Newly relocated semi-ferals suddenly regressing and at risk of being relocated again

So late April/early May we attempted to relocate a small colony of four. My friend (let's call her Frances) is their primary caretaker, but I support her in many, many ways, in part because I am more educated about cats/ferals.

Frances had been caring for 3 of them for about a year at the time we relocated. We were forced to leave one those guys behind, and I took the fourth one home with me because he was very new and not yet established, nor neutered (the others are) and we worried how the three of them would do being contained in the 10x10 kennel together.

We had countless setbacks due to weather and kennel conditions and every time a disruption occurred, we started the four week containment period over again. Finally, after much trial and error and an improvement in weather we "officially" started the holding period and they were released nearly two weeks ago.

Halfway through containment they appeared to be coming around and returning to their old selves. After release, they seemed to be having a good time exploring and hunting together, and eating a bit better.

At the old place they never roamed far, and always showed up at meal time or if I dropped by for a snack. They were always there and always ready to eat and always came when called.

But here Hobo is rarely eating the food she puts out which is very frustrating for her as she feels she's been wasting a ton of food since the move (and she has). He only appears a little after dusk to eat only a small amount - and some nights he has not shown up at all. He also appears to be spending most of his time in the neighborhood behind her, despite the fact that she has a very, very large backyard and sizeable front yard as well that is a very safe distance away from the road.

The biggest issue is that he has become a killing machine. She had always caught him hunting the occasional bird at the old place, but he seems to be subsisting on his kills here. He is killing a massive amount of lizards and a fair amount of birds, not just on her property, but neighboring properties as well. He is leaving carcasses around people's yards and also under/between the pallets in the kennel.

She says he looks more wild than she's ever seen him. He seems more aggressive in appearance to the point where she is a bit frightened of him at this point. I believe her fear is genuine (even if unjustified) because she has always strongly favored Hobo, as she brought him back from the brink of death.

Puff is fairing better but likes to tag along with his buddy and ends up participating in the nuisance behaviors as a result.

Anyway, today she was able to "trap" them back in the kennel because she is concerned about their behavior. Being a renter, she is very worried about angering neighbors and her landlord. We both fear someone calling animal control, or worse. The neighborhood they are exploring has houses in close proximity - two new, feral cats showing up together and hunting will not go unnoticed for very long.



At this point, I am very, very worried. We have hit hurdle after hurdle with relocating these guys. Frances loves them, she truly does - but unfortunately she has never really understood that feeding a feral makes them dependent on you and it is as much of a commitment as adopting an animal from a shelter. So even though she is their primary caretaker, I have a better understanding of the reality of the situation and more of a sense of responsibility and stewardship of them than she does.

What really got me today was that her exasperation from all of the set backs we've had with this move really came through her texts. We thought we were finally home free She ended up saying that she loves them, and she loves Hobo but is not liking having him much anymore right now. She feels they've lost their connection and threw around a comment about finding a barn for them.

It really broke my heart. I know Frances loves them - please hold back any criticism of her state of mind about this, because trust me... I get it. She has a huge heart, but I don't think she had any idea of what she was getting into when she chose to feed these guys and I will be sure to have a very stern conversation with her about it in the near future.



In closing, does anyone have any insight on why this is happening and what we can do? It has only been two weeks since their release - is he just excited and will settle down in time? They came from a very rural area where wildlife was plentiful (and Frances fed birds there and doesn't here), but Hobo rarely ever hunted there and always ate the food we gave him. He also never wandered far at all and was always within earshot of us calling him. This place is more suburban, though her property in particular is quite large and tucked away from other houses and roads.





I'd also like to state what we cannot do:

- She cannot take these cats inside and attempt to tame.

- An enclosure in her yard is not possible for a variety of reasons, nor is a cat fence (primarily because she is a renter).

- I cannot take them






If we can't find other solutions or if it doesn't seem like Hobo's behavior will calm down, we have very few choices. I do have a barn I am almost certain they can go to. I trust the person entirely to do what is needed and care for them properly, but I want to avoid doing this if at all possible.







