Feeding

I am feeding a colony of approx. 12-15 where I work, all ages, the youngest being about 5 months or so old.  The weather has been very cold & snowy.  I give them wet food and also put out dry.  Usually the dry food is gone the next day, and of course the wet food goes first, I have noticed the past few days that there is still a good amount of dry food in the bowls.  Could this be because of the weather?  Any ideas? Also, any suggestions on finding people able to help me with this?  I got a list from Alley Cat Allies and no one I reached out to has responded, most of the emails bounced back and phone numbers were no longer in service.

It could very well be because the weather. Cats stay put when the weather outside is bad.
If you have any no-kill/cat rescue groups in your area, I'd call them for help.
Also, some high schools require students to volunteer with various service-oriented/non-profit groups. You might check with your local high school to see if they have such a program and / or interested volunteers (or one of your co-workers). You may have to complete some forms for the volunteer(s). (Requirements vary widely among counties/states).

Thanks for the advice, I have reached out to a couple rescues, but as you know demand always seems to exceed supply.  I will try and contact them again.

I just wanted to get an update out on this.  Finally got together with Forgotten Cats (they are so busy).  Last week-end the trapper & I successfully trapped 10 cats!

I then trapped 3 more on Monday and had 13 cats in clinic this week for spay/neuter & vaccines!  got 10 returned last night and get the other 3 tomorrow.

The trapper had left me a trap, as there was one rascal I just could not get.  Well I was here Saturday trying, no luck came back Sunday still no luck, I unset the trap on Sunday since I was not able to get back and check it.  The mystery man feeding the raw chicken livers, ground beef and turkey carcasses showed up Sunday night.  He stole the trap and destroyed the shelters that I built for the cats! He also left 3 containers of chicken livers.  Little did he know, he was caught on surveillance tape and I have filed a report with the police,  First, he is trespassing, then he committed theft and on top of that destruction of property.  I now have all the businesses in this strip watching for him. 

It makes no sense, he feeds the cats and then destroys their shelters.  I had clearly posted that they were cat houses and do not touch . 

I am so very happy though 13 cats TNR!  I am aiming for a healthy kitten free colony.

Congrats! Well done.

Yes, well done; super news.

Wonderful news!   I hope you catch the chicken liver man.  Why he would feed them then take the shelters is beyond me, but so happy he was caught on surveillance!

Of course I don't know this guy personally - and I'm SO glad you caught him on tape! And even BIGGER congrats on getting virtually all of them!

But I can offer - perhaps - a bit of insight into what that guy did, from personal experience. When we discovered last summer that, in our small suburban neighborhood, we had a feral cat colony of at least 20 - and that's just what we saw, we did a little snooping in our neighborhood. We found it ---just blocks away from us. The "epicenter" (I don't know what else to call it) was a house in the neighborhood (sure the immediate neighbors must be thrilled!!!) was this house owned by a man and a woman who proudly proclaimed them "their feral cats" once we met them. They're actually nice people - the husband feeds two other colony in about a 5 mile radius. But they're very, very misguided. They agreed that trapping/neutering/releasing was the only way to keep numbers from exploding. They agreed wholeheartedly. Then suddenly I began to sense a shift in the conversation. We saw a little of about 3-week-old kittens, which he walked over and picked up and loved on (he could even pet mom). They - and mom - were obviously feral, but since he could handle them we asked if we could go ahead and put them in the carrier we'd brought over. I even offered to work as long as necessary to tame them, versus going straight to TNR. And I promised to let him know what was happening every step. HIs tone changed completely. These were "his" cats and he didn't want to see anyone hurt them. Yes, he said he thought we would treat them well, but that it wasn't "his place" or "natural" to spay and neuter the cats. We talked for another hour (it felt like 8!) and he finally agreed to at actually purchase (shock!!!) 2 traps and put them in his yard --- and I even promised to release the kittens if that' what we caught - hoping eventually I could get him to understand why we needed to take them. He actually did order the traps. so when they got there  I showed him how to set and bait the traps, .

Well --- I went back repeatedly over the next month - and he (or his wife) would move the food in FRONT of the trap and close the trap. Eventually both traps just disappeared. More cat shelters have appeared in his yard, and not surprisingly I saw cats I hadn't seen before in the fall. And as of yesterday - even though the ones that make it to our yard have all been TNRd by us - yesterday we saw two new one I'm guessing there will be quite a few more spring.

So....long story but what I guess I'm saying is my bet is your cage destroyer is alot like our cat colony neighbor. That he thinks "catching and neutering is unnatural" but that he doesn't want them to starve. If you asked him - I bet he'd say HE'S the hero.!

Obviously - I think that's crazy - but I can say now that we know someone just like that. It does make the situation tough. Letting him know you have him for destruction of property may be your big "gotcha." Keep trying - poor kitty definitely doesn't need to breed!

