# New here and caretaker for feral cats



## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

I'm new and currently a caretaker for 6 feral cats. I have managed to trap 4 and taken to the Humane Society to be fixed as part of the TNR program. I had wished they would let me take more than 2 at a time to be fixed as it is hard to trap them. I have 2 more to go, a momma cat and the last kitten that needs to be fixed and I have been putting food in the Havart trap each night for the past 2 nights and haven't seen them, the food untouched. I really don't know what happen to them and worried as the last 2 are not fixed yet. And there is this big male cat that I've seen him once awhile and he's been fathering these litter since they have very similar markings.

Before, the mom and her kittens come to my backyard to eat everynight, but ever since I trapped 2 of her kittens to be fixed and released the next day, I haven't seen them. Makes me wonder if they 2 kittens that got fixed told the mom and the remaining kitten not to go to my house to eat. Is this normal for feral cats not to eat every night or know to avoid my place for fear of getting trapped?


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Hi deanna,

It's great that you're taking care of these kitties! I'm not an expert on ferals, but I'd guess that mama cat moved her kitten elsewhere when her other kittens didn't come back. We've had other members in similar situations, so I hope they'll see this and offer you some suggestions about how you might still trap the smart mama and her remaining kitten.

Have you seen the kittens that you released?


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

yes, I've seen the 2 kittens I released, they come to eat food but I haven't seen the momma cat and the last of the kitten. When I brought in the first 2 kittens to be fixed, the momma cat waited all day and came back in the early morning of the next day when I released the kittens. They ate some food and from that day on, I didn't see the momma cat or the other unfixed kitten. And this momma kitten is like clockwork, she comes everynight and if I get home late from work, she'll still wait until she gets her dinner. I hope nothing happened to her or the other unfixed kitten. I also saw 2 new kittens 2 nights ago come and eat, but the following night and last night, I don't see them. If I could bring in the kittens to have them fixed at the Humane society without having to make apptmts and able to bring more than 2, I would have caught the momma and the unfixed kitten. Now that they're gone, it's likeing they will born more kittens since there is a big male cat that has an owner but is roaming around. I know this male cat has an owner because he's not skinny and doesn't hiss when he sees me, he just look at me and then move on. Only thing I can do is continue to trap when it's close to my apptmts and see if I can catch any, if not I'll just have to reschedule the apptmts. If I do catch that male cat, I'll even pay out of my pocket to have him fixed! thank you for replying.


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## Stacey89 (Aug 17, 2014)

I adopted two feral cats from outside (they were living in our garage) a mother cat and her one kitten. At first we managed to get the kitten in the house by leaving the front door open and shutting it behind (I hid behind the door). She was particularly hard to domesticate (especially during the first three months, she was utterly wild) but eventually came around. We managed to get her mother in, in late December of 2012 and she came around behaviour wise quicker than we ever could imagined considering how aggressive she was when we first brought her in. She actually turned into a very sweet cat and was a wonderful mother.. Sadly she passed just 8 months later from brain cancer.

Feral cats can be domesticated. I don't know why most animal shelters see them as hopeless cases and totally unadoptable. It's hard to domesticate them but it is possible and very rewarding.


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## liloddball (Feb 2, 2014)

Hi!!

It is very possible the mother cat became stressed and has moved her kitten some place else but also it is not uncommon for ferals to not show up every night or move territories because another, stronger cat moved in. Just have faith though and keep setting food out! I've trapped 9 ferals and out of those 9 only 4 have came back. One of them didn't show up for three weeks! But finally came back around. They know where the good is at and if the struggle is real out there and they get hungry enough they will come back.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

I managed to trap the last kitten of the black cat, but the mom(black cat) is just too smart. I haven't seen her around either. I saw 2 more new feral kittens, managed to trap one and haven't seen the other one for the past few days. Then my neighbor were complaining how the cats come to eat and poo in his yard! I told him, they poop in my yard too, but I have many cat litter boxes out for them to do their business and I'm not the only one feeding them. Besides I noticed that the ferals that I'm been feeding comes to my house on schedule and then they leave to go to their hideouts although I have 3 that sticks around to play at the scratching post station I set out so I don't believe these would poop in his yard. Some of the cats belong to other people since they don't hiss and aren't afraid of people, but those people are irresponsible to let their cats roam freely and impregnate the ferals. I trap all the cats that come to my house to be TNR and have them all microchipped. The Humane society said it's ok to feed them and I also provided them shelters out of 35-42 gallongs totes insulated with stryofoam and straws. The only thing that concerns me is the neighbor trying to poison them because even if they call animal control, since the cats are microchipped and I'm the caretaker of the colony, I would come to pick them up, they won't be put down. I told him about the TNR that would help control the cat population and even offered to set traps in his house, but he would refuse to hear me out. I don't know if I should call the humane society to see what I can do if I suspect or find that my ferals have been harmed. Would the cops do anything to this neighbor?


