▲ 5 r/GuyCry

Not sure how to have hope and trust in people again

For the last few months I've been doing TNR and feral kitten rescue, and the lack of support and help is one thing, but the outright hostility and interference is another.

We have 7 kittens inside, 3 we bonded with and will keep, the other 4 we're socialising to adopt out. 7 kittens is a lot to feed and they all eat much more than an adult cat. We're also feeding two recovering adults outside since they got spayed.

Just to keep it short, we've had zero actual help from literally every organisation within miles, no help from the local municipality even though it's their responsibility, we have family trying to kick us out, vets mishandling our cats and being pricks in various ways, my partner's work threatening to fire him when he takes any to the vet, and some crazy woman coming to feed the cats bones with maggots all over them. I mean what the fuck? Is this what humanity is?

One of our kittens would have 100% died if we hadn't rescued him, others probably would have too, and the adults are so bloated with parasites that they look pregnant but they aren't! And we legit get people saying "it's just nature, don't get so upset, they won't make it anyway." They will if we do something man. Which I'M doing. Fuck you.

I don't even expect help at this point I just don't understand why everyone is so hostile. We have been so let down I just don't trust anyone at all anymore.

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u/Incendas1 — 11 days ago

They decided they love pets actually

Cheesy & Peri Peri! 6 month olds, the more feral two out of their litter.

Peri Peri especially had been very adverse to touch for a long time. Over the last couple of days, she started purring and rubbing on us more when we brought food, and today she allowed me to pet her (even scritch her head). Same with Cheesy, who tends to copy the nearest cat lol

They are so sweet!! I'm so happy they let me pet them now. I hope they'll eventually let me pick them up.

Excuse my gnarly hands, just TNRd another feral and had to search for kittens in thorns and nettles...

u/Incendas1 — 14 days ago

Pregnant or postpartum/nursing?

This cat disappeared for one full day on Monday. She usually eats well every day and walks into the trap without a problem.

We have a spot today 6pm, we can trap her around 5pm at her feeding time and drive her over.

Problem is, we don't know if she is pregnant or has given birth very recently. This video was taken yesterday on Tuesday.

We can't afford to support more kittens (even feeding outside) and it is getting cold. We will be kicked out February and forced to move. We desperately need to go through with the spay abort if she is still pregnant.

The only advice we got was either leave her for a few weeks (pretty much guarantee kittens if she's pregnant) or check her nipples when we trap her, but I'm worried I won't be able to tell.

I'm not sure why she would be gone for a day otherwise. To me she still looks round, but we have had "pregnant" ferals be bloated from parasites instead before.

u/Incendas1 — 15 days ago

Peri Peri 🌶️

She is about 6 months old and semi-feral. She was living at the abandoned property next door to us with her two brothers (Cheesy and Spicy) and mother (Bechamel).

Peri Peri is super smart and does things her way! She recently started purring near us and rubbing on us, but no thank you to pets so far.

u/Incendas1 — 16 days ago

Cuddle party 🎉

This is Cheesy and Peri Peri again!! Today Cheesy saw Spicy snuggling me and purring and suddenly decided he wanted some of that. He became a purring machine and snuggled into my leg. His sister Peri Peri came up to see and he started forcibly cleaning her lol

The power of a friendly resident cat is crazy. I'm so proud of these guys. Cheesy used to be so scared of me, and I remember when Peri Peri bit me to pieces when I first moved her.

Sorry for posting a lot of them lately lol we're having a good time

u/Incendas1 — 1 month ago

Spicy, Peri Peri, and Cheesy are all together ♥️

[In order in images: Spicy cuddling, Peri Peri looking cute, Cheesy playing with a string]

They finished their introductions today and are doing great! Right now, everyone is sleeping.

We were finally able to get together things to split the room in half and release Spicy's two siblings on the other side. It took about a week and a half for them to have their first playdate today.

