Regulars chasing new stray off...suggestions?

brennok

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I have been living at my current house now for about 8 years. I live next to a large university so I get tons of strays. I have 3 current ones I feed who have been TNR'd before they adopted my house. Two of them are tabbies who I am guessing are brothers or at least look very similar and tend to travel together and the other is a gray and white. For the most part they get along. The friendliest of the tabbies likes to occasionally go after the gray and white one but nothing ever serious. I have 3-4 bowls with dry food which I fill twice a day and 1-2 bowls of water which I change twice a day.

I have a couple of other strays that stop down. My neighbor several houses down also feeds so I think I get some of hers when her bowls are empty. My cats have no issues with these that I have seen. I have never heard any cat fights when the other cats visit. I can only guess it is because there is plenty of food.

Today I saw a new stray. A young cat who was small so probably no more than a few months who keeps coming close to feed. The problem I am having is all the sudden one of the tabbies keeps going after this new cat. I don't know why since this never happens with the other strays. It is just frustrating because I know I will never even be able to get close if this happens. I am also afraid they are going to get hit since the cat chases the other cat for a good distance and usually across the street.

Any suggestions?
 

tru

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Can you try feeding the new stray off separate from the regulars? Also, the sooner you can get close to get the new stray in for S/N and checked over I would think the better.

Cats will run a sick cat out of their colony and that could have something to do with your regulars not wanting to accept him/her.

I had a sick feral show up here once, (it turned out to be FIP and cat had to be euthanized), and my cats didn't attack, but they did avoid it.

Also, just because cats are spayed and neutered does not mean that they are willing to give up their territory. Most new cats are considered interlopers and a threat to their resources. Usually it will work out over time with a little help from the true alpha, (YOU).
 
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brennok

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I can't really separate them and at the same time the one isn't even eating when he goes after the new stray. Also they have no problems with a couple of the other strays that come down so I don't know why this is happening all of the sudden. Maybe something is wrong with the cat but unfortunately by the time the cat gets close the other cat goes flying after it.
 

barbb

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You sound like such a wonderful person, looking after these kitties!


What I did with my indoor cats to make them accept my ferals (on the other side of the screen door) is to bring out special treats whenever they were in the same area. And the only time they got their treats was in the presence of the ferals.

I was in a situation where I was able to give everyone a treat. It sounds like this could be harder for you. It may take you a little while, but if you can do something like jiggle their food bowl or rustle the treat package everytime you are about to give them a big treat, so they know something extra special will happen, it will condition them to think positive and they will better accept whatever you may have in store for them :-).

I don't know if you can do it in time for this new kitty, but if you don't already have a trick like this to get their attention, it may be worth your while to do it; you never know when you will need it.

Also, I should add that I did have this problem with my two TNR'd ferals except it was a situation where the 3rd kitty, a female who was not TNR'd, was running off the existing female. What I did was exactly what tru suggested in the earlier post. I got the attention of the new kitty and was able to get her to a different feeding area. I did a lot of bowl jiggling on the other side of my house with crunchies and calling to the new kitty. If this kitty is hungry enough it may work. Also you could try putting the food on the other side of the street, where they chase this kitty. I don't know if that is a good or bad idea because I don't know what is over on that side, but just a thought.
 
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brennok

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Thanks. My neighbor asked me the other night if I was trying to gather a herd lol.

I really don't have anywhere I can move the feed unless I move it to the back porch and leave the door open. I like to let my indoor cats out there every once and a while when it is cool so I would rather not do that. I leave the door open now so two of the three strays will go on the back porch to get out of the sun. My gray and white who my roommate nicknamed Bear doesn't like to leave the front yard though.

The other problem I see is the tabby would just follow me. Another issue being this new stray only comes down at night. It was just here again and again the tabby who happened to be there also chased him off again. Ugh it is so frustrating. For one I don't want the cat fights since I don't want my neighbors to complain. The other is I feel somewhat helpless since I can't stop it. If it was my indoor cats, I would just lock them in the bathroom where the litterboxes are anyway and leave them in there for a couple of hours.