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Well, it's great that you got that last kitten, but it's distressing that there are more. You're doing an amazing job taking such good care of all these kitties! It's really unfortunate that you have an anti-cat neighbor, though I guess I can understand being upset that you've got kitty poop in your yard.

Unfortunately, I doubt there's anything animal control/cops would be able to do unless you had proof that he had harmed the cats - and even then, what the penalties are vary hugely - I don't know if it's by city, county, or state though. 

So what does he want you to do, stop feeding the kitties? Does he understand that there are other people feeding them and that even if you stop feeding them, someone else probably will start, and that even if they aren't getting fed right there, they might still just like pooping in his yard? There was a poster a while back who had a similar problem, but I don't know if there was any resolution. 

I think the best hope for peace would be to figure out some way to make his yard less attractive to the cats, since obviously no one's going to stop a cat from going where the cat wants to go... I don't think ferals are likely to use litterboxes, unless maybe you put dirt in them instead of litter, so that it's more natural to them? 

Maybe someone else will have some ideas about how to lure them somewhere else. I mean, not that you want kitty poop everywhere either, but I guess that's preferable to risking something bad happening because this guy's so mad.


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Well done for the fantastic job you are doing with your colony. Ferals are very smart and as the kittens and other cats have gone and come back she is wary. You just have to persevere. I am sure members who also deal with this ma) have more tips.as for the neighbour, well IMO if you don't have a cat then to other cats it's an invitation to take extra territory and ownership of your garden. Even if you had neighbours with domesticated cats they will still use his garden as an extra toilet. I don't know if the police will do anything if he did hurt them. Uou could try to give him some ideas on how to keep the cats out including not just you freals but other cats too like motion sensor noise *nd water sprays but he might still tell you to get lost sadly


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

well, I saw the black female cat last night and I put out just a little food while I go inside to get my trap, by the time she saw me with the trap, off she ran. The neighbor was saying his wife is complaining and so is he about the cat poop. I already explained to him about TNR and I'm not the only one feeding them and there are other cats in this neighborhood that could be pooping in his yard. The ferals that comes to my house, I don't know which ones, but they do use the litter boxes, cuz I clean it out everyday and there are clumps where they pee and #2 in the Catit jumbo litter boxes. I put plastic forks in the my garden areas where I don't want them to do their business and they do avoid them, wish I had thought about this earlier so I can tell that neighbor. I do have 3, one of them meow and purrs when I pet him, the other 2 runs around one still hiss and still uses his hand when I offer him a treat, but these 3 would come in the morning to eat and hang around to play a little and then come back around 530pm to get fed and stays there thru the night in the shelter I made. I will try to cover it when it rains come winter, but I'm not sure if they will come since they live in the No man's land that separates my house from the houses in the back. 

Also, any advise on cat food? I used to give them friskies, but when I read the ingredients, it has too much fillers. Right now they are eating Taste of the Wild dry cat food and I mix a can of Fancy Feast Medley(they all love this). I read about Blue Buffalo Wilderness chicken recipe, not sure if this is good, it's also grain free, but it was on the recall list awhile back. If taste of the Wild seems like a good food, then I'll stick with it. I've never raise cats before, been a dog person for a very long time.

Thank you all for your input.


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

Hi Deanna, welcome to the forum! Do you, by any chance, live in Toronto? I ask because it sounds as if your city does have a municipal TNR policy for ferals and because you mentioned that you can only bring 2 cats at a time to your local humane society's feral spay/neuter clinic, both of which are the case here in Toronto.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

Hi,

thank you for the welcome! No, I live in California and I have to make appointments before scheduling a TNR. Last time I brought in 4 ferals without appointment and they were giving me long lectures that I shouldn't do this, they don't have time etc and was told to pick them up between 5-6pm instead of 4-6pm because I brought in "alot" to be TNR. Then when I went to pick them up, the first lady reminded this lady when she was releasing the ferals back to me gave me another long lecture. Jeez, I'm doing them a favor and this is what I get. One of the feral cat I brought in she was pregnant so the kitties were aborted and I asked if she needed pain killers, they said no, I even offered to pay for this but they said "No need!" I did keep her in the garage for a week in a large dog crate so she can heal. It kinds of makes me upset how they treat the ferals this way and if other people bring in their pets to be fixed they would get medication for the pain. It's not hard to crush the pain meds and mix in with their food, but anyway, she did recover and now comes to eat each day and she doesn't have to be pregnant again.