Things have been really tough for us in general, just life throwing everything at us. Family want to kick us out next year, job threats, my childhood cat died, I'm still really sick, plenty of other things. There is another litter of 4 outside that I'm gearing up to deal with next week. But I really needed this today.

Now I hope they can be one big happy family together. Already, Cheesy and Peri Peri have warmed up to me more after seeing how affectionate Spicy is with me. That's great because Cheesy was so shy of humans before. He's a very social boy with other cats and it's like a switch flipped today.

u/Incendas1 — 1 month ago
▲ 316 r/childfree

Throwing out family's hoarded baby clothes that were meant for us

The whole situation is really something, and I won't get into it, but we're having to clear out a room where my partner's parents store a lot of their things (well, every room is like this).

The wardrobes are filled to the brim with packaged up baby clothes - they are SO heavy - and I just don't even know why they have this many.

I've been pulling them out and putting them in bags to give to them so they can sort through them and handle it. 3 huge black bags so far, super heavy, and I'm about half way.

We're telling them we can get baby clothes easily since people give them away, and they don't know we won't be having kids yet. They don't know it's because of the poorly behaved children in the family that completely turned me off it. They don't know we plan to go no contact.

Just a weird situation. It's strange seeing all the clothes now that I've made up my mind.

Don't know how to flair this. They've pushed us to our limits lately. Even if I wanted kids, I could never have them in this family.

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u/Incendas1 — 1 month ago
▲ 13 r/formerlyferal+1 crossposts

How to get socialised kittens adopted out independently?

We are in a bit of a dire situation, we have another litter here. Again I've been desperately reaching out for any help at all and finding absolutely none (southwest rural Czechia). Organisations just say "try finding organisations" it's absolutely ridiculous. What I'm doing is beyond my body's limits. Anyway.

If I manage to grab this new litter of four, I can socialise them, but I can't keep them. We already have a litter of three with us that we will end up keeping because we couldn't find help for them either.

Yes, working on TNRing the mother despite failing last time. If we do I would try for them all at once.

This time we REALLY need to adopt them out. We aren't finding any support from shelters or organisations.

How can we get them adopted to good families? Has anyone done this and has any tips?

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago

Need TNR support: CZECHIA, Plzeň region, rural, near Klatovy - TRAPPERS needed!

I live in a small rural town in Czechia and the property next to me is abandoned. The local feral cats have been nesting and having litters there.

My partner and I are the only ones helping them. Nobody else feeds them or cares for them. I leave them water every day and kibble, and I have been trying to trap for TNR, but I am just too ill and don't have enough time for the trap shy mothers.

We are already caring for another litter of 3 kittens, one of which still has ongoing pneumonia and was found stuck and abandoned. We do not have the space or time. My partner works long hours to afford the extra cat care.

Today I saw a new litter of 4 from another mother in the area.

I desperately need responsive contacts in this region near Klatovy. I cannot trap alone, I have a severe metabolic illness and almost passed out several times when I trapped the first 3 kittens. The mothers are trap shy. I need trappers!

I will be able to foster and socialise ONE other group of kittens at a time once I can stabilise our current resident group's care, as long as there is a route to adoption. Difficult older kittens, no problem.

I can foster and socialise these kittens if I get trapping support! I cannot trap alone! I can pay for all castrations!

Please help me stabilise this colony. Any contacts or leads welcome.

u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago
▲ 9 r/formerlyferal+1 crossposts

More kittens... Need some support and advice

About a month and a half ago, one of the cats here, Bechamel, had three kittens. We discovered this because one was trapped and meowing.

We have all three kittens in our home and wanted to keep them. This has been really hard, but we are able to socialise them. One is very sick and still undergoing treatment.

Today I went outside to leave food where their mother used to be. I haven't seen their mother in quite some time, and we failed to catch her after weeks of trying before. I no longer have the time to sit outside with traps because of the 3 kittens. I've been leaving food in the hopes I could still trap her in future when the kitten care eases up (but they have been so so hard).

