Unexpectedly Having to Feed Feral Cats in Neighborhood

[moxiewild]

Unfortunately, there has been some conflict in the neighborhood about the feeding of feral cats. Especially about a larger colony that has been maintained by someone for years who does TNR and feeds them daily. I spoke to this person once and she told me people had threatened her and tried to poison the cats, etc. But she still continued to care for them. She has done a great job of doing TNR which has kept the number of cats from increasing and the cats are fairly healthy, too. My husband is expressing concern about the cats he sees in the yard (at feeding time) and is concerned about the neighbor's reaction about all this. So far no one has said anything but it is concerning.

I'm feeling overwhelmed about all this. The last time I TNR'ed was several years ago and it was for two cats and the cost was minimal. Now the person I'm working with wants to start with six traps and there is a fee of $25 for each. Plus, I don't know if any of the females are pregnant and I don't want to risk losing them. Isn't it risky to have a pregnant cat spayed? I just don't feel right about doing that. But I know that once you take them in, they just abort them and that's the way it is. And then they have to be let go after their surgery. I wish there was a better solution. I just worry about them out there.... :-(

Is there a chance of bringing your feral in the backyard inside so that you could feed the cats in the back? The front yard unfortunately makes feeding them very conspicuous to outsiders.

Or, do you have a garage?

We recently cracked our garage door and now the cats can make themselves more scarce (we have an HOA to be mindful of).

Do you have any shrubbery in front of your house? Bushes also work well for cover. We’re currently saving up to plant some along the sides of our house to hide shelters and feeding stations.

Do you have to use the group’s traps? Most city/county animal control/care facilities will lend traps for free or for a refundable deposit.

Also, does that $25 include the neuter?

You mentioned pregnant females, earlier. No, it’s not dangerous to spay-abort. It can be safely done up to about a day or so before the due date. The kittens are not viable before then.

It’s a personal decision, and it’s never easy and always sucks.

Unlike any arguments over human abortion, with cats and dogs, it’s frankly not in any way an issue of the babies living vs the babies dying.

This is because every new kitten born will take a home that otherwise would have gone to a kitten in a shelter, a kitten that will now need to be euthanized. This is the reality. Good, available homes are a finite resource. There aren’t nearly enough of them, and far too many homeless cats and kittens.

So it’s not a matter of whether the kittens will live or die based on whether the pregnancy is allowed to continue - kittens will die either way. It’s more a question of how you can reduce the most suffering - underdeveloped, nonviable kittens prevented from ever being born vs sentient, 6+ week old kittens sitting in a shelter?

Again... the decision is personal. But it doesn’t change the reality and consequences of the fact that there are far too many kittens, not enough homes, and an unbearable amount of kittens who die each and every year because of this.

I do understand how conflicting it feels. But keep in mind, it is also beneficial to Momma. Kittens take immense resources from her and they make her very vulnerable. Pregnancy and birth are also not without risks, especially if allowed to happen out in the wild or in the streets.

For what it’s worth though, every clinic has allowed me the choice to spay-abort. It may not be the same everywhere, but all clinics I’ve been to have asked on the forms at drop off if I would like them to proceed in the event of pregnancy. You can always check with your clinic beforehand, but you’ll need a back up plan if you wish to allow the pregnancy to complete.

As far as finding places for the adoptable cats, we’re in kitten season right now. In a normal year, most rescues are already going to be at capacity and overwhelmed due to this.

....but this is not a normal year.

Rescues - including where I work - are in total chaos right now, and it’s only expected to be worse. Much, much worse.

Donors have withdrawn, and donations have come to a screeching halt. Even if we could actually find them in stock somewhere, we can no longer buy gloves, masks, etc as to not place a further burden on the PPE supply for our healthcare workers (even in my line of work, which involves wildlife, exotics, and high vector species). We’re running out of disinfectants that keep us and the animals in our care safe.There are no volunteers. No one is coming to shelters and rescues to adopt, and all adoption events are cancelled for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, people are tying up dogs to our gate and dropping off cats in closed off boxes with a couple air holes cut out almost every day now, because the pandemic has them freaked out, because they think this virus can be transmitted by their pets, because they’ve lost their jobs with no prospects in sight and tragically can no longer care for their four legged family members.

In my area at least, things are looking incredibly dire, and there’s no end in sight. With the pandemic, unemployment, and state of the economy, many nonprofits will quickly buckle under the strain.

In a normal year, outside of kitten season, I’d consider you pretty lucky if a rescue is able to help and intake an adult cat. Right now, it would feel like the equivalent to winning the lottery...

