Help for ferral cat (dogs, hair, butt, feed)

[VelcroQueen]

Thank you all so much for your concern and advice. I will call someone today.

Originally Posted by Giesela

I'm not sure I understand, how did you catch the previous cats?
Can you borrow a trap?

Oh I hate the traps! But that is the only way we have been able to catch them. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

But I understand the cruelty in order to save the life . . . .

[VelcroQueen]

We haven't seen the kitten at all since the 29th.

[VelcroQueen]

I went over to the house next door today, and the lady there showed me what was in her back yard. There was the black cat . . .

. . . with a little black kitten . . .

. . . one of a litter of four!!

This is the lady who catches the cats with me, so we can take them in for neutering and spaying!

We have our work cut out for us this summer.

Also, my husband stayed home from work with me today, and we cleaned both the garage and carport -- the carport being the most important, because that was where the cat got into the oil and where I keep the cathouse I built.

When I looked in the cathouse, I saw the cat's little oily dirty foot prints on the bedding, so that got washed.

I can't believe it! Kittens! But the problem is . . . well, you know what the problems are for feral cats. Furthermore, the mother is very young -- way to young to have a litter.

[catman]

She's a poor teenaged mother, in cat terms. Many thanks to you and your neighbor for seeing to her needs!

[luvmycat]

Bless you and your neighbor for helping these little ones out...! I'm so glad to hear she's okay!!!

[VelcroQueen]

Oh, they just take one's heart away!

Someone came through the neighborhood and took all the ferral cats last year and the year before. (We have no other explanation for their disappearance.) Interestingly, we found mice and rats through those two years. In other words, these precious little wild cats earn their keep.

This year, we are making up for the previous ones quickly disappearing, apparently.

In my little town, however, they have laws that make doing what we do difficult. We can't just take them in to the humane society and get them taken care of cheaply. If we take them there, they demand that we take ownership (which we can't do) and license them. Even my cathouse in the carport can get me in trouble, if they see it.

The lady next door is very elderly and has made as many of these cats indoor cats as she can handle. We can't have indoor cats at all.

It all seems so cruel -- that we can't take them all in and that the city would rather kill the cats than let us spay and neuter and bring them back to the neighborhood. Further, because we can't bring them all inside, their lives are very short.

Then there is the problem of the raccoons. We have a lot of them in the neighborhood, and they will kill a cat in the wink of an eye, yet when we see their cute little babes, we root for their lives as well. Two raccoon babes were killed within two feet of each other just this Thursday morning.

[jonnyald]

i like the sound of the "cathouse" in use .its funny how animals seem to know that you are caring for them

[VelcroQueen]

Well, we really don't deserve any thanks. All of the kittens (not the cats) were killed by the (minimally) two broods of raccoons. We decided that (what ended up being) six raccoons in our yard were well over the limit, so we are using a humane trap, catching them, and driving out into the woods to release them all in one place. It was a difficult decision but a necessary one. We have three more to go.

Thank you, everyone.

Actually, there were seven raccoons, I was just reminded.

[jonnyald]

i now have a mental image of the raccoons and the cage trap being lifted into a car on the way out to the woods again . im over in England and theres no raccoons here,only on t.v. i think i read that they get into house roof spaces and are just a nuisance generally.

[VelcroQueen]

Oh, they are So Cute! But they are a terrible nuisance. They break everything, leave dangerous feces behind, ruin our fruit crop, etc. But they are just way too cute!

Welcome to the forum!