r/Feral_Cats

Hello, a family member cared for a colony of cats on my family's property. The property is not occupied. My family member was retired and would visit the property to feed and stay with the cats several hours each day. The cats range from friendly to untouchable, but all will come near to eat. All have been tnrd except three females. I had been working to tnr them and these three have eluded me so far.

Unfortunately my family member has passed. I have been feeding the cats every day, even for about a month before my family member passed. We expected him to recover from a recent illness but sadly he did not.

I cannot maintain daily visits to the property long term. I of course cannot just abandon the cats. Another unfortunate occurrence is two of the females have litters now.

I cannot figure out how to allow the mothers to wean the kittens in order to catch and tnr the mothers without inadvertently ending up with another litter. I do not know for sure how many kittens there are.

I also do not know what to do to re-home the colony. I fear the animal shelter will potentially euthanize, at least the less friendly ones. All the organizations that help with fostering and adoption seem to tell me they are full, refer me to someone else, etc.

I would happily foster them until homes are found but I already have nine cats in my home.

Any advice on how to move forward is greatly appreciated.

Wasn’t sure which flair to use.. none felt quite right but the story does include the death of an animal.

Last night on our way home from 4th of July festivities, we were going around a curve and a cat jumped out in front of us and my husband struck it. We were out in the country on a back road, and it was most likely a barn cat.

We turned around to check on it. When we found it, it was still alive, but dragging its back legs. It dragged itself into a field, but my husband and I were able to secure it and we brought it into our car.

We began frantically looking for somewhere to take it, but given the holiday and time of night everywhere was closed. Even the emergency vets were not open and we checked locations that were almost an hour away from us.

We called the non emergency police number and they advised us to just let the cat out and let nature take its course. That felt so inhumane to me, we couldn’t just let this baby die on the street. We drove home and continued trying to figure out what to do.

Unfortunately by the time we arrived home, the cat had passed away. My daughter named him Henry, and we will burying him in our backyard this afternoon.

My heart hurts for this poor baby, and knowing that we are why he is no longer with us. But I find comfort knowing at least he didn’t die alone on the side of the road or in a field. He died wrapped in warmth and listening to lullaby music we had on for the kids.

Hi! So, feral cat had babies in my backyard. Question: is there a point in keeping mama around if all she does is growl and doesn’t interact with babies when they’re out of their crate? Looks as if she’s trying to run away but, when they’re in their crate, she will sit next to them and whine the whole time while staring at them. She is becoming aggressive with me & it’s making it difficult for me to take care of the kittens.

Back story, I definitely took her babies from her too early, 3 were taken at ~3 weeks, 1 at ~4 weeks. Yes, now I know I f’d up. Never have been a cat person so all this is new to me. She was moving them and I had an appointment for TNR for mama so I had to take the babies. I live on a busy street & didn’t want them to get hurt. She’s already tried moving them before but luckily, I found all of them in the front yard. It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve taken the babies. The three I took early are suckling so I’ve been trying this whole time to reunite them in the shed, where the babies stay in. They’re 6-7 weeks now, completely weaned. So far, I’ve tried twice to keep her with them and she ignores them when they’re free roaming. I even left & watched on the camera what she would do and she just sat & growled the whole time! Im so confused!!

I’ve been feeding her since Feb so I know she is less than a year old herself. Is she just a crappy mother? Should I give up trying to reunite them? I’m definitely not letting the kittens go, they’re completely socialized.

Me and my husband trapped a skittish mom yesterday (Saturday 4th). This is our first time ever doing anything like this. We are really nervous about caring for her properly until her surgery on Monday morning and during recovery. She is so small and currently very frightened. 🥺

Her visits have been a little unpredictable, so we took advantage of seeing her around and decided to set the trap a little early even if just to see how she would react. Surprisingly, she went in right away and at first was so distracted by the little bit of tuna that she didn't even notice the trap door closing. Because of the pregnancy, she was our first priority in trapping so we were relieved by how well this first part went.

I borrowed the Tru Catch trap from a feral cat organization and it didn't come with a divider. At first, she was very quiet so we were able to just quickly slide in a bit of wet food and some water through a small opening of the back door while she was cowering on the other end of the trap. She immediately devoured the pate once she was left alone, and spent most of the first few hours lying down in a corner. She peed and we cleaned it up before going to bed. We're keeping the trap inside the bathtub in a guest restroom for easier cleanup, in the dark and covered with a blanket.