Your area might be different, of course. But maybe you might try rehoming them yourself? Especially since it seems like you’re pretty connected with the Nextdoor community, I have a lot of luck with finding adopters through there! A lot of people here can help advise you of how to go about it too!

Working with ferals is often overwhelming - because there are not enough good and selfless people like you to help. But the difference you can make in their lives is immeasurable, and caring for them is very rewarding. Hang in there

 

[havecats]

The food is put behind a big shrub in the front. There are other shrubs near it. But, they do show up at feeding time and can be visible so I try to feed them after dark which helps. The reason I'm feeding them in front is to try to keep them away from the senior feral kitty I've been feeding in the back for years. But, one of them keeps eating some of her dry food anyway. But it would be more cats back there and she would have to compete with them for food and that wouldn't be fair to her. I'm trying to figure out a way to keep the food separate in the back. Not sure about the garage idea. I appreciate your suggestions. Feeling overwhelmed because tonight it seemed there were more cats again. Hope they haven't been left or put out by their owners because of the virus. :-(

 

[di and bob]

Traps are on sale right now at Tractor supply for 19.99. Big roomy traps with a free small one, ( for squirrels, kittens,)inside. I think the sale ends today though, although it will come up again. I will be moving in a few months and bought one to relocate my feral. I plan on donating it to my shelter once we are all settled in. My heart goes out to you. As one who has seen all my ferals hit on the road over the last few years, it is a heartbreaking job to try to help them. Not to mention the expense of feeding and neutering them. I have my little Stewart left and he is going to the country with me. All the luck!

 

[havecats]

Thanks for the suggestions and the encouragement. So sorry to hear about all your other feral kitties being lost on the road. Hope all goes well with your little Stewart and your move to the country. I was thinking about asking a neighbor if I could borrow her traps for a couple of the cats to start but now a lot of the clinics are not open or have restricted hours due to the virus so there wouldn't be any place to take them. They are so sweet. I wish I could offer them shelter. Maybe at some point I can come up with something. We tried to go over to the house where it seems like these cats are coming from but they wouldn't answer the door. Par for the course in this neighborhood! Ugh. I appreciate everyone's support and suggestions. Thanks again. :-)

 

[havecats]

Well, I finally have some good news to report! My husband and I were able to talk to our neighbor across the street and asked if I could put food for the cats in his yard (in a secluded area) and he said yes. When I tried to explain to him about TNR, he wanted to make sure that they were not going to be taken to the county and be killed. He was going to take a cat with kittens to the Humane Society several years ago and they told him they were going to euthanize the kittens so he took them home and found homes for all of them. I assured him that I wasn't doing this to do harm to them but to help them.

It was really imperative that I make this change as soon as possible because I saw one of the cats almost get hit by a car tonight. I was so anxious about what to do and we saw the neighbor outside and went over to talk to him. He was really open to letting me put food out in his yard to help them out. I moved the food right away. The cats saw us talking to him so they came over to the other side of the street. They were playing and running around - so happy to be in their own 'territory'. Now we just have to wait for starting the TNR later this month.

 

[di and bob]

What a wonderful start! They will be safer now, and even more so when the TNR can be started. All the luck in the world!

 

[cat mom 8]

I moved to the country 15 years ago. I noticed when I was carrying boxes into my house, there were a lot of kitties
running around. Talking to the realtor, I was told there are a lot of feral cats in my area. I set up feeding stations
for them and when I got settled, I called the Humane Society of the United States and asked if there was a low cost
spay and neuter in the area. There was, so I asked to borrow traps, which were loaned to me. It cost me $25 per
cat, but at least I prevented a large colony. It turns out my closest neighbor had a feral female who they wanted to
have litters because they liked watching the kittens play. They didn't provide any food, water or shelter for them.
Those who lives, came to my house. I tried to educate them about the importance of spay and neuter, but they didn't
want any part of it. I later found out that my little town has a Humane Society who would spay or neuter, for just a donation.
In the 15 years I've lived in the country, I've trapped and taken to the vet, 77 cats. Some have made their home in my
shop, some moved on and others just come by for a meal. It's taken quite a few years to do this and I keep my eyes
open for any newcomers.

 

[havecats]

Well, the big day finally arrived. Originally, the date for their spay/neuter appt was going to be April 20th but it got set back due to the virus. Last night we were trapping the cats for their spay/neuter appts today and I am exhausted. We started out with six traps.

Initially, two of the nursing moms ended up in the traps, and another female. They came not long after we set up at their feeding time. We don't know where the kittens are and don't have access to them so we fed them in the trap and let them go a couple of hours later so they wouldn't end up in the trap again. I was going back and forth from my house to check the traps and when I found a cat I would take them across the street to my house. The temps are hot here - upwards of 100 degrees now - and they were in the house until later in the night until the temps went down. So we had the big black male and another female. Then I went out later that night and there was another big male I had never seen before. He was so scared - completely feral - he started panting and hissing in fear. Poor guy, he was in rougher shape than the other male.

