Cat family taking up residence on my porch!

princess sophia

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Sophie got out a few weeks ago and got pregnant by a tuxedo cat. I know this for a fact because when she got out I was leaving the house so I left the porch door open a crack for her to come back in. When I got home, the tuxedo was in the house with her.
Ever since then he's been hanging out on my porch. Tonight, I noticed there was another tuxedo on my porch and one by my car.
It seems as though the whole family has taken up residence on my porch!

I thought at first that they were feral as there are loads of ferral cats in my area but these guys (especially the daddy cat) have no problem making eye contact or looking in the house. They aren't afraid of me although I've never really gotten close to them. They daddy cat is there all day and night. Sometimes he'll hop off the porch to potty or scavage and he walks right past me, even looks up at me acknowledging my presence.

My question is what do I do with these guys? What can I do to help them besides getting them fixed?
 

shadowsrescue

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Can you get a rescue group to help you in doing TNR on the cats?  If not, it would be wonderful if you would still be willing to get them fixed yourself.  I understand it is a big undertaking, but the cats will not leave. 

You really need to get Sophie spayed.  The males will smell her and hunt her down. 
 
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princess sophia

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Sophie is getting spayed as soon as she can! My vet said 6-9 weeks after the kittens.
There is no tnr where I live. There is one in the next city over but you have to be a resident to be eligible to get the discounted spay/neuter and you have to get the cat there yourself.
There are more cats than people here. And even if they neuter 1,000,000 cats there are still 5,000,000+ cats that aren't neutered left. So they don't see any incentive in it. :(
 

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You really do need to Sophie spayed. One option is an early spay, terminating the pregnancy (if done early enough) - - - yes it's distressing and not everyone (or every vet) will consider it. The main argument for it is the millions of untold amount of kittens in the world - trust me from experience - even if you believe your sweet Sophie will give birth to the most gorgeous kittens no one in the world will be able to resist and will snatch up immediately (and you're probably right on the gorgeous factor!) it gets harder and harder (and I speak from experience as someone who helps foster at a shelter) to find homes for kittens. It's VERY hard - particularly to find good, loving, responsible homes, and if you cant find them - - it's even harder to find no-kill shelters who will take them.

But even if you don't want to do an early spay - I'd indeed spay her as soon as you can. As long as she's unspayed (and she WILL go into heat very quickly after giving birth) she's a draw for every male within miles. And jsut because she's CURRENTLY pregnant won't stop drawing them either.

Talk to a local spay and neuter clinic if you need help/can't afford to go to your own vet/need help catching/etc. I think the male needs to be caught and neutered too, and he's indeed not feral but instead a stray, perhaps you can help find him a home...or add him to your little brood with Sophie! (assuming you spay Sophie first etc)

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
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princess sophia

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Sophie is too far along to be spayed nor would I do it for moral reasons.

I've accepted the fact that I may need to keep them if I can't find them homes. However I do already have two people who said they each want one. I'm not crossing my fingers but staying hopeful.

It would be nice to be able to keep the daddy cat since I want to keep one of the kittens. Also my son is very disappointed in Sophie for getting pregnant out of wedlock. (He's 6)

I'm gonna look into tnr here. But this country (Israel) treats cats like rodents and could care less about the street cats.
 

kntrygrl256

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Sophie is getting spayed as soon as she can! My vet said 6-9 weeks after the kittens.
There is no tnr where I live. There is one in the next city over but you have to be a resident to be eligible to get the discounted spay/neuter and you have to get the cat there yourself.
There are more cats than people here. And even if they neuter 1,000,000 cats there are still 5,000,000+ cats that aren't neutered left. So they don't see any incentive in it.
Is there anyone in the next city whose address you can use in order to TNR the male cats. Even if you get a few spayed/neutered that would drastically help the overpopulation.

Maybe even get a group of people who would be willing to help.
 
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princess sophia

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In Israel we have ID's with our legal address on them so there's no way for me to pretend to be a resident :(

And privately it's $100/ spay/neuter. And I need to have sophie spayed and I'm plan to keep one kitten so that's $200.

I'm still working to find non profits that do it. I think there is one 30 min away that I need to call. But they don't catch the cat for you and I have no idea how to catch a cat.
 

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So sad, I only had to pay 25 dollars for males or females at our low cost spay clinic in Ohio, we have a colony of 20 or so on the street, all fixed.
 
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princess sophia

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I wish I could get all the street cats in our town fixed! But it's a town of 200 people and more cats than people. :(

I did call the no kill shelter that's not too far away to ask about tnr. They had no idea what I was talking about.

There is a small amount of tnr here because I read an article about tnr on army bases for both cats and dogs. The feral animals are attracted there because of all the food and shelter there is and it has become a bit too crowded.
 