When I got there, there were at least 3 more young kittens and they ran inside the den.

I don't know if they're Bechamel's or not. There has been another cat around there when I leave food and I don't know if it's male or female. (UPDATE: Yes it was the other cat, a brown tabby we call Misery. I thought she was male but she isn't!)

Just feeling awful and like a failure, or like there's nothing I can do. I'm totally stretched to my limits with these three kittens and we just couldn't catch Bechamel, now I can't find her. I'm really sick and only just got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in ages. I've literally skipped appointments and need surgery.

I have no idea what to do. I can't find anyone to help here. I'm in rural Czechia, in the Plzeň region. I don't speak a lot of Czech and don't have time for that either.

I just need any advice. We don't have space for the kittens and I'm not sure how much trapping I can do in this state. I almost passed out trapping these 3 last time. Finances are becoming too difficult since I can't work like this.

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago

Kitten pushes her brother away when playing with me

Hi, looking for some advice. Both kittens about 4mo.

I have two siblings together right now. The calico girl is quite a bit smaller than her tabby brother, but she is becoming very bold and LOVES playtime.

She gets very engaged (and also very destructive) with her toys. Her brother is more shy and reserved - he clearly does want to play, but it takes him longer to get into it.

The problem is, whenever I play with them, she will try to monopolise the toy and even push his head away with her paw to get at it.

How can I handle this so the boy can have playtime with me as well?

The kittens are actually both feral but being socialised. They can be a bit skittish but aren't super scared of me anymore. They don't like touch yet and they're in a smaller enclosure for now.

I do use two toys or more at a time, but she often thinks his toy is more fun just because he's playing with it...

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago

Anyone else want to foster animals instead?

I recently rescued some kittens (I have a rant about trying to handle family around them on here as well). And it kind of instantly made me think, oh, this is something I could actually see myself committing a lot of energy and passion to.

They're very hard work for sure. In our current living conditions, and with my current health, I barely make it work for these cats who were urgently in need.

But that's the thing that immediately made me say, hold on, kids are YEARS more of this, MORE expensive, and so much more EFFORT than this. And I don't even like them!

I love cats, I'm good with cats, and even these guys are a lot right now. I'm confident I could foster kittens and cats really well in the right environment.

On the other hand... Always hated kids, just thought maybe it was other people's kids. Can't stand any kid noise at all. Hate interacting with them. I avoid them at work.

The choice is obvious, right?

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago

How much time a day does single kitten need?

Hi, as the title says, how much time and interaction should a single kitten get from us per day? He is about 4 months old.

Here is his current rough schedule:

  • Overnight, my partner sleeps in his room with him

  • In the morning, he gets a little playtime before my partner leaves for work

  • When I wake up later, I feed him breakfast, sometimes a little play

  • At lunchtime, I feed him lunch and hang out for an hour or two playing and/or cuddling

  • At dinnertime, I feed him and play a little

  • In the evening, we both hang out in his room and take turns playing with him and feeding treats

  • Before bed, he gets his supper then a little playtime

So he gets a few hours of playtime and more time of us just hanging out.


  • Why is he a single kitten?

He's an ex feral and has pneumonia - he reacted badly to his siblings being brought in a few weeks after him, so they are separated until he's doing better, then we'll try a reintroduction.

  • How much space does he have?

Just one room, our living room, which is kitten proofed.

  • What does he have to do in the room?

He has some basic toys he gets left all the time, and we play with toys that need supervision when we're there (string, chew sticks, pipe cleaners, etc). We will install cat shelving and a cat tree when he's healthier. He has two windows to watch out of and he often does that.

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago
▲ 12 r/GuyCry

Rescued kittens and feel stuck

About a month ago I rescued one of the kittens from the abandoned house next door. He was stuck and abandoned, crying for days, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave him and couldn't forgive myself if anything happened to him.

