# Needing some advice



## carnivorouszoo (Oct 29, 2010)

I've been reading some of the posts but none really sound like they fit my siduation. I have posted elsewhere and gotten answers that don't really fit what I asked like they did not really read my post. I really hope I get better here, it sounds like it from the other posts I viewed.

Here is the thing. There is an abandoned female, believed to be spayed-no kittens and no heats we noticed- she has been in the trailer court since around April. I thought she had an owner until recently I found out she had been left behind. She is friendly but runs when you try to pick her up. Then about 3 weeks ago a blue tabby male kitten (I'd say no more than 5 months old) just showed up under our trailer. He is terrified of hands, feet and cigarettes, but you can tell he _wants_ to be pet badly. Since he showed up it has gotten progressively colder. I put a blanket in the crawl space I see him go into and in the AM we put out cat food and water.

Here is the thing. I have to be all 007 on this because the city has a no feral and no loose animal policy. If they get it in their head that they are mine (and they will if they catch me caring for them) I can get fined for several violations.

Now the good news. Our local animal shelter was taken over 2 years ago by a local rescue. So AC turns animals they pick up to them. They have a policy of only putting down terminally ill animals and those too agressive to be near people. Thought for cats they have a Barn Cat program where they work with people with 5 acres or more to house ferals that have been spayed and neutered on their land.

I want to get these guys in to the hands of the shelter but they only take animals brought in by AC. AC has been out twice and not seen them, left traps and not caught them so according to them I must be lying and pranking them. If I call again I will get a ticket for wasting city funds.

I'm in a Catch 22 here. What would you do? I can not try to get them to come in either. I have to pay $25 extra a month for any cats. I already have one.

Thanks for at least reading.


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## mimitabby (Apr 20, 2010)

can you take pictures of the cats so that when AC comes, you can show them?
in order for the cats to enter the traps, they need to be hungry, so you can't be feeding them when the traps are out (except in the traps)
Call the local rescue and explain your problem.
Good luck.


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## carnivorouszoo (Oct 29, 2010)

All the rescue ever says is that the AC has to catch and bring them in, AC says they won't come out again. What I think I need is some way to give a shelter and feeding station that isn't obvious. The cats hide at the sound of cars and loud people, so they rarely get noticed. I just don't want it obvious that I am caring for them if AC does a drive through now and then (which they do-yeah and they won't come back for my calls :shrugs: ) Anyway, I think if I can get them to stay close I might be able to tame them. If I can do this I bet I can rehome them. I just have no idea what to do about making a shelter or food station. We have a lot of squirrels so I would like to feed wet instead of dry because these psyco squirrels will fight a cat for the cat food. I saw one fight a small dog for its dog food! So I would need to use stainless steel or similar dishes. Food and water would only be out during daylight hours as I don't want to support the raccoons or opposum. I am also going to look into TNR programs that might be local and getting the landlords to accept the cats staying and being managed by the people who live here.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

Can you make an arrangement where you can set the traps yourself? That way they cannot claim you are wasting their time/resources. 
As noted, make sure they are extra hungry on trap day and put wet food in the trap. 
Good luck, you are trying to do the best you can.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

That's about the same situation I have. AC does not "recognize" feral management, and will take ANY cat that is reported...whether or not they are pets, ferals, strays, etc. They WILL keep tame cats for up to 1 week for owners to come claim, then they send tame cats off to some program... cats that can't be handled just get euthanized.
Also, the law is that I can only have 2 cats (which I do), so if I get caught caring for more than that, I get fines.

There are a few very sick cats that I figured it would be more kind to have euthanized, than suffer through yet another winter. So I called AC and they said if I trapped them, they would come get them for free (usually it's $25 surrender fee), but they said they wouldn't come out and track them down for me. So I only call when I actually have a cat in a trap... and I have to call between 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. because they stop rounds at 5 P.M. (and yes, once it did take two hours for them to get to my house!).

I use canned food in the trap, as it's much more desirable than dry kibble. However, I guess I'm bad about the "don't feed the day before" rule, because I've got half a dozen cats that _don't_ need trapping who still need to be fed! So far, it works okay... though lately I keep trapping the same greedy cats that go for canned food - even if it is in a trap!
I put a blanket over the trap, because once they realize they can't get out, they freak out if it's "open". I also check on them every half hour, especially in extreme weather (hot summer, cold winter), so I can call AC as soon as possible. In fact, in heavy rain and cold, I actually put the trap inside, just at the door, so they have a little bit of extra warmth for their last hour or so.

