three of them are a tight family unit and they spend about 90% of their time together. It's a good area for cats (with the steady food supply we provide) because it is a quiet residential neighborhood that backs right onto a mountain that is a nature reserve. This is South Korea and it gets 'very' cold for six months so I bought/built them outdoor condos and filled them with special straw that we researched and ordered from the agricultural area in the south. It doesn't get moldy and I change it out every 4 months and in winter I attach homemade plastic doors to their condos to let them in but keep the cold out. I know they use them because we see them come out in the morning and I have an outdoor cam so I have pictures.

Here's the problem - we have to move from our apartment soon. We REALLY don't want to move and we have tried everything to avoid it but it is complicated, we really tried everything. We had been living on a special foreigner-apartment-government deal which allowed us to pay low rent for where we live in Seoul. Problem was, I got serious cancer 2 years ago (oral, stage 4) and had to quit my job and the apartment deal was linked to that. It was impossible to find just the right situation again. However, even if we pay the full going rate (3x what we currently pay) we still couldn't stay in this particular apartment as it is tied to the foreigner/apartment/government deal. I walked around endlessly over recent months and there is no other apartment in this complex where the cats could access a safe eating area and not be in full view of neighbors walking by all the time (which would certainly generate complaints) and nowhere else that their condos could be put without causing a similar problem - even if there was someone who would be willing to take over feeding them. I have thought about it over and over again. People would likely be worried about their own residential status and not want to jeopardize it for wild cats they don't know.

I am, amazingly and thankfully, 100% cancer free after radiation & chemo (lots of both and 2 yrs of recovery) - none can be detected. Treatment and recovery was really rough but I can't complain. So, assuming that I am around for a good while (or if not, in either case) - what do I do with our kitties when we move, which is about two months away?

Option one: I can't just up-sticks and leave them because, nature reserve or no, it's not like there's a buffet line waiting up there on the mountain and no one around here is going to feed and water them as we have. There are kind people around, I just can't see anyone allowing the condos to stay and providing daily food in an area that wouldn't draw the attention of busybodies who we know live around here. It's really sad but there's someone like that everywhere in the world. We have been very lucky because of our very specific ground floor apartment location, out of the flow of foot and vehicle traffic and located such that their occasional meowing (and occasional LOUD yelling to chase away interlopers) does not disturb anyone to the point of complaint. The apartment management has been great about turning a blind eye to the cats and the shelters but they 'will' remove them when we go. So - no food and no shelter, right as we head into a harsh winter. I can't just leave them like that. They raise a fuss if I am an hour late so I can't imagine what they would do if we left. The sustained noise may draw management along with pest control :-( When I first started taking care of the tiny mother she was a real mess and she looked absolutely terrible but with clean water and good food every day and nothing more than just that, all three look really healthy and they behave like they are healthy and happy. How do I just up and take that away? I should of course have thought of some of these things before I got started four years ago but when face with a tiny, hungry, crying little cat in winter - how could I not feed it?

Option two: We have to move south by about 20 miles I'm guessing, further out of Seoul because it is way too expensive to continue to live where we do without the special foreigner-apartment deal we had. We'll be moving somewhere that is fairly rural, not like a concrete jungle, so there's at least that. So, we trap them and take them with us, assuming we can catch all three again. The problem (one of numerous) is, how to keep them for at least a month so that they understand (hopefully) that their home has moved and that this is the new food source? Keep them in a garage in a large cage built for purpose? Outdoor cage variation? Like a walk in aviary sort of deal? It may cost me $1000 to have it built (2x4's and chicken wire?) but it's only money, we have no kids and we already spent many thousands on all the ferals and other rescues (cats and dogs) over the years. A couple grand more is just another big drop in the bucket. Will they take to this? Will they learn and navigate a new rural neighborhood if we provide warm, dry shelter and food/water as we have done up to now? or, will it just be very bad no matter what we do?