But GREAT for you to have taken care of SO many!!!!!

I was wondering if anyone out there could help me.  I had 10 cats returned on Monday and 2 cats returned on Wednesday.  The weather here in PA has been pretty crappy all week, rainy, foggy, cloudy.  BUT I am getting concerned that I have not seen some of the cats since they were released on Monday.  There are some in the colony I would see everyday and then others that are more secret agent.  I am still feeding and the food is disappearing, but I am very concerned that I haven't seen them.  Is this "normal" after TNR??  Any ideas? 

joglass said:

 
I was wondering if anyone out there could help me.  I had 10 cats returned on Monday and 2 cats returned on Wednesday.  The weather here in PA has been pretty crappy all week, rainy, foggy, cloudy.  BUT I am getting concerned that I have not seen some of the cats since they were released on Monday.  There are some in the colony I would see everyday and then others that are more secret agent.  I am still feeding and the food is disappearing, but I am very concerned that I haven't seen them.  Is this "normal" after TNR??  Any ideas? 

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I have had cats after TNR return after just a few hour to weeks.  Usually hunger will win out, but they may be more gun shy now as they remember the trap.  They might be coming out only a dusk and dawn until they feel more relaxed again.  Do you keep the food out 24/7 or only during the days?  I ask because if you leave it out all day and night other critters might be getting into it during the night.  Hopefully you will begin to see them soon.

I generally only feed in daylight, but if there is still dry food in the bowls, I don't take it away. 

I just went out and I did see 5 of them and 2 were ones I had not seen prior and was concerned about, especially since the 2 were ones that come out in open easily. Very relieved I saw them. 

I hung around a little, this is where I work and usually I have to get back in office,  and did notice that one of them threw up.  Don't know which one and don't know why.  What do I do now???

We all clean up throw-up on a regular basis (my favorite job -NOT!)

One of the cats may have been hungry after a few days of hunkering down and just eaten too fast .  Unless it happens again or more frequently, you probably don't need to worry.

If you notice who it is, though, and can keep an eye on him, do so.  Somebody may be sick and need a trip to the vets.

You may not ever see the secret agents again - or they may become your best buds.  Cats are as individual as people are.  Hopefully, they all return and live long, healthy lives.

Thank you for working so hard to TNR them!

I've learned - after lots of teary nights - that it's not unusual for ferals to disappear as soon as it gets really cold and snowy out.

Ours - even the one that lets me get fairly close - disappear completely if it gets really nasty. During that week of truly nasty below zero weather and foot and a half of snow here in Ohio - all of ours completely disappeared. Even though we provide three shelters with tons of straw, insulation, and two even have kitty heating pads. They also didn't show to eat at all (and obviously we could tell they weren't even around the food or shelters as we would have seen tracks in the snow). We even shoveled the areas they generally walk so that we knew they would be able to get through the super deep areas. But not a single appearance in over a week. Then - when the weather warmed a tad - bam! All were back (actually we even saw 2 we don't normally see - which, unfortunately, means more TNRing soon as we can). They've been eating, drinking and using the shelters again with regularity - until last night, when the temp dropped again and it snowed a decent amount. Once again - all have disappeared! 

So I'm hoping that's what it is for your guys too. It's scary, and frustrating, not knowing that everyone's ok - but when I put the word out that ours were doing that, people on this site let me know it's not unusual at all. 

And I wouldn't be surprised if Ondine is right on the throw-up. Our inside cats will do that too if they feel that they've "waited too long" in between feedings and wolf down food - they then inevitably throw it back up. So it makes sense that perhaps - after being hunkered down because of the cold and not eating as they normally would - that one of your feral kitties ate too quickly. 

But I agree too that it's worth keeping an eye out for odd behavior just in case!

Good luck on them all showing back up

You all are very lucky that you have lost cost TNR clinics in your areas. There are only two clinics in my area that treat ferals. One is Animal Friends, and they are very low cost, but have a waiting list of about a month. You have to make an appt a month in advance and then if you don't trap the cat on the appointed day, you lose your money. The other is a 24/7 ER clinic which is very good about taking a trapped cat in with only a moment's notice, and doing the spaying during free time at nite, but they are costly--about $250 for spaying, vaccinations, testing per cat. They do board the cats for free if needed until the cat recovers. I wish there was a happy medium. I've been lucky the past 5 months because no other feral cats have shown up on my block since we trapped the 5 last summer, and I'm only caring for one, Muffin, who will not go into a trap. It does get expensive.

I am very fortunate that the neighbors on my block are almost all very kind to Muffin, and one family helped out with feeding his kittens last summer and trapping them. The family and I adopted all 5. The one next-door neighbor gave me a hard time about leaving dry food out on my porch during the day in the summer because she saw a baby groundhog on my porch and flipped out--even threatening me. She has since calmed down and does not chase Muffin away even when he sits on her back porch and lays in her garden. It's very ironic that Muffin feels so comfortable around her. I feel badly for people who have difficult neighbors, and I'd flip sh!t if someone stole my trap.  

