How did you first get started helping strays and ferals?

ayeshajae

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Hey guys made this forum page to say reading about your stories has really inspired me to get involved helping animals. I wanted to know about how all you kitty Heroes got involved helping strays and tell me your first time experiences, thank you
 

sweetthangtx

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We began this crazy journey almost two years ago. I saw two young kittens by themselves one afternoon. We had two inside cats so we had cat food.

I set out some food and the two babies came onto the deck to eat. I was surprised when the larger one let me pick her up that night. ( to my way of thinking all cats are female and if they are not pg they wil be the next time you see them. ). The next morning I put out food and stood inside to watch. There wet four kittens at the table. The brave kitten let me hold and pet her again. The next time we served a meal there were more kittens. We ended up with nine kittens, two moms and a tom cat as our regular diners.

I fell in love with all of them but the brave kitten was the only one that I could handle. As the cats grew we realized that both of the moms would have more kittens and then the kittens would have kittens and etc etc etc.

We didn't know what to do. We realized that we had to keep feeding them. I wanted to catch and home the babies but only caught one of the wild ones. I almost killed him with flea spray. I did manage to home him. I was so in love with the brave kitten that we brought HIM in and had him

neutered and doctored up. His name is Trouper and he started the ball rolling.

I went online and discovered the San Antonio Feral Cat Coalition. They taught us how to trap, loaned us the traps, gave us info on affordable spay/ neuter and set us on the path of TNR. Trap, neuter.

We started trapping and neutering. There was one litter born to Trouper's mom before we got her trapped. Sadly, she was killed by dogs in our yard when her babies were a few weeks old. We found the babies and raised them. They were all neutered before being placed in homes.

The other momma cat was very feral and was never trapped. I'm sure she was pg at least twice a year but we only ever saw her with one kitten Ithst kitten did not look well and it disappeard after a day or two. The male was. The tom cat that was there at the beginning was trapped and neutered but was killed by a car a few weeks later
Right now we have six indoor cats. There are the two older girls that we had when we first met the two litters. We have Trouper and his half brother, TJ . He was one of the babies that we raised when his mom was killed. We have 2 new little boys that we found in a tree in our yard with no momma in sight.


Our outside colony varies in number but hovers around 15. All of them are able to come into our laundry room via a doggie door. We have a glass door that keeps them from the rest of the house. Most of the colony guys are more like pets and we snuggle and love on them all of the time.

I had a small victory tonight at feeding time. One of the less tame cats, Oscar, let me pet him for the first time tonight! I named him Oscar because he was so grouch and hissy all of the time. I sort of thought there was something brewing with him because he had begun to look me in the eye. Sure enough. He was siting on the deck rail and I just reached out and stroked his back. He let me do it a few times before he jumped down. No hissing either!

I love all of our crew. I wish we could do more for them. I wish that new ones didn't show up all of the time! We are not having kittens but the word must be out that we are easy marks because new cats just keep showing up.

Whatever happens, if we can help them we will. I laugh at their antics, marvel at their generous spirits, worry about their safety and love them all of the time.

I'll try to add a photo of Oscar here.
Oscar is the cat hiding behind the grill.

Trouper is the other one.
I'm looking forward to hearing about how others got started.

New
 

catb8

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For me mostly because my mom has always been about bringing in cats from outside. The first one I can remember her bringing in was a pregnant queen when I was five or so. She had her kittens about a week after we took her in. One was stillborn, but the rest survived. I remember it being the most fascinating thing to me, watching her give birth to them.

Since then my mom and I have taken in and cared for easily dozens of cats. Growing up there were at least five cats in the house at any given time. Some stayed with us for their whole lives, some went to new homes, others went missing at one point or another never to be seen again. Most were just scared strays, but we did socialize a handful of ferals. If you want any specific stories, just let me know. I can't remember all of them as clearly as others, but there are several who have stuck in my memory.

I'm 20 now and moved out of her house a little over two years ago to a much bigger city. I must say, it's certainly different living somewhere where stray cats are few and far between and ferals are almost non-existent (at least in my neighborhood). So far I've only had to bring in one; another pregnant girl who had been lurking around my apartment for a month or so. I finally decided to take her in because she had a pretty bad URI and was clearly about to pop. I figured even if she did belong to someone, if they were allowing her to run around outside all day and allow her to develop such a bad URI while pregnant, they probably didn't have her best interests in mind. I didn't have the resources to keep her at the time, so she went to the humane society. Both her and her kittens were adopted out eventually and are hopefully still doing well.

Most recently I've been taking care of Dooder, the feral that you've seen in the thread I started about him. He is by far the most interesting and difficult one I've taken in to date. I haven't rehabbed or socialized a feral in quite awhile, let alone one who is as badly injured or wild as he is, so it's definitely been an experience to say the least.

I would say having all of the experience I've had with caring for cats and other animals has definitely shaped who I am today. I'm currently a pre-veterinary student and honestly can't see myself in any other career. Most everything I do in a day is in some way related to animals or is furthering my goal to become a vet. I recently started interning at a wildlife rehab center that is connected to the local humane society and the two shifts I've had so far have been amazing. Being able to try out and adapt the caretaking skills I've gotten from cats to wildlife is wonderful. I'm currently looking for a job or volunteer position in a vet clinic as well, fingers crossed.

