I'm beyond puzzled!

[KanoasDestiny]

Wow guys....first off I have not taken these cats! I guess I should have explained the situation better, because as always, people start insinuating things on their own.

The cats are NOT on my property. I board the horses at another neighbor's house, that lives a couple of yards down (the cats are in her yard). I live in a well populated area, and while some of these cats are feral...I stated in my first post that these cats are "strays". What I mean by "strays", is that they do not belong to me. I am sure that several of them belong to other neighbors, and come to eat with the wilder cats. I don't think that my neighbors would appreciate us shooting their cats, or taking them off to the shelter to be destroyed. Like I said in my original post, the little guy spends most of his time at a neighbor's house now, along with a few of the others. I have no idea if she has tamed them or taken them into her home as her own. I just know that he comes around every now and then to eat, and that he appears sickly and is still quite small. And as far as live traps, we have a couple of the neighbors' little chihuhuas that come to play with the cats and horses, and I'm sure their owners would be furious if we trapped them. I would love to spay/neuter the actual feral cats, but like I said...I don't have the time, money, nor the desire to take all the neighborhood cats in to be altered.

I'm sorry if it seemed like I was complaining about feeding stray cats. That was not my intention, as it is my choice to do so. Since we don't have fleas, ticks or any known cases of rabies in this area, I didn't think it was too much of a problem. They cut down the number of mice and bugs. And it's certainly no worse then people who have bird feeders/baths out to attract birds, who are known to carry West Nile, lice and other diseases too.

I appreciate everyones responses, especially those who shared their stories, or why this little guy might be so small. I also appreciate the fact that everyone offered ways to cut down on the problem. I've thought about the options time and time again, and so far, my husband and I have agreed that we'll collect the new kittens and take them into an adoption agency, as that will be the best thing for them. And for those that were curious...$60/$35 is just the spay and neuter (no shots), as that is what the vets felt would be best for stray cats (I haven't asked if they do feral cats).

 

[Reijel's Mom]

I'm sorry Kanoas, you are probably going to feel a bit attacked by some of the replies to your thread. Just wanted you to know I understand completely what you are trying to do, it's not as if these cats are yours and you started this problem. I am VERY lucky that my county started a volunteer run rescue - so now when I get myself into these types of messes I've got some people/resources to help me out.

I wouldn't be able to shoot the cats, either (though I understand where people are coming from on this), and I wouldn't have been able to afford to fix 7 plus cats that weren't mine along with all my own expenses. I would keep researching to see if you can find a way to get them fixed, even if that means transporting them quite some distance to do so.

Good luck!

 

[Minimor]

The spay/neuter fees I quoted (double yours) are "just" spay/neuter fees as well, no shots included, just to clarify. I believe many of the others posted here were too. $60/$35 are still very cheap prices for spaying & neutering!

 

[mininik]

There is a difference between keeping this colony going and feeding wild birds. In fact, one more thing these cats are likely doing is over hunting your area's natural fauna. It's unfortunate that you feel attacked over sharing a sad situation that is not entirely your doing, but I was only responding to the information given. You originally posted that you were feeding stray cats who have multiplied in number, some of which have been sickly and who are soon to be multiplying again and again. You posted that the cats are not keen on being handled, so feral is not an unfair description for them. It's too bad that your neighbors are so irresponsible and short sighted that they are allowing "their" cats to continue reproducing. Taking the resulting kittens in is a great idea, but eventually the real problem should be addressed. There are simply not enough homes for them all out there and given the opportunity they will reproduce until the situation is truly out of control.

 

[Sun Runner Stables]

All she asked was for a probable clue as to what was wrong with the midget one... Just sayin'

 

[mininik]

Just sayin'... This is a public discussion forum. There aren't any rules here that I'm aware of that insist posters stay exactly on topic when replying to a thread. Others often learn from a broader discussion than what was intended. In fact, I believe the original poster said that she hadn't asked vets if they alter FERAL cats for free or at a major discount (as opposed to just strays) and I did post a helpful link to some programs in S. CA as well as general information on caring for feral cats. If we had stuck to the topic of just the tiny kitten, that wouldn't have come up although it's likely that the kitten is affected by something related to the colony in which he was born, so I believe the rest of the discussion was relevant.

 

[Reijel's Mom]

The spay/neuter fees I quoted (double yours) are "just" spay/neuter fees as well, no shots included, just to clarify. I believe many of the others posted here were too. $60/$35 are still very cheap prices for spaying & neutering!

Those are very affordable prices - for animals that are your own, that you have chosen to make a part of your home. It's too bad there aren't even more options available out there for people that would like to do the right thing and have feral cats spayed/nuetered.

 

[zoey829]

Same problem here. We gave most away and fixed every one at our expense! It was so worth it. One did pass a few wks ago ( I think a horse kicked her) I know that can happen. But these cats are already here, I am just trying to make it tolerable for everyone. For the rest around 10 at night we open the back window and they come in at night. And stay in the spare bedroom. We have 4 that come in and I let them out in the morning. Now another one UNFIXED just showed up OH! So he will get fixed. He is so friendly he must be someone's cat. I am looking around town to make sure he is not a lost pet. But it is ahuge resposibilty. I personally could nto kill any of them. I made a promise to them I know it is not thier fault, but mine if I didnt fix every one of them. So it costs a fortune but they are part of our farm.

 

[runamuk]

Actually the feral/stray/dumped colony roaming around my place seems to stay at a pretty constant number. Basically there are usually 4 cats 2 known females and the tom who is a son of one of them. They have litters however survival rate appears pretty low, typical litter size is 4 kittens and usually there are maybe 1 or two by the time they reach 4-6 months.