Overnight, I woke up to some noise and checked just to see that she'd gotten a little feisty, knocking over the little bit of water we had left and spooking herself. She's now quietly growling and sometimes hissing when I approach. Because of this, I couldn't figure out how to safely change the puppy pad we used to line inside the trap. We're also planning on giving her a bit more food and water before stopping overnight, so I have to see if she calms down a little. I hope she won't be too stressed out by being inside the trap for over a day plus the recovery time.

I have no idea how far along she is in her pregnancy, she is a tiny cat and I don't know enough to assess this. We really really cannot accommodate kittens so I can only hope she is eligible for surgery and all goes well. I am pretty anxious and wish I could just take her to the vet already, but for feral appointments we must wait until Monday morning. I know it's just one day but right now it's feeling like an eternity!

Please let me know if you have important advice, especially on keeping her as comfortable as possible in the trap, handling things without a trap divider, and anything else we need to know. She will appreciate it a lot. :)

I posted before because the area where I'm feeding had become problematic, environmentally, with the hot weather.

I failed to mention that I am in feeding in an area in which the residents do not appreciate my presence. It is a notoriously bad area. One of the people who helps me had been threatened by a resident. I was afraid that once the weather got warmer and people, especially kids, were outside frequently, that I'd begin to have issues, and that's exactly what is happening.

My food bowls were stolen. I looked around the area. If an animal had dragged them, I'd have found them. The bowls were also in 2 separate feeding tents that are not next to each other.

I don't know what to do. I live 20 minutes from the complex where I feed, and I don't know anybody there, who can monitor the feeding stations. I don't even feel safe going there to feed the cats but there are several cats that depend on me for food. At this point, I'm not sure if they're getting it or if somebody is stealing it/dumping it, before they can eat.

I live on a street with several feral cats. There are probably around 30 or so cats in the neighborhood living in different yards and on porches of the neighbors who feed them. I have been working on TNRing the cats in the community when I can get an appointment. Last Saturday I took a female to an appointment. When I picked her up from the neighbor's yard she let me know that she was always super sweet and friendly, even though she is a feral cat. I brought her in, and since she seemed okay, I took her out of the trap and let her stay in the large crate we have set up for their recovery. She immediately gets in the bed and starts making biscuits and purring. She laid down and was content just being in the crate. I take her for her appointment and get her home to recover. She is taking the surgery VERY WELL and gets back in the crate and continues making biscuits and purring. She recovered for a couple of days in the crate and never tried to escape. I was going to take her back outside 72 hours after her surgery but she was so content I wanted to give her a few extra days to rest and recover. The neighbor also let me know she has had 5 litters of kittens in the last year or so and they have all died. She had kittens 4 days before her surgery and they all died. I figured she was enjoying the rest and gaining some of her strength back. I did open the crate and put her bed on the floor of the bedroom she is staying in. She immediately transitioned from the crate to the bed on the floor. I have been leaving the door to the room open and she has not tried to leave this room all week. I opened the curtains to the windows so she could see out and she does not seem to care about returning to the outside at all. She just lays in her bed all day, eats, and purrs when I pet her. She seems so content being in the bedroom. I am currently debating if I should keep her since she does not act like a normal feral cat. I am torn because I currently have a 70lb dog. The dog is friendly and has always been around other animals from when she was a puppy. However, she developed a resource guarding issue that we have been trying to work with her on. She walks past the room (with the door open) and has no problems with the cat. Her problem is with other animals walking past, smelling, or looking at her things (toys, treats, food, water, etc.) I am concerned of the potential dangers for the cat. I would introduce them correctly and never have them in a room alone together. I would make sure to have them separated and give each time to freely roam the house. I am worried of a door accidentally not being shut fully or us not watching once and the cat getting attacked just for meandering around the house with the dog's things out. This all gives me extreme anxiety thinking of potential dangers I could be putting this cat into. However, when I go to grab her to set her back outside, I feel so guilty. She always looks so content in the bed she never leaves - she will flop and show her full belly, purr, and ask for pets. It makes me feel like she will always be content with a room and a bedwe and will not need full access to the entire house or us at all times. I am so torn and unsure what to do. Should I keep her and make it work?