feral cat help

I have been caring for a feral colony for about alittle over a year now. this is my first post on these forums by the way, and I need some help with a couple of questions.

First, what I call the "leader" of my colony (the first cat that showed up about a year and a half ago) has gone missing now for about 5 weeks. I'm starting to think the worst has happened. But, Sometimes the Alpha male (her first born) will leave for 2-3 weeks but always returns. 2-3 weeks is the longest time though, and the other cats tend to always be around.
My question is: For how long of periods of time will a feral leave and still return? are there any known time frames for ferals any of you can confirm? I'd appreciate knowing about this, I'm getting concerned about the one cat.

My other question is about the same time my leader cat disappeared, a large male that is not part of the original colony started coming around, and the other cats would hiss at it and did not want it around.
So my other question is, and I know from reading ferals have a heirarchy - do they or would another cat attempt to "takeover" as leader? Would another cat kill a leader cat? I know it sounds strange but I have wondered about this.

I care for 7 cats that were born from the original that first arrived about 1.5 years ago. All the other cats are from about 8 months to 1.2 years old now.

Thanks for any and all information.

A Seattle poster! I am originally from Seattle - good to see some more PNW representation.

Is the leader cat a male or female? If female, has she been spayed? I am just saying this because one of our feral cats that we watch is a female and she has been missing for a few weeks now - but I know that is because she has given birth (I am already in talks to get her spayed and adopt out her kittens with an organisation here in Ireland...).

Remember - it is mating season right now, so if your leader is a male, unneutered cat, he could also be roaming. Tom cats will travel very far in the search of a female in heat, so it could also be that.

I hope they are all okay. Have you done any TNR with these guys?

Glad you found us - hope we can help.

I second Wendy's question - when you refer to your colony, to do you mean cats you're feeding or cats you're trapping and having spayed & neutered?

I don't really know the answers to your questions, and I'm sure others may have had different experiences. But all of ours were spayed or neutered and they were rarely ever gone for more than a day. We had one or two that would disappear for a few weeks. But I don't remember ever having one gone for more than a month and then come back.

If they're not spayed/neutered, they will roam for sure.

Adult cats can and do fight. But I've never seen and never heard of another adult intentionally trying to kill another adult. An injured cat may die as a result of the injuries in a fight.

We had a small kitten send two other new kittens to the colony to the vet (one when he was 4 months old and one when he was 6 months old) - it was bad enough they needed stitches. This little bugger was so nasty and disrupted the whole colony so much, we had to feed him away from the colony. Fortunately he lived very near, so we could feed him additionally, so when he showed up at "regular" feeding time he wasn't so hungry and was content to be fed in a different location. But it was a few weeks of real hell for everyone.

Sidebar: at around 8 months, he head-bumped my hubby on the foot. He was still nasty as heck to other cats - and we'd deemed him unadoptable. But he became Gary's little boy. Long story short, he became ill - and wound up inside with our other four when he was almost a year old. And from day one at home, we didn't have a problem with him and our other kitties. And he's a total lover boy.

Please do try to trap that newbie ASAP - it'll minimize the aggressiveness.

Laurie

Originally Posted by fuzzerz

.

First, what I call the "leader" of my colony (the first cat that showed up about a year and a half ago) has gone missing now for about 5 weeks. I'm starting to think the worst has happened. But, Sometimes the Alpha male (her first born) will leave for 2-3 weeks but always returns. 2-3 weeks is the longest time though, and the other cats tend to always be around.
My question is: For how long of periods of time will a feral leave and still return? are there any known time frames for ferals any of you can confirm? I'd appreciate knowing about this, I'm getting concerned about the one cat.

Click to expand...

I've experienced one time the male came back after two months. By that time though, he had no desire to become alpha. He died of a genetic illness in my home.

Originally Posted by fuzzerz

My other question is about the same time my leader cat disappeared, a large male that is not part of the original colony started coming around, and the other cats would hiss at it and did not want it around.
So my other question is, and I know from reading ferals have a heirarchy - do they or would another cat attempt to "takeover" as leader? Would another cat kill a leader cat? I know it sounds strange but I have wondered about this.

Click to expand...

The reaction of the group to a stranger cat is normal. If ever a new cat decides to takeover a colony it will go about it in circumspect. Meaning, he has to be accepted first before doing any usurping.
Cats can die from serious injuries in cat fights although I do not think it is the intention of the cats to kill each other.

BTW, like the others, I am curious if you have a TNR program for your cat colony?

The leader is a female, and her name is Taffy. her two offspring are Sunny and Lucky. Sunny is the alpha male, and lucky is the sister to Sunny.

Taffy has always been a smart cat and I just dont know why she has been gone over 5 weeks now. She has left before for a 2 week period but always come back.

I am so new to feral cat colony I do not even know what you mean by tnr - I have simply been feeding them out of being kind. they are very skittish but sunny of all things lets me pet him at dinnertime only. the others would never let me get too close. I am not troubled feeding the 7 of them but I know I will have to do something soon if they keep getting pregnant.

I hope Taffy returns. 5 weeks and counting.

My ferals story: Had 20. It was dry summer. Then we had a very stormy Oct. 6 cats vanished. 2 I knew were hit by cars. 4 remained "lost".

I TNR'd all the ones I could (all but1).

Fast forward to March 30. 3 of the missing 4 cats
turned up! Where were they?? I have no idea.

But in daily/nightly feeds I never saw any of them, till ...now.

So, it is possible he/she has found a new food source, has
been Trapped and taken in, and/or has gotten "lost" and
is working her/his way home to the colony.

Think positive.

Originally Posted by fuzzerz

I am so new to feral cat colony I do not even know what you mean by tnr -

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TNR -Trap, Neuter, Return. Please check the stickies above for details.

Originally Posted by opilot

So, it is possible he/she has found a new food source, has
been Trapped and taken in, and/or has gotten "lost" and
is working her/his way home to the colony.

Click to expand...

Or she could have been in heat and found another mate.