How do I get my ferals to sleep in their houses?

shadowsrescue

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Originally Posted by Chatypaty

I have been doing this now for quite some time and its not an easy job, I have grown to love these cats.. and I have a bunch. First there was the Momma who gave birth to four kittens Oreo, Gray Midnight and Mimi, well after months Gray and Oreo left ,never did show up again,Momma got pregnant again this spring and had four more, only three lived.. Tipper, Sassy and Peanut, now I have all of them here and Mimi has gotten pregnant , she has four, Cali, Brighteyes, and Shy and Shadow.. these were born about two wks after Momma had her second bunch.. its getting outta hand, I feed them all morning , and night .. water and Mommas three are on my front porch all the time pretty much.. I can pick two of them up at times.. Momma has taken off now.. but I know she will come back.. I took care of the first ones all thru last winter, I have a igloo that I filled with blankets and orders one of those heaters and they did well , I brought it up on my porch.. right now we are insulating a play house in the back yard for Mimis bunch..I have tried to get in touch with a few groups to see if they would take them but no help at all.. you sure grow to love them , but its harder and harder to take care of all of them . I give them dry food and canned friskies which I am going to have to stop doing.. I am retired now and its too costly .. but I do love them.. but honestly its not a good thing . my neighbors have brought it up to me.. so I know they arent happy with it .. what to do ??
Is there any way you could get them spayed and/or neutered to stop all of the kittens from appearing? I know it can be costly, but there are many low cost spay/neuter clinics. They will all get keep multiplying if they are not spayed or neutered.

I take care of 2 feral males. It is a challenging job. I do the best I can by providing food and shelter and special time with me. I would not trade them for anything. I understand how the neighbors would be upset. Many people do not like cats. If you would get them all spayed/neutered the male wandering and territorial marking ( spraying) will be greatly reduced.

You are doing a wonderful job with so many cats. Thank you for taking care of them.
 

feralvr

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Originally Posted by Chatypaty

I have been doing this now for quite some time and its not an easy job, I have grown to love these cats.. and I have a bunch. First there was the Momma who gave birth to four kittens Oreo, Gray Midnight and Mimi, well after months Gray and Oreo left ,never did show up again,Momma got pregnant again this spring and had four more, only three lived.. Tipper, Sassy and Peanut, now I have all of them here and Mimi has gotten pregnant , she has four, Cali, Brighteyes, and Shy and Shadow.. these were born about two wks after Momma had her second bunch.. its getting outta hand, I feed them all morning , and night .. water and Mommas three are on my front porch all the time pretty much.. I can pick two of them up at times.. Momma has taken off now.. but I know she will come back.. I took care of the first ones all thru last winter, I have a igloo that I filled with blankets and orders one of those heaters and they did well , I brought it up on my porch.. right now we are insulating a play house in the back yard for Mimis bunch..I have tried to get in touch with a few groups to see if they would take them but no help at all.. you sure grow to love them , but its harder and harder to take care of all of them . I give them dry food and canned friskies which I am going to have to stop doing.. I am retired now and its too costly .. but I do love them.. but honestly its not a good thing . my neighbors have brought it up to me.. so I know they arent happy with it .. what to do ??
AWW Bless you for taking care of the feral cats.
Unfortunately, if you do not step in and get these cats into a Trap/Neuter/Release program, they will keep breeding and multiplying
. Can you google TNR programs for your county?? Sometimes they will even offer to come out and assist in trapping and will pay for the sterilizations if one cannot afford to pay for all of those cats. They only request then that you become their permanent caretaker, which you are already doing anyway, providing them with food/shelter.

Blankets are not the best to use in the outdoor shelters only because they will just get wet, cold and freeze. I would go and get some straw bales and stuff them inside the igloo and playhouse, much better than blankets. Straw helps to maintain their body heat, especially with more than one huddling together.


