My mother had a neighbor that fed stray and feral cats. Well, he moved and took none of the cats with him. Several of them are female and have litters of kittens. Some of the mothers are extremely skinny and are walking around crying because they are hungry. It's breaking my mother's heart because she doesn't know what to do. She is 75 and is taking care of my father who is in ill health. I don't think she needs to start feeding them....but its hard not to. If I call animal control......well, we know what will happen there. Some of them are semi-friendly and you can actually touch. Vets here in Jackson, Tennessee don't do much in the way of helping. Any suggestions.....
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Need help with strays and ferals
- Thread starter agraham
- Start Date
If she isn't going to feed them, then getting them into animal control may be the best thing. Starving to death is slow and painful.
Find out if there is a trap neuter and release group that will under
take to help her, she can feed, they help provide food to feed
with. They also do the spay neuter and rabies thing, so NO MORE
cats come into the area. This is hugely impt. if you take the
cats and PTS more will arrive. You need to try for the kits
ASAP they can be saved. mommas may unfortunately be PTSd
unless they are friendly too. Please, please, please check for
TNR groups? Some one on this board can help with hooking
you up. You'll earn brownie points in heaven for this one act of
mercy and kindenss...
take to help her, she can feed, they help provide food to feed
with. They also do the spay neuter and rabies thing, so NO MORE
cats come into the area. This is hugely impt. if you take the
cats and PTS more will arrive. You need to try for the kits
ASAP they can be saved. mommas may unfortunately be PTSd
unless they are friendly too. Please, please, please check for
TNR groups? Some one on this board can help with hooking
you up. You'll earn brownie points in heaven for this one act of
mercy and kindenss...
I hope it is okay to pass along this information. Alley Cat Allies ( www.alleycat.org ) has a place listed as "inqury" on their site where you fill out your info/area and they will put you in touch with someone that rescues ferals. I needed local help when I started last year and they put me in touch with a contact. It's worth a try. Maybe they can find someone to come in and help. God Bless you for trying.
Of course it's OK to pass along this information! That's why Alley Cat Allies has the service!
Thanks to you and your mom for wanting to do something for these kitties.
Here's my advice:
It seems as if taking on the project of trapping them and having them spayed and neutered is not an option for you/your mom. If they are not going to be spayed or neutered, they should not be fed. Feeding them just helps keep them healthy so they can keep breeding. It's a harsh attitude, but it's realistic.
I would, however, exhaust ALL resources to see if there's anyone or any group in your area that can help.
The first things I would do are:
1) Contact Alley Cat Allies to find the rescue groups and "Feral Friends" in your area. This is the starting page for that process: http://www.alleycat.org/response.aspx Simply explain the situation to them as you have for us here.
2) Contact the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets campaign network to see if they're aware of anyone or any groups in your area that can help assume responsibility for these cats. This is a link to the Best Friends' Site: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/ But you can send an e-mail to them - again, just explaining the situation to them as you have for us here - at [email protected]
3) Go to http://www.pets911.com/local-shelters-and-rescues and type in your zipcode - and call or e-mail all the cat organizations that turn up to see if they can help - or know of anyone that can help - with the feral cats your neighbor left behind that all need to be spayed and neutered.
4) You can also go to http://www.petfinder.com/ and simply choose "cat" and type in your zip code. This will pull up a list of cats up for adoption - BUT - all of those cats are up for adoption through an organization. This will help you locate organizations in your area that you can contact to see if they can help or can find anyone who can help with the situation BESIDES animal control, because you'd rather not see the kitties put down.
5) Get out the yellow pages and call around to local vets. Explain to the receptionist that answers the phone that you know they're not a shelter or rescue, but that a neighbor abandoned a number of cats, and your family is not in a position to care for them or get them spayed and neutered - but you'd like to find someone who can help. Do they know of any "crazy cat people" in the area who might be willing to help or who may know of where to go to get help?
In this last option, you may find people completely unwilling to help, or people who act like you're crazy. Don't worry about it and just keep dialing. You may find the vet that works with people like my husband and I. If you find someone who says "I may know of someone," offer to leave your name and phone number. The vet should not be expected to give out the name and number of one of their clients - but they can take your name and number, and then contact that person. Just ask the person you're talking to at the vet's office to please call you back if it was a dead end. Sometimes they will, and sometimes they won't - and sometimes you'll get a call from the local "crazy cat person," and they may be willing to step in and help you.
I hope some of these ideas helps turn up someone or an organization able to help you in your situation.
Laurie
