Once your full-up, how do you decide what to do when a new stray shows up?

OK, I figured this would happen eventually, so here's my dillemma.

I went from no pets in ten years to five cats last year.  Three of them at 2 days old, followed by 6 weeks of bottle feeding.  Luckily am at a stage in life where becoming a bit of a crazy cat lady feels quite nice. 

I came home tonight and there was a cat on my front porch.  He ran away when I got out of the car, but I went out a few hours later he came flying out of the barrel when I opened the door.

I cannot take in another cat so a decision is going to have to be made if I start feeding him what the plan is going to be.  I can't see myself just letting him fend on his own.    So I'm asking what people usually do when their full-up with cats and another shows up. 

I have had two show up.  I get them vetted and keep them quarantined.  I work with the Humane Society and foster until we can find a home. I have gotten lucky, the cats that have showed up have great personalities. We also have great people at our Humane Society and I know a lot of them are not good places.  Both of the cats that have showed up have been males and I would bet they were dumped because they had bad behaviors which they probably would not have if they would have been neutered.

I guess getting the cat help would depend on what resources you have in your area.  My vet is great and will let you advertise with him and on his facebook page.  We have some local owned pet stores that will help and even have adoption events or advertise on their facebook pages.

The kittens were a given, but I couldn't have gotten more lucky with the two strays who are their parents..   The plan was to neuter the Tom and put him outdoors again, but there were complications and he ended up in the house and never left.  I always tell people that story, because I had no plan when the vet called and said my low cost neuter had turned into a need for a night in an emergency clinic and several weeks of convalescence.   He was the best cat though, wore that damn cone without ever trying to get it off, let me give him sponge baths and never once showed any aggression. 

So tomorrow I'm thinking, yeah I can leave food out when I come home from lunch, that way it'll take longer to freeze outside (it's pretty sunny out there) and then the other half of me thinks, do I really want to start this, because I feel its wrong to stop once you start, but I can't leave the cat out there on it's own, arghhhh....

I know the feeling.  I have had a few that I assume are females that have came to our feeding station this winter.  My ferals chase them off and I only see them one or two times. The males they do not seem as territorial with.  That's when my heart comes in and I feel bad if they are an adoptable cat. I am a big giant sucker.  I put my own money into these cats, but I work with people that give me good deals.

I always feel bad for the ferals I keep because I do not believe they have the best life , but they only like me and my husband and they do not like the house at all.  I would like to bring my mother feral in, but then I would feel terrible leaving her two daughters out for themselves.  They really act like a little family and protect each other and bring food for each other. 

Hi Reba!

You know what I think, trap him and get his butt fixed asap!

Regardless of where he goes to live he needs this done and it will get him on the road to a much better life.

It's a VERY dramatic change for a male to not have to live in constant high alert in hopes of avoiding a cat fight.

Neutered he won't be bothered since he won't bother to wander or stand up to another.

He will be a chilled guy and happy to be fed.

I would do this and post him on fb, cl, anywhere that might have someone looking for an outdoor or indoor/outdoor mouser cat.

FULL is a four letter word around here

I tell them and tell them but they don't hear me!

OK the cat house has been repositioned, food has been left inside the string lights have been plugged in (they are installed in the roof for warmth) and I knew I was keeping that bale of straw around for a reason. 

Now we'll see if the cat shows up.  CW I haven't gotten more than a look at him from a distance, so not sure if hes carrying around his equipment.

It's so damn cold here, 4 degrees with the windchill and it's supposed to get down to minus 7 tomorrow.  I hope he finds the house, he was on the front porch again last night as there were little kitty tracks in the snow.  I can't believe he's getting much food out of my trash as it's frozen solid.   

Oh here's what the instructions for the cat house if anyone's looking for some good plans (accompanying story is cute to):

http://www.instructables.com/id/Cat-House/

For me, it depends on the cat. I am lucky to have a shelter near me that will take those cats who are adoptable. I've found homes through my vet, too.

I did run across one guy who was too feral to be adopted, so I built him an enclosure. He has a "brother" now - the neighbors left their cat behind when they moved. I have no room left inside, so I worried that another cat would show up. But since the boys have been outside, I think their smell is keeping others away. I used to get a new cat come into the yard every six or seven months but so far, so good, fingers crossed!

Ondine said:

For me, it depends on the cat. I am lucky to have a shelter near me that will take those cats who are adoptable. I've found homes through my vet, too.

