Brand New to Strays/Ferals

Hello All! I'm sure this has been answered before, over and over again, but i just want to make sure i'm covering all my bases.

I have a few (2 or 3) stray/feral cats that show up on my property from time to time. there was a new one, looks to be under a year old, that showed up in the last few weeks, and we're worried since it's getting to freezing temps in our area again, and want to trap him/her and either get it to a rescue to be adopted out (depending on temperment), or do TNR and just have a "feral" outdoor kitty.

So far, i've left a food dish out every night, since I don't see it every day (I work full time, so am not home to spy). most mornings food has been eaten, but now it looks like either Graysin (the young one mentioned above), or one of the other cats, has decided to start marking our front door. which is great, means that there is definitely a cat eating the food, but bad, cuz it's irritating my indoor kitties, and not very pleasant in general to open a door to every morning.

Is there a way to deter the cat(s) from urinating on my doorstep, until they've been caught? or is this just a waiting game until they've all been trapped, speutered, and either adopted out or release back out into the "wild?"

How long does it usually take to catch a cat? How do I make sure that the cats are the ones eating the food left out, and not the raccoons, possums, and coyotes that I see periodically? How tame does a cat have to be to be considered untamable? I'm sure I will have many more questions, but these are the key ones for now.

--we are picking up a live trap this weekend to start getting the cat(s) familiarized with the site, and to use it as the main feeding station. hopefully we don't catch coons or possums!

The only way to stop the spraying is to be sure all of the cats are spayed/neutered.  Are any of them spayed/neutered?  If not you may be in for trouble as mating season is upon us and you might end up with one of them pregnant. 

I would not leave food out at night.  It might be a cat eating some, but it also might be other critters.  The only way to know for sure is to get a trail camera or wireless ip camera and check to see.  You can safely leave food out during the day, but at night you will start to attract unwanted visitors. 

Trapping is not difficult, but some cats are very trap savvy.  Be sure to look at Alley Cat Allies for videos on how to trap.  www.alleycatallies.org  Look for Trapping Cats: How to Trap an Entire Colony  It is a great video.  I have trapped cats using stinky tuna, chicken and even plain dry cat food. 

Just be sure you are watching and waiting and once the cat(s) are trapped you cover the trap and have a safe warm place to keep them until it's time for the vet visit.  Do not let them out of the trap.  Most cats will not go near a trap again once they have been trapped. 

As far as socializing the cats, it depends on if the cats are true ferals, strays or strays turned ferals.  I have a feral living on my deck that I have worked with for over 4 years.  He is now semi feral.  He will not live inside, but I can pet him and he will sit in my lap.  Yet I cannot hold him and he is still extremely skittish.  I also have a stray turned feral living inside my house.  He was formerly owned and then lived on his own outside for 1.5-2 years.  He lived on my property for about 6 months at which time I did TNR with him.  I then decided to bring him inside my home and resocialize him and introduce him to my resident cat and dog.  It was a long process.  Yet he now does well and is strictly an indoor kitty.

Feral cats that are not able to be socialized should be TNR'd and then returned to their natural environment.  You can then continue to feed them and provide shelter for them.  I have 2 ferals who live on my deck and surrounding property.  They have a great winter shelter and feeding stations for food.

Search the internet for lots of ideas on shelters and feeding stations.

Take one step at a time with the first step being TNR of all the cats. 

thank you so much for all this information!

I'm not sure if any of the cats have been altered, since none of them have let me get close enough to check. I will take the advice about not leaving the food out at night though. maybe I can convince the DH to allow the camera to monitor, but I doubt it. he's super paranoid. we'll see though.

I will definitely check out that alley cat allies site for more info on trapping the cats. It would be nice to have some cats that look to our home for shelter and some food, to help keep the mole and mouse populations down, but I want to make sure there aren't any more than the 2 or 3 that are here already.

Trail cameras are super easy to use and there shouldn't be anything to be paranoid about.  You just might not want to see what's on there though!!!  Here is one I have used before


Here is another site that has the most wonderful humane trap.  They have a video on its use too

http://www.trucatchtraps.com/how-to

The cats can certainly help with moles and mice, but they will also need to depend on you for food/water and shelter especially in the winter.  There are some very inexpensive shelters that can be made and stuffed with straw.  I have a link in my signature for my blog on feral cats.  I have some pictures of shelters and feeding stations.  You can also do a google search on feral cat winter shelters and search under images.  Lots of great info available.

We are here to help so ask lots of questions!

awesome, thank you thank you! I will have to look into how to provide water without it freezing at night... hmmm..... and as far as shelter goes, that will all depend on whether or not they are able to be adopted out, or if they are truly feral kitties. if so, then I will probably do those rubbermaid bin style ones with the straw or some other insulator between the shells. off to check out your site now!!!

If you have electricity outside then you can get a heated water bowl.  If not then just leave water out during the day. 

As far as shelter, I was referring to outside shelter.  They will need a rubbermaid or other shelter if they continue to live outside!

Update: turns out that Grayson is a boy, and there is not only him, but what looks like two other male litter mates, one gray and white like him, and one black tuxedo. My sister was able to get kamé (the black one)

So how many did you trap?  Are they going in for neuter?

Stupid touch screen...

So my sister was able to get kamé to let her pet him and even pick him up, but he got scared and ran away for a bit.

We are fairly positive that these three are from a stray litter of some sort. Going to try to get photos to post at the neighborhood mailboxes to see if anyone will claim then, if not, my husband has mentioned getting them tnr'd, and letting them stay as outside kitties, since we doubt they would get along with our two strictly indoor girls.

We purchased a humane trap, since we thought it was just the one, so hopefully we manage to catch them all and get them neutered!

so the black tuxedo (kami) showed up this morning and just sat on the front porch staring into the house. ran off when we opened the door, but didn't break eye contact either. Grayson and Kami seem to know what time I'm putting the food out now, and it's only been a few days! Grayson has sniffed around the trap, and even stepped inside the entrance for a second, but then backed out. Haven't seen the third one, another gray one like Grayson. husband has dubbed that one Grayskull. Grayskull is much much shyer, and doesn't go anywhere unless he's following one of his brothers. I think he'll be the toughest one to catch. 

My husband and I will try to snap photo's of the three if they let us, so we can post "found cat" posters around the neighborhood and see if anyone claims them. is this a good idea or should we just post that there are three found cats and that the rightful owner needs to provide gender and description?