Now I do NOT feed these cats, however my neighbors may on a very random basis. These cats actually are quite healthy. We have a huge population of mice and moles and in the summer grasshoppers. I have mainly spent time observing these cats, for a couple reasons. I am really curious how much population explosion there is in an UNTENDED feral colony so far after over a year it seems mortality is fairly high. We also have a very large population of predatory birds etc.

This colony appears to only produce kittens twice a year. And we are an area known for being an animal dump, we live near a federal forest

. I do have one dumped kitty I have taken under my wing and do feed, she was a skeleton, she is super friendly and I have found a home for her. But at this point I am not interfering with the feral group.........I do not have the $600 to sneuter 4 cats, that don't belong to me in the first place, not too mention I would have to rent live traps and drive about 40 miles to the sneuter clinic that is cheapest ($600 for 4). We have NO animal shelter in our county that will take strays, so either you go dump them on the next county's shelter(by lying about finding them in the parkinglot

) or deal with it in other ways.

Now comparing my local colony to a friends farm colony that she feeds etc.....her colony went from 1 pregnant female to about 15 cats in about a year. Most of her cats are quite sickly looking due to inbreeding (my cousin is my father is my husband stuff). She has tamed and tried to sneuter as she can but she also always seems to have a litter on the way. So even with losses her group is always increasing.

 

[Minimor]

Those are very affordable prices - for animals that are your own, that you have chosen to make a part of your home. It's too bad there aren't even more options available out there for people that would like to do the right thing and have feral cats spayed/nuetered.

Tell me about it--the thing is, I would consider those prices cheap even for feral cats....I've been paying double those prices and it's not "my" cats I'm paying for...they are the feral cats/strays/drop offs/neighbor's cats. It's either neuter/spay or euthanize, because I will not have all these extra cats around here if they are un-fixed and the females are going to keep contributing more to the problem and the toms are going to be beating up my own cats.
I am not wealthy--not by a long shot--and it is a hardship to pay for all these spay/neuters I've done over the years but it does make for a peaceful cat existance and keeps the numbers down. I shudder to think how many cats there would be in this neighborhood otherwise. And yes, I have euthanized some of them too--another considerable expense at the vet clinic--but for me the only way to deal with the extremely wild and the extremely mean ones. Also the only way to deal with the very sick ones. If it's at all possible to catch the cat I will pay to euthanize it rather than let it die a lingering death due to FIP, leukemia or distemper or whatever may be wrong.

There's nothing that riles me more than having someone say they can't afford to spay one cat and so now they have 10 kittens to give away...

 

[Reijel's Mom]

As stated, these aren't her cats, they aren't on her property, and many are actually probably owned cats. I'm all for spaying/nuetering, and do it whenever I can, even if it's not for my own animals, but the reality is sometimes people REALLY don't have the money to fix animals that aren't their own.

I'm so blessed that a group of concerned citizens in my community got together on our stray issue so we could pool resources and fundraise together, and posts like this remind me of that.

 

[wildoak]

Beautiful cats, even the tiny one. When we moved to the country many years ago, there was a feral female who had moved in there. She had a litter of kittens our first summer there, which we were able to catch and tame while they were babies, but I had to trap her. FYI, I baited a regular carrier on the back porch and ran a string from the crate door in through my window.....and waited LOL. When she ventured in, I shut the door, took her to the vet and had her spayed, shots, the works. Told him to use dissolving stitches as I would probably never get my hands on her again. She did end up staying around for many years.

Jan

 

[Reijel's Mom]

FYI, I baited a regular carrier on the back porch and ran a string from the crate door in through my window.....and waited LOL. Jan

That put a smile on my face - I could so picture it in my head

 

[KanoasDestiny]

Hi guys! Again...thank you for your stories and opinions. I just wanted to let you guys know that I have not been upset or felt like I was being picked on by any of your PM's or posts. These stray cats are healthy fat cats, with the exception of the little guy. So that leads me to believe that alot of them either belong to people, or are getting taken care of elsewhere. While a few of the kittens have survived, we also know that some of them have disappeared, and from what I can tell, we only seem to have 3 producing females as of right now. Thank God, most of the cats are male.

I hope that it didn't come off like I don't have money to care for animals. By no means is that true. My own animals are healthy, altered, and are contained, so that they are not running the streets. I have no problem with these cats fighting with mine, because my cats are solely housecats. But as my husband says, he doesn't work to support everyone elses animals. We feed the needy, and we help where we can. But we won't take from our pets and bills, to pay for the animals that don't belong to us.

On a brighter note. I ended up bringing the little guy home with me, and he is temperarily a member of the family, taking up residence in my bathtub. He was so weak, he couldn't walk without falling over. I figured that if he was bound to die, he would do it with a full tummy, in a warm home. My husband wasn't too happy with the new addition, but since we didn't expect him to make it through the night, he didn't argue too much. So now "Tiny Tim" has made it through two nights, and is slowly gaining his strength back. He's more alert today and has even had the strength to jump out of the bathtub several times.

I am trying not to get attached because it's still iffy if he'll make a full recovery, but so far so good. If he does survive, we'll be taking him to a local rescue, so that he can be adopted out to be a loving house cat. He's so sweet, it's hard to remember that he isn't a kitten any longer, even if he still looks like one. I just found out that the neighbor that he's been staying close to, is out of town on vacation. Apparently, they've been gone a couple of weeks, and that is why he started coming back over to eat with the others. The sad thing is, he's so skinny he literally has no body fat. We're headed into colder weather, so it was only a matter of time before he froze to death.