Feral cat explosion--Agghhh! (long)

[LWolf]

I have a cat; you can see her in the DU gallery. She was "left behind" for me when I bought a house in 2000, along with a "stray cat that lives in the garage."

I just moved to a different place that came with "barn cats." Ha.

The seller told me she was leaving them because she couldn't catch them. I asked her if they'd been spayed or neutered; she said she'd caught the "black and white one" once and had it done. She didn't know if the cats out there were boys or girls; she couldn't get close enough. Then she couldn't catch one of her pet house cats, an older spayed female, so she left that one, too. There was a delay in escrow, and the place sat empty all spring. When I finally got moved in, I counted 4 feral cats, none of them black and white. And the pet cat, of course. Those 5 outdoor cats, and my own cat, made 6. I contacted the local animal rescue place for live traps, and got on the waiting list for them.

I noticed that 3 of the 4 cats were becoming scarce. Uh oh. Then a couple of weeks ago on an early morning trip to the barn, I saw a kitten. I quickly scooped him up, found a "den" under the goat feeder in the stall, and grabbed the other two in there. A trip to the vet and $$$ later, I knew that they were 3-4 wks old, pretty healthy, 2 girls and a boy, and had feeding and care instructions since they were being weaned early. The next morning I found one more kitten and captured him, so I was raising 4. My own cat was horrified, and refused to come out of the bathroom while there were "invaders" in the house. She's been there 2 weeks now.

The kittens are eating wet and dry food, using a litter box, and thoroughly socialized, so this weekend I'm finding homes for them. It's amazing how hard it was to give the first 2 up. I realized I wanted to keep the other 2; I'd gotten attached. I turned some people away.

Meanwhile, I got the traps. A week of failures, and I figured out I was setting them "wrong." This morning I set them "right," and went back to check a little while ago. Uh oh. No adult cats; 2 kittens in the first trap, and another outside the trap who bolted when it saw me. These kittens are bigger, older, and wilder than the first set. I now have 2 wildcats in my old dog kennel, spitting and hissing furiously at the world, throwing themselves against the side of the kennel with jaws and claws out and open, whenenver someone approaches. And I still haven't caught any of the adult cats, and I know there are more kittens out there.

That means that right now I have one personal cat, 4 feral, fertile cats, one old "pet" that won't be caught, 2 5-6 wk old adorable kittens, 2 more hissing, spitting balls of fur, teeth and claws about 10-12 weeks old, and an unknown quantity of kittens out there I don't know about; at least one, and probably more.

The original plan was to turn the feral cats back to the barn after spaying and neutering; I don't mind having them there as long as they aren't reproducing. I can't deal with 6 or more feral cats out there, and another houseful, though.

My little homestead has become a cat ranch, and my aussie is frantically trying to establish some control over her new "herd."

Am I going to end up being one of those middle-aged ladies living with 50 cats???

[IndyOp]

1. Thank you for doing your best to help the cats...

I think you are doing the right thing. I've just recently begun to learn about trap-spay/neuter-release programs and how well they work.

This page may give you some support and hope:

For several years I have been feeding wild cats, bottle nursing kittens, and had dozens of cats spayed and neutered. Forgotten Felines of Sonoma County taught me how to humanely trap feral cats and I can positively tell you that to spay and neuter these wild animals is the only humane way to control the over-population of feral cats. In my colony alone, the result is impressive. This year so far, from the colony I've been taking care, I only had 4 kittens to bottle-feed compared to over 30 last year.

Trapping these wild cats can be quite traumatizing. These animals have never been touched by a human before, and once they see themselves trapped, they furiously fight to free themselves. Some let out howls and cries that tear at your insides. It is not unusual to see a bleeding nose or mouth, bleeding paws from the pressure against the wire trap as they struggle to escape.

<snip>

Spay/neuter/release is a wonderful program and I wish everyone reading this would participate in some fashion by giving time or money to organizations dedicated to the program. It is the only humane way to control this over-population of feral cats.

<http://www.svn.net/elle/trap.htm>

On edit: Tidier format.

