I'm hoping someone can give me advice on this situation.
I have 3 rescued born-feral kittens now living with us and a wonderful part of our family, plus I am feeding and outdoor sheltering their mom Patience, who is TNR'd and not exactly tame, but making progress. Folks in a house down the road feed feral and stray cats but do not TNR or otherwise care for them; I am pretty sure one of "their" toms is the father of our kittens (I made some previous posts about this).
So the latest situation is one of their strays (I don't think he is actually feral) has started hanging around our yard and front door. He (I assume as he's a ginger) is obviously sick, nasal discharge, runny eyes, staring coat, getting thinner by they day despite I'm sure they feed him. I feel terribly sorry for him, he tries to come up to me and ask for help, and part of me wants to feed him and try to care for him. But, my 3 lovely kittens go outside frequently to play/poop, and mama Patience is mostly outside though now comes inside to eat and have some love. They all had their shots (rabies, FHV and distemper) when I got them spayed/neutered, but I am terribly worried they will catch something awful from this cat and I don't want to encourage him to come here.
I have tried knocking on the peoples' door to urge them to take the ginger cat to the vet but no one answers, and I work long hours so it is difficult to find a time when they are home. If I cannot contact them my options now seem to be to try to catch him and get him to the vet, likely a difficult and expensive prospect I can't afford, or call animal control which would likely mean him being put down. He is not an attractive cat but I hate to see him suffer; and worse be a threat to my cats. If I don't intervene he may die, and then I would feel terrible for not helping.
So, any advice ...
I have 3 rescued born-feral kittens now living with us and a wonderful part of our family, plus I am feeding and outdoor sheltering their mom Patience, who is TNR'd and not exactly tame, but making progress. Folks in a house down the road feed feral and stray cats but do not TNR or otherwise care for them; I am pretty sure one of "their" toms is the father of our kittens (I made some previous posts about this).
So the latest situation is one of their strays (I don't think he is actually feral) has started hanging around our yard and front door. He (I assume as he's a ginger) is obviously sick, nasal discharge, runny eyes, staring coat, getting thinner by they day despite I'm sure they feed him. I feel terribly sorry for him, he tries to come up to me and ask for help, and part of me wants to feed him and try to care for him. But, my 3 lovely kittens go outside frequently to play/poop, and mama Patience is mostly outside though now comes inside to eat and have some love. They all had their shots (rabies, FHV and distemper) when I got them spayed/neutered, but I am terribly worried they will catch something awful from this cat and I don't want to encourage him to come here.
I have tried knocking on the peoples' door to urge them to take the ginger cat to the vet but no one answers, and I work long hours so it is difficult to find a time when they are home. If I cannot contact them my options now seem to be to try to catch him and get him to the vet, likely a difficult and expensive prospect I can't afford, or call animal control which would likely mean him being put down. He is not an attractive cat but I hate to see him suffer; and worse be a threat to my cats. If I don't intervene he may die, and then I would feel terrible for not helping.
So, any advice ...