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## dt8thd (Jan 7, 2013)

This is a bit of an issue for us at TNR clinics as well. We book a certain number of appointments before we TNR a colony, but sometimes you're more successful (or less) and you trap more cats than you have clinic appointments for. It's not as if we can hold onto the cats for weeks, waiting for the next scheduled clinic date, and letting the extra cats go would make them trap wary and so much harder to retrap, so what choice do we have but to take them to the clinic along with the cats with scheduled appointments? We've explained this to the clinic administration on so many different occasions, but they still hassle us about it. I understand why: they have to make sure they have all of the staff and equipment needed, and they do this based on the number of cats booked in advance, but it's aggravating to be told off for bringing extra cats to a clinic when we really have no alternative option.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

i agree with you. it is so hard to trap them because they are very smart and sometimes you get lucky that you're able to trap more. The other time I brought in 2 kittens in a pet carrier since they refused to go into the trap, boy, did I get an earful from that same lady of how if they try to transfer the kitten out to the trap and if the kitten bit the assistant, they will put the kitten down. I offered to do it and she told me since I'm at the clinic's property they won't allow me to do that. And she was about to send me home with the kittens until one of the staff that does TNR said she'll try to get him out of the carrier and lucky the kitten went into the trap. I was of course upset, it took me 4 hours to try to trap them if that lady had sent me home with the kittens. Long story short, I called my vet and other vets and they do TNR ferals for a price but you can bring them in carriers so that is good to hear.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

Finally, last night I trapped the black feral cat! Had to use a net, she is just too smart to go in the trap. Lucky I was able to take her in to have her TNR today.


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## Jenny bf (Jul 13, 2013)

Reading all your difficulties makes me appreciate the vet clinics here so much. The group I work with is all volunteer fosterers so you make an appointment through the main leaders and they then give you an allocated practice rather than an appointment because the vets appointments keep one or two spaces each day for us. It unusual not to have all full. They get the same treatment as any pet cat inc meds and they charge half price, taken from donations made in the surgeries.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

Oh that's great news deanna! 

Jenny, you are lucky to have vets who are willing to keep those open spots! I noticed yesterday while I was looking for rescue groups that a lot of the shelters offer low-cost spay/neuter, I think for anyone, actually, but I don't know what their policy is on bringing kitties in without appointments.


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

She is recovering in my garage in a large dog cage. I will release her Friday or Saturday once I see her eating. She didn't eat last night, probably still drowsy from the anesthesia. With her that makes 10 feral cats that have been TNR.


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## spirite (Jul 31, 2012)

deanna, I just reread the thread and realized that you said you were always a dog person and had never taken care of cats before...And yet you just TNR TEN feral cats?! Wow.

:worship


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## deanna79 (Aug 13, 2014)

spirite said:


> deanna, I just reread the thread and realized that you said you were always a dog person and had never taken care of cats before...And yet you just TNR TEN feral cats?! Wow.
> 
> :worship


yup, I had dogs since I was 16 yrs old(still do to this day) when my dad brought home 4 abandoned puppies. The feral cats would come to my house and rummaged thru the recycle bins for food, leaving bags all over the yard and poop everywhere. My dad was really mad so I did some researched on the web and read about feral cats(honestly, I didn't know they were called ferals), then saw some youtube videos on how to trap them etc. I called the Humane Society to see if they have traps and it's $50 for 1 week to rent and you get your money back but this place was far from where I live. I decided to buy the traps on Amazon, started out with 2 traps, but that would take a while to trap them since they were smart so ended up buying a total of 4 traps and put the litter boxes outside for them to go, placed forks sticking up on my dad's garden bins so they don't do their business there. They are learning to use the litterbox and my dad is accepting them too so that is a plus. I also built two outdoor house from 42 gallon totes lined with styrofoams and straws. I'm trying to convince my dad to build them a house from an existing 3 story shelves we have, not sure if it's do able. Although I TNR 10, one is recovering in the garage, only 7 comes to eat. I'm able to pet 2, one is very friendly, the 2nd one is warming up to me, both are males. The females seems very cautious and still batting my hands but I sit next to them while they eat and they're ok with that. I'm feeding them taste of the wild and now trying Blue wilderness cat food mixed in with grain free can food and I've noticed their furs are getting shinier and putting on some weight. This morning it drizzled a bit and they were running around waiting for me to feed them. They didn't know to wait in the shelter but I hope they will know in the future.


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