I live just outside Peoria, Il and currently feed several cats outside.
Most of the cats belong to neighbors and I've made sure that all were spayed and/or neutered over the last two years (yay to 2014 being the first year without any kittens!). I'm not too worried about the owned ones, but I'm afraid that my two ferals have become too reliant on our daily feedings and waterings.
One semi-feral (Stryder) who has recently began greeting me with meows and one completely feral (Perrin). Stryder is too smart for his own good and has so far avoided all of my traps to get him neutered. Perrin was tnr'd earlier this year. They both wait on my deck for me to get home each morning (3rd shift worker) and as soon as I pull in the drive Stryder starts off with a storm of mews and meows demanding breakfast. Perrin immediately dashes away into the bushes until I go back inside. Styder is at the point where if I sit still and the food is close to me I can pet him slightly, but if I move too fast or make any noise he streaks away until I go inside. He shows up many mornings covered in brambles and cuts. Several weeks ago he arrived with a swollen closed eye and a gashed elbow. Most recently he came for breakfast with a swollen front paw and a limp that he carried for more than a week. When I trapped Perrin he immediately went into shell shock and was non-responsive the entire time he was in my care. The evening he was released he stayed in the open trap for several hours before crawling away because he was so afraid. We waited until evening to release him in the same place we trapped him and followed all the tnr guidelines we could find, he was just so traumatized from the human interaction that he shut down.
They come multiple times a day for water, and generally hang out on the deck all morning and evening. My house has seemed to have become their base.
The problem is that I will be moving soon. The trailer that I am renting is falling apart and cannot be repaired. Because of poor landlord/maintenance response I will not just be moving to another trailer in this park where I can continue taking care of my ferals. In fact we've decided that we're going to be going up to Oregon or Washington. I've thought of asking some of the more long term residents to take over the care for the cats, but after all the convincing I had to do to let me tnr their free roaming cats, I don't feel that they will reliably care for the ferals.
Along side all of that, my landlord has started threatening to call the local humane society to "round up all these damn cats", and neither Styder or Perrin would make it out of the shelter alive. I've managed to calm the landlord down after explaining the tnr'ing that we've done, but I don't know how long he'd let it last after we leave.
On top of all that, my boyfriend and I already have seven inside cats. Four that belonged to him when I moved in. One that I brought with me. And two, a mother and son, mom was a pregnant stray who started coming to breakfast last summer, had five kittens born in our bathroom (four kittens were adopted out), both with special needs that we couldn't find anyone to adopt. So I cannot feasibly bring in Stryder and Perrin to try to tame on top of our permanent brood. We're going to have a terrible time finding somewhere to let us rent with all the cats already.
I don't even really know why I'm writing this other than to vent a little. It feels like we've reached a dead end and I don't really know where to turn to now. I've reached out to several shelters and rescues, but I haven't found any that take in semi-feral adults. I've posted on facebook groups looking for other colonies that might be able to take in Perrin at least, but so far no one can do it. I don't know if I can just leave them here, let them fend for themselves. Or risk squeezing them inside, I can build some wooden cages in the kitchen and keep them there to socialize until we find someone to take them in. If I can't find someone to take them in after they're socialized a little, will they be able to handle the cross country trip in a few months? Should I have Perrin put to sleep? Should I have Stryder put to sleep?
We're not moving until September, so I have a few months to get things worked out, but with all the work we've done already with the other cats, it feels like there wont be enough time.
I just want them to be okay.
Most of the cats belong to neighbors and I've made sure that all were spayed and/or neutered over the last two years (yay to 2014 being the first year without any kittens!). I'm not too worried about the owned ones, but I'm afraid that my two ferals have become too reliant on our daily feedings and waterings.
One semi-feral (Stryder) who has recently began greeting me with meows and one completely feral (Perrin). Stryder is too smart for his own good and has so far avoided all of my traps to get him neutered. Perrin was tnr'd earlier this year. They both wait on my deck for me to get home each morning (3rd shift worker) and as soon as I pull in the drive Stryder starts off with a storm of mews and meows demanding breakfast. Perrin immediately dashes away into the bushes until I go back inside. Styder is at the point where if I sit still and the food is close to me I can pet him slightly, but if I move too fast or make any noise he streaks away until I go inside. He shows up many mornings covered in brambles and cuts. Several weeks ago he arrived with a swollen closed eye and a gashed elbow. Most recently he came for breakfast with a swollen front paw and a limp that he carried for more than a week. When I trapped Perrin he immediately went into shell shock and was non-responsive the entire time he was in my care. The evening he was released he stayed in the open trap for several hours before crawling away because he was so afraid. We waited until evening to release him in the same place we trapped him and followed all the tnr guidelines we could find, he was just so traumatized from the human interaction that he shut down.
They come multiple times a day for water, and generally hang out on the deck all morning and evening. My house has seemed to have become their base.
The problem is that I will be moving soon. The trailer that I am renting is falling apart and cannot be repaired. Because of poor landlord/maintenance response I will not just be moving to another trailer in this park where I can continue taking care of my ferals. In fact we've decided that we're going to be going up to Oregon or Washington. I've thought of asking some of the more long term residents to take over the care for the cats, but after all the convincing I had to do to let me tnr their free roaming cats, I don't feel that they will reliably care for the ferals.
Along side all of that, my landlord has started threatening to call the local humane society to "round up all these damn cats", and neither Styder or Perrin would make it out of the shelter alive. I've managed to calm the landlord down after explaining the tnr'ing that we've done, but I don't know how long he'd let it last after we leave.
On top of all that, my boyfriend and I already have seven inside cats. Four that belonged to him when I moved in. One that I brought with me. And two, a mother and son, mom was a pregnant stray who started coming to breakfast last summer, had five kittens born in our bathroom (four kittens were adopted out), both with special needs that we couldn't find anyone to adopt. So I cannot feasibly bring in Stryder and Perrin to try to tame on top of our permanent brood. We're going to have a terrible time finding somewhere to let us rent with all the cats already.
I don't even really know why I'm writing this other than to vent a little. It feels like we've reached a dead end and I don't really know where to turn to now. I've reached out to several shelters and rescues, but I haven't found any that take in semi-feral adults. I've posted on facebook groups looking for other colonies that might be able to take in Perrin at least, but so far no one can do it. I don't know if I can just leave them here, let them fend for themselves. Or risk squeezing them inside, I can build some wooden cages in the kitchen and keep them there to socialize until we find someone to take them in. If I can't find someone to take them in after they're socialized a little, will they be able to handle the cross country trip in a few months? Should I have Perrin put to sleep? Should I have Stryder put to sleep?
We're not moving until September, so I have a few months to get things worked out, but with all the work we've done already with the other cats, it feels like there wont be enough time.
I just want them to be okay.
