Cats Dilemma

M

Mr_Luke

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Aug 16, 2019
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I stopped feeding the Manx tabby cat I had been feeding for 1 to 2 weeks. My vet suggested I do this, because stray cats were being attracted to my property. If I continued to make my property a haven for stray cats, it may eventually be overrun by cats, and that would be more than I bargained for. So I befriended this skittish Manx boy cat after a week or so, and then turned my back on him, and now I feel bad about it. This cat was coming here 2x a day and spending a lot of time here, as if he had a friend in this world, and now I've driven him away. I scared him away with a broom, then I tossed a baking pan onto the sidewalk which made a lot of noise and scared him. After about 3 times, he's not coming here any more, but now I feel bad because I built trust in him and then took it away. I have no idea where this cat is and if he's eating enough. He can catch birds and mice, but he loved to rely on me and my canned foods and raw meats.
All creatures deserve to eat and I find it hard to turn my back on a hungry animal. I hope I'll feel better about this in the future. He's an unfixed cat and the local shelter has no room to take in any cats until Mid August. I get attached to cats easy and I think it would be too much for me to have my property overrun by stray cats. I have 3 house cats of my own and I want to focus on them and not stray cats in the neighborhood that could potentially infect my cats when they're in their catio.
How would you react to a stray cat on your land that could be hungry?
Would you try to see if it's hungry, or shoo it away?
 
About as far as I would go is trap and neuter, and even then that is a stretch for me. They're generally considered pests in my part of the world. If they're stray and they cause damage to my property, they go.

By feeding them and not doing something about population control, your vet is 100% right. If you care about them, you'll make sure they can't breed and increase the problem.

My wife, on the other hand, recently tried to raise 5 stray kittens and the mother. We ended up being able to fix the mother, but she left with the kittens afterward. The wife actually ended up backing over one leaving for work one day and I ended up having to deal with that. The kittens were totally untameable. Feral to the max. The only thing I feel bad about is that they are all intact out there waiting to breed.
 
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You might check into if there is a spay and neuter and release program in your area.

There is likely to be an argument about what the "right thing" is here but I would ask to start:

Are you sure he is actually a stray/ferel?

How many cats has your property become a "haven" for?
 
I am the crazy cat lady. I love 'em all. Mr. Charles Bingly is maybe 14 years old. Dunno. Don't care.
1626394808668.jpg
 
DuckRyder said:
You might check into if there is a spay and neuter and release program in your area.

There is likely to be an argument about what the "right thing" is here but I would ask to start:

Are you sure he is actually a stray/ferel?

How many cats has your property become a "haven" for?
Click to expand...
The manx isn't feral, he's a stray that doesn't want to live indoors.
There is a TNR here, but they're full until mid august so there's nothing they can do at this time.
The manx attracted other cats, a mean black & white cat that tried to start fights with it, and a long haired tabby cat that chased him away and ate the food meant for the manx. So in 2 weeks, I had 2 other cats that came here to pester the manx or steal it's food. And my own 3 cats watching from indoors.

This is my Eva DSC_1451a.jpg
 
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Nick1994 said:
Catch him, get him fixed, and release him.
Click to expand...
But I'm not willing to pay out of pocket to get stray cats fixed. I'd trap them and deliver them to WCAS and release them, but I don't think I want stray cats hanging around my property all the time. They may do this after mid august. I don't know how they'd trap this cat or where it is now that I chased him away. I will say a prayer for the cats.
 
Mr_Luke said:
I stopped feeding the Manx tabby cat I had been feeding for 1 to 2 weeks. My vet suggested I do this, because stray cats were being attracted to my property. If I continued to make my property a haven for stray cats, it may eventually be overrun by cats, and that would be more than I bargained for. So I befriended this skittish Manx boy cat after a week or so, and then turned my back on him, and now I feel bad about it. This cat was coming here 2x a day and spending a lot of time here, as if he had a friend in this world, and now I've driven him away. I scared him away with a broom, then I tossed a baking pan onto the sidewalk which made a lot of noise and scared him. After about 3 times, he's not coming here any more, but now I feel bad because I built trust in him and then took it away. I have no idea where this cat is and if he's eating enough. He can catch birds and mice, but he loved to rely on me and my canned foods and raw meats.
All creatures deserve to eat and I find it hard to turn my back on a hungry animal. I hope I'll feel better about this in the future. He's an unfixed cat and the local shelter has no room to take in any cats until Mid August. I get attached to cats easy and I think it would be too much for me to have my property overrun by stray cats. I have 3 house cats of my own and I want to focus on them and not stray cats in the neighborhood that could potentially infect my cats when they're in their catio.
How would you react to a stray cat on your land that could be hungry?
Would you try to see if it's hungry, or shoo it away?
Click to expand...
Hopefully, he will come back. I suggest that you take him in and turn him into an indoor-only cat. The cats adapt very well, and even feral cats will become indoor cats in a couple of months at most.
 