I was exhausted after hours of walking back and forth so the last time I checked was about 12:20am I think. The person helping me was going to be by early this morning and my husband was going to check the traps over there before she came by. There was another female in the trap, she was another of the nursing moms and ended up being taken. This was one I hadn't seen in awhile and wasn't one of the previous two. I'm a little concerned about her kittens in this heat. I think her kittens are older than the other two so hopefully they are ok. I don't even know where they are. I was going to try to go looking for them to make sure they are doing alright in these high temps. She will be back tomorrow morning but I don't know how old her kittens are or where. Maybe I can find them and reunite them. The person I'm working with said she would like to get the females together with the kittens so they can nurse them inside. She has done alot of rescue so maybe they could be adopted out. The other two females seem a little more tame but I think she is sweet also.

So there were four taken for our first round of trapping out of the six traps we started with. I have to say it was really nervewracking. Do others find it to be that way? I'm exhausted and will be glad when they are released after their surgery. (tomorrow morning) But there are more to be done. The person I'm working with said she thinks there are a lot of feral cats in our neighborhood that have been around awhile. Next time we can take the other two females and hopefully catch the other two big tomcats and any others.

 

[Jcatbird]

I can’t speak for everyone but yes, it can be nerve wracking. There does come a point when you feel relief too. That’s the best! I remember starting with this last colony and wondering if I had any chance of getting them all because it was such a large colony. I grabbed Mom’s and babies first to stop more babies being born. Some males got into the mix too. Finally it was just males left. I got tired, frustrated and worried at different times but just kept trying. I did get the last cat! Encouragement from members here was a great moral booster! You are doing a great thing! You are saving lives! Thank you!

 

[di and bob]

Yes. every time I start out tp trap a cat I get almost sick to my stomach with worry. But once it's done and they are released there is a HUGE sense of relief. It does give them a much better future, females from having endless litters and males are spared all those abscesses and wounds. Bless you!

 

[JamesCalifornia]

~ Many cities do not allow these cat colonies so the "cat keepers" have to sneak around at midnight to do the feeding and trapping. It sure is a lot better if you have someone to help. A team makes it a little more easy and not so lonely .

 

[mentat]

What is your recommended approach to a defunct city, once highly populated before 2008 recession, became a ghost town when all mills and manufacturing moved out, whose "humane animal society" only euthanizes, wasting resources (tried to appeal to their tiny city budget), wasting lives, and promoting feral cat behavior problems in multiple communities of the small city and outlying county area? The old regime "in power" that has ran the society "believes" TVNR/TNR promotes disease and nuisance/public health risk, despite the opposite research and data presented. Their own philosophy and beliefs are promoted, their own selfish motivation, rather than implement proven effective cat colony, community cat, and cat clowder control. Any good organization that goes into such communities to affect change, by grassroots with the community members, to disprove the claims of poor animal control/welfare leadership in an area? Veterinary testimony, research studies used by Baltimore, Detroit, NYC, my RDU/Triad area, to promote TNVR are tossed aside and considered "biased science" by this DanvilleArea HumaneSociety in Danville, VA. When I lived there, I had to go under and around them to TNVR, as they thwarted it, and considered it illegal and promoting risk to communities. Ignorance, abuse of power, and profiteering (shelter manager benefits from adopting out animals and "boarding ones for friends" by accepting "gift donations" of money, gift cards, and gifts) abounds there. The Pittsylvania County Pet Center and Animal Control had a fund for TNVR outside the Danville limits, but it was exhausted in 2017. How to get optics on this issue in communities with a very few in power so resistant to it??

 

[havecats]

Sad day today. There was a cat run over in front of our house today. Homeowner where they were said it was one of the (older) kittens. It was hard to tell, it had been run over several times. It looked like the grey and white that had trouble after it's spay. But the face and head did look like it was a smaller cat. The homeowner sees the cat in his backyard so it probably was one of the kittens from one of the three mom cats back there. My husband was kind enough to help with it's remains. Poor little thing. :-( It's in heaven now playing with all it's kitty friends.

 

[Jcatbird]

I am so very sorry. It is in a place now where there is no more pain or troubles. It can chase fluffy clouds and be with others from the clan of kitties. That was very kind of your husband to give the kitty the respect of a resting place. Perhaps it will watch over all your efforts now. As you guard others, that kitty will guard you.

 

[JamesCalifornia]