Do the cats hate you after you get them fixed?

I have three kittens and momma outside. I worked with mom for monthes and i have been working with the kittens since they were about 8 weeks old. I can pet all of them (except the orange tabby, he is extra shy for some reason) so i think i can get them into a pet carry with can food...but i'm scared they are going to hate me and run way after i get them fixed

They will not hate you, but you need to keep them contained at least 2 days (females) after they get spayed, and 24 hrs for males. Before you release them back to the barn, put out big bowls of wet food for them, that just keeps them from roaming.

I have TNR hundreds of ferals in my life and have never had one of them hate me for fixing them. They are shocky, and they don't trust you again right away, but you can work with them through it- just as I am doing now with Whisp who got spayed yesterday.

i know the day is coming and i have to it soon. I have just worked so hard to get close to them. I'm hoping they will test neg for felv and fiv and dh will just let them live inside after they are fixed. If they test postive I guess I'll have to place them in a no kill shelter and hopefully someone with out any cats or with postive cats will have a big enough heart to take them in.

I don't know how happy Moe and Neo will be about having some new friends they are used to be the kings of the castle.

Honestly, I rarely have ferals testing positive for either of these diseases. In a feral colony or even a feral family, the weak and the sick are usually killed off early by natural causes, and only the strong survive. I had one old fella show up a few years ago, he was about 4 years old, black as coal and really ragged. Only showed up at midnight, thus earning his name Capt. Midnight. He just looked "off" and when I finally managed to capture him and run him to my vet, he was diagnosed with FeLV. I came home after putting him down and scrubbed everywhere he had been with bleach and water, then held my breath. None of my cats became ill and life went on. Ferals are wonderful cats and very resilent and once you earn their trust you have it for life.

thanks i feel alot better. I know i'm doing what is best for them. I am just such a worry wart. Mommy cat seems healthy and has been here for a long time.

i'm really not sure how many cats i'm feeding because sometimes I'll see mommy and then i'll look up and there will be another white cat on the roof of the coop. so i have a feeling there are a couple white kitties eating the food. She is the only white one that doesn't run when i open the door. she i getting awful bossy and will come up to the door and start meowing. I'm just happy all the hard work is finally paying off.

I have a cat on my desk right now. Got him neutered last week - he was back on my lap in less than a day and he is a reformed feral

One thing I've been told by a lady who's an expert on ferals and strays (and runs the local cat shelter) is not to wait too long trying to befriend them. Her advice was to get them neutered first and work with them from there. She says that once they reach sexual maturity (which could be as early as 4-5 months in some cats), the may roam away and disappear. I was working with a couple of ferals here and she suggested to give it a week of trying to socialize them enough to get them in the carrier. If that doesn't work in a week, you need to get a humane trap and get them that way. With those two I managed to befriend them within a week (I guess they were only semi-feral), otherwise I was going to trap them.

Another thing, is if you live in a safe environment, I'm not sure it will be for the best to bring those kitties indoors. Feral cats can get confinement stress and be miserable indoors. Every cat is different of course, but with many ferals, you just can't get them to be as sociable as pet cats. And those cats belong in a supervised colony where they can get food, shelter and medical care. I wouldn't take them indoors or to a shelter, just keep looking after them.

Again, every case is different and I wouldn't presume telling you what to do with your cats based on your two posts here, but just wanted to bring up the point.

This link will take you to some of the best feral care websites out there if you're looking for more info, and of course there's always this board.

Thank you for helping those kitties!

Hi Princess Purr! Sorry I haven't been around the last few days. I've missed so much!!!

The kittens turned up in our yard when they were 5 - 6 weeks old. We fed them and were petting them by about 8 weeks - except two of the five.

We waited until they were about 12 weeks to have Mom spayed and neutered. She did disappear after we had it done. We asked the Vet to use dissolving stitches so we wouldn't have to trap her again. She stayed at the Vet's for more than 2 days (I don't remember how long) because the weather was so foul here when we had it done.

The kittens remained, and we continued feeding them (we adopted two of them who are now inside pets ). When one of the inside cats lost his first tooth, we had all of the kittens, inside and outside spayed and neutered. When we went to release the outside cats, we opened the crate and put food and water in there for them. They ate and didn't run away - and were back for dinner.

As a matter of fact, they ended up becoming so social with us, we've been able to have all of the kittens from that original litter adopted out (the last one was adopted out last weekend - they're about 10 months old now!).

No matter what happens, just know you're doing the right thing for these amazing creatures!!!!!