BIG feral tomcat outside

I live in an apartment complex where a small feral colony lives out by the dumpster. I'll be attempting TNR with them starting this month I think someone has been feeding them, because they don't run away when I come up to throw my trash out. They won't come up to my hand when I hold it out, but they'll stay within 5 or so feet of me.

But, my point is: one of them is a HUGE -- I mean BIG -- perfect tuxedo cat. I assume it's a tom because he's so large. Bigger than any Maine Coon I've ever seen, for sure. Do Maine Coons even come in tuxie? He's also a shorthair, should probably mention that.

If I wasn't already at my pet limit for my apartment I'd try to foster him, he's basically a spitting image of my little Boots (also a former feral tuxie). They'd make a great father/son pair in pictures

THANK YOU for caring about these kitties and helping put an end to more homeless cats!

Maine Coons do come in Tuxedo, but they have longer hair. Sure could be a mix though. He sounds like a real beauty!

Is there a low-cost spay/neuter clinic near you? Will you be working with your vet? Have you looked into hooking up with any TNR projects or foster networks in your area?

We didn't have any low cost speuter programs near us, so just worked with our local vet. We fostered at first, but then hit our pet limit. Our vet hooked us up with a local foster network. When they can, if we have strays or kittens show up (no kitties this year WOOHOO!), they take them in to foster and adopt out. Before that, the vet techs would take the kitties to foster, and they always ended up being adopted out through the vet office. Just more ideas for you....

Do keep us posted - always happy to send trapping vibes!

Yes, Orlando does have some TNR resources. The best I've seen so far are these guys: http://carefelinetnr.org/

I haven't been in contact with them yet (midterms week, ugh) but I'll get up with them soon to see if I can get some ferals in for TNR in October. I've never done TNR before, but I'm excited to help out. There wasn't a visible feral problem where I lived with my parents in the Panhandle before I came down here to go to school. Actually, there was (and is still) one friendly female that hangs out around our townhouse complex, but we got her spayed.

Hi and I am always so happy to read about people like you stepping up to help stray and feral cats . Good for you and you already have a great TNR organization to help you get them all sterilized . That tuxedo sounds very handsome!! Best of luck with trappings and transporting them back and forth to the vet. The TNR org. should be able to loan you a trap and even a crate if you need to keep them overnight before releasing them back outside after surgeries. They usually have a group of people who have traps and crates to loan out .

If the cats will come within 5 feet of you off the bat chances are good that they are not feral but just shy tame cats. If that's the case a lot of smelly wet food and time sitting on the ground with them will eventually lead them to come up to you and let you pet them. Once they let you pet them they usually become total luv bugs pretty quickly in my experience.
If they are tame you may want to try placing as many as you can in homes once you've TNR'd them. Really big cats are usually pretty popular so placing the big boy may be easy. I once had a foster who weighed 18 pounds while thin and I had a bunch of people wanting him.

Thanks for caring for the kitties. They are lucky to have someone who cares.

Update on the situation:

When I took my trash out to the dumpster last night around 3am (night owl here ) I brought a small can of wet food with me to see how many of them would come out to eat it. I opened it, set it on the ground and sat down about 10-15 feet away from it.

Two of them came up after the can had been open for two minutes and started to eat. I counted six more in the area immediately surrounding me, not coming up to the can or to me, but watching the other cats eat. Then, when I walked back inside, there were three more slinking around the corner of the dumpster or hiding underneath cars. I didn't see big tuxie boy, though.

So that makes at least 12 cats. Jeez. Orlando TNR program, don't fail me now!!

AWW Katie . Good thing you are a night owl so you were able to assess the situation as to how many cats there really are. You will have your work cut out for you . Again, you are really doing such a wonderful thing for this colony. They need someone like you . You will be saving many lives by getting this group all TNRd. . Loads more vibes for success with trapping