Feeding the strays..

[Riven]

Please, please, please... do NOT feed stray cats that come around.

I know this sounds like a weird request but it's actually logical.

If you have stray that comes around and you want to help it, catch or trap it (humanely) and take it to a shelter or find it a home.


We have people done the road that keep feeding the strays, they make a little house for them with a heat lamp, and put flea collars on them. So they're nice and healthy to reproduce, repeatedly. And we personally have a TON of issues with this cats. They spray our porch and garage if it's open, which is just disgusting and embarrassing when you walk up to the door and all you smell is cat urine. They get into our trash and knock it all over the yard, if you leave your car windows down they will get into your car, eat anything you have in there, and pee in there are well. They also attack our chickens, and kill our baby chicks.

But this was the last straw... last night I let the little dogs out to potty, and there was one under our porch, the dogs scared it when they ran out of the door, and it freaked out and tried to attack our chihuahua. The cat was literally at least the same size, luckily she just got a little scratch from it, but I should NOT be afraid of letting my dogs out into my OWN yard.

I'm picking up my mom's live trap today and I'm going to start trapping them, and taking them into the HS. If that doesn't help the problem we will move on to more drastic measures, in Nebraska it is legal to protect your livestock, which means if a cat is attacking my chickens, I can legally shoot it.

I do know that this is not the cats fault, but obviously I can't shoot the idiots that are promoting their breeding program.

 

[Harleychin]

We went though this too.I had a salvage lot that had at least a 100 strays running around peeing on everything.They were also feeding them and making it worse.
I live in the city and have three major roads around me,so there were alot of cats ran over and left for dead in the streets.Finally HS trapped all them all and took them.The lot closed since then and was cleaned out and a new place was built there.
Now the squirrel population has exploded.:banana:

 

[tskoffina]

I don't have a problem with livestock, I live in over populated south florida, but we have a local rescue that traps feral cats and evaluates them. If they can't be kept as pets they're released after being fixed. Not the best thing but at least they aren't killing them. Any kittens they get are fixed and adopted out. I got my Twila from them. She was living in the fuel fields of our Int'l Airport. Maybe if more groups like this were around it would help with the problem of breeding and spraying.

 

[Riven]

I agree, unfortunately we don't have a trap program here. Luckily the local HS has an all hour drop off, which means I can take them in after hours, drop them in a kennel, and not be charged for it. To drop off a pet, they charge you like $30, and I'm not ( nor should I have to be responsible for this mess ) paying $30 to drop of strays. These are not like 1 or 2, there are well over TWENTY...

 

[greenbean]

I completely agree with you!!! We get stray dogs and cats here ALL the time. The last straw for me was when 2 dogs started chasing my horses and biting at their legs. Also some cats started attacking our chickens as well. We've got lots of traps around here and the AC has got use to us bringing in strays. Sorry about your situation!

 

[Remyma0408]

I agree- trap them and bring them in...

 

[staceylwolf]

I had a very similar problem when I went to let me dogs out one day, except the stray cat was sitting inside my sunporch! It got thru two fences and then came in thru the doggie door. It freaked when it saw us, it's very wild. I was trying to get the dogs back inside so it would hurt them and finally it took off. This was a few weeks ago and we haven't seen it since, maybe we scared it enough

This same cat last fall started a fight with my cat thru our brand new picture window. Now we have nice scratch marks on our nice new screens from that stupid cat. Hopefully he won't comeback.

 

[Rickman]

I had a squirrel problem awhile ago - trapped and a free ride to the forest preserve cured it for a while, but now it's time again! Too many!!

 

[Jenn]

I personally don't like the idea of outdoor cats, period. I do feed strays, I live on 5 acres and have a family of cats I care for, and I don't like the neighboring cats coming over and feeding off the food I provide for the strays. I originally had all the male strays caught and fixed, which was quite the ordeal, and had to wait on the females who were either pregnant or nursing at the time. These were the intstructions I was given - I had to wait to do the females. By the time the females were weaning and I could get them fixed, neighboring males came and impregnated them again. After a summer of this, I gave up. Yes, I gave up too early, but I also get angry with people who have outdoor cats who let them roam and have no idea where they go all day. I have 5 male cats, who I don't believe are strays, make their way to my property already, looking for females. They stay here for days at a time and eat my food. Don't the owners wonder where they are, don't they care? And all of these cats coming around are not fixed. If you are going to own a cat and let it outdoors, please make sure it is fixed. That would also cut down on the number of strays.

 

[3CsMommy]

Check with the local animal protection league, etc. to see if someone has a TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) program going in your area. There's been a big push in some areas of late to just sterilize them and put them back in their places so the population dies off more naturally than taking them all out and leaving the niche empty for more strays/ferals to move in and overpopulate.

 

[TillyChinchilla]

Ugh, Riven - sounds like my worst nightmare. I am not a cat person. When I was young our neighbors down the road had at least 100 semi-feral cats living in their basement and backyard. We fed our dogs outside in the summer (Labradors) and the cats would ATTACK the dogs to get the dog food. It came to the point where animal control wouldn't/couldn't do any more, so we ended up having to shoot the ones that were aggressive, getting near the food (we also have cats of our own, and they would fight with them often). We never shot an actual cat, but did shoot to scare them.

Once the labs had passed away, we were left with two JRTs, who would have no issue bringing home dead feral kittens. They did their own population control. Feral cats are almost completely unable to be rehabbed, they are wild animals.

There are a bunch that live in the shrubbery of one of the Walmart stores here. They live by the place where the employees eat outside, and I have no doubts that they feed them.