 

Thank you to both Frances and you for caring for those cats. Has Frances been providing any toys for the kitties? I have found that my ferals really like the realistic sounding toy mice and the chirping cricket as well as tinkle balls. I feel that you are correct about the cats' nuisance behavior making trouble for them down the line. I would definitely give the toys a go and if Hobo doesn't seem interested in the toys offered, you can try rubbing them with a little catnip. the ideal would be for the cats to engage in play and then eat and then nap. It seems like a good sequence that tires them out. I don't know if your friend would have the time to try to get some wild cats interested in play but either way, mega prayers and vibes to you both! Please keep us posted.

It might very well be seasonal. My husband and I "adopted" an adult feral who evaded all attempts to trap him when his colony was neutered and relocated due to construction. In the six years we cared for him, there was a huge difference between his winter and summer behavior. When it was cold he stuck close to our property, came regularly for meals and used a cat flap to sleep in our laundry room. Once it was warm out and prey was plentiful he would disappear for days at a time and range for miles - we spotted him in neighboring towns several times. He was already between 8 & 9 when he was neutered, so we figured that's why he continued to roam.

The shelter where I work has a resident colony of around 30 ferals in a large (quarter acre) enclosure, plus 4 outside the enclosure that visit for food. Once spring comes, the number of cats that come into the inside feeding/sleeping room drops dramatically, and consumption at the outside feeding stations falls by about a third (or more).

What you're describing sounds very similar, and I imagine he'll be "back to normal" in fall. I really don't know how you can stop the killing. Some of our ferals seem to prefer cat food to wildlife, but all that means is they bring us their prey as "gifts" rather than eating it.

@catsknowme, Frances has never provided toys for them, though I did give her a very tall scratcher when we relocated them that I know Hobo in particular was using quite regularly. That is still over there with them. As far as toys, I don't think Hobo would really go for them... and the yard they are in is so large that I'm not sure where we would put them to entice them to use them, if that makes sense?

The feral I took in from this colony escaped his recovery cage and we ended up taming him. I can't even get him to play with toys just yet, and Hobo is far more independent than he is. They have more to do in this area than they did at the old place, so I don't understand why he's suddenly killing so much!

@jcat - I can certainly see something like that happening, but we've been caring for them for over a year and have already gone through a summer cycle with them before and nothing like this occurred. Hobo has always eaten the food we've given them, and now he's not touching it, even if we use mackerel and other toppers. He has to be eating his catches, I just don't know why.

Is it possible it's just the excitement of being somewhere new??? Perhaps new/different prey than what was usually at the old place?

It's pretty devastating that after all of the trouble we went through this relocation may still fail because of something like this.

I do think that he will settle down at least somewhat in time.

My one suggestion that will really help stop all his hunting, is to put a collar with bells on it.

I know it sounds funky, and if not done right can be dangerous to him too, but a fairly snug, either break-away type collar or my preference, a collar with velcro for a closure, but testing it first so it's not too strong, and attaching a few bells to it, but they must dangle, so that there is no sneaking move he can do without a bell tinklie sound that will warn the victims to beware.

Bells really work, they are excellent hunters due to their way of silently creeping then the pounce, but the silence is broken with dangly bells.

Worth a thought at least.

The collar/bell idea did actually occur to me, but I have no clue how we'd get it on him! I also worry about safety, even if it's breakaway it still makes me nervous. Have you heard of anyone doing this to a feral before?

I'm just so nervous right now to let them out again at this point. I'm terrified of someone harming them or animal control picking them up. And what if the killing doesn't stop and they won't come back to the kennel now since we've "trapped" them in there?

I'm just so confused and concerned for them. ((

I'll try to brainstorm ideas for getting a collar on them. May have to somehow just trap them in a crate and let the vet do it? If it breaks off that won't really help, though. Ughhhh, these stinkers are sending me to an early grave!

Oh, man, HOBO.....you little stinker!!!!  tell him that he doesn't want a bad reputation like the dentist who killed Cecil the black-maned Lion   

I wish that I had more suggestions, but I am at a loss. I did have to put up bird feeders this year because the drought here in CA is so bad, there was no food for the migrating birds and they kept getting into my hen coop and the hens would charge them into a panic and then catch & eat them  ...  so to keep the yard cats from going after the birds, I have to feed canned food twice a day & do a play session nightly, with a play mouse tied to the end of an old fishing pole.  I am buying the big cans of Priority turkey & giblets dinner and it gets expensive, really quicklike. I do hope that your answer comes soon!!! Hang in there - I'd love for the kitties to stay put, without becoming nuisance cats....Susan

I was gonna say---I think it's normal this time of year; my farm cats/ferals aren't eating their cat food right now and are living off their kills. But normal or not, if the neighborhood won't tolerate it I guess that can't go on :/.

