My Experience With Ferals

In the area where I live there are tons of ferals! Nearly all of them black & white:
My first feral is my cat Murphy, I still have her, but I don't know if I will much longer!(see 'Who Would Do This To My Cat' in cats sos.) I got her as a kitten on a farm, she was quiet young and not tame! I wrapped her in a jumper and carried her a mile and a half to my house! It was hard, but I did it! My mam said I could keep her, so I did. For the first week she would stay and hide under the coach, but I would sit in the room everyday for about two hours until eventually she came to me and since then she has been cuddly and loves to sleep on my lap(until now that she has been abused! )

Next cat,
Joey(nicknamed Scabbers, because of the shape he was in! )
Found him when I was out cycling one day, left my bike on the road and everything to carry him home, he could'nt see because he had bad cat flu and his eyes were stuck together. When he could see though he wasn't very happy and ran around mewing! Until I picked him up and held him in my arms by the fire and he fell asleep, he was ok after that and got him to the vet where he got antibiotics. Unfortunately though when he was better, we started letting him out and he dissapeared!

Next cat
Tom, he just showedshowed up at our house, we have gained his trust by feeding him, we can rub him and he rubs against us, but he never wanted to come into our house so he is an outdoor cat along with Roxy and Lily, Murphys daughters!

Next cat,
No name, she is a very feral female that comes around, but I can't see being ever able to pet her, she is one of many very feral cats in our area, they are all as feral as foxes! But I think its lovely to have wild cats at the same time as long as they are healthy, when they are sick or in trouble is when we should intervene!

I am speechless, and I am so sorry this happened to your kitty.

This is one reason we keep our pets indoors only.

Have you talked to your mom/dad about a fence or some kind of enclosure for your kitties that you want to let have access to outside? Then they won't be harmed or disappear.

Also, I think you and your parents need to talk about borrowing or buying a trap and getting the kitties spayed and neutered. There will be an endless stream of cats that will continue to grow and grow (unless they keep disappearing or getting poisoned) if you don't stop them breeding.

I hate to say it, but I always encourage people to stop feeding the cats unless you can get them sterilized. There is a huge homeless cat population in the U.S. and in most areas of the world, in fact. Feeding them does several things:

1) The animals leave a scent that tells other cats there is food there, drawing other animals to the area,

2) It prevents the animals from feeding somewhere else where there may just be people spaying and neutering them

Thank you so much for rescuing the babies you have!

If the cost of spaying and neutering is an issue, here is a great list of resources in this post I made to someone else: http://thecatsite.com/forums/showpos...7&postcount=10



Laurie