Feral Cats

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Harry
Posts: 1249
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:45 pm
Location: Citrus county Florida

Hi

Need some help here.

Feral cats are on the increase around our property. They look pretty healthy but they must have hard life and probably shorter than house cats. I have seen them going under the sheds. We do not feed them. If you trap them the county will pick them up but they'll end up dead so I don't like that option. They probably have fleas and ticks but no more than the other critters in the area.

Any suggestions?

Harry
Aside from the roof leak, soft floors, rats, mice and bursted plumbing ........ how do you like it?
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Greg
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Location: Weedsport, NY

Just one, a dog!! But most parks want to limit dogs because of the "damage" they do, our's tried it a few years back. Guess what, the damage didn't stop! The cats do more damage than the dogs ever thought of doing. Don't get me wrong ANY pet requires a responsible owner, THAT is where the real problem lies. Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Yanita
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Location: Eastern N. Carolina

Hi harry,

I am a cat lover...so not feeding them would not be an option for me.

Anyways, if I remember correctly you are kinda in the country, are there any farms around you that would want some for mice/rat control.

Do you have a "Saving Grace's" in your area. I think, but not for certain they are nationwide. They will not remove/relocate the cats, but if you trap them they will come and pick them up, neuter/spay and then release back where you got them from. This is done at no charge to you.

I think they might even give them a rabies shot. If nothing else it will keep the population down.

Yanita
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JD
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We have had the same dilemma as you. Trapping the cats to send to SPCA is a death sentence here. A lot of people take them out of town and release them next to the river where they seem to do OK, but as you said, a real hard life. We ended up naming ours and letting them stay. We have 3 cats. One was abandoned by the previous owner of the house and two feral cats. The ferals decided to live in our sheds and ignoring them did not help. One was an older cat and the other just past kitten age. They don't look like they are related. Anyways, after a time, we figured they were here to stay. We called around to see about having them fixed and most vets said they won't deal with ferals, only pets. Our vet said they'd do it for us but it was going to cost $230 each and we would have to wait like a month or more.

We called SPCA to find a clinic or something quick and reasonable. The gal said, if they are feral, trap them and bring them in. They would have a medical check up and get fixed. Then after a couple of weeks, they would be able to adopt them out. She called us the day before they were available and we went down and adopted them back. Cost us about $80 or so for the two cats. The people at the SPCA treated us and the cats like celebrities. Several employees came up to us and said what a nice thing we were doing to bring the cats back to our home.

Well, the cats have been here a couple of years and seem happy to make this their home, along with DC (Dumb Cat) the abandoned cat. The older cat is Shedder, named for living in the shed and the little one is Tiger, cause of the stripes. If I get too close to them, they flee like I am a real mean looking Shrek. But when I feed them, they rub up against my legs and let me pet them one or two strokes.

I know it isn't much of a solution, but that is how we handled it. The feral problem still exists, it just has two less breeding cats now. They look cool perched up on our fence and seem to keep the other ferals away from our house, something DC couldn't do on her own.

JD
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gram2logan
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We had a cat come around our house a lot a few years ago. The park wanted it gone, so he gave me a cage-trap to catch it in. I had been feeding the cat and it trusted me. I didn't need a trap for the poor thing. Anyway, we set the trap one night and caught a raccoon!! Boy was he mad!

Back to the cat. I caught him one morning and put him into a box and took him to the local vet to be put to sleep. I was crying so hard when I went into the office they had a hard time understanding me. I knew the park would do it, so I wanted to make sure it was done humanely. Anyway, they talked me into having the cast tested for feline leukemia. They were going to try to find it a home rather than euthanize it. Sadly, the cat tested positive and there was no choice anymore. I paid over $100 that day for a cat that wasn't mine and I felt soooooooooo bad about it being euthanized.

I'm ususally a sucker for strays - especially cats - and will feed them if they come around. We had one in our neighborhood not long ago but it got killed on the highway. One of my pet peeves is people letting their animals roam outside. Another pet peeve is letting pets reproduce constantly with no regard to what will happen to the babies. SPAY AND NEUTER!!
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Harry
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Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:45 pm
Location: Citrus county Florida

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

These are not stray cats or pets. These are born in the wild never been touched by humans .... feral cats.

There is a variety of food for them in this area and evidently they are good hunters.

I used to see one occasionally. Now there is 8 to 10 that I see but no telling how many in the colony.

I'll make some calls next week.

Thanks again.

Harry
Aside from the roof leak, soft floors, rats, mice and bursted plumbing ........ how do you like it?
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kashton
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:03 pm

Everyone on this site can make me laugh. The responses and stories we all have.

I too am a sucker for strays. Always feed and name them.(I am also known to many as the "Crazy Cat Lady".) I only trap and take in the mangy or sickly ones. I started at one time (if I could catch them) de-worming, and applying flea repellent to them. I was going through a 22kg bag of cat food a week. My hubby told me to stop, when I had 7 cats coming here to eat, and some decided to live here. Had a couple of them would sneak in the window at night to sleep with me.

I do claim one of the neighbors cats as my own. He was an outdoor cat, but thinks he lives here.
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Yanita
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Hi,

In the park we used to live in I adopted 13 strays, did the same as you Kashton when it came to sickly ones.

I am not the only one who is a sucker for the strays..so isn't the Hubby although he will deny it.

One year as we were preparing for a hurricane (Floyd) my Hubby installed a cat door in his shop entry door so the cats could have shelter. Everything was fine till he caught them sleeping on the seat of the Harley.

He covered the Harley with an old blanket and then turned on the AC out there for those cats!

Our neighbors here said that I would get alot of stray cats, been here now for 15 months and not a one??? Sure would like a couple, it would keep down the field mice population and might discourage a snake population.

Yanita
The difference between success and failure is who gives up first!
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Maureen
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Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:35 pm
Location: Sun Valley, Nevada

Hi JD,

We've tried both your method and the other methods mentioned. We're mostly dog folks, but all animals are precious and we do our best.

The feral cats around here can be divided into two categories. Those who were once pets, and those that are truly wild! Those that are true feral cats, our dog chases away. We do have 2 to 4 cats that frequent our place, but these were once pets that were abandoned. Now that Rocky has some age on him, he doesn't bother chasing them anymore. They aren't friends, by any means, but they are coexisting together in the yard. I know for a fact that these cats were spayed and neutered, so any more cats are not a problem. The owner moved and just left them behind... so sad! They do get fed and a little bit of love when Rocky isn't right there.

I love all animals, but some need to be controlled before they do major damage to a home or humans! Right now, our biggest problem is bears and coyotes! Oh yeah, and rattlers, my least favorite animal LOL! The fires around here have have all of them so confused and of course they're looking for food and water!

Hey JD, we've had the smoke from the Fresno county fires for the last few days. How are the fires in your area? I don't see anything on the news about them?

Maureen 8)
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