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princess sophia

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So I just spoke to npo called spayisrael. Thank god they were American and understand!

It will cost me $25 for neuter, $5 for vaccine, and $5 for deworming. $30 total for a feral cat!

She told me to try and borrow a humane trap if I can but if not to call her and shell lend me one. She said that the minute I have him trapped to call her and shell tell me which office to bring him to (both are 30 min from me).

She also went into how backwards this country is and told me that tnr is almost unheard of here but it just takes one person to get it going in each area. I was concerned that I would have to colonize them if I started tnr here and she said that just getting them fixed is good enough if I don't feel able to take on the commitment of supporting a colony.

Yay for baby daddy and his soon to be neuter and shots! (I think he's the alpha in this "family" so getting him fixed will help all of the cats a lot)
 
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shadowsrescue

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Such good news!!   It's a great start.  Thank you for persevering and finding a way to help.
 
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princess sophia

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I'm gonna start a new thread on how to make it happen. I think I can spare $30 a month so if it goes well with poppa, I hope to be able to tnr one a month for as long as it takes.
 

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That is such awesome news!!!!!

She is right, it only takes one to make things happen.

Thank you so much for your concern about these  cats. They will be happier and healthier in the long run.
 

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I Too want to thank you for your concern about these helpless, homeless animals,  and thanks for sharing your story !!
 

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That's wonderful news! I think lots of people on this forum can tell you - either from it happening to them or from it happening to one/many they know - - sometimes one seemingly "random" cat experience (like yours with Sophie and the pappa cat) - - can end up making a HUGE difference in not just in the lives of that one (or two) cat (and the countless spared lives of the kittens that now won't have to come into the world only to suffer misearable lives). But the amazing thing - like your situation - it can actually spark amazing change that ripples outward. Now that you're even more aware and in tune with the problem (and it sounds like you were always aware) you feel not like you just want to see things change - - -you HAVE to see things change. How amazing is that? 

 I think this really hit home with me tonight - as I just had a conversation with someone where I realized I had caused a larger ripple than I would have ever imagined in our small neighborhood. Anyone who has read any of my posts on ferals and my neighborhood knows some  of the story. But in a nutshell - - - our neighborhood had a feral cat problem. Started because a neighbor only one street over from my house. All because she loved cats but just hated the idea of spaying or neutering  cats that "weren't hers." Even though she provided them food and outdoor shelters - she couldn't "bring herself to trap them." Then, fate stepped in and really moved my "maybe we'll do something" time frame up - - one of the feral mom cats had babies under our next-door-neighbor's deck. So we caught the babies and mom - - socialized and adopted out the babies, and TNR'd the mom. We put food and shelter out for mo ("Maddie").....and suddenly it was like the word was out - cat food, fresh water, and shelter available at our house!!!That was three years ago - - -and from there on we've trapped, neutered and released many kitties - - socializing the few we could, releasing the others. And adding to the number of heated shelters outside of course :) And continuing the conversation with the "colony starter" a block over. She would always cry - saying she just couldn't take trapping them - it was too sad to see them in the trap. And she was worried she'd never see them again because they'd hate her if she caught and fixed them. I always talked to her about how much harder their lives were if they weren't fixed - - - how much shorter and harder their lives would be, how much higher the risk for disease. You name it - - I explained it to her.

Then last night I got the call I never thought I would. She called me - - - - and she and her husband (to use her words) "Finally got it". In a few weeks they've trapped and released the 5 we haven't been able to get!!!!! And she's now joining a local spay/neuter clinic to help others trap - because she thinks she can help other people who are scared by it. I cried while we talked. I'm far from trying to toot my own horn - - - but it really hit me how much difference just helping this ONE person to understand the importance of TNRing person's was going to make. Countless cats - not just in our neighborhood but even beyond - - would now be healthier and live longer...fewer babies would be born and die of disease, etc. 

So I think what I"m saying is that you should be proud of yourself - - and how much of a knowledge base you're building - and how much you want to (and WILL) share it. And the lives - both feline and human - - -that will be made so much better for years to come. YEAH YOU!!!!!
 
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princess sophia

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Awww!

Thank you for the kind words and support! I dont think I can change an entire country's mindset towards cats, but hopefully I can help a few cats in a small town. :)
 

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Sophie is getting spayed as soon as she can! My vet said 6-9 weeks after the kittens.
There is no tnr where I live. There is one in the next city over but you have to be a resident to be eligible to get the discounted spay/neuter and you have to get the cat there yourself.
There are more cats than people here. And even if they neuter 1,000,000 cats there are still 5,000,000+ cats that aren't neutered left. So they don't see any incentive in it.
If the cost of spaying is higher than the cost of  transporting them there, a trick could be, if you get someone from this other city, to pretend to be the owner, and you are just helping this owner with practical transport details.   And thus, this person, ie you the driver, would get the discount.

