Pregnant feral cat can't hunt

I have been feeding this feral cat for maybe 2 years. She knows no other place to get her food than my back door. Then I noticed that she is pregnant.

I was always afraid of this. If she has kittens, they will never learn how to hunt for their food because she has never learned. Because I have been feeding her ever since she was a kitten from another feral cat that I had been feeding.

Why have I have been feeding feral cats? Well, it's because when I cook chicken, fish, or steak, I leave the skin and bones outside for whoever to eat. Usually it's a dog. But this time, it's cats.

I live in Panama. They don't have garbage disposals. So when I cook chicken, fish, or steak, I leave the skin and bones outside in a plate for dogs and cats to eat. They love it! I've been doing that for years.

Then I moved to another location in a more residential area (I used to live in the mountains of Panama where it's more rural).

Panamanians don't normally have cats as pets. They cost money to feed and care for them. So almost all cats here are feral.

So I figured that if she gets knocked up, I will be stuck feeding her and her kittens forever.

I can't afford to start feeding a "herd" of cats forever.

The only options I can come up with are:

o Keep feeding her (and her kittens, and their kittens, and their kittens ...)

o Stop feeding her (but she can't hunt, and there's nothing here to hunt)

o Put something in her food that will cause her to abort (I don't know what that would be)

Being a feral cat, she doesn't trust me. It's taken this long for her not not hiss at me when I open the door and walk out to bring out her food. She doesn't seem to relate her food with me bringing it out. She is the dumbest cat I've ever seen.

I think that she might also have a bad eye. So she is scared of everything (she is the proverbial "scardy-cat"). I have to move really slowly for her to not run away.

I've watched "The Cat Whisperer" a lot, but nothing has helped with this one. I've tried the "slow eye blink" trick, but it doesn't work with her.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Do you have any Trap, neuter, return programs so you can stop the cycle?

@Red Top Rescue any ideas?

JustinTyme26 said:

 
I have been feeding this feral cat for maybe 2 years. She knows no other place to get her food than my back door. Then I noticed that she is pregnant.

I was always afraid of this. If she has kittens, they will never learn how to hunt for their food because she has never learned. Because I have been feeding her ever since she was a kitten from another feral cat that I had been feeding.

Why have I have been feeding feral cats? Well, it's because when I cook chicken, fish, or steak, I leave the skin and bones outside for whoever to eat. Usually it's a dog. But this time, it's cats.

I live in Panama. They don't have garbage disposals. So when I cook chicken, fish, or steak, I leave the skin and bones outside in a plate for dogs and cats to eat. They love it! I've been doing that for years.

Then I moved to another location in a more residential area (I used to live in the mountains of Panama where it's more rural).

Panamanians don't normally have cats as pets. They cost money to feed and care for them. So almost all cats here are feral.

So I figured that if she gets knocked up, I will be stuck feeding her and her kittens forever.

I can't afford to start feeding a "herd" of cats forever.

The only options I can come up with are:

o Keep feeding her (and her kittens, and their kittens, and their kittens ...)

o Stop feeding her (but she can't hunt, and there's nothing here to hunt)

o Put something in her food that will cause her to abort (I don't know what that would be)

Being a feral cat, she doesn't trust me. It's taken this long for her not not hiss at me when I open the door and walk out to bring out her food. She doesn't seem to relate her food with me bringing it out. She is the dumbest cat I've ever seen.

I think that she might also have a bad eye. So she is scared of everything (she is the proverbial "scardy-cat"). I have to move really slowly for her to not run away.

I've watched "The Cat Whisperer" a lot, but nothing has helped with this one. I've tried the "slow eye blink" trick, but it doesn't work with her.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Click to expand...

Do you have any possibility to let a vet spay her?   Perhaps even spay her already NOW, including an abortion.

Ohterwise, when she had her kittens.

And later on, spay the kittens...

So you wont get more from them.  

Exactly. 

The ONLY way to not end up with an enormous herd of cats is to get her spayed now.

You surely have traps there, borrow or buy one and get her trapped, once you find where she can be spayed.

She is feral which is caused by lack of human interactions regularly during her kittenhood.

In time though, through calm talking to her, feeding her, getting her fixed, and showing her she can trust you, she eventually will trust you. Doubt it will be to hold her, but as she gains trust she will come closer to you, not run off so easily, and you can actually have a love and friendship without touching her though.

I know, I have much love for many, many feral cats in my town that I have trapped, got spayed/neutered, then put them back and continue to feed them for the rest of their lives.

They love me too, we have a bond and love

@JustinTyme26  maybe if you got in touch with the spay Panama group they could lend you a trap or let you know where there are some cheaper spay and neuter clinics in your area.

http://www.spaypanamasanimals.com/index.html

Japan doesn't have any organised way of taking care of the feral cat population either, but some vets will give you a discount if you explain it's a feral cat that you are trying to help. You just have to look for a network in your local community that can help you. I bet there are a lot of other people out there, trying to care for unwanted animals the way you are.

OK, that's a good idea to borrow a trap and get her and her kittens spayed. Not sure why I didn't think of that.

But I'm afraid that if she sees "me" trap her and carry her out to get spayed, she might lose whatever trust she has in me.

Maybe I can wear a costume? hahaha

JustinTyme26 said:

 
OK, that's a good idea to borrow a trap and get her and her kittens spayed. Not sure why I didn't think of that.

But I'm afraid that if she sees "me" trap her and carry her out to get spayed, she might lose whatever trust she has in me.

Maybe I can wear a costume? hahaha

Click to expand...

Hahaha is right, you can't fool her Likely scare her with a disguise.......

Or maybe a bag over your head.....

No but seriously. The idea of trapping her is now, spaying her and aborting the unborn kittens.

That is to prevent having a group of 6 or more to care for and then have all spayed and neutered.........it's your decision to trap and spay her now before she delivers, or later along with her herd of kittens too.

For some reason they do seem to get over being trapped, maybe for a couple/few weeks afterwards she will not trust you but continue on with the normal routine every day and she will forgive you soon enough.

Personally I would suggest getting her spayed now, before they are born.

catwoman707 said:

 
Hahaha is right, you can't fool her Likely scare her with a disguise.......

Or maybe a bag over your head.....

No but seriously. The idea of trapping her is now, spaying her and aborting the unborn kittens.

That is to prevent having a group of 6 or more to care for and then have all spayed and neutered.........it's your decision to trap and spay her now before she delivers, or later along with her herd of kittens too.

For some reason they do seem to get over being trapped, maybe for a couple/few weeks afterwards she will not trust you but continue on with the normal routine every day and she will forgive you soon enough.

Personally I would suggest getting her spayed now, before they are born.

Click to expand...

 It is really heart breaking to think of aborting the kittens, but feral cats usually lose most of the litter to disease, predators or lack of food within the first few weeks. It's a very clever cat who manages to raise one or two kittens from a litter of six, so you'd actually be preventing a lot of suffering.

If the cat is used to coming to you to be fed, she'll forgive you for trapping her. You'll be the one bringing her home from the vet and setting her free again, she'll remember that.