What would you do?

Hi there everyone! I am glad I found this site because I need the advice of other cat lovers! My grandma recently moved to another city to be close to family and she couldnt take the cat that she was caring for. This cat trusted only 3 people: my grandma my uncle(who also moved) and me. The cat is a little wild but did come into my grandmas apartment for food. Now she is all alone. I go by to feed her but the neighborhood is kind of bad (another reason she moved). I cant take her to my apartment, I already have 3 cats, I cant take her to the humane society or other no-kill shelter because technically she is unadoptable because she is wild. What do I do? Do I keep going to feed her for forever or what? I just dont know!
Any advice will be apreciated.
Thanks

Welcome I hope you can find all your needs on here

Hi, its great you want to help this cat, it seems that, if she can't be homed, the best thing would be to make sure she is neutered and carry on feeding her, but try not to let her get too dependent on you if she will always be at least semi feral / stray as if you go on vacation etc she may find she is no longer able for find food herself etc

Welcome! Bless you for caring for this little one! Let's move this to our Strays & Ferals forum where our experts in this area will be so happy to offer feedback!

Of course I can't tell you what to do but...If I were you and only had three cats then I would trap her and give her a home
If you did that you would need a cage or a spare room to isolate her from your other cats until she has the all clear from the vets.

Has she been fixed?If not then she does need trapping and spaying
It may be that she is not a feral but a domestic that doesn't trust anymore

If she is used to you then she will come round a lot quicker with you than anybody else..if you wanted to give her a home.

If you don't know wether the cat is fixed then you need to get the help of a rescue to make sure.
when she is trapped you will get an idea wether she is truly feral or domestic..If she is truly feral and you can't keep her then the rescue may know somebody who can go and feed her,or a good neighbour who wouldn't mind feeding her.

In all honesty though if the place is that bad then she should be trapped,fixed and re-located to a farm or stables if possible.

Thanks for the advice, but it seems like my problems are now multiplying. Today I went to go feed the kitty and two more cats came up! Not kittens but full grown cats. They were all very hungry. And I noticed that one of them had a horrible wound on his neck, the area around the wound was all bare with no fur! I must catch him at least so I can get him help but he was very scared of me and if I tried to get close, he ran away. Poor kitty!

Originally Posted by weathercat

Thanks for the advice, but it seems like my problems are now multiplying. Today I went to go feed the kitty and two more cats came up! Not kittens but full grown cats. They were all very hungry. And I noticed that one of them had a horrible wound on his neck, the area around the wound was all bare with no fur! I must catch him at least so I can get him help but he was very scared of me and if I tried to get close, he ran away. Poor kitty!

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This is why you need to get a hold of some humane traps and trap these cats so that they can be seen by a vet for spaying/neutering but also to have any health issues addressed (such as wounds). I do not know where you live but below is a link to a list of TNR groups by state:

http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html

Katie

Thank you for wanting to help these kitties!

First of all - feral cats (or stray cats that have become scared of people and thus act feral) are like wild animals, and you have to think of them that way. They will be scared of you. They can come to trust you - and that's the difference between a feral cat as a wild animal and something like a possum - but building that trust takes time.

And believe me - most of us know EXACTLY what you are going through! Once you start helping one - it's like you've lit up a neon sign and cats in need show up.

There are several options:

1) Use the link Katie provided to find an organization near you that will take over. If you can't find a group near you in that link, try this one: http://www.pets911.com.

2) Find a vet or organization or shelter where you can at least borrow or rent a trap. Trap the kitties yourself, get them spayed, neutered and ear-tipped (ask the vet to nip the top of the left ear off - this will indicate to anyone else that comes along to TNR (TNR = Trap, Neuter, Release) cats that these cats have already been spayed or neutered.

If you need low-cost spay/neuter services, you can use the same pets911 link or the link in my signature line to search for local low-cost services.

3) If you want to relocate the wild kitties rather than simply releasing them where they are so that you can feed them at your home (think of them as 3 outside pet kitties), you will need 3 large crates. The crates must be large enough so that they have a place to sleep, a place for food and water, and a place for a litterbox. To relocate ferals, they need to be in the cages for about 3 weeks. You would leave dry food in the crates for them to free feed on, but give them a strong smelling wet food at the exact same time every day. After 3 weeks, they'll be accustomed to the schedule, so that when you open the crate doors for them to leave - you simply keep putting the same wet food out the same time every day in the same place the crates were and hope for the best. 3 weeks seems to be the right amount of time to ensure that they'll keep coming back. You may be able to borrow large enough crates from a shelter.

4) Trap them, have them sterilized, release them where you trapped them, and keep stopping by to feed them.

5) Work on finding a farm or store or restaurant or some other local business that is willing to care for the cats but will keep them on their property as "mousers." In the meantime, trap them, have them sterilized & ear-tipped, and release them where you trapped them.

6) Trap them, have them sterilized & ear-tipped, release them where you trapped them, and stop coming by to feed them.

7) Do nothing. Stop feeding them.

These last 2 sound cruel, and kind of are. But if you cannot find an organization to help, and you do not have the time or resources to have them sterilized, you really ought to stop feeding them. It may sound cruel, but I think helping to keep them alive and healthy so they can procreate and create more homeless cats is even more cruel.