He is lovely. He's a lot of work for sure. I also caught his two siblings before the multiple 38C heatwaves hit us and they have AC - shitty portable AC, but they're alive.

It's just so much especially the two new ones. The issue is really where we live and who we live with.

Family only say callous things about the cats and don't want them here, even though they never have to see them. I only have one kitten safe room where the first guy lives, but because he still has pneumonia, we can't stress him out with reintroductions and two bigger, more energetic kittens. So those two are stuck in a playpen in another room until he shows improvement because we have nowhere for them.

He is showing improvement it's just slow. I feel so trapped by this house. The family are basically hoarders of furniture so it's quite bad, we moved into it like this. We desperately want to move out but the cats eat into our savings for their medical expenses and I don't have time to work yet with all their care.

Just feel trapped. I so want to be in our own home away from people, somewhere nice for the cats. Even though they wouldn't have made it without us, I feel like I'm failing them often.

I'm trying to stay alive too, I'm very ill and need surgery, but they still require a lot of care. It will take 1-2 years of me working on top of my partner to get a decent place.

And then I also feel guilty because I have no time or energy left to TNR the cats outside anyway... Just praying no more kittens show up or at least there are no more horrible heatwaves.

Nobody else cares about them, it's all on me.

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago
▲ 78 r/FosterAnimals+1 crossposts

Why I DON'T like SSL (rant)

Incoming huge rant! Be warned!

Pictured: Spicy, a feral kitten we got at 2-3 months old and socialised.

I'm also socialising his two siblings, Peri Peri and Cheesy, who we got later, around 3-4 months. Now everybody is about 4 months old.


Spicy is very cuddly and pretty much "done" - I'm training him in things like being more comfortable in the carrier and at the vet, basic commands, basic care tasks, etc.

Peri Peri and Cheesy are able to come out and eat, eat from my hand, eat from my body, climb on me, be petted gently when distracted, be played with, etc. I expect them to finish up as soon as they're released and intro'd into the larger room (Spicy has respiratory issues so we're waiting for him to trend up first). After that, the regular pet training.

Spicy achieved this in a couple of weeks with us, the other two in about a month. I didn't have as much time for them because of Spicy's medical care.

All this to say I HAVE socialised older kittens and it's gone well.


Just want to air out some issues I have with Socialisation Saves Lives. It's the first thing I found when I was suddenly thrust into this, when I found Spicy abandoned in a loft, crying day and night.


  • My main, major issue: no cages.

Why? I don't see how this is such an apparent sin that SSL states it will utterly ruin your socialisation.

I bought playpens not knowing any different. Do you know what it's like to keep older kittens in playpens? They claw and shred the mesh, they chew the zipper tracks, they make messes on the fabric. You can't clean the playpen properly because the floor underneath the fabric remains damp. They begin to smell of mildew. They are tiny with no vertical space. It's incredibly hard to get inside a playpen with all of the cat stuff inside.

Cats don't know any different in terms of a cage or playpen. They are still confined. If comfort is an issue, you line your cage (obviously!) with mats or other materials. Why this random moral panic? If you would like to be inside the cage with them, get a large kennel. I SO wish I had done this - they are way more secure and sturdy, not to mention easier to clean. I can't reuse these shredded playpens and we're low on money now!

I WILL later be buying a kennel or wheeled cage, then installing an indoor catio when we have our own space if I foster as I plan to.


  • Also, no withholding food.

I find this to be so ridiculously slow especially for the mid range kittens.

No, you should not starve them, but you can plan the day and night so they will have access to the amount of calories they need.

But food is a MOTIVATOR and helps the cats overcome their flight, fight, freeze response. Doing sessions when they are hungry, at mealtime, is the point. If they're still showing a big fear response you back up and make it easier. They don't need to be super happy every time you walk in, they need to be not shut down, and they need to want to engage by choice.


  • Anyone can do it and any cat can be socialised

I think this is the most irresponsible part of the whole thing. I get the idea is to get more people helping cats... But if you have NO understanding of cat body language, I don't think this is for you.