The only other suggestion I have (besides relocating him to the barn, where his rodent-demolishing skills will probably be appreciated) is to keep him in the kennel until fall, when there will be fewer birds around and maybe he'll re-develop an appreciation for cat food. But I don't know if that's an option.

Haha, Susan! Hobo is definitely a little toot. We have been through so much with these guys the past several months, I am so disappointed that something like this is ruining the relocation.

Willowy, I can see that, certainly - it's just that it didn't happen last summer when he was much more timid of us... perhaps a stable food source was still so new to him (we started feeding in the spring) that he gladly ate what we fed him. Who knows.

I can't help but to speculate that there is just different prey than what he was used to. They went from very rural (dirt, gravel, and dead grass) to the suburbs and this area in particular is very, very green and marshy. Totally different environment and I am sure some different prey that is new to him. Maybe that's contributing and the interest will die down over time. I wish I knew.

I suppose right now I am going to speak with Frances and propose a couple of the things mentioned here:

- Collar with bell.

Pros: I really like this idea and think it could certainly work. We even already have tags for them showing they're up-to-date of vaccinations. I also like this because even if they are being nuances the collars will signal to people that they "belong" to someone and they may try to find their owner to resolve disputes rather than resorting to other measures first. Also, if animal control were called, they will likely put forth more effort as well and may not write them off as feral immediately (meaning much, much longer holding period).

Cons: We will have to figure out how to trap them within the kennel to take them to the vet so that she can get the collars on. Also, because they'd have to be some form of break away, there is always the risk of them coming off, perhaps repeatedly. If that happens (repeatedly) we'd have to take them to the vet to recollar them (we could maybe do Puff ourselves) and Hobo will surely catch on to that eventually, making him difficult/impossible to trap or crate. This would be problematic for future relocations or vet emergencies. It wouldn't be feasible.

But if the collars stay on (or only rarely comes off), we'd be golden! Might be worth a shot to at least try.

- Keeping them kenneled until the fall.This would absolutely be hit or miss, especially if it is more so the new environment vs the weather that is causing this behavior. Also, the last few days of their confinement they began "howling" at night. Their kennel is mere feet away from Frances bedroom window (and can't be moved to another area because it is the only dry spot that won't flood) and the howling was keeping her up all night. I worry they'll start doing that again. I'll run it past her just in case, but there are certainly a lot of unknowns about this one.



In the meantime, I'll try to set up a meeting with my friend who has the barn to see what he says. I just would absolutely hate to do this to the poor guys, they've been through so much since the move.

And I truly believe one of the only reasons they handled confinement well was because they had Frances who is like their mommy. If we relocate them to the barn, it will not only be another move and disruption of routine, but they will now be with a completely new caretaker they do not know. That shred of familiarity they had in Frances with this last move will not be there. I think they would certainly revert back to being more feral due to having to start over with him.

The good news is that if he takes them, they will have a forever home and caretaker, which they don't have with Frances due to her being a renter and having not understood what a commitment this was going to be. So maybe it would be for the best and doing it now would simply being getting the inevitable out of the way faster.

I know he already has one barn cat, so we will also have to look into the best way to integrate.


If anyone comes up with any other ideas, please PLEASE let me know!!! Thanks, guys.

I think the collar with dangling bells will be a great answer, however as you know, the design will need to be carefully figured, so that it will not break away easily, but if the cat were to be hung by it, it's own body weight will cause it to break away. This can be tested before putting it on with some creativity! (guesstimating their weight, say 9 lbs for instance. Hanging the collar on something like a door knob, and starting with 5 lbs, attach it to the hanging side of the collar, and add a lb until it breaks away, but must be by 9 lbs) Tricky, yes but well worth it.

I have a comment about relocating them once more to a barn home.

The forever part is a def big plus.

There were times and still are that I have to remind myself that what I am doing won't kill them, they will get through it, it might seem like torture at the time but look at the overall picture.

The months that it takes for them to be acclimated, released, then retrapped/contained, moved, acclimated again, getting familiar and learning to trust another brand new place right?

Now, those months, versus how many years they have to live?

So I would go for the best, long term/permanent solution for them, they will survive it, and they WILL adapt to their new and forever home