Sad situation - need vibes - Page 2

Thanks, guys. As you may have seem in Roger Bacon's other thread, he did make an appearance when I went to the house Sat. afternoon. Big tabby boy, now named Xavier, was also there, so I got them both in carriers and a fellow rescuer kept them in his garage over the weekend. Both boys went to our spay/neuter clinic yesterday. Turns out Bacon was already fixed. Xavier wasn't, but is now. They both tested neg. 

That's all of the cats that were originally at the house. Appears our work isn't done yet, though. In the process of feeding these guys, two more neighborhood cats started coming around. I've seen them several times over a two-week period. Neither of them comes close and they bolt if I speak to them. Talked to the mail carrier who originally alerted us to this situation and he said there's a huge stray cat problem in the neighborhood. He actually puts out food at an abandoned house within the same block and a couple of other neighbors also feed. They live about 6-8 houses from where I'd been feeding. Mail carrier said the folks are at a loss as to what to do. If they're interested, we can help with trapping the cats if necessary, getting them fixed and returning them to the neighborhood. The neighbors will need to be willing to do their part. Plan to talk to them when I'm off work on Fri. too determine where and when they feed, how many cats we're dealing with and if friendly or feral. 

That said, I'm wrestling with the decision to stop feeding at the original house. We've had the owner's permission to feed for the past several weeks as we rounded up the abandoned cats, but the house is just about ready for occupancy with a "for rent" sign in the yard. The owner doesn't want cats around and chances are the new tenant won't either. There are other food sources and the two I've seen at the house periodically were fine before I came along and will be fine now. We do plan on trying to TNR them in the next couple of weeks. Director of our spay/neuter clinic seems pretty confident that we'll be able to get them regardless of whether I continue to feed. I feel so guilty for stopping, but it was only supposed to be temporary and, as I said, they do have food sources elsewhere. I'm so not cut out for this!