If you don't feel like waiting for strays to come to you I would definitely suggest volunteering at a humane society or other rescue if you have one in your area. You'll get to help so many at the same time and you don't have to keep them all. Taking in outdoor kitties is very rewarding, don't get me wrong, but it can get overbearing at times if there are too many.
 
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ayeshajae

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Wow that's really great :) it's sad that stray cats have such a hard life, makes me glad I picked my 2 kitties from the street. Trouper is super cute too! I actually have a abandoned kitty I used to have over looked similar to a mane coon but that cat was so stinky!! I think it was unaltered. Well anyways I think what your doing is really awesome and gives me the idea of going to animal shelter for TNR advice
 
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ayeshajae

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Catb8 it was because of reading your posts and seeing the pics of dooder from when you found him to current that really got the gears in my head turning just seeing what a difference you made for that kitty is totally amazing and I'm sure it is super stressful but I gotta say I can't help but be envious of your experiences :3
I just want to make a difference for kitties too hehe :)
 

litchi

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I am new too to helping stray/feral kitties. It started when we first bought our 1st cat one yr ago and I didnt know a thing about cat even less about overpopulation and abandonment problems (and I am still sorry I didnt adopt or rescue instead of buying :/ even thouhg I love my cat) And I found out I am a total crazy cat person :D. That kitty litteraly changed my life, I became a huge animal lover and even became vegetarian.
Last summer I would often see a cat wandering around so I started leaving out food. I felt bad for him because he looked like a kitty my neighboor left behind outside, when she moved out in the middle of winter. He was scratching at our door but back then I didnt know better than to ignore him thinking he would survive outside..so I kinda hope it's that same kitty I am now helping.

So one cat became two and three to this day. I provide shelter and food and I am in the process of neutering them. It is not a lot compared to most of you here, but I know from now on that I will always help the stray/ feral that will cross my path.
 

di and bob

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     My husband and I took in our first abandoned cat when we were building a home at the lake. She was either dumped or got away from some campers and started hanging around to get some food, which I gave her every time we were there. Then I noticed she kept pawing at her neck and noticed the collar she had on was way too tight! I did end up trapping her and releasing her from that collar which had just about grown into her neck. She was a beautiful long haired gray tabby we named Tabitha and she stayed with us for almost 10 years. Then we were remodeling another house out of town where we presently live and a orange and white very pregnant Annie showed up. 17 kittens and a year later we figured out she needed spayed, which we did and found her a good home. Then Ruby, a beautiful very pregnant tortoiseshell showed up, had three kittens and we had her spayed and found homes for them all. Now I've got a beautiful pregnant black and white tuxedo who I am feeding with her very feral brother across the street. It's never ending!

     This only covers a few of the many we've cared for, most of them abandoned, but many feral too, who move on. I wish I could do more, I donate to the local shelter every year and just found out the directer is trying to get the city to adopt a TNR program, which I said I would help with.Right now the city has a law against feeding any feral animal and traps and euthanizes any ferals they catch. It's heartbreaking.

      I admire any one who helps with the feral problem, we need more vets to neuter and spay at a reasonable cost like some of the bigger cities, I can't afford to do many at 150.00 each.
 

ondine

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An irresponsible neighbor has a female he lets breed and breed.  I've found homes for 17 of the kittens; another neighbor has a colony of 30+ - mostly his kittens.  We've approached him many times but he refuses to have her spayed.

But it's made me aware of how big the problem is and gotten me involved.  I try to educate people but sometimes it's hard not to get frustrated.

I wish there were more people like us around - maybe we could make more of a dent in the problem.
 

sweetthangtx

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Online, you may be able to have the neighbors female spayed. You don't want to antagonize him but maybe you can get it done.

If he is worried about the expense or the aftercare maybe you can offer your help.

Check with your local authorities and shelters for advice.

I am in Texas and here in the Wild West we tend to take matters into our own hands. We have done TNR on several cats who just happened to get into traps that we had set. I feel like if your cat is on my property and I am concerned enough about it's welfare to take it to be spayed or neutered I am doing you a FAVOR. The cat in question obviously hangs around outside. She probably stays away for a day or two sometimes. Maybe on one of her outings she will visit the spay clinic. Just saying.

I am not advocating cat nabbing. I hope something can be done for her sake. She has done her fair share of continuing her species. Good luck to you!
 

sweetthangtx

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I probably have an easier time doing TNR than some will have. I'm in San Antonio and we have a very active feral cat coalition. We have grants and can have our ferals put into neutral for $20.00 in most cases. There are some times when we can get them at no charge. My husband is also a volunteer trap loan person so we almost always have traps on hand.

This winter was worse than most and seemed to never end but we don't see that every year. Most years we don't get below freezing. I do count my blessings. I hope that the blessings multiply as fast as the cats do.

We have noticed three new cats at our table just this week. There is a pretty gray long haired tabby. I saw a young gray tabby too guesstimate about 5 months old. The third one is a pointed cat with a very short tail. I have seen that one a couple if times All if them are very skittish. The Siamese stub tailed cat almost broke the sound barrier when I surprised him yesterday!

Best to all of you. Yeah for spring! Now the flea battle begins again.
 
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ayeshajae

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Hey guys just sayin I'm going to animal shelter tomorrow, never actually been to one before so might be interesting /:3 maybe see if I can do volunteer work there, we have lots of strays around our apartments but we also have rules not to feed them and I don't want to attract attention from management seeing as they don't exactly know I have kitties yet if they find out I have to pay a 300 dollar pet deposit AND my rent will go up by 50$, ouch!
 
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