It also doesn't help I am trying to track down kittens right now also. A nursing mother kept coming down but I never saw the kittens. Then Saturday they were in my yard but kept running under the fence. I went out late that night and the mom and kittens were laying in the side yard close to where I feed. The mother seemed fine with me there but the kittens never let me get close enough. Then Sunday they were gone. The mother showed up again last night and tonight but no kittens.
 

momofmany

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Your "regulars" are simply protecting their territory from any new unknown cats. This is completely normal behavior within cats and frustrating when you see a new cat that needs to be cared for.

The only thing that I can suggest is to set up a few feeding stations around your house so that the regulars can use one of them and the newbies use another. Set them up as far apart as you can.

I have 3 feral cats that protect my property from any strangers. They will run off any cat that comes onto my property. When I moved from my old house and took these cats with me, new cats moved into that property within a week (the new owner called me to ask if I had failed to bring a mom and her litter with me). Some cats are so territorial that there is nothing that you will be able to do to help out new cats, other than moving your resident cats inside to allow newcomers.
 
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brennok

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

Your "regulars" are simply protecting their territory from any new unknown cats. This is completely normal behavior within cats and frustrating when you see a new cat that needs to be cared for.
This is still the part I find odd only because he has not reacted this way to any of the other new cats that have shown up. He doesn't even react to the other cats. Since I started feeding, after these three there have been 5 new cats or so and not a reaction from any of them.

Originally Posted by Momofmany

The only thing that I can suggest is to set up a few feeding stations around your house so that the regulars can use one of them and the newbies use another. Set them up as far apart as you can.
Maybe I will try this once I figure out where to place another bowl. The problem is more he is stalking the cat once he sees it. The other two cats couldn't care. Even tonight I had two of the newer strays there which he could care less about. It really seems to be this specific cat. Tonight he was on the driveway with me, Bear, the nursing mother, and a black/white. Then I saw the new cat in my neighbor's driveway around 20-30 feet away and immediately he went after it.
 

tru

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Since you know which way the new cat usually comes from, Maybe you can set a trap up off that way that the new cat will go into to eat.

If any of your other guys should go into it, after once or twice they will get the idea and quit. :-)
(A couple of my cats I've caught more than once and they just call for me to let them out when it happens.)


This would allow you to get the cat in for S/N and see if it is healthy.

Generally in watching the behavior of "new ferals coming up, they would always maintain a distance and watch, not coming up for the food till the others were all done. I've been fortunate though and most of my guys don't seem to care too much who else moves in. Maybe they feel "the more the merrier".
 
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brennok

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I think I figured out what the problem is.

I finally got a good look at the new cat. I think it is a she and if so she looks pregnant.
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by brennok

I think I figured out what the problem is.

I finally got a good look at the new cat. I think it is a she and if so she looks pregnant.
Brennok.....please trap this girl so that she can be spayed. I recognize that means a spay/abort, however with females, there really isn't a "great" time to trap to take for spaying because she will be either 1. pregnant 2. nursing kittens or possibly even both.

Unless you can trap her and bring her indoors to have her kittens (which would mean confining her in a cage) and if you can afford to tame the kittens and spay/neuter them and place them into good homes....it is truly best to get her spayed now. Then she can enjoy her life outdoors without having to concern herself with having more litters.

Katie
 
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brennok

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Originally Posted by TNR1

Brennok.....please trap this girl so that she can be spayed. I recognize that means a spay/abort, however with females, there really isn't a "great" time to trap to take for spaying because she will be either 1. pregnant 2. nursing kittens or possibly even both.

Unless you can trap her and bring her indoors to have her kittens (which would mean confining her in a cage) and if you can afford to tame the kittens and spay/neuter them and place them into good homes....it is truly best to get her spayed now. Then she can enjoy her life outdoors without having to concern herself with having more litters.

Katie
Yeah I am trying to get help from a girl in the neighborhood who has traps. I already have a mother who comes down with 4 kittens that I am trying to decide what to do. The mother cat floats between my house and another. I can't get close to either her or the kitten.s
 
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