[regnaD kciN]

2. The way this is going...

...maybe you should just rename your property "Rome" and be done with it!

(Those who have visited Rome will know what I mean. ;-) )

[Eurobabe]

3. LOL, I think I saw a bundle at Torre Argentina

with all those old temples.

[superconnected]

4. you are doing the right thing.

Catching them and getting them fixed is the only good answer. Getting the kittens fixed before you give them away is also the answer. Don't trust other people(no matter how nice they seem) to do it.

Believe it or not there are a whole lot less responsible people like you in the world than irresponsible people like that peron who just moved out of your place. I'm ticked just hearing about it.

There are places that can spay them ultra cheap - $20. You'll likely need to find those places. Usually they won't be vets but no kill shelters and vans that no kill shelters send around. You will need to ask several places and you'll likely find one.

You'll need some serious cat bait for those traps. Cooked red meat -ie steak, fish, raw hamburger, cooked hamburger, etc. Each cat should respond to one of those. You'll need to change it to see what they respond to. It may be best if you get in a habit of leaving it out on a dish for a few nights where they get the food without getting caugt to train them it's there. Then move it into a cage. You'll need to put the cage out about the time you normally leave the meat on the plate out. Then, you'll need to check the cage and get it out of the area, when you do catch a cat so that the other cats don't learn quickly what happens.

Good luck. You are an extra-ordinary person! And thanks!

[LWolf]

5. I caught another kitten this morning.

These are the scariest kittens I've ever seen. I don't know if they can be socialized, but they're on their way to the clinic tomorrow. At the rate I'm going, even the cheap spay/neuter clinic for feral cats offered locally may hurt the bank.

I need to catch the adults; they seem to be able to spring the traps without getting caught. Meanwhile, I'm still cleaning this barn. It was left buried in compacted straw and goat manure; I've hauled a small mountain out of it, one cart at a time, and have only finished cleaning out one stall. I went looking yesterday; I found the youngest kittens in a den under a corner feeder in one of the stalls. I'd looked in most of the rest, but there was one stall I hadn't been in. So I checked it yesterday. There was an old den under the feeder; empty. I got my pitchfork and started hauling the old bedding out of there. Along with old compacted straw under the feeder, I hauled out a mummified cat. :puke:

I'll keep the traps going until there is nothing left to catch, somehow.

[regnaD kciN]

6. I'm sorry to learn about your latest "find"...

You might want to try contacting a nationwide sanctuary organization like Best Friends -- they might be able to put you in touch with people in your area who work with truly feral cats (as opposed to garden-variety strays). I may be paranoid, but I'd rather go through them than the usual local "humane" society.

[demnan]

7. I don't understand it either

There has been a notice posted for months at my condo about a cat named Charlemagne who the owner was looking for. This was a declawed cat allowed to run with kidney problems! Well I saw him last night, he went out in the fields beyond the power lines. So I called the "Mommy" and she didn't even seem to care anymore. She had moved away and left him. Poor kitty! I put out some food for him. I'm considering whether to trap him or not. He ran from me.

[auburngrad82]

8. Call some of the local rescues

Some of them have feral cat programs where they catch them, spay or neuter them, and find homes for the ones that are adoptable. The ones that are too wild are turned loose but if they can't reproduce at least they aren't contributing to over-population.

[LWolf]

9. Update:

Overnight, the mother of the first rescued litter got caught in one of the traps. So I dropped off 3 kittens and one mom at the spay and neuter clinic this morning. The mom will be released back to the barn tonight; the kittens will be fostered and socialized, and adopted out. Hopefully by a more experienced foster family, since I'm already fostering the first litter, and these are older and wilder.

Two more traps are set and waiting; I hope I can get the rest of the colony trapped and done this week. Then I'll have too many "barn cats," but at least I'll know they aren't reproducing. The low-cost clinic does the job, plus vaccinations, for $30 a cat.

The sooner this is done, the better. My personal cat is hiding under the front porch in protest, and I have to keep dragging her out for food and attention.