I think I'm out of the feral business for awhile.There's a bunch of babies here I would love to save, but nobody can take them. Maybe I could send you a couple? That would take you mind off of her.
I know that feeling. I do believe you have helped. I always think of that story of the guy throwing the starfish back in the ocean.I think I'm out of the feral business for awhile.
This was stressful to me and I'm not feeling much reward. I keep thinking terrible things like "What if she gets hit by a car, or a dog kills her, or...or..or..." A lot of people spent a lot of time and energy on her (particularly the wonderful shelter people), and I keep thinking "If something happens to her now, what was the point?"
Plus, the middle of last week, I heard a cat in heat over at the apartments crying for a mate. It's just endless.
I know I need to stop worrying. There's nothing else I can do.
On the good side, her kittens will all get homes as will the other little kitten who I dropped off when I picked up Kit Kit. OK, I'm trying to be positive.
The method I used for making friends with wild ones, if they get to the point that they don't flee at first sight, --- I used something like fresh chicken in small pieces and get up wind of the cat. This is important, they need to smell you and the food as well as see you. So they can smell that you have something interesting. Get as close as you can without them running and show them the food and place a small piece of it on the ground and then walk away. Never give them enough to fill up on, just enough to make them want more. Maybe do it a second time if they take the first one. Then leave them alone to think about it. Repeat this for several days or weeks if necessary and gradually they will loose their fear of you. They will begin to associate you with good stuff to eat. Let them come to you, the distance between you will get smaller until they will finally take it from your hand. If they take it from your hand they can have all they want to eat but if you put it on the ground that is all they get. They will figure that out pretty quickly.I'd like some advice from the feral experts about the stray/feral cats on my property, and one cat in particular.
There are multiple ferals which frequently pass through my large backyard, and a few litters of kittens are born each year. There is a large, probably 150-200 unit, apartment complex built behind my back fence on what used to be a forest (circa 2002), and a 30-50 unit condominium complex on the other side of the fence on what used to be an open field (circa 2005). With that many transient tenants, the stray/feral cat population is never ending.
I have no interest, nor the finances, in managing a feral colony on my property. To some extent, they are preventing me from vegetable gardening because of finding cat poop in the tilled soil. Cat poop may be natural and organic, but it's not the kind of organic I want to grow vegetables in. That makes them nuisance animals. I'm not sure there is a long-term solution since there are always going to beidiotspeople who believe in letting their cats roam but don't believe in spaying/neutering (or the cats just get lost when people are moving in or out). I'd appreciate any ideas, but over the last multiple years, have just pretty much accepted roaming cats as a given.
The other question is that there is this one cat who sits in my yard and watches me play fetch with my dog. It sits in the shadows and watches when I take my senior cat out for a few minutes of sunshine, and I see the cat sitting outside the bedroom window looking at the feral kitten we trapped in my office warehouse in January and I adopted early February. Essentially this one cat seems tamer than the all the other cats who run and scatter. It does run if I approach it.
The only attraction to my yard I can figure is that I keep a 5 gallon bucket of rainwater for the one planter I keep. I've seen this tamer cat drinking from it, but none of the other ferals are brave enough (at least not during the day).
Sorry for the long story, but I'm considering trapping this one friendlier feral and having it spayed/neutered and vaccinated. I'd be happy to feed this one cat as an outdoor kitty, but I do not want to feed the entire colony of community cats. Should I do that, or just leave things as they are?
Any advice would be appreciated.
I know that the older they are, the harder or at least the more "iffy" they are to fully socialize. The cat runs over the fence every time I have called "kitty, kitty" or tried approaching it. It comes back out when I walk away from it. When I totally ignore it, it sits and watches me. We have exchanged blinks through the bedroom window.
I'm probably still on the foster list with the local Humane/ASPCA shelter. My orange and white tabby brothers were a failed foster....I adopted them after 2 weeks when they were about 8 months old. That shelter doesn't take non-owned cats.
I will call the County shelter for a contact from the feral group. And no, I won't call animal control. I've been watching cats and not gardening for several years now. I don't want an army of wild cats on my property, but I don't want any of them killed either. Most of the ferals are just "passing through" my yard, not hanging out like the one cat. My dog chases them over the fence. He doesn't chase cats that don't run...like this tamer one.
They don't think they are being irresponsible. I think it's a cultural thing. I have had long conversations with a couple of Hispanic friends who let their pets run free and don't spay/neuter. I've asked why. They are traditional Roman Catholic and don't believe in birth control, including for their pets. It's against their religion. Letting cats/dogs be indoor/outdoor is "natural and healthy" for the pet and "cruel" to make the pet live confined indoors its whole life. They're raising their pets the same way "most people" in Mexico raise them, and no one will convince them that pet over population is that big a deal. The more the merrier! Ole'!
I don't want to sound racist like Donald Trump saying, "All feral cats come from The Mexicans! Build a wall!!!" LOL Not saying that at all. But regardless of any demographic group, people who let their cats run without being spayed or neutered are following a cultural family tradition which is ingrained and they believe it is right. The only people I ever talked to face to face about it happened to be from Mexico, so I'll shut up now before I hijack my own thread.
Maybe I should just erase the last paragraph. Political humor is usually not well received...especially this year.
Anyway, thank you again. I'll try calling the county shelter for advice and a feral group contact. I know they are overloaded with kitten/puppy season.
Don't throw the food in their direction, they think your being aggressive towards them. Figure out where the wind is coming from and then with the wind at your back, so they can smell you and the food, get low like on your knees and hold your hand out towards them and place the food on the ground. Then back up and walk away a little. At the very least they will move forward to see what you left.Kit Kit was out in the back corner of my yard, close to the apartments, when I got home from work today. 16 days she disappeared. I'm so relieved that she is still alive. I walked out slowly and tossed some kibble in her direction, but she ran away.
This little feral cat is going to worry me to death, and she isn't even my cat.
I don't have a camera. The last couple times I bought batteries for my old Nikon, they wouldn't hold a charge so I gave up. I also live in the Stone Age and only have a flip phone.I'm glad she came back! What does Kit Kit look like? Do you have any pictures? My childhood female outdoor cats all disappeared years before my male cats did, I don't know why.