Gokhan said:
Hopefully, he will come back. I suggest that you take him in and turn him into an indoor-only cat. The cats adapt very well, and even feral cats will become indoor cats in a couple of months at most.
Click to expand...
Not true. Some cats need and want their freedom. I just seemed to learn this last week. Sure, I could take him in, and then see him tear my doors all up trying to get out, see him attack my cats out of boredom, and destroy my furniture. That's not my idea of a happy cat.
Talk to any shelter that deals with thousands of cats per year and they'll tell you the same thing.
 
Mr_Luke said:
But I'm not willing to pay out of pocket to get stray cats fixed. I'd trap them and deliver them to WCAS and release them, but I don't think I want stray cats hanging around my property all the time. They may do this after mid august. I don't know how they'd trap this cat or where it is now that I chased him away. I will say a prayer for the cats.
Click to expand...
Most cities have a spay & neuter clinic where you can get them fixed for really cheap. This is what we have here, only $41.

spayaz.com

Spay/Neuter - Spay Neuter Clinic

spayaz.com spayaz.com
 
Had a stray or lost cat hanging around recently. Been posted on the Nextdoor app by a few people and myself. It was friendly but had no collar. Haven’t seen it in a few days and I didn’t feed it. We do have a black bear and a bobcat in the area but from what I understand outdoor cats are pretty tough when it comes to defending themselves.
 
I’d feed him till and if it becomes a problem (tons of strays showing up). I don’t mind a few cats around as they tend to keep the mice at bay.
 
I have 3 cats in my house, all found on my property, and 1 was a full on feral cat that started hanging around my garage in December, middle of winter 2 ft of snow when I had an Elk hanging in the garage. Cat was about 4 months old, he spent that winter outside. I have 2 dogs also. The dogs tree'd him about 10 times that I know of. I made the cat a bedding place with an escape route. The cat saw that I had control of the dogs. Spring rolls around and the feral cat see's another cat coming out the house with the mean dogs and the other cat is not afraid of the mean dogs. The feral cat slowly starts to trust me since I feed it everyday. One day late fall after it had been letting me touch it and barley pick it up for a second, I put the other cat and both dogs in the bedroom and I feed the cat and he lets me pick him up for just a second but I had a towel over my shoulder. Once I picked up the wild cat and wrapped him in the towel I walked him into the house and sat down in my lazyboy for an hour or more. He settled, I petted him the whole him, he knew the dogs were somewhere in the house. Once I started to unwrap the towel from the cat the cat didn't move, he stayed right in my lap. The cat stayed for another 45 minutes on its own free will sitting in my lap. After it went into the basement where the cat boxes are I let the dogs out but latched the basement door so only cats could go into the basement. The cat had some adjustment period, and now after 2.5 years I can't keep the cat off of me or the leg kick up or "Support" on my Lazyboy. The cat thinks he is a dog, gets between them, walks under them, gets along with them...ect I used to have a lot of moles in my 3/4 acre grass lawn, now I have none. The cats have to go to the neighbors to "Hunt" and yes, they bring back gifts! I don't have any field mice, squirrels, snakes, ect around my house, they have killed them all!

So, the moral of my story, if you could afford to feed the cat with no issue, "Big Feral Just Jumped up On Me"! You could have feed it at a specific time and picked up the food dish and left no remnants behind to attract other animals. Then have it spayed or neutered, you would have done a service to the animal society. I have to Kill unwanted animals often, my most often disposed species are skunks, my dogs have been sprayed too many times right before I'm going to bed and it takes 1.5 hour to de skunk them. Otherwise I'm pretty much live and let live for wild animals.

So I don't condone feeding an animal then turning on it and running it off. Keep in mind I live in the National Forest and its the wild animals, and "Protected" wild animals forest in which I live. Some I'm allowed to kill, some not, unless in fear of my life. Animals range from Griz/Black bears, Cougars, Moose, and on down the line.
 
Mr_Luke said:
Not true. Some cats need and want their freedom. I just seemed to learn this last week. Sure, I could take him in, and then see him tear my doors all up trying to get out, see him attack my cats out of boredom, and destroy my furniture. That's not my idea of a happy cat.
Talk to any shelter that deals with thousands of cats per year and they'll tell you the same thing.
Click to expand...
You're talking about the worst-case scenarios. I have three indoor-only feral-rescue cats. I used to feed them outside like you did. It took the friendliest one the longest to adjust, but the continuous loud meowing to go out stopped for good after seven weeks. The cats adjust to things better than us humans do.
 
We have a couple around, I dont feed them but I dont bother them either. As long as they are hunting mice or moles they are welcome. I will walk outside if I suspect they are stalking birds and they run off as soon as they see me. I do think they have killed a few baby bunnies but everything hunts baby rabbits so it might not be them. All I find is some scattered patches of rabbit fur. I admire feral cats independence but do feel sorry for domesticated animals that have been turned out.
 
If you can take care of one, do it. If you can't then don't.
It's much harder to deal with emotionally once you get to be the crazy cat lady.
(You've noticed: the easiest way to get a cat is to have one already. The strays seem to pick up on cat people.)

You can have the two mockingbirds in my yard. Useless noisemakers.
 
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