Someone put a sign outside my house, in kitty language, that says "if you live outside this home, you will be fed, given water, and cared for"...
Okay, I know that's not possible but c'mon.
2 weeks ago (has it really only been two weeks?? feels like longer!!) we found Toby/Baby in our chicken coop....Just one cat, but we can't decide on a name that suits him, and call him either toby, or baby. He was starving, tiny, young kitten and sick/attacked. We got him care, medicine, fattened up, and we are giving him a loving home with two other kitten brothers who he bonded with immediatly and now they are all BFF.
Last week, we noticed a stray that looks a lot like our neighbors kitty. So much like the neighbors, that we think stray1 is one of NK's kittens (nk-neighbor kitty). We start feeding Stray1, and NK. NK has a home, but not a good one. NK wanted into the home last week but they pushed him off the screen door where he was latched on crying, and made him stay outside. So we have been feeding both. NK has a colllar so we can tell them apart. Stray1 meows at the door a couple times a day, and we give him food.
Today we are out letting the chickens and hubby tells me to c'mere. I go look next to our garden where we have some high bushes, and there is another kitty. A young, probably under 2 yrs old cat, she is white bellied, with a beautiful orange/tan/brown markings on her back and face. Very exotic looking. We fed her, and she left. Just now, 1230am, I open the door for my daycare parent, to see her on my porch petting this kitty. This kitty followed her to my door and sat outside. When I opened the door, this kitty tried to come in! I took out a plate of food for her again. I think something is wrong with her eyes. In our super bright porch light, one pupil is HUGE and the other is very small....so IDK. I mean I am clearly not a cat expert but it just looked weird to me. And this poor baby girl, she LOVES attention. She just comes right to us and gets petted and rubs against legs. She has a family somewhere....I posted on CL that I found a kitty...so maybe her owner will see it?
If anyone has made it this far, thanks for reading. So here I have 2 strays, and 1 cat that has a non loving home, that we are feeding outside. I feel like if I keep feeding them, more will come. However, if we don't these cats might die.
I already have lots of cats. Two boys of my own need neutered. Two girl strays we recently brought in need spayed. (our two boys are still too young to have kittens, but we have appts set up all within the next month to get them allllll taken care of, and we will hopefully find the girls homes!!)
Anyway....I would LOVE to take these in but we don't have the room, nor the finances to take in any more kitties. So, should I just keep feeding them outside?? Am I a horrible person bc they are clearly tame cats, and I can't bring them into my home? If something happens to one of them outside, I don't know...I will feel so terrible and responsible. But I also can't afford any additional vet visits, vaccs, another flea infestation or anything really, so I KNOW I can't bring them in...I just feel horrible.
Okay, I know that's not possible but c'mon.
2 weeks ago (has it really only been two weeks?? feels like longer!!) we found Toby/Baby in our chicken coop....Just one cat, but we can't decide on a name that suits him, and call him either toby, or baby. He was starving, tiny, young kitten and sick/attacked. We got him care, medicine, fattened up, and we are giving him a loving home with two other kitten brothers who he bonded with immediatly and now they are all BFF.
Last week, we noticed a stray that looks a lot like our neighbors kitty. So much like the neighbors, that we think stray1 is one of NK's kittens (nk-neighbor kitty). We start feeding Stray1, and NK. NK has a home, but not a good one. NK wanted into the home last week but they pushed him off the screen door where he was latched on crying, and made him stay outside. So we have been feeding both. NK has a colllar so we can tell them apart. Stray1 meows at the door a couple times a day, and we give him food.
Today we are out letting the chickens and hubby tells me to c'mere. I go look next to our garden where we have some high bushes, and there is another kitty. A young, probably under 2 yrs old cat, she is white bellied, with a beautiful orange/tan/brown markings on her back and face. Very exotic looking. We fed her, and she left. Just now, 1230am, I open the door for my daycare parent, to see her on my porch petting this kitty. This kitty followed her to my door and sat outside. When I opened the door, this kitty tried to come in! I took out a plate of food for her again. I think something is wrong with her eyes. In our super bright porch light, one pupil is HUGE and the other is very small....so IDK. I mean I am clearly not a cat expert but it just looked weird to me. And this poor baby girl, she LOVES attention. She just comes right to us and gets petted and rubs against legs. She has a family somewhere....I posted on CL that I found a kitty...so maybe her owner will see it?
If anyone has made it this far, thanks for reading. So here I have 2 strays, and 1 cat that has a non loving home, that we are feeding outside. I feel like if I keep feeding them, more will come. However, if we don't these cats might die.
I already have lots of cats. Two boys of my own need neutered. Two girl strays we recently brought in need spayed. (our two boys are still too young to have kittens, but we have appts set up all within the next month to get them allllll taken care of, and we will hopefully find the girls homes!!)
Anyway....I would LOVE to take these in but we don't have the room, nor the finances to take in any more kitties. So, should I just keep feeding them outside?? Am I a horrible person bc they are clearly tame cats, and I can't bring them into my home? If something happens to one of them outside, I don't know...I will feel so terrible and responsible. But I also can't afford any additional vet visits, vaccs, another flea infestation or anything really, so I KNOW I can't bring them in...I just feel horrible.