Need advice please

Hi, I have a new possible dilemma, and I so need advice. We may be moving in a few months, we would be going from renting a tiny little house to buying a large house with my husbands family. Now our problem is I have 5 feral cats who I have been caring for for over a year. Missy is our original she was here when we moved in. She was a great hunter who rarely even ate the food I put out, but a few months ago she showed up with a pine needle in her eye and ever since she has completely changed! Still scared, but almost disoriented. Her eyes look normal but I don't think they work the same anymore. She never really leaves the deck now. [emoji]128546[/emoji] The other 4 I have been feeding since they were little kittens. We also have 2 kittens we have been fostering which I so badly want to keep. I really have come to love them. If we were to buy this house I'm pretty sure they would be ours forever, either indoor or indoor/outdoor.
AND my MIL and FIL have a very old almost blind cat hating German shepherd, who otherwise is the best dog ever. And has been keeping our 1 yr old crazy lab for us, because long story...but he was abandoned in our driveway at 3 mos old, has bad anxiety and can't stop barking if left alone.
AND they have 2 outdoor brother cats.
Even if we don't end up buying this house, eventually we will need to move because this living situation can't last forever, were growing out of our little house.

So the big question is... What to do with the ferals??
My husband says just leave them. But he generally hates them. And even if I can convince him to move them. How to go about it? Would it be worth it? And my family might totally hate me for bringing 7 cats. They are not big animal people. Grew up on a farm, so yeah[emoji]128528[/emoji]
I know we have a few people who feed ferals in our neighborhood. I could maybe have someone feed them if I'm lucky, but I feel bad because they already all have way, way more than me.

Any suggestions??

Hi @thebugsmommo,
Thank you for looking after and feeding the cats.

The situation here is that you have cats hating humans and cats hating dog. Guess there's no chance you can bring these cats with you. You mentioned in your are there are people feeding some other ferals? Guess the best people to carry on what you did will be them. But the question is, how far away are you from them? I don't think you can move your freals over to them as its not their territory and also the other feeders might not want to come over and on top of that, once you move, we don't know if the new owners are cat lovers or not. I'm sure tne ferals you are feeding are already used to you and will always hang around your house. If the new owners are not cat friendly, they'll proably chase them away.
Hopefully the new owner will continue to feed them or the other feeders will come over to feed them or your ferals will have to scavenge for food and gain new territories nearer to the other group that is being fed. Maybe you can discuss with the other feeders and hope they take in your ferals.

It would be very cruel to just leave them.  They depend on you for food, water and shelter.  You do have a few options:

1. You could find someone in the neighborhood to care for them.  It might take a bit to get them used to a new location, but if you work at it before you leave it might work.

2.  You could try to relocate them to a farm where they would be barn cats.  Yet I would be absolutely certain that they have food as well since hunting can be difficult. 

3.  You can trap them and take them with you.  If you do this there is a 3-4 week acclimation period.  The cats have to be kept in an enclosed space and not allowed to wander.  If you allow them to wander before the acclimation period they will leave the new property and do everything in their power to find their way back to their previous home.  It is their nature.

I hope you can find a solution to this.  Are the cat all spayed/neutered? 

Thanks guys. Yes they are all fixed. Except for the inside kittens, but they will be as soon as we know if we're keeping them, otherwise they will be fixed and placed through a rescue.
I know of one feeder a couple blocks away. I'm not sure about the others, I met them through a neighborhood forum, I do have a park next door to me they might be able to feed them at. I think I just have to bring the with me. What would I enclose them in? I definitely would not be able to use the house. But maybe a garage if we have one. I know one of our feral rescues places new barn cats in almost a rabbit hutch for a couple weeks, do you think that would work? Either 1 large one or 2 smaller ones? I think my husband could be convinced. I always planned on taking them and he is always negative about them, but he always gives in.
But even if we keep them contained for a month will they run off because of all the others? The dogs will be fenced, I'm not so worried about them. They lived with the lab for a year and would hide all day, but always came home for food. But my mil cats I'm worried about. I think they are fixed males, but no one would be happy if they fought. Should they be contained too?

Rabbit hutches would be ok, but you have 7 cats you would need at least 3.  There needs to be room for the cats to move around, a litter box and area for food/water.

A garage would be ideal as the location needs to be out of rain/snow.  Yet be sure the garage is not too hot either.  A basement is another solution.

As far as your mil's cats, I would want to be sure that they are neutered or there could be fights.  If her cats are outside cats, you might be able to bring the cats outside for some of the day in their hutches or crates so that they can see the other cats.  Fighting could happen.  Cats are territorial, but if they are all spayed/neutered fighting will be greatly reduced.  If you allow the cats to meet each other through the cages/hutches this will help them to all acclimate.  Maybe you could feed your MIL's cats at the same time as you feed your cats.  Food is a great motivator when introducing cats. 

Feeding the cats a few blocks away will be a challenge.  They could need to be trapped and acclimated there too.  If not they will end up right back on your current property.

As for containing your MIL's cats, in an ideal world, all of the cats could be contained in hutches/cages for the acclimation period.  This would allow all of their scent to mix and make introductions easy.  Yet I doubt your MIL will go for them being contained for 3-4 weeks.  You will just need to be sure that you can carefully and responsibly care and advocate for your cats. 

Another idea is to build an enclosure for your cats.  It could be on the property and your cats would be safe.  Yet you would need to have a covering for them to have a way to get out of the rain/snow. 

I hope that you can find a solution.  It sounds like you have a lot of planning and thinking to prepare for the major event.  I hope your DH can get on board and support you in your love for these cats.

Ok. Good news! We're not buying that house. So we have bought time to figure it out. Ideally we would like to buy 2 houses, one property. So if that happens it would be a lot easier. thanks everyone for easing my panic. Let's just hope the future move will work out well with all my