Fishy Trouble with a stray/Feral

SOOOOO quick question. I have been having trouble with either a feral or stray cat that has been climbing into my fish pond at my grandma's house and eating my fish. Now I have tried all sorts of things from putting up a fence to shooting it with an airsoft gun(one of the weak ones I would never kill a cat, and I absolutely hate doing it) to scare it away and nothing seems to work.He also seems to go at my three small dogs and he is a big boy I'm afraid that he will hurt one of my dogs, especially shaiki she is pretty old and can't defend herself. So we have four options. I will be trapping him.

1. TNR, I am not sure if this will work but it will keep him from making more fish eaters.

2. Try to find someone who will give him a home

3.Take him to either a rescue or the shelter

4. Try to tame him and keep him, this will be the absolute last resort seeing as we already have our sweet Zelda kitty, and we live in a very small apartment. Will anyone be willing to take him/or her in our area, or are there any other ways? Killing him is not an option, I don't want that on my conscious.

Of course I'd recommend TNR anyway. . .but have you tried just putting out some cat food? Cats rarely fish (they prefer rodents and birds), so he must be pretty hungry to do that. If he's no longer hungry, maybe he won't want to fish anymore.

Have you seen him do it? Usually fish losses are from raccoons or herons or other wild animals.

I have put out food, and he still goes into the water for my fish he ignores the wet food. and yes I have caught him numerous times with my fish, I have goldfish crappie and sucker fish in there and he always goes after my large crappie...as seen as he takes off with my fish in his mouth..

and my grandmother doesn't like him there because he sometimes goes after her birds(large aviary)

JandCRosewolf said:

.He also seems to go at my three small dogs and he is a big boy I'm afraid that he will hurt one of my dogs, especially shaiki she is pretty old and can't defend herself. So we have four options. I will be trapping him.
1. TNR, I am not sure if this will work but it will keep him from making more fish eaters.

2. Try to find someone who will give him a home

3.Take him to either a rescue or the shelter

4. Try to tame him and keep him, this will be the absolute last resort seeing as we already have our sweet Zelda kitty, and we live in a very small apartment. Will anyone be willing to take him/or her in our area, or are there any other ways? Killing him is not an option, I don't want that on my conscious.

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if he goes at them, and they dont seem hurt atlhough the oldest one cant even defend herself, he is apparently not attacking them for real.  Perhaps just trying to put himself into respect, or even teaching them lessons.   which cats do with dogs and cats they DO accept.

so he isnt not their sworn enemy, even if he may be vary and not so friendly.

Of the alternatives - A shelter will surely pts him.   a young one they would perhaps try and foster if they had suitable fosterers, but an olde?  Gas chamber waiting.

  A rescue group may perhas admit him, if he isnt too feral, and they do have place.   The problem is, it takes time to foster an oldie.  In the same time they can foster several young cats...

CAN you find someone nearby willing to adopt and foster?   If you cant, the quest is your own.

so.

TNR, whatever you do, as a beginning.

And if you can, please swallow your difficulties, and foster and adopt him yourself.  Make it your personal quest.

If you cant, TNr him and let him be.    If enough desperate, you may try and move him somewhere - preferably somewhere he has a decent chance to survive.

If you put up a fence around the pond, how is the cat getting into it? I agree with others that he must be pretty hungry. Have you tried leaving out dry cat food? Wet food very quickly gets hard and stale, especially in warm weather. Cats hate water and I've never heard of a cat eating live goldfish, so I think he must be very hungry.

I think you should TNR him. If he's a true feral, he won't be adoptable, and he won't adjust to being indoors. If you take him to any kind of shelter, he'll be euthanized. Please don't shoot him with an air gun anymore--if he associates humans with pain, he will never trust humans, and will stand zero chance of being socialized, even if he's only a stray and not a true feral. If you feed him and speak kindly to him, and if he starts to approach you and allow you to pet him, then you'll know he's a stray and can find a home for him.  

Thanks for taking the time to try to research a solution to the problem instead of doing what too many people do--shoot the cat or poison it.