But if you can get them trapped and sterilized, but relocating them isn't an option, and you won't be able to regularly feed them, at the very least getting them spayed and neutered will help prevent more unwanted kitties - and if you can't keep up the feeding, it's best to let them find a "more reliable" source of food (even if it's garbage - at least they'll know when and where to find it as opposed to becoming dependent and then not having food for two weeks when you go on vacation or get sick or something).

Of course, keeping the one cat that was dependent on your grandma and having the other two sterilized and release them is an option.

As furryferals pointed out, if you decide to bring her in, you will need a separate room or a large cage (they make cat cages that have multiple levels with plastic shelves - it would be an ideal place for new kitty).

If you decide to bring her in, let us know so we can give you lots of pointers on socializing the new addition to your family.

Laurie

Great advice LDG- no wonder you are and advisor
I'd continue to feed and contact our nearby charity organisation in the UK (Celia Hammond) but it can be difficult to intergrate a stray with your own cats and I can understand why others might find this the hardest option

Originally Posted by silentNate

...but it can be difficult to intergrate a stray with your own cats and I can understand why others might find this the hardest option

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It depends so much on the personalities of the cats! I think it would be more appropriate to say that it takes a lot of time and patience. For many people, that in itself is difficult, and I do understand that.

Don't know if you've seen this: Lucky's Story

Thank TNR1 and LDG! I have found some resources and I am going to give them a call 1st thing in the morning! I am feeling really hopeful about these places and will let you guys know what happens.
As for the cats, it seems that the one with the neck wound is a little more trustful, today he let me get really close-but then he hissed.
The one my grandma took care of is doing just fine, but today the third one was limping a little.
Hopefully though everything will work out.

Well after many phone calls and talking to lots of people, I am still right where I started. Several organizations including one that specialized in cats couldn't really help me. They had no extra foster homes for them. One person told me to take the cats to the humane society because they had a special program for injured animals and would rehabilitate them. I called them but they said they were unable to take injured animals because their vet only did the absolute minimum to help injured animals. If the cat needed any treatment besides shots and neutering then it would just be put to sleep! So the shelter was either lying to me or to that organization.
I went to go feed the cats today and someone came out the apartment my grandma lived in. It was an older man and he said "So you're the one feeding the cats. You should feed them somewhere else because I don't like cats" I led the cats a little bit away and fed them in a different area.
I don't understand why it is so hard to help 3 little cats. People think that they are "just animals" and that they can take care of themselves but I think that isn't right. I just want them to be safe and happy and now I am just at a complete loss as to what to do. But I think am just at the point now where I will just gather them up and take them home until I can find homes for them. I am just not looking forward to 6 cats in a 1bedroom apartment.

hmmm maybe post ads in the newspaper!
or at a local college or grocery store.

Where do you live? Maybe someone on here has some suggestions in your location or can help you find something.

I live in Albuquerque New Mexico.

any updates? were u able to rescue the kitties??

Sorry but I have no real updates for you..other than people around are starting to wonder what I am doing. There was one neighbor who seemed like he liked cats and was leaving scraps out for them. I was going to ask him to feed them and even buy him a big bag of food for them. I thought I had found the answer but then I went there and his relatives were moving his stuff out-he had passed away. I have horrible luck.

Originally Posted by weathercat

Well after many phone calls and talking to lots of people, I am still right where I started. Several organizations including one that specialized in cats couldn't really help me. They had no extra foster homes for them. One person told me to take the cats to the humane society because they had a special program for injured animals and would rehabilitate them. I called them but they said they were unable to take injured animals because their vet only did the absolute minimum to help injured animals. If the cat needed any treatment besides shots and neutering then it would just be put to sleep! So the shelter was either lying to me or to that organization.
I went to go feed the cats today and someone came out the apartment my grandma lived in. It was an older man and he said "So you're the one feeding the cats. You should feed them somewhere else because I don't like cats" I led the cats a little bit away and fed them in a different area.
I don't understand why it is so hard to help 3 little cats. People think that they are "just animals" and that they can take care of themselves but I think that isn't right.

I just want them to be safe and happy and now I am just at a complete loss as to what to do. But I think am just at the point now where I will just gather them up and take them home until I can find homes for them. I am just not looking forward to 6 cats in a 1bedroom apartment.

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Weathercats....what you need to do is to trap them to be spayed/neutered. That is the most crical thing you can do....finding them a home is a secondary measure. If they do not enjoy human contact, they may be feral and feral cats are often best left outside to live out their lives.

Katie

Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!!! My grandma is finally in her house and has a phone and everything! I called her and she was happy I was feeding her cat. She actually didn't want to leave her but her home wasnt ready and she was staying with relatives until her home had the plumbing fixed (her home is very old and there was no plubming) She told me to keep feeding her (her name is BabyCat) My grandma wants me to bring BabyCat when I go there for Christmas! Now I am happy!
And not to worry about if she is spayed--she is! I will see about doing TNRfor the one male that is there and after that he will be able to live happilly!

GREAT NEWS!!!!

That is wonderful, and please do try to TNR the 2 others!