Help!! I need advice. Neighbors have 18 cats

[dmkrieg]

Hi Guys, I don't know what to do. I just moved into this new house and I just absolutely love it. BUT, the darn neighbors keep feeding the stray cats and it started out 4 males, well the males attracted females and now there are 18 total cats that are running like crazy over there. They are always in my barn and on our cars and bar-b-que pit etc. The lady next door said she can't catch them and she doesn't want to quit feeding them afraid that they will starve. Well if she isn't going to keep them from having kittens and they are going to keep multiplying what do I do???? Can they get my horses or dogs sick if they aren't vaccinated? I have my own barn cat that is vaccinated and he stays with me all the time. But I am afraid what if he gets into fights with them or something. My male cat is by the way Neutered.

Ideas??? What do I do???

 

[nootka]

Call your local animal control/shelter and see if they can help assist this woman.

Wish I had better advice. Not sure about them getting anything sick as I have a few cats that live in my barn w/my horses and it doesn't seem to cause problems, but we take pretty good care of our cats and horses.

Liz M.

 

[Danielle_E.]

Boy, that can't be an easy situation. Being a cat lover I can understand your side and her side to this too BUT she needs to do things different in trying to help these cats out. Either she has to be willing to "control" their feeding so that eventually she can catch them and have them spayed or neutered but it doesn't sound like that is her plan and would cost quite a bit of $$ now that you say there are 18 of them!!!! If it were me I would speak with the woman and tell her your concerns and explain to her that 18 will soon be ALOT MORE Call your county and see if they can help-out in the situation. Explain to the woman that something MUST be done now for the sake of the cats as well as others around because if the problem gets soooooo big the county may just have to shoot them

 

[Jean_B]

Having grown up on a dairy farm - which was at times overrun with cats - NAH, don't worry about it. My old farm also had upwards of 18 wild cats at times too, and the horses never got anything from them, even when distemper ran through the cats.

Ours were always wild - couldn't get within 10 feet of them. And we didn't feed them. They had to earn their keep, so to speak. If they didn't hunt, they didn't live. Kept the place mouse/vermin free. Oh, once in a while we would give them some "expired" leftovers, but that was rare (am the oldest of 7 kids--what the heck is a leftover???).

Once in a while distemper would run through the place. The tough old ones would always survive, and pretty soon there would be more of them. Mother nature took care of the weak ones, and the next generation would be just a little tougher.

Sounds cold and harsh, but believe me, no one wanted to attept to catch those cats to vaccinate them. They would rip you to shreds. And the few that were tamer usually were the weaker ones....and they didn't last long.

 

[dmkrieg]

Thanks for your advice. I knew I could count on my mini friends for advice.

I tried talking to her and said you have to quit feeding them or they will keep coming and multiplying. I am afraid what if they get my cat sick or what if they get my horses or dogs sick. I have 3 great Pyrs that would kill them if I let them out. I keep my dogs stalled at night in the barn. I think what I might do is clean up anything that the dogs could tear open in the barn, like halters, lead ropes horse feed ect...and then just let the dogs run the barn and outside. Which I hate to do. They always manage to chew up a lead rope or halter and they just love their stall. Well we will see.

Thanks again,

 

[Heidi]

What part of the country are you in? Does your area have a cat rescue program?

2 years ago I started feeding some feral cats on our property. They had kittens. I became upset because I knew that by my feeding them, that more kittens would survive and more and more mouths would be coming to my property for food...and since I started feeding, I couldn't abruptly stop.

I managed to utilize the resources of several rescue organizations in my area and I trapped, tamed, spayed, neutered, vaccinated (organizations payed for spay/neuter/shots) and adopted to good homes: 23 kittens and 5 adult cats. Two of the adult cats were untamable and were returned to my property to remain feral. One has now become a lovey housecat, the other is just letting me touch her...as soon as she figures out that scrubbles are good, she'll be putty in my hands!

If there are no organizations that can help...perhaps trapping and euthanizing is the only way to handle the problem. I'm sad to see kitties killed, but they deserve loving homes, not fighting for survival.

I now feed my two outdoor cats (one of which is the feral) only when I see them and only enough food as they will eat at that time. I have seen no other strays.

Heidi

 

[Heidi]

I wanted to add, perhaps you should contact a local vet and ask to be certain these ferals cannot transmit anything to your vaccinated animals, specifically your cat. I'm fairly certain most things aren't inter-species, so your dogs/horses should be fine, but youru kitty may be at risk. Ask the vet to be sure.