You have a good heart
and I really hope and pray you can get some help from a TNR group. Specifically, call only Trap/Neuter/Release Organizations. Most are very, very willing to help people such as yourself in their communities. That is what they do
 

ldg

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Originally Posted by Chatypaty

I have been doing this now for quite some time and its not an easy job, I have grown to love these cats.. and I have a bunch. First there was the Momma who gave birth to four kittens Oreo, Gray Midnight and Mimi, well after months Gray and Oreo left ,never did show up again,Momma got pregnant again this spring and had four more, only three lived.. Tipper, Sassy and Peanut, now I have all of them here and Mimi has gotten pregnant , she has four, Cali, Brighteyes, and Shy and Shadow.. these were born about two wks after Momma had her second bunch.. its getting outta hand, I feed them all morning , and night .. water and Mommas three are on my front porch all the time pretty much.. I can pick two of them up at times.. Momma has taken off now.. but I know she will come back.. I took care of the first ones all thru last winter, I have a igloo that I filled with blankets and orders one of those heaters and they did well , I brought it up on my porch.. right now we are insulating a play house in the back yard for Mimis bunch..I have tried to get in touch with a few groups to see if they would take them but no help at all.. you sure grow to love them , but its harder and harder to take care of all of them . I give them dry food and canned friskies which I am going to have to stop doing.. I am retired now and its too costly .. but I do love them.. but honestly its not a good thing . my neighbors have brought it up to me.. so I know they arent happy with it .. what to do ??
MD is home to two of the national feral cat advocacy groups Alley Cat Allies and Alley Cat Rescue) and has MANY wonderful spay/neuter programs!!!
 

ldg

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OK - THE CATNIP WORKED! We got all our shelters and the feral villa in order ... last week? Stocked up on straw and sprayed a little catnip in the shelters before stuffing the straw. ALL of them are being used (well, that first night it was down in the 30s).
 

bastetservant

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That's terrific! But I'm envious. I don't think my Feralvilla is being used yet.

This afternoon my neighbor helped me make an insulated floor for Grenval's Feralvilla. She watched us do it the a whole time, always staying at least 15 ft. away. I kept telling her it is for her.


The floor turned out really nice. We made it two layers of the foam and screwed a board to the legs as the base. The last thing I have to get is 8" cement blocks to set it on.

I mixed fresh catnip in the straw, and tried catnip spray, too. But when I take off the roof to look at the straw, it looks undisturbed.

Laurie, did you see them go in or out, or how do you know?

Robin
 

ldg

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We opened them up to look, and the straw was mashed down in little circles in the middle. It did not look like someone had been in looking around - it looked like the spots had been curled up on for some time (to be so crushed down).
The feral villa also had straw that had been pulled down a little bit just under that hole they use to crawl up into the second level - like if a cat ensconced in straw dropped down through the hole and some straw was dragged out with them as they left.


But this is the first year that we're aware of any of the shelters being used.

Do you know she reacts to catnip? Because we've left catnip toys out for the ferals and have watched them go nuts with it. Some cats just don't react to it though.
 

bastetservant

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No, I don't know if Grenval enjoys catnip. But this is the first year I've grown catnip in my garden. I had heard it draws cats. And this is the first year in about 5 that I've had a regular cat visiter.

I've never known a cat who didn't like catnip.


Robin
 

bastetservant

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hmmmmmmm . . .

Well, if she doesn't like catnip, what else could draw her into this beautiful, comfy little house I bought just for her?


Robin
 

ldg

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Do you ever see her eating?

If so, when that would be, put out a catnip toy for her. See if she goes for it.
That way you'll know... and if she reacts to it, then you know the problem isn't the catnip drawing her to the villa. The problem would be that she has some place she feels safer and is warm enough (for now).
 

bastetservant

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Oh, yeah, I feed her. I put out dry (TOTW) every morning in this little feeding station I bought her. Then she gets canned food every night. She comes to eat right in front of me, only 10 ft. from my back door. I see her most days, unless it is raining hard. When she doesn't come for the meals, I worry.

But, whether she likes catnip or not is moot. I've tried it in 3 forms, on and in the Feralvilla, and she's not using it.




Robin
 

shadowsrescue

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My DH built a Feralvilla last fall along with a few of the rubbermaid containers with a hole cut out. I stuffed them all with straw. Shadow hated the straw. After I pulled it out and put in blankets, he was much happier. Unfortunately he didn't use it much last winter. The raccoon moved in and Shadow wouldn't go near it. When he did go in, I would just change the blankets every day.

This year, we made modifications to it. DH cut a back door and we added a plexiglass window. I also put a latch on the roof. I believe the raccoon was entering by opening the roof. I also have the feralvilla up on a table in the middle of the deck. Raccoons so far have been unable to find a way to get up there. Shadow has been going in, but doesn't stay long. My newest feral, Patches has been going in!!! I have ordered an outdoor heated pad and will put it inside once it arrives.

