unwelcome feral

[whatthecat]

Hey there,

Last year we had a pregnant feral show up on our step and we started feeding her  Out of her 4 kittens, I was able to trap 3 of them and socialize/adopt them out.  The 4th was too sly for the trap when she was tiny, but eventually I was able to trap her and her mother and we got them spayed/tipped.  Now Momma Kitty and Baby Kitty are our 'outside cats' and we have joint custody with our neighbors.  

Several months ago we had a new male cat show up outside.  He's very aggressive and will run off Momma and Baby for their food.  Occasionally we'll hear them fighting in the back yard.  He's a beautiful cat and we don't wish him any harm, but between the two inside and two outside cats, we feel we're at capacity.  Also, we don't want to keep him around as he's treating Momma and Baby kitty badly.

I feel pretty silly feeding the outside cats and then having to guard them and run off this feral every time he slinks around the corner.  It feels cruel to take him to animal control just so he wouldn't be 'my problem' anymore, but I'm not sure how else to make him 'not my problem'.  Does anybody on here have any advice or suggestions?

 

[Primula]

He needs to be fixed. Don't you have a shelter to call who would trap him, fix him & have him adopted? Or at least TNR him. That's what we do. Where I live animal control does not pick up healthy cats.

 

[whatthecat]

I will certainly, at the very least, trap him and take him for TNR (as we did for Momma Kitty and Baby Kitty).  One other option would be to trap him and take him to Animal Control.  

I feel like if we go with the former, we'll end up in the same position as we're in now (he'll be fixed which is a BIG step in the right direction, but he'll still be fighting the others for food).  If we take him to animal control, they'll most likely put him down as he's a full-grown fully-feral cat.  Are there any other options I'm missing here?

 

[Norachan]

Hi @whatTheCat

Getting him neutered is the best thing to do. He'll be much less aggressive once he has been fixed. Animal Control will undoubtedly euthanise him, so please don't take him there. Could you put out a little extra food so he has something to eat too? It is actually in your best interests to have a neutered male cat there as he will protect what he now thinks of as "his" territory and stop other males moving in.

Once he's been fixed and his hormones have had time to calm down he won't bother chasing your other two outdoor cats. It sounds like he is just hungry to me.

The only other option is to find an established TNR's colony that he could join after neutering. However, it can take at least a month for a cat to decide to stay put, which would mean keeping him crated at the new location and going there every day to feed him. It would be a lot easier just to accept him at your place.

 

[Primula]

Once he's been fixed and his hormones have had time to calm down he won't bother chasing your other two outdoor cats. It sounds like he is just hungry to me.

Exactly.

 

[msaimee]

I agree with Norachan. Perhaps you could set up a feeding area for him away from your other two cats. Could you coordinate this with your neighbors? If he has his own food bowl, away from the others, he will be less likely to bother the other two cats.