Hi Everyone, Haven't posted in here awhile. Three years ago I was posting about challenges I was having with a feral cat I had taken in. He's still here, things are okay. He's still having to be separate from the other cats but he is able to be out and about in the house in the evening when the cats are in another room napping and he hangs out with me and runs around for a few hours while I do my chores. He's a character, that's for sure!
Now I'm in another situation because of a cat colony in the neighborhood that had been abandoned when their caregiver passed away recently. Part of the reason I noticed something was up is that I have a senior feral cat that is in our back yard and I have a really nice set up for her. We haven't had any intruders for quite awhile.
Awhile back I was noticing that my feral cat was eating more dry food than normal which seemed odd but her appetite does vary at times so at first I didn't think anything of it. After awhile, though, it became more glaring and I was wondering why so much dry food was going missing. She has a fairly large bowl of dry food (and she gets canned in the evening) that I replenish as needed. It became clear that another cat was coming into our yard at night and helping himself to her food.
I didn't know about this other colony yet and felt that I had to start feeding this other cat something because when he let me see him one day, he was clearly starving. Very thin and he was very desperate enough to come into our yard to take the other cats food. I started putting food out for him in another area to try to keep him from bothering my senior kitty in the back. This situation continued with him still eating her food in the back even after I put food out in front for him. Well, I finally figured out that there were other cats coming to eat the food in the front and he felt more comfortable eating her food in the back. She still has enough food and is able to eat all her canned food but this is starting to get out of hand.
In the last week I have noticed five (or six?) other cats that are coming to eat in the front. I am feeling really nervous about this because they have to cross the street to get to the food, and the neighbors are not supportive of me feeding the cats. My husband was upset as well, but he is starting to come round. The only reason I found out about the colony is that I posted on nextdoor about the situation with the cats and asked if someone knew about what was going on. This was when I thought there were only three at the most coming by and now their numbers are increasing. I don't know how much food to put out now and I'm having to feed them from my inside cats food and how much more will they need? I have started to put more out but will that encourage more to come by even if they already have a food source?
There was an elderly woman that had been feeding the cats for years and for a couple of months she had been in the hospital and then had passed away about a week ago. I don't know what her routine was, what and how much she was feeding them, or exactly where she was feeding them. Someone suggested contacting a local group about TNR which I did and am waiting to hear back. Also, there is another lady across the street from me that was feeding some cats (the three I had seen around) but then she stopped. She doesn't speak much english but I thought my husband and I could go over there tomorrow and ask if another neighbor could interpret to see if I could find out anything. Perhaps she could start feeding them again and I could contribute some food? She had a nice set up there for them, it's safer and more convenient.
When I was taking the food out tonight I could hear one cat fighting with another to prevent them from going across the street to eat. I do not want any of the cats to get injured crossing the street, or from fighting over the food. But they have to be fed, a few of them did look like they were literally starving and they have managed to cross safely before so I'll check tomorrow into seeing if other arrangements can be made. Someone on nextdoor said I would need to find others that would also be advocates for the cats. Hope that doesn't take too long! Thanks for listening to my rant.
Now I'm in another situation because of a cat colony in the neighborhood that had been abandoned when their caregiver passed away recently. Part of the reason I noticed something was up is that I have a senior feral cat that is in our back yard and I have a really nice set up for her. We haven't had any intruders for quite awhile.
Awhile back I was noticing that my feral cat was eating more dry food than normal which seemed odd but her appetite does vary at times so at first I didn't think anything of it. After awhile, though, it became more glaring and I was wondering why so much dry food was going missing. She has a fairly large bowl of dry food (and she gets canned in the evening) that I replenish as needed. It became clear that another cat was coming into our yard at night and helping himself to her food.
I didn't know about this other colony yet and felt that I had to start feeding this other cat something because when he let me see him one day, he was clearly starving. Very thin and he was very desperate enough to come into our yard to take the other cats food. I started putting food out for him in another area to try to keep him from bothering my senior kitty in the back. This situation continued with him still eating her food in the back even after I put food out in front for him. Well, I finally figured out that there were other cats coming to eat the food in the front and he felt more comfortable eating her food in the back. She still has enough food and is able to eat all her canned food but this is starting to get out of hand.
In the last week I have noticed five (or six?) other cats that are coming to eat in the front. I am feeling really nervous about this because they have to cross the street to get to the food, and the neighbors are not supportive of me feeding the cats. My husband was upset as well, but he is starting to come round. The only reason I found out about the colony is that I posted on nextdoor about the situation with the cats and asked if someone knew about what was going on. This was when I thought there were only three at the most coming by and now their numbers are increasing. I don't know how much food to put out now and I'm having to feed them from my inside cats food and how much more will they need? I have started to put more out but will that encourage more to come by even if they already have a food source?
There was an elderly woman that had been feeding the cats for years and for a couple of months she had been in the hospital and then had passed away about a week ago. I don't know what her routine was, what and how much she was feeding them, or exactly where she was feeding them. Someone suggested contacting a local group about TNR which I did and am waiting to hear back. Also, there is another lady across the street from me that was feeding some cats (the three I had seen around) but then she stopped. She doesn't speak much english but I thought my husband and I could go over there tomorrow and ask if another neighbor could interpret to see if I could find out anything. Perhaps she could start feeding them again and I could contribute some food? She had a nice set up there for them, it's safer and more convenient.
When I was taking the food out tonight I could hear one cat fighting with another to prevent them from going across the street to eat. I do not want any of the cats to get injured crossing the street, or from fighting over the food. But they have to be fed, a few of them did look like they were literally starving and they have managed to cross safely before so I'll check tomorrow into seeing if other arrangements can be made. Someone on nextdoor said I would need to find others that would also be advocates for the cats. Hope that doesn't take too long! Thanks for listening to my rant.