Feral cats should not be fat!

[Liberal Veteran]

There is this feral cat that comes to visit my porch everyday and I feed him a single cup of good food, and he is just getting fat! Won't let me anywhere near him (well, within 6 feet anyway). I think he's scamming the entire neighborhood for food.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. thats SO cute.....fat little feral....

[Divernan]

2. Sure it's male? Could be pregnant female.

Don't stop feeding it - a vet might know if there's other explanation for appearing fat.

On edit: Or maybe it's growing a really thick coat for the winter. In any case, better to be a fat feral cat facing the worst of winter, than a thin one. I feed two myself, and one appeared very fat for several weeks and then was back to normal, so I figure she had a litter of kittens.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. That was my first thought (and why I started feeding him)

...but it's been about a month and a half now and he hasn't given birth (that I can tell).

[jukes]

7. that's a def possibility!

LibVet, your local animal control unit may have humane traps to loan. shd prbly have it ck'd if you can afford a vet visit.

feel free to PM if you want capture tips; hasn't been mentioned in a while, but i operate a feral feline rescue service, so have quite a bit of experience.

nothing wrong w/ "Trap/Neuter/Release" if that's the extent you can go for this animal.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. in india my aunt has a colony of ferals coming to her door...

one of them is hugely fat and begs for food rather loudly outside her window. it only shuts up when the other cats yell at him.

[David__77]

4. Is it really feral if it hangs out?

Was it perhaps a former housecat? I have a "feral" that suddenly became a lap kitty--extremely snuggly.

[jukes]

8. David_77

you cd be right; shy domestics or those that have been abused are freq suspected of being feral. that's bad usu because they don't know how to care for themselves. in this case it seems to have found a food-source! :+

[RhodaGrits]

5. If you feed it, you own it and are responsible for it.