My neighbors don't mind the cats. In fact, one neighbor leaves out food scraps, and did say they wouldn't if I told them I'd be trapping. But like I said, I have to make sure the rest of the cats don't go hungry anyway.


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## Mitts & Tess (Sep 4, 2004)

carnivorouszoo said:


> I've been reading some of the posts but none really sound like they fit my siduation. I have posted elsewhere and gotten answers that don't really fit what I asked like they did not really read my post. I really hope I get better here, it sounds like it from the other posts I viewed.
> 
> Here is the thing. There is an abandoned female, believed to be spayed-no kittens and no heats we noticed- she has been in the trailer court since around April. I thought she had an owner until recently I found out she had been left behind. She is friendly but runs when you try to pick her up. Then about 3 weeks ago a blue tabby male kitten (I'd say no more than 5 months old) just showed up under our trailer. He is terrified of hands, feet and cigarettes, but you can tell he _wants_ to be pet badly. Since he showed up it has gotten progressively colder. I put a blanket in the crawl space I see him go into and in the AM we put out cat food and water.
> 
> ...


I’m a little fuzzy on how things are working with this rescue that has taken over and will take cats from Animal control. Are they a no kill shelter? It would probably be a good move for you to develope a relationship with this rescue and the Animal Control officers. Then they know you and what your mission is and are willing to help if they know you and will have a working relationship with you. Our group has the cell phone number of a Sheriff officer who is an animal lover. She gave it just to us to use if we come across situations that the sheriff needs to address. We used her with a horrible hording situation. She respects how we handled it and wanted to work with us in the future and knew not all police or sheriffs are animal sympathic.

One of our local rescue people knows the AC officer in our area. So we call her if there is an issue with a dog. A bit off subject but the local AC officer sat in the parking lot with his truck running at our no kill shelter last week. He had caught a pit bull and knew it would be put down immediately if he brought it back to Pima Animal Control Center. The no kill shelter had no room for it so he waited in the parking lot while they made phone calls trying to get it fostered or place with a rescue and he was willing to drive it there once they located someone to take this dog! They did find someone willing. Hats off to this AC officer.

I would go talk with your AC officers and offer to do the trapping and call them when you had the cats so it wouldn’t waste their time checking the traps. Make sure not to leave the cats where you trapped them. Once they are trapped take them inside a garage or enclosed porch area so they are warm and feel safe & under your supervision. Keeping tabs on what is happening to them in the trap while you are waiting for AC.

Another point. If these cats are semi feral or unsocialized will the rescue still take these cats? If they are taking ferals to put in barns then there is a good side to that and a bad side. My TNR group will only place a cat into a barn program if their lives are in danger by where they are living. There are steps to be taken if relocating a cat into a barn. First you need to keep it in a tack room or large 4x4 for 4-6 weeks. Feeding it and getting it use to the sounds of the barn, people and activities at the barn. Getting it use to the idea their food source is right there at the barn. 50% of cats relocated wont stay and wander off trying to get back to their former location and usually die on the way back. So only relocate in extreme circumstances. In our rural area barns are hard to come by. The people who have the barns must be willing to daily feed and water the ferals. Most farmers don’t want to so we wont place a feral at their barn. Ferals CAN NOT exist on mousing alone.

The abandoned friendly cat you should take in immediately and socialize and get her ready to be adopted so she has a good chance at the shelter. She probably wont make it thru a winter on her own. The fearful kitten of 5 months may be feral all ready or just an abandoned kitten. You cant find out until you bring it in and work with it to see its reactions once it is familiar with you and see if you can get it to trust you to socialize it. The older it is the harder it is to socialize.

Look at the stickies up on the top of the page. There are easy winter cat shelter for cold climates shown and how to make them. Also there is a 3-part video in the stickies by the _Urban Cat League_ on how to socialize kittens. It’s the best I’ve come across and we use the methods they show on the videos to bring around kittens we trap.

Thank you for caring for these kitties welfare. I hope you can connect with a TNR group in your area. There is strength in numbers. Having the moral support and help of a group of like-minded cat people is a big help when trying to accomplish helping abandoned and feral cats. I hope it works out for you. Keep us posted.


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