The single most important thing when socialising these cats for me was learning the individual cats and their body language.

I know cat body language well and always have. Most people just don't! This is SO important because you NEED to know when you're pushing the cats too far and when they're in that sweet spot acclimating to you.


  • Zero flexibility

This is really a symptom of the latter point, in that SSL claims anyone can socialise any ferals, and thus they try to take all of the thinking out of it.

Adapting to YOUR cat is the single best thing you can do, and you will pretty much have to do it at some point. If something doesn't work for them but another thing does, why the hell would you stay glued to SSL?

Again this requires knowledge of cat body language and lots of patience and observation. Not following a checklist...


Disclaimer at the end - there are SO FEW resources for socialising cats and they are so hard to find, that SSL is really better than nothing (and WAY better than the usual flooding people try to do). I appreciate what it's trying to do and I'm sure it's helped a lot of people. It's decent.

But there are so many nonsensical things inside it that are there just to present a strict checklist for people who do not want to learn or engage in cat behaviour. If you aren't learning about cat behaviour, why try to socialise at all is my question?


What would I use instead? This - https://urbancatleague.org/taming-toolkit/

I find it more flexible, grounded, and realistic. There are solid video examples of every step so it's easy to see what is right and wrong. There are examples of when a cat is pushed too far and isn't progressing - examples and explanations of their body language.

This worked amazingly for all of my kittens, even the shy girl who bit me to pieces upon first being moved. Leaps and bounds since finding it. Spicy's bond with us is wonderful as well.

u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago
▲ 32 r/FosterAnimals+1 crossposts

How to work with bold & shy sibling together? [Socialisation]

Hi, I have two siblings together in a playpen, they are coming up on 4 months. Got them a few weeks ago and have been socialising them.

Today we were working on stepping on my leg to eat. There is not a lot of room in the pen for me to get in, so I put my leg in there and sit by the door.

Cheesy, the big tabby guy, is VERY food motivated and will pretty much do whatever I want. However, his smaller sister, Peri Peri, is shyer than him and takes some time. This means that Cheesy muscles in on most of the food and it can be hard to get her to participate, especially with limited space.

Today Cheesy was able to step on my leg with two legs to eat from the lick mat. Peri Peri was discouraged by him so I tried to distract him with the toothbrush they like to chew (idk...) and she was still hesitant because of it. She ate from the mat but didn't have the time to step up.

Any advice on dealing with these two? If I put food in the back, they both want the "easy" food, so Cheesy will start eating and Peri will hover around him rather than come to me.

u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago
▲ 1 r/AskVet

Panacur reaction (cat/kitten)

My 3 month old ex feral kitten was given his first dose of Panacur this morning at 8am.

He is on Panacur because the vet found he has parasite induced pneumonia. He has been having an increased breathing rate and doesn't always settle well, but was otherwise fine, some loose stool maybe but nothing unusual for him.

He was fine for a while today and then became very sleepy in the afternoon. It's normal for him to sleep then, but this continued tonight, and he was reluctant to eat dinner.

I did get him to eat dinner with some churu at 6pm. After eating, it seemed like he was very tired and in pain. He curled up and his third eyelid was showing when he opened his eyes. He was trying to sleep but couldn't settle.

He was like this for a little while, maybe an hour. He stopped curling up but was still very tired. He ate some kibble on his own, still very tired. Then after about another hour or so he became playful and active all of a sudden.

He got sleepy again just now but seems okay. Annoyed I won't play with him. He hasn't yet entered deep sleep in front of us so it's hard to count his breathing again.

  • Is this a normal reaction to Panacur, so early?

  • What can we expect for the rest? He is on a 5 days on, 5 days off schedule, 1/4 of a 250mg pill each morning

  • He is also having immunoglukan in the morning, is there anything else we can give him?

We are taking him to the vet tomorrow morning to check on him.

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u/Incendas1 — 2 months ago