Pets
Related: About this forumI started feeding stray cats
I heard that someone up the street is feeding stray cats, but evidently not enough, because I've been seeing 2 in my yard. Last week, one or both were meowing at my front door. About 9:30, I heard a tap at the door. I thought it was my neighbor, but when I turned on the light, darned if it wasn't one of the cats. So I started feeding them. There is a tabby and a long-haired black one. I don't know if they are male or female or how old they are. They look healthy. They might be litter mates, but they don't get along that well, maybe after they both get a regular supply of food and they aren't so worried.
I have an elderly indoor cat and I don't have plans to bring these 2 in. After having housemates, she is very content being an only cat and we're leaving it that way. I'm using one pair of shoes to step out on the front porch to put food out, and sanitizing them, then storing them in a room I keep closed. My pet cat is 16 or 17, and I don't want her to catch viruses or other ailments. I feel like getting the cats inside is usually the end game, but feeding them is what I can do now.
I have about 8 bird feeders in the back yard, and last week, I made sure they were all up high enough to be safe with plenty of clearance below. I also tried to eliminate hiding places the cats can attack from. I have a picnic table, covered with tarp. I saw the cats lurking under it and unhappliy, feathers. I recycle aluminum (usually give it to the Humane Society and they recycle), so I had several plastic bags of empty cans. I used them to line the perimeter under the table. The center under the table is open, so the cats have shelter, but if they try to leap at the birds, they are going to make a lot of noise. Haven't seen any more feathers since I did that. The cats get in under my shed, and under the neighbors deck, and under another neighbor's shed, and they go up the hill to the person feeding them up there.
I hope it works out for the best.
CurtEastPoint
(19,182 posts)Our org does Trap/Neuter/Return and you have to fix them or you'll be overrun and kittens will suffer, die, be prey. Please.
niyad
(119,950 posts)Marthe48
(19,033 posts)2 black ones and the tabby.
It'll be awhile before I can trap them, but I will try. I donate to Friends of Forgotten Felines and the local shelter, so if I trap them, I'll know where to go.
NewDayOranges
(727 posts)Frequenting my porch last spring. My long-term goal was to get them to trust me so I could take them to get fixed, then bring them back to the neighborhood...
But they all still scatter when I reach out for them!
Jilly_in_VA
(10,890 posts)You might be able to borrow traps. Then you can bait the traps with food. Trap, take them in to get fixed, bring them back, release.
Marthe48
(19,033 posts)I thought the cats belonged to someone on the street behind me, so I yelled at them often to get out of my yard. I have a handicap to getting them to trust me. They are already not running far, and just now, I was able to open my front door and baby talk to the short haired black cat, who looks distressingly like my old boy cat who died of old age 3 years ago. The others were there, but out of sight. When I closed the door, they all ran off.
Jilly_in_VA
(10,890 posts)You may be able to get a voucher to spay/neuter them. One less fertile cat is a lot less stray cats!
Marthe48
(19,033 posts)We are lucky to have low cost clinics, and other local opportunities. In the meantime, doing what I can.
Walleye
(35,686 posts)I had been feeding a feral cat on my back deck which is on the second floor, the cats can climb up the pole. Patches obviously had been somebodys house cat, he was about half-grown. He liked to dash inside whenever I opened the door and hide under the table, just for fun, and I had to dig him out. One night I heard a cat fight outside and the next morning Patches was weak and wounded in the belly. Took him to the vet and told her you might as well neuter him as long as hes here and give him his shots. My older cat had died a few weeks before, and now patches has been my indoor cat for quite a few years. So you just never know with cats. I hope it all works out for you. The feral I was feeding had been trapped and neutered as a kitten. He still comes to my back door for supper and hes 12 years old
Marthe48
(19,033 posts)Thanks for sharing your story.
We bought a place out in the country in the early 70s. The woman we bought it from left all of her cats and didn't tell us. We found out when winter came. There was a black cat, who came to the porch. It took a year, but we coaxed her into the house. She disappeared into the basement and we didn't see her till Spring, just put food on the top step and shut the door. Spring came and shedashed out of the basement and bounced all over the kitchen till we opened the door and let her out. Didn't see her again until Fall, and we did the same thing. We named her Pilgrim She finally trusted us enough to have her kittens in the basement and left them with us. She would let us pet her in the house, but I tried once outside, and got a bad scratch. Back then, the drive to get the cats spayed and neutered was just starting up. People dumped cats at the roadside rest and they made their way to our house. We couldn't do much more than feed and shelter those, but as years went by, we got our newer pets spayed or neutered, and 100% inside. We moved to a larger town, and haven't seen this many strays in our neighborhood, ever.
Walleye
(35,686 posts)Neighbor and me rounded up 10 of them and paid for them to get spayed and neutered at Faithful Friends nonprofit shelter. They were released back into the neighborhood, many of them strayed in the first year or so. Tiger is the only one left. It worked though, no more female cats came into the neighborhood to have kittens. Patches is very aggressive as an ambush predator, good mouser. And very skilled and athletic. Good thing I brought him in, there wouldnt be a bird left in the yard. Tiger is very shy and stays out of sight somewhere during the day. Ive never seen him catch a bird. He will come inside a step or 2 but freaks out when I shut the door. Oh were all getting old
multigraincracker
(34,093 posts)she will grab a bite off my porch.
Then one day I watched her catching moles in my yard. She was very good at it.