# Relocating ferals



## Shadow1953 (Oct 13, 2010)

Thanx to all who offered suggestion on my previous post. I am working on a letter and hope to send it by the weekend. I will post my final.

My Mrs. and I are of a like mind to try to trap, neuter, and RELOCATE the mom cat and her two kittens from this colony to what is left of our colony at our permanent dwelling. I believe these kittens are a male and a female, and probably nearing 12 weeks old.

The remains of the other colony are two male litter mates, about three and a half years old. They were weaned where they now live. Another male kitten and the momcat disappeared a couple years ago. Our belief is that they were taken in. The last of the litter, a female, was killed by a neighbor's loose pit bull pups a couple weeks ago that got inside the six foot construction security fence around the house. About six weeks ago, another 'adopted' male member of that colony had to be brought indoors after discovering a urinary issue that turned out to be crystals. He is now an inside only kind of guy, on Hills canned c/d for the rest of his days.

Point is, the other two are used to having others around. If we took these three and set them loose with our two, would they all be OK with each other? Would they stay around? I use the same brand of food at both locations, just a 'Kitten' formula here and an 'Adult' one there. 

Though temporarily out of the house, one of us is there every morning and every evening to see if anyone is around and fill food and water dishes.

Thanx in advance for any suggestions, pro or con.


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

I don't have any suggestions or help, I have one feral girl that I take care of, but I just wanted to say thank you for helping the ferals that you are helping. So sad about the pit bulls getting a hold of some of the kittens, that is awful. It is my biggest fear with my girl, Arwen, who is a feral that I've been caring for now for a year. I worry about cars and dogs, but mostly the dogs. She is pretty street smart, but my neighbors have a german shepherd that has gotten loose before. 

My male cat had urinary issues, stones, uti etc, almost died, this was 4 years ago, and we switched him to wet food as he started to have these issues. The vet tried to convince us to put him on Hills, but I do not care for this brand at all, and feel the ingredients are really inferior to many other foods out there. My cats all eat Wellness canned food, no fish ones, and they have had no more issues with crystals, etc. I would encourage you to read up on the Hills food, and consider maybe adding a better food for the kitties. I didn't know any better for a long time, and fed the stuff to my oldest cat for her first year. She was not healthy, had a horrible coat, dandruff, she was fat, constantly hungry, and you should see her now on Wellness. She is like velvet, has the most gorgeous coat, teeth, and no health issues. Now I'm ducking, in case you want to throw something at me for preaching about the food......I can't help it...LOL! I hope you are not angry with me for my opinion on the food.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

Its never a good idea to relocate ferals. Only under dire circumstance should you. Be prepared for them not to stay where you relocate them. you will loose 50% of them if you do. 

There are steps to take if you relocate. First they need to be relocated where they will be fed and watered daily. Next a place where there are places for them to escape to if pursued by a predator.

You need to keep them in a large kennel for a *minimum* of 3 weeks. We put two 4x4 together with zip locks and peg board on the top. We have hiding places in the 4x8 kennel along with litter boxes and food and water. (attended daily) That way they figure out this is where the food is and get use to smells and sounds. A tact room would be a good place or in a barn stall.

In my world any food is good for a feral. At least they are being fed. We all take care of feral according to our budgets and restraints. There is nothing worse than a feral or abandoned cat starving to death. Any food is better than none. Don't beat your self up. You've showed amazing compassion for these ferals. That is what I think is awesome!


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