I did run across one guy who was too feral to be adopted, so I built him an enclosure. He has a "brother" now - the neighbors left their cat behind when they moved. I have no room left inside, so I worried that another cat would show up. But since the boys have been outside, I think their smell is keeping others away. I used to get a new cat come into the yard every six or seven months but so far, so good, fingers crossed!

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Are we neighbors?  I have the same situations. I have a great shelter, probably because we give to it more that we take. I have a great vet. I have three ferals, except mine are spayed females. Mine tend to keep the female strays away, but I have had two adoptable males that they did not chase off. We also had a neighbor who moved and left their cat behind.

Good News!  There are kitty cat tracks going up to the cat house door now.  I hope he's inside, maybe the fact that it was 3 below last night would allow him to take a chance.  At any rate, I'm assuming he stuck his head in and ate the food that was there.

Ondine and Kittymomma, kudos to you!  I'm embarrassed to say I've lived here 25 years and I never thought about whether the cats I would occasionally see around were homeless.  Had it been two years ago I just would have assumed it was someone's pet. 

Well last  year's cat house resident is requesting his breakfast, so gotta run. 

That's great!!!

We had an Australian Cattle Dog for 15 years and we lost her three years ago yesterday. We did not have any strays or ferals because she let nothing come in our yard. The only cat that came in was a Siamese that the neighbors left behind when they moved. He was not scared of anything and he just swatted at her and put her in her place.  After our dog passed Mama Feral showed up and of course she brought kittens. I never knew we had any kind of problem with unowned cats because they stayed away from our house.

Your cat must be well trained mine do not request they demand!  

@ kitty mama - I imagine almost everyone on here has had similar situations to us, unfortunately. Thank goodness there are people like you and others to step up to the plate. Blessings on you all!

Bad news, noone touched the food I left out Saturday.  It was so cold out, if someone had just dropped off this cat without him having time to grow a winter coat I wonder if he could have survived the temperatures we've had the last few nights.  

KittyMomma1122 said:

Your cat must be well trained mine do not request they demand!

 

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Well mine only demand if I'm late at getting dinner on the plates.  The cat who's snuggled up next to me now, it took me two months before he would even let me pet him.  It amazes me that underneath all that fear was nothing but a cat that wanted to be part of a family again.  Same with the female stray - and she used to hiss and try and bite me.  Now she's the sweetest, most loving, most social cat I've ever seen. 

We had a lot of snow here today also.  It is blowing and drifting. Our ferals are all hunkered down in their house.  None of them came out for dinner. My husband sneaked around the back of the garage to make sure they were all in the house and they are all curled up together. He/she may have found a shed or a spot to stay out of the elements.  Cats are smart to find shelter in places we would not think to look for them.

Guess what you were right, after not coming for two days kitty tracks were back and the food was gone.    I hope the reason he wasn't around is that he has a home, but I doubt it.  He was raiding my trash can when everything in there had to be frozen solid.

You have a guest! I always add up the price at the end, but I don't know if I could get over the overwhelming regret if I didn't help.

Yeah, well, he is only getting purina cat chow dry.  I have tentatively named him Oreo if it's the same cat I saw digging through my trash.  He skipped a night and then was back again last night.  Some of the straw looked flattened so maybe he spent some time in the cat house (I've been putting the food just inside the entrance).  I was really surprised when I stuck my hand in there and discovered that the string lights really do give off some heat.  They're the old fashioned kind though (not LED) so I don't know if you can even buy them anymore.

Well I just went out to put food in the cat house and noticed kitty cat tracks in the snow.  I thought, oh no, I missed him - but when I set foot near the cat house he (or she) came flying out and ran down the driveway and (unfortunately) out into the street.  There was no traffic because it's Sunday night in the middle of a snowstorm.  

I hope I didn't scare him off for good.

I am sure he will be back. I had a large long hair bicolor try to come to my feeding station a couple nights ago. My ferals ran he/she off, but it was not matted or dirty, it may belong to someone. My white cat would be filthy outside so I can't image it has been out very long. I put food out in front of the house so my ferals did not mame him/her. It hasn't come back since.

He did come back, a few hours later I looked out the window and he was standing at the door to the cat house.  He looked up at me and we stared at each other and I backed away because I didn't want to scare him.  But he's not the cat that I saw getting into my garbage - so that's another mystery.   I'd like to leave him some wet food, but it freezes.  Perhaps the string lights in the house will prevent that, I'll have to give it a try.