Heidi

 

[Sandy S.]

Have her check to see if there is a Ferral Organization around. We were up to 28 in the barn, strays showing up, people dumping them, I fed they kept mulitplying. Finally took them all in about 8 at a time to Indy Ferral. I paid $10 a kitty for spay or neutering and shots. They prefer you pay $20 a kitty but with 29 I couldn't and they said they have donations to cover the rest. Sure is a relief. But thank goodness so far the other two that have been dumped were boys.

 

[Miniv]

I wanted to add, perhaps you should contact a local vet and ask to be certain these ferals cannot transmit anything to your vaccinated animals, specifically your cat.  I'm fairly certain most things aren't inter-species, so your dogs/horses should be fine, but youru kitty may be at risk.  Ask the vet to be sure.Heidi

484651[/snapback]

​

Heidi is correct. Your dogs and horses are probably safe, but even if your cat is vacinated, he is still vulnerable to kitty deseases.

If it were me, I'd call your local animal control and/or humane society and explain the situation and see what they suggest.

Last year when we started moving into our place, we discovered that the previous owner had left over a dozen wild and half wild cats. Our local humane society loaned us some live traps. We caught all but one (who disappeared) and because of the situation, the shelter only charged us $5 per cat.

MA

 

[Marty]

Is there anyway that you can bake a good coffee cake ???

And bring it on over in the morning.

You ladies need to talk.

 

[strass]

The others are right. Trying to explain to her that she is only hurting the cats by encouraging out-of-control breeding of animals with no hope for vet care aind in turn is upsetting the local ecosystem (bird and squirrel slaughter) is the correct approach.

So what I would do is: Take an old halter and lead rope, soak it in Bitter Apple, and leave it for the dogs to chew on. That'll help them a bit.

THEN TURN 'EM LOOSE. Natural selection will teach the smarter cats to stay away from your property.

 

[wewindwalker]

I have alot of dunped cats here too. But I would never take them to the shelters, as they just put them down.

I would rather have all the cats and no Rats, mice or snakes!

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

We contacted a local vet for cats that the previous owner left. He tested for diseases, spayed/neutered them for a minimal amount. He does it for free too. The local SPCA took the ones that were friendly directly from his receptionist any they thought could be placed. The one wild one came back and lives out here still.

Live traps are easy to use, and an experienced vet can check them. We were worried about some of the transmittable diseases, plus we have seven already (three that we bottled raised here from a dumped pregnant cat that was killed), and all ours are spay/neutered.

Most local feral colony groups/shelters will help with the trapping (often free/low cost spay/neuter too). So even if she wants to keep/feed them, if they're spayed/neutered she won't keep having more and any that are calm can be placed.

It is well worth investigating - where I use to live there was a lady that 'loved' cats - well they were all sick with feline disease (I can't remember if it was feline leukemia or ?, and they bred/interbred at will - my friend use to help her and said in the winter 'helping' involved collecting the dead young/sick ones. Not vary humane in my opinion - definitely misguided love.

As for your dogs - I don't condone them killing, but our dogs will chase off strays (and probably kill them if they caught them) which I'm glad for as our seven are in the house and I really don't want anymore! It is your dogs home and they shouldn't have to be caged because of her lack of care.

 

[USMCshamusmom]

what about Rabies? All counties have a rabies control officer, why not talk to the health department in your county? we had the same situation at our first farm. I just trapped any strays(live trap) and took them to the animal control facility. Better than getting shot, killed by dogs, getting distemper (which is the most horrible way to die!) poisoned, tormented by kids, etc etc etc... a very big pain in the backside for you, but somebody has to be an adult about these things if the owners won't!

looks like you have plenty of options in this situation, unfortunately you will have to take things in your own hands if others refuse to behave responsibly.

 

[Lauralee]

We have a dozen or so cats......all are tame except ONE....we had to trap her in order to have her spayed and THANK GOD she is spayed!!!!

Feral cats can be quite a problem if someone doesn't get a handle on this quickly.

First of all, she is going to run out of money to feed them as the cat population escalates.

Death by starvation is not a pretty way to end a life.

Either let the dogs loose to take care of them or get your gun. If something is not done to cut down the numbers, the cats will spread disease and parasites and the ecosystem will suffer at their hand. If they make your barn their litterbox, even worse things may happen as they spread germs.

I would only allow several of the tamer ones to remain, and then assist her with transportation to a spay/neuter clinic and fix them all!!!

Its a shame when situations force this ending.