Option three: I hate even thinking this, let alone writing it, but I have to, because I truly care for these three little souls - and that is to trap them and have them humanely euthanized. We have given them four years of a really good life, not just lonely survival. They have had care and comfort and companionship. How many feral cats in South Korea will ever have a week of full tummies and comfort and companionship, let alone four years of it? The three of them lay in the sun in a big pile and they cuddle each other right outside my window, all summer long and they sleep together in their condos in the winter, they are almost always together. If they are again on their own their health will rapidly decline and they will probably slowly starve to death. I feel like it would be kinder, despite the unavoidably scary capture, to give them a peaceful passing than to abandon them to the elements. The kitten (Bambles) has her mother but she was never without food a day in her life and I don't know if she could hunt even assuming she could find things to hunt. I'm really not convinced that any cats (feral or no) automagically become Rambo-cats in the absence of food and are suddenly able to hunt enough to live on.

I apologize for the long post, it's an emotional situation for me, I am very attached to these guys. Even if they were't too feral, we have six indoor cats (all rescues) and a rescue Jindo so we are totally full up inside. I am hoping someone will really surprise me and tell me "oh I have decades of experience with this and rest assured they'll be just fine and they'll find a new food source and they'll find a way to stay together as a family unit". But I know nature is rarely that kind. How are three cats going to find enough to sustain three cats every day and where will they even find water without crossing a busy road half a mile away? I suspect that at best, they will be forced to go separate ways and/or compete for food, if they can even find any. The thought of this breaks my heart. Winter is only a couple of months away and the thought of just abandoning these guys is terrible. I would appreciate any advice you can give me.

Many thanks,

Martin

 

[Furballsmom]

Hello! Oh my goodness, congrats from the bottom of my heart for being cancer free!!! ...and for caring for these babies!

Take them with you, absolutely. They will need at least two or three months in an enclosed, contained area, and they will adapt.

This whole thread will be useful for you, but norachan's posts in particular

Advise On Moving Feral Colony

 

[no-good-deed-unpunished]

Thanks Furballsmom for the advice and details! I will read through that in detail in the morning. --martin

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh, and by the way, something irresistibly stinky for the trapping - often Kentucky Fried Chicken will work where nothing else will especially for cats who've gotten wise to "The Trap" and some Sapporo or a craft beer for you while you go through this adventure

 

[mani]

N no-good-deed-unpunished I've read your story and wanted to thank you for all you've done for these three. I'm pretty sure that, in terms of what to do, our members will say to take them with you. If that's doable, then I'm certainly one of them.

 

[no-good-deed-unpunished]

Thanks all for the encouragement and advice, there are some helpful ideas in the link sent. Most importantly is the encouragement that relocating ferals can work because either of the other two options would have broken my heart, and been none too good for them. It'll be a few months but I will update you.
Many thanks --martin

good dad Charlie in the middle, almost always a pillow for mom and baby :-)

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[walli]

Keep posting if you need help through the process.
It is very important that they are contained for awhile after you move
they will try and get back to their old home no matter how far!

I moved one time not too far, and my cat had gone missing, my husband found him at the old house! they will try even if it's very far, I'm not sure if 2-3 months that Furballsmom quoted was a typo, was it 2-3 weeks?

 

[Furballsmom]

2-3 months , they need time to really acclimate, and get used to all the new smells, sounds, even the taste of the water and for the new place to stop being new and become home.

 

[Furballsmom]

So, I just saw another member mention that cats who are moved to a new location need six weeks to acclimate...with that said, three months would definitely be on the seriously l-o-n-g side of things timewise. However, the thing of it is, I don't know of any way to test to find out when the cats are comfortable enough to be content.

 

[Leomc123]

If you are able to, take them with you to your new location. If the property allows for it, build them a cat run for them to live in if possible. I am glad you are cancer free and that you have taken the time to look after these cats as if they are your own.

Euthanasia wouldnt be fair to them, considering that they are still healthy.

I would take them with me by trapping them.

 

[Avery]

Congratulations on the cancer-free outcome. Wonderful. And thank you, thank you, thank you for taking such great care of these three cats. Unless you have a good local no-kill rescue that could find these cats a barn home, and unless you are 100% sure one of your neighbors would make the commitment to take care of them, yes, you need to take them with you and it is possible! There are a number of people on this site who have done this and you can get good advice and support. If you can build a catio outside your new home, that would be terrific. Good luck--we are all rooting for you!