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We're all different ages and from all over the country here, if not the world. So I would like to know how many stray cats have come to your door over your lifetime. Did anyone here never have this happen? Was anyone inundated with strays, say from a large apt complex where people came and went? What did you do with those you took pity on? Kept them? Took them to a no-kill shelter? Found them homes?
Too many
What I need to do is too "real world" for many on a "pet" forum to deal with. If you want HONEST answers, ask on the debate forum and you'll get honest answers from average people you may not get on a board devoted to pets where anything not a cuddly cutie response is too much for pet lovers.
Every pet I've ever owned has been either a stray that found me or a feral cat I've seduced, neutered & tamed. Once a neighbor brought over a kitten that had found it's way into her garage somehow, maybe riding under her car? Once I came home to a completely strange kitten in my house!!! I have no idea how it got there - the only way would have been for someone to have broken in and put it inside without taking any stuff, or maybe it was dropped in via the dryer vent - that's all I could ever figure out! That was a great kitten, and I found him a good home.
I once had a stray have kittens under my house and had to take mama and all but 2 kittens to the humane society, which killed me and I'll never do again. Otherwise I've been fortunate in finding homes for the strays I couldn't keep. (My personal mental max is 6 cats 2 dogs - that's all I can handle at home without feeling overwhelmed.) So - I guess over the past 30 years I've either homed or found homes for about 20 cats and 3 dogs.
well in the last 10 yrs since we moved to ct, puss puss was a "find" i dont know if he was from a stray momma or a feral momma, we has only about 4-5 weeks when i found him.
tempi was a find also, definatly dumped.
then theres stray momma, and 3 other strays that frequent our yard but dont stick around long. (i belive all 3 are male.
so in terms fo strays finding me, 1 and 3 that just occasionally come through...
in terms of me finding them 2...
not bad for 10 yrs in one house, but we are off the main street, and with at least 2 BIG toms in the area i think many cats avoid us.
Never had a stray come to my door, no. Only about 8 years in this house where that would have been perhaps a little likely. It certainly wouldn't have happened in my 3rd floor apartment before this, or the downtown highrise. A dozen years ago I was in another apartment (with Amber, same cat still with me) for a short time where a stray could have come up. This was in a city neighborhood. But never saw one there either.
Growing up we didn't have that happen at our house either. We had a neighbor's cat who came and visited (and indeed my mother has moved and now again has a neighbor's cat who visits, including hanging out inside for a while, etc.) But that's as close as it gets.
Now I have seen a very few times (fewer than 5) out my back door here another cat, never the same one, always spread out sightings. I've also a few times seen what might be evidence of a cat wandering through the yard. But never anything concrete.
I consider this to be good, really. It suggest that generally people where I have lived are not dumping pets. Although, to be clear, these places are all still reasonably dense. Although my wider area here is somewhat rural, my immediate neighborhood is 1/3 acre lots so still plenty of houses right here. There could be other people who have been here longer feeding cats. Or there could be fairly tight animal control. My neighbors on either side both have cats in fact, I've found out fairly recently. With inside cats you don't really know unless you've seen them looking out from the house or have been inside the house.
Too many
What I need to do is too "real world" for many on a "pet" forum to deal with. If you want HONEST answers, ask on the debate forum and you'll get honest answers from average people you may not get on a board devoted to pets where anything not a cuddly cutie response is too much for pet lovers.
I assume by "real world" you mean you kill them in some way rather than take them to a shelter. May I ask which debate forum here on city-data?
We all know cruel heartless people, sociopaths and psychopaths will drown, poison and shoot them, that's nothing new. Look what that kind of person does to his or her fellow human beings. But posts like that really don't belong here on a pet forum where people are not usually heartless sociopaths.
I'm in the midst of by far the most I've ever encountered and tried to help. At least 14 over the last 3.5 years. Mostly feeding and TNR. Initially there were several litters of kittens, most I think racoons got. Some survived. 1 male I put down, 1 I put to sleep just before it died of what I'm pretty sure was distemper and I found another one dead not long after. One got hit by a car, 1 I'm pretty sure died in childbirth, others have disappeared over time. One of the original still comes daily though. Before I got the TNR going the numbers were starting to get scary despite the high kitten mortality. Two I took in hoping to find homes (unsucessful), 1 is quite thoroughly ensconced on the little cement pad with its wooden box home. He runs in every time I open the door. I honestly would strongly prefer not to have any pets and this has been hard. I love animals and can't just turn my back. The cat over population problem is just insane. I live in an apt complex. My apt backs up to a small wood lot that is part of someones "backyard". I have a very small cement pad and that's were they come. I live in fear someone is going to report me. I see new cats move through all the time, many are pretty obviously not feral but maybe recently abandoned. The current feral male I believe runs them off. Its all very distressing and tends to make me have a very negative view of people.
In the past its always been one here, one there. My Mother has cats show up ocassionally at her place, so does my sister. They are everywhere and they are suffering.
At my old house, I never had strays turn up at my door. I'd see cats in the neighborhood or walking around, but I didn't encourage them because of my birdfeeders. They all looked like someone was probably feeding them. Our older cat is a stray, but not from our block. My daughter found her in a busy intersection when she was a little kitten. There was just something about her...you know what I mean.
In my new neighborhood, after 9 months, I've never seen one stray cat. I guess it's not urban enough for that.
And PacificFlights, it wasn't me asking the question, but I'd never ask anything about anything on the debate forum. I don't need everything to be cutesly but I don't need the polar opposite of that, either. For every thoughtful intelligent poster on that and the politics forum, there are 10 people with an axe to grind that have nothing civil to say.
Last edited by subject2change; 03-24-2011 at 07:23 PM..
I've been in this house for about 6 years now, and in that time I've rescued, fed &/or vetted 11 cats besides the 2 I adopted, and done the same for 9 dogs, in additon to the 4 I adopted. My first cat (now 14) is the only animal I have who was "purchased" when I was much younger and didn't know squat about puppy/kitty mills, overpopulation issues, etc...(not that I regret it, of course, I love her dearly!)
I've never brought any of the ones I help to shelters, but did the legwork myself and found the dogs and (non-feral) cats good homes, sometimes quickly, and sometimes it took quite awhile. The ferals are tricky...they get into fights and they seem to "show" themselves to me after a scuff, it's like they know I'll help them. They won't let me touch them, and if I can't catch them and get them to a vet, what I do is slip various herbs/supplements into their food if they've been in a fight or appear sickly, etc...it was hit-or-miss finding a food pungent enough to mask the bitter taste of certain herbs (particularly goldenseal), but those Wellness pouches did the trick...haven't met a cat yet who can resist them, LOL! My shed is a "kitty safe zone", set up with scratching posts, a few beds, plenty of boxes to hide behind, etc...now that it's getting warm I don't see them much, but when they visit in hopes for a meal they let me know they're here, then wait in a hidden spot until I put the food down. If I walk back in 5 minutes later, the food is always gone, LOL!
I've had quite a few strays come calling. All but two of my cats were strays (one of the exceptions was given to me, while the other I got at the animal pound in Denton, TX). There are two outdoor neighborhood cats that I feed (my neighbor does this as well), plus at least two occasional others and a possum recently.
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A dozen years ago I was in another apartment (with Amber, same cat still with me) for a short time where a stray could have come up. This was in a city neighborhood. But never saw one there either.
But posts like that really don't belong here on a pet forum where people are not usually heartless sociopaths.