We have a temporary awning on our deck that will need to come down for the winter. We have some patio furniture under it. Shadow loves the loveseat. In fact it is his now. It is all covered with blankets and also an outdoor heated pad. On the few cold nights we have had, he is snuggled up on it. Since winter is knocking on the door, I need for him to have shelter and feel safe. He does like to come inside, but my indoor cat, Jake absolutely hates Shadow. I have to keep them completely separated. Shadow has slept in the house all night about 10 times. Yet, I have to sleep downstairs on the floor or couch with him. He will not go upstairs. I cannot sleep on the floor all winter long!! I will have him inside as much as he likes. So for winter, I bought a shed in a box. It's a 6x6x6 plastic shed that I can place on the deck. I can fit the loveseat inside. I plan to add a plexiglass window too. I can keep the side with the door open or closed depending on Shadow's level of comfort.

There is such joy in taking care of ferals, but there is also such great worry.
 

maureenl128

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That's awesome that you got them to go in it! We built our outside boy a house on Sunday and it's only been out there since Monday. We don't know if he is going in it yet but we keep feeding him in it so he knows it's ok. He was a little scared to go inside when I picked him up to show him. I think once it gets colder here on Long Island he will find it useful. I am going to try the catnip trick. Hopefully it draws him in!
 

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I had the same problem with my feral cats and their little houses. I agree they need two doors and the shelter needs to be either higher up or well hidden.

After a few winters of not enough shelter, and agonizing over my cats not using their outdoor houses, I ended up buying solar pool covers and putting them over my patio furniture like a tent, then using bricks to secure them. I put the feral houses inside there too, so they had a whole little area to hang out inside, and I put their outdoor heating pads in there too.

Each year I expanded it (of course LOL) until we ended up covering our metal gazebo frame with a huge solar cover LOL and last year because the neighbor threw his cat out (he is my foster boy Curly in my other posts) I made an extra little shelter off to the side, using a smaller pool cover. Now my feral cats use both of them LOL.

Anyhow these solar covers do a really good job, they conduct the sun's heat extremely well. Here is the link and if you're looking to not spend much money, there might be some for sale on craigslist (?) http://www.poolsupplies.com/Covers/solar-covers.asp
 

feralvr

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Originally Posted by LDG

OK - THE CATNIP WORKED! We got all our shelters and the feral villa in order ... last week? Stocked up on straw and sprayed a little catnip in the shelters before stuffing the straw. ALL of them are being used (well, that first night it was down in the 30s).
I am resorting to the fresh catnip Robin gave me from her garden. I kept it in a ziploc in the fridge. I put some out this morning near the feeding station and leading to the feralvilla. Then placed some inside the villa too. No one has used the villa yet. I am hoping the catnip works like it did for you, Laurie


I am slowly moving the feeding station closer and closer to the villa. Soon it will be right next to it.
and then maybe they will feel more comfortable to venture inside.
 

feralvr

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Originally Posted by BarbB

I had the same problem with my feral cats and their little houses. I agree they need two doors and the shelter needs to be either higher up or well hidden.

After a few winters of not enough shelter, and agonizing over my cats not using their outdoor houses, I ended up buying solar pool covers and putting them over my patio furniture like a tent, then using bricks to secure them. I put the feral houses inside there too, so they had a whole little area to hang out inside, and I put their outdoor heating pads in there too.

Each year I expanded it (of course LOL) until we ended up covering our metal gazebo frame with a huge solar cover LOL and last year because the neighbor threw his cat out (he is my foster boy Curly in my other posts) I made an extra little shelter off to the side, using a smaller pool cover. Now my feral cats use both of them LOL.

Anyhow these solar covers do a really good job, they conduct the sun's heat extremely well. Here is the link and if you're looking to not spend much money, there might be some for sale on craigslist (?) http://www.poolsupplies.com/Covers/solar-covers.asp
YES! They do work incredibly well from what I have heard and read. Thanks for that link


And
your neighbor's, that is just rotten....... Curly is lucky you live next door
 

linda carella

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Right now. Am using a blue tarp. But thanks for telling me about the solo covers. I have one problem every time it is windy the tarps just blows and she gets so frighten. I have it tied down but it still blows. Last night she went under the deck. It was our first really cold . Is there anything I can do .
 

ldg

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I forgot to post the pictures. :)

How we know the feral villa is being used! :clap:





We added more straw the other day, and there was even more straw bent down through the hole and scattered underneath. :)

And as of today, we know who's using it! It's Little Dot. :clap: :clap: :clap:

:D
 
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