 

[Bekks]

In Midtown Atlanta, they started a capture, spay/neuter and release program. They don't have enough room to capture and keep the cats, but to keep them from reproducing they spay/neuter and then re-release them. I still hate that the HS releases them and people feed them....then again I don't like cats.

 

[Riven]

The nearest city is 2 1/2 hours from me. When I say city, I mean anything that resembles where most people on the boards live in or around, places with public transportation, malls ( with more than ten stores ), PetCo/PetSmart type stores, etc.

Because of these do have very few of the programs that most people take for granted living in a big city.

 

[tskoffina]

The nearest city is 2 1/2 hours from me. When I say city, I mean anything that resembles where most people on the boards live in or around, places with public transportation, malls ( with more than ten stores ), PetCo/PetSmart type stores, etc.

Because of these do have very few of the programs that most people take for granted living in a big city.

Wow, I can't imagine living anywhere that remote. I drive 2 1/2 hours north or south and I don't see anything but buildings almost. Feral cat's all over are a problem, and I hate that they live like that, but I hate to see anything killed for something that's not it's fault.

 

[minrex]

Wow, I can't imagine living anywhere that remote. I drive 2 1/2 hours north or south and I don't see anything but buildings almost. Feral cat's all over are a problem, and I hate that they live like that, but I hate to see anything killed for something that's not it's fault.

I guess stay away from nature then; tons of animals get killed in the wild all the time for something that's not their fault. It's not the antelope's fault that the lion gets hungry. Sometimes the most humane thing to do with an overpopulation of animals is to cull them; otherwise you end up with problems like disease, starvation or (in the case of predators) drastic reductions in the amount of prey animals in the area, which can throw off the whole ecosystem.

 

[lilchinchilla]

Ryan and I feel so sheltered reading this thread. We have never seen this kind of a problem where we live - not anywhere around here. Rabbits - yes - lots of rabbits are dumped by people all the time and are living in university parking lots or the airport, etc... but never never have I seen or heard of cats. I am quite shocked, as we both love our cat, and I've always been a cat person.... I couldn't imagine killing a cat, just because it has no home.

Are you guys seriously joking though, is it really that bad, for feral cats? I have just never seen or heard such a bad issue with cats. The only place where I see lots of cats are at the SPCA. Gosh even some people who just are breeding regular average cats, they sell kittens for like $100 each, because there just is not much for kittens around. Even when I got my cat, he was the youngest one at the SPCA at the time (5 years old).

I can even show you classifieds locally, where majority of the ads are people begging for a cat or kitten... it just seems there is such slim pickings for ones locally here. and the ones in the SPCA are like $150 and all 8 years or older(just from my observations when I got my cat.). Maybe you should send all your feral cats here, so they get good homes(since there is so many looking for a cat or kitten), rather than kill them?

 

[TillyChinchilla]

It is horrible in a LOT of places here. Cat rescues will NOT take in cats from the general public almost 100% of the time, they are so full. Feral cats can be very aggressive and dangerous if put in the position to be. In Norwich, CT they have a horrid feral cat population. You'd see them as often as you would see a squirrel or bird on the ground.

It is hard to give away a cat here. There is a shelter nearby who has made it's adoption fee FREE for cats, just to unload space, and they are a kill shelter. I took in a ragdoll mix kitten when I lived in CT and it took me 3-4 months to find somebody to take her. I wasn't asking an adoption fee the entire time, just a good home with vet references.

 

[lilchinchilla]

That's nuts. Seriously, too bad they couldn't be moved to other areas where it is the other way around. Around here, I am sure that would not be the case, as there just seems to be so many people begging for a cat or kitten. Even I was about to get an 11 year old cat, before I found the one at the SPCA that we own now (and he was 5 years old - so not really young either.), just because it is such slim pickings for young cats. :confused2:

 

[Jenn]

For me, the hardest part about dropping off a stray or feral cat at the shelter is the knowledge that it most likely won't be adopted and will be euthanised. I have found that with the strays I feed that they love attention as much as any domesticated cat. It has taken me a long time with some of these cats to gain their trust, but once they do trust me, they are as sweet as a domesticated cat and I have adopted 3 of them as indoor cats. I truely love cats and wish I could do more for them, but the shelters are full and the other shelter we have locally that doesn't believe in euthanization has too many cats as well and can't or won't help you if you find a stray. My population of strays at my house has stayed about the same, year after year, but I hate the idea of cats in danger from cars, coyotes, and the cold. So I do what I can to provide some shelter and food to make life a little easier for them. Before I had started helping them out, I would have my garbage cans raided. That's why I have 3 of my own cats, all adopted from the group outdoors, and my cats only live indoors where they are safe. And yes, they have been fixed. If I could escape from reality, I would run a shelter for these animals, socialize them and rehome them. But unfortunately, reality wont' allow me to do that at this time.

 

[Riven]

I couldn't imagine killing a cat, just because it has no home.

If you were losing baby chins as they were born becuase of stray cats, I'm sure you'd change your mind quickly. Maybe they aren't killing my chins ( although would if given the chance I'm sure ) they are killing my other livestock. Despite what people think chickens are great pets. And when you're paying for top quality stock and paying $15+ per chicken, and loosing one - two a week... you get really fed up, really fast.

Plus one attacked our dog, luckily she wasn't injured, I was right there and grabbed her away, but I'm sure with many people after a $300 or so vet bill from your little dog being attacked by a stray it wouldn't take long...

Feeding, and sheltering these cats only breeds more cats, diseases, over population and other issues. I prefer to get them into the HS so they can have a shot at a good home. I'm sorry to say that if they're euthanized, I feel bad, but not that bad not to do it. I'm just protecting my livestock. Plus technically if you're feeding an animal it is considered yours.