can i feed random cats????

I always have cat food in my car (to feed the ferals on my street). I have seen a few cats in random areas about town. Do you guys think its ok to stop and leave some food???

Of course I would never know if these are house cats or not. (today I saw one hanging about trash cans) But I always feel so guilty - especially since I have the food. But I was thinking if i left food would they then expect me to be there everyday??? I dont want to give them that hope...

THANKS

If you start leaving food around you are asking the cats to come eat, they will return the next day to see if the food fairy has returned they will only come back a couple times.
But you will make them look for you once or twice. If you want to help, hook up with someone in a local groups who needs help with feeding stations, or fostering or maybe just running errands. You can find such groups at large pest stores or vets office.
You don't know how short handed they can be, plus it's kitten time....lots of new Mamma cats around town.

Please do not feed feral cats unless you plan to go the whole way and Trap/Neuter/Release them.

It only makes them better fed and produce more unwanted kittens. It's been shown that well fed ferals have on average more litters and more kittens per litter than ferals who were not fed.

I agree with Wings. If you want to help join a rescue group. I know that my group is always looking for people to help with managing feral colonies, TNR and fostering.

It's really not a very good idea to randomly feed cats that you come across. It will make them come back to the spot in the hopes that there is more food there, and if there isn't, they've wasted a day trying to find a spot where there is a steady food supply.

If you are feeding cats at all, it should be in a regular place, at regular times, and you should not feed at all unless you have the resources (or help) to get all of the cats spayed/neutered. Cats that are being fed will breed if not fixed, and that only brings more homeless kittens into the world. As harsh as it might sound, if you are going to help, go all the way or don't help at all.

You would be surprised at the number of rescue groups out there that don't advertise in a phone book. If you see an area with a lot of stray (or feral) cats, the best thing to do is to find a group to help manage those cats. To find a group in your area, go into www.petfinder.com and do a search of cats available for adoption in your zip code area. The cats will be shown with the rescue group that cares for them, and you can click on the rescue groups link to get more information.

Randomly leaving food has also other drawback then already mentioned.

1. It produces strays and homeless! Outgoing homecats dont need to go back home to get food. If they can get food elsewhere, they tend perhaps not to return - thus producing new strays and homeless...
So neither dont give food to your neighbors cats.

2. There are evil humans leaving poisoned food. If you are leaving food everywhere, you help to give these a cover.

Im speculating a little.

But all in all. You get an interesting idea, but there are other ways to usefully spend your energy and your will to make the world a little better.

Tx you do care!

Ok thanks - i will definitely NOT do that than.

Just to make it clear I have TNRed (?) about 20 cats on my condos property and feed/water them everyday in the same spot.

I just wasnt sure about these random cats I see about town - but thought I definitely needed to double check. thanks again!!

Originally Posted by m935

Just to make it clear I have TNRed (?) about 20 cats on my condos property and feed/water them everyday in the same spot.

Click to expand...

Thank you for doing that!!! I didn't know you enough to realize that you already knew about TNR.