I know what you mean about the cost, the clinic I used was $40 per cat for spay/neuter distemper and rabies vaccine.  I actually raised almost all of the money through asking people for donations. I see in other states that they have mobile clinics or even free clinics.  I live 20 miles north of Philadelphia and in certain zip codes in the city, they will fix & vaccinate for $10 or free, but you have to prove you live there. 

There is such a need for help with this, but the few rescues in my area are overwhelmed, and truly $40, barely covers the anesthesia. 

I am still trying to catch the trap stealer.  The police have a copy of the video, but it is low on their totem pole, so I have been staking out the place on week-ends between 5:00 and 7:00 pm.  He makes me so mad, not only did he steal the trap he destroyed the shelters I made for the cats.  I had to make 3 more, especially since we got 10 inches of snow on Tuesday!  Not that any of the cats seem to have used the shelters, but they maybe in them late at night, our temps here are in the single digits.

Is the SPCA authorized as part of the police force there? You might want to call to ask, because they are here. They'll bump finding trap stealer / shelter destroyer in priority over the police. Though.... I guess the police would have mentioned that as an option if that were the case.

I hope you catch this guy and are able to get the police to do something about it.

And CONGRATS on the AMAZING job you're doing! :bigthumb: That's truly awesome.

... I think your disappearing cats is just bad timing with the weather. Most of our ferals (other than the better socialized ones that stick close to home) disappeared during the cold snaps - and came back when it was warmer.

One thing you learn - over and over and over again - when caring for ferals? Loving ferals means letting go of control. It's truly unconditional. :lol3:



One last thought... the dynamics of the colony change quite a bit after they're sterilized. When they're not putting out all those hormones, but there are still intact cats around... things change. Even when there aren't intact cats around. And new cats showing up that you TNR change the dynamics. We had three sisters - the one that became friendliest the fastest is now a kitty we almost never see, and she won't approach at all when we put out the food. IF we see her at all - which is very, very rare now - she's FAR off in the distance. Yet the sister that was the most scared when they were first TNR'd, is now the friendliest, and loves pets, flops on her side... yet if one of the bigger males that hangs around starts heading her way, she'll bolt in a flash.

I am not sure about the SPCA but will find out today. 

I figured the dynamics would change in the colony, and I guess I am a little sad about it.  There are still 3 or 4 I have not seen again.  Am hoping they will turn up, just so I know they are ok. There was only 1 young one I didn't get, thanks to trap stealer.  One of the females, a beautiful long haired dist. torti/calico was in heat, I've only seen her twice since return, so am a little concerned.  The frigid temps and snow we have is certainly not helping matters. You are lucky, that you can even pet some of your colony, that has not happened for me yet. but I guess I am a fairly new caretaker, since I have only been doing it since April.  It took 2 months just to get close to some of them, so there has definitely been progress, but after trapping them, they are skittish again, so I am working on regaining their trust.

Tomorrow temps should warm up some, and there is no traffic here as all the businesses are closed, so I am looking forward to seeing a bunch of them!  I've even got some stinky tuna cat food and sardines to treat them with...LOL

Well, we've been TNRing in this spot since 2008, though all of the current colony cats that we actually see or interact with were TNRd in 2011 or 2012. It's the RV park we call home, and my husband and I work primarily from home - so we have the opportunity to see cats out the window - and especially when it's warmer, when we're outside.

But the colony dynamics certainly offer no end of worry. :rub:

you'll see them all once it's a little warmer!

We have a one eyed cat as well. That is Romeo. We have two black boys but it isn't hard to tell them apart.

Leg. Thank you so much for the photos of how the rv has been retro fitted for your crew. We still use ours to travel so the litter boxes under the driver and passenger seats sort of threw me for a minute. I can see that as a good place when we are parked though. My husband is cat crazy too and I can see him wanting to use some of your ideas. We do have a couple of slides and we use those rubber noodles that they use for swimming to block the spaces that cats could get into when the slides are " in" as we travel. We have a couple of cats that are very into being "up". The motorhome isn't as much fun for them as the 5 th wheel was.

I love the under the bed idea! Do you put litter boxes there? I think that would be great to help contain the litter as well.

The first time we took the cats in the motor home we made the mistake of letting our youngest, TJ, go under the sink. We could hear some rattles from the drawers. Yep, he went up the back side and got himself into the drawer with the silverware. I got the drawer partly opened and we had a heck of a time pulling his big head out of a small opening. His skinny teenaged body was no problem. We don't let him go there anymore and it breaks his heart. He also spends a lot of time trying to get to the skylight over the shower. It's never dull with the cat crew around.

Keep up the good work with your boy. I'm looking forward to pictures of him at home.