have to leave homeless cats i've been feeding (sleeping, domestic, house)

[glenninindy]

Thank You Very Much Folks For your Understanding and Encouragement; Can you imagine if I did'nt spay and neuter them? I will call every rescue I can find in the area, and ask them, how I can find a volunteer here, or a ride to feed them. Even though there are no cat roaming laws in this town, can shelters still come and trap them? I already have an idea how to build a table with thin slippery legs that the Raccoons can't get up on. It would be better if I could afford to pay someone, but the most I can afford is gas money. I will let you know what they say.

[Timing2012]

You can go to the Chicago forum and ask locals there if anyone is willing to feed these cats once a week.

[eyewrist]

Originally Posted by glenninindy

Thank You Very Much Folks For your Understanding and Encouragement; Can you imagine if I did'nt spay and neuter them? I will call every rescue I can find in the area, and ask them, how I can find a volunteer here, or a ride to feed them. Even though there are no cat roaming laws in this town, can shelters still come and trap them? I already have an idea how to build a table with thin slippery legs that the Raccoons can't get up on. It would be better if I could afford to pay someone, but the most I can afford is gas money. I will let you know what they say.

I adopted a spayed, partially feral cat for functional purposes...to kill mice that had bred around the storage building because they were eating the chicken feed left over by my chickens. I never feed her as one older gentleman told me he didn't with his barn cats so they could do what they naturally do at night ...hunt rodents. She has brought down the rodent population down tremendously. Sometimes leaving one out in the open so I can see her handywork, lol. Maybe look for those who need a cat for that purpose.

[glenninindy]

Originally Posted by Timing2012

You can go to the Chicago forum and ask locals there if anyone is willing to feed these cats once a week.

Thanks, I'm 30 miles from Chicago. I've called everywhere local. I don't know what to do There are volunteers to come and trap, spay, or neuter, but not to feed. If everyone thought like that,there would'nt be any cats in the world. Sorry Folks, I'm really down today...I'll be worrying about them for the rest of my life I guess...

[glenninindy]

Originally Posted by eyewrist

I adopted a spayed, partially feral cat for functional purposes...to kill mice that had bred around the storage building because they were eating the chicken feed left over by my chickens. I never feed her as one older gentleman told me he didn't with his barn cats so they could do what they naturally do at night ...hunt rodents. She has brought down the rodent population down tremendously. Sometimes leaving one out in the open so I can see her handywork, lol. Maybe look for those who need a cat for that purpose.

Thanks; I guess she's one of the few lucky ones. I would'nt even begin to know how to look for good people with barns and chickens who need a cat. I don't have a car to take them there anyway. It really seems hopeless.

[intelfan11315]

I'm sure the cats will be fine, I think that people act like cats suffer a lot more than they do in the wild. Wild animals don't need to be taken care of.

[eyewrist]

Originally Posted by glenninindy

Thanks; I guess she's one of the few lucky ones. I would'nt even begin to know how to look for good people with barns and chickens who need a cat. I don't have a car to take them there anyway. It really seems hopeless.

Place them in free advertisement in cr***list or freecyc**.com but promote them as good for barn or reduce rodent population. That will mean you will have to cut back on the feeding yourself to once every 2 days to get them to go back to their predatory behavior.

[BlackShoe]

Originally Posted by glenninindy

They really love their freedom outdoors here and would hate being cooped up in a shelter. There are woods, and a lagoon for water, mice, insects. That is why all the cat Folks told me to leave them here.The winter will be the hardest for them though because there are a lot of raccoons and I saw a coyote starting to come every night. In the winter resources are scarce, and the raccoons will hunt them.

Raccoons do not hunt adult cats, although they might take a kitten. Raccoons are slow, as predators go, and cats are much quicker. If there is a fight over food or turf the cat will usually lose, although a big, tough tom might do pretty well. The largest threat from raccoons to cats is from transmitting diseases, not predation. Coyotes are a different matter, as are stray dogs, and canines are a real threat to cats.

As ferals, almost surely they have been taught hunting skills by their mother. As most cat lovers and owners can tell you, many cats, even pampered mostly indoors ones, often are deadly hunters. Assume that this feral bunch has this ability. When human food sources are eliminated they will revert to full time hunting, just as their wild feline relatives do, plus perhaps hustling an occasional handout from other friendly humans. With nearby woods and water, that means rodent and birdlife should be available. An adult cat can easily take prey as large as a rabbit or duck, as well as the more common mice and rats.

Bottom line is that these ferals likely will do much better than expected after their human has departed and be just fine. Cats are very resourceful, they really do not need us as much as we like to think, it is just easier for them to let us think that they do.

[brokencrayola]

I would find out who is going to move into the house you are in when you move out and see if they are animal lovers and might feed them.

[glenninindy]

Folks; Thank-You for your kindness and thoughts. They are eating grasshoppers now. It is the freezing cold, and the two old ones who are slow, that really worries me. How will they stay warm? The new tenant, is my cold cruel heartless landlady, who will be taking over my apartment, and renting the upstairs where she now lives. I hope she burns in hell. That hypocrite said I could stay on another year, but she lied again. Sometimes she says I don't have to move again, and this mental cruelty has been going on for about three years. She hates the cats. She told me to trap them and take them away. She told me she won't miss them at all. She lets her dogs run loose in the woods to chase them, and I saw her laugh about it, and there are leash laws, but she is a control freak, and frequently drunk. I only stayed here for the cats. I am truly heart-sick as they may be trapped by her. Honestly I feel like Killing myself sometimes the more I think about her cruelty toward me and those poor little ones. I am sorry but I only get 700 ssi every month, can barely feed myself,and my own six cats, no car, and she has two new cars, plus a condo too, marble counter top kitchen, and I am without a cheap kitchen light, I told her twice, and she don't care. She knows I've always been afraid of her or bothering her because those poor cats need me..Her dogs are'nt treated much better because I babysat them, and she only gives them a small bowl of dry Purina and small water bowl, and they are large. Sometimes she tells me she was robbed, and then finds the stuff later. Sorry for the rant, but it seems so much easier to oppress someone who is poorer and weaker, without friends or family, and I know its worse for all the poor homeless animals who cannot talk and tell their story. O God Please Help Them!