Can they falsecard, so can you.

Ps.  I saw in a later post you DID found a good solution, this 30 dollar group.

ps. 2 I see also, somebody else also gave you this advice.   I think this advice still stands, but your resident helper must stand fast, she cant just lend you her name, but also show up herself and eve be registered as the owner.  She can of course "sell" these cats to you afterwards, for a small sum.  Or you sell them and buy them back.
 
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StefanZ

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Sophie is too far along to be spayed nor would I do it for moral reasons.

I've accepted the fact that I may need to keep them if I can't find them homes. However I do already have two people who said they each want one. I'm not crossing my fingers but staying hopeful.

It would be nice to be able to keep the daddy cat since I want to keep one of the kittens. Also my son is very disappointed in Sophie for getting pregnant out of wedlock. (He's 6)

I'm gonna look into tnr here. But this country (Israel) treats cats like rodents and could care less about the street cats.
Its a great pity and shame.  Jewish religion as such is otherwise very animal friendly.   There are lotsa of nice examples in the Bible with animal protection laws...

Why, the fable about the shephard having 100 perfectly fine sheeps, whom did his outmost to get home the lost astray sheep - a nice picture of helping semiferale cats!!!

this tale was told by a jew.   Its not anybodys fault this particular jew, later on become a christian, even a very important in the world of christians...

He was still born and living as a jew, these listening to him at that occassion were all jews, and exactly by these reasons, they did perfectly well understood what he meant.   "You go and fetch and help this animal whom is astray, even if it takes lotsa of work, and even if its not really necessary for you"..
 
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princess sophia

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Its a great pity and shame.  Jewish religion as such is otherwise very animal friendly.   There are lotsa of nice examples in the Bible with animal protection laws...
Why, the fable about the shephard having 100 perfectly fine sheeps, whom did his outmost to get home the lost astray sheep - a nice picture of helping semiferale cats!!!
this tale was told by a jew.   Its not anybodys fault this particular jew, later on become a christian, even a very important in the world of christians...

He was still born and living as a jew, these listening to him at that occassion were all jews, and exactly by these reasons, they did perfectly well understood what he meant.   "You go and fetch and help this animal whom is astray, even if it takes lotsa of work, and even if its not really necessary for you"..
We do have customs in our religion that respect animals. We must feed our animals before we feed ourselves, we must never hurt an animal, ect.

We do also have a law against altering an animal but I believe in this circumstance, altering them is the end to their suffering and a rabbi would allow it.

However, the distain of cats is not a religious thing. It is a cultural thing. The jews, christans, and Muslims alike all share the destain of cats here. I have read of people in Egypt throwing cats on the streets when they get sick. So I don't think it's an israel issue but rather a middle east issue. Who knows, maybe the cats can bring peace in the middle east :)
 

StefanZ

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We do have customs in our religion that respect animals. We must feed our animals before we feed ourselves, we must never hurt an animal, ect.

We do also have a law against altering an animal but I believe in this circumstance, altering them is the end to their suffering and a rabbi would allow it.

However, the distain of cats is not a religious thing. It is a cultural thing. The jews, christans, and Muslims alike all share the destain of cats here. I have read of people in Egypt throwing cats on the streets when they get sick. So I don't think it's an israel issue but rather a middle east issue. Who knows, maybe the cats can bring peace in the middle east
Oh, apparently this is common around the world.  Both in USA and in Sweden.   In Sweden where we Swedes are supposed to be verry animale friendly, into the verge of being ridicule about  family pets.  Why, I have seen pics from 100-150 years old, where Swedes do have their family cat or dog, or other animal, with them on their family photos...  So this animal-friendlines isnt anything new.   But still, they may dump them too.  Renown is the old custom of "summer-kitten", whom is left in the summer cottage after the summer.  I suppose its in part a myth, to explain these lotsa of dumped homegirls - but still.  If the myth is true, many swedish children have grown up with the trauma of dumping their summer friend into a slow agonizing death.

I just Im a little disappointed, the israeli Jews, with their 2000 years of being precedessors in animal care and friendliness, are no better than most others.

Which teach us; religion is one thing, but reality is something entirely else.    :(

But.  As I know, very few rescuers and caretakers do it from religious reasons. Im one of the very few here whom DO have religious feelings about it.

They do it from compassion, love, decency, humanity, taking pity, because one got to do what one got to do, etc - but very few do it in the name of Gods mercy, Gods love or similiar... Nor even by the very selfish reasont to save ones eternal soul.

I love your idea of a movement, where  cats would be the link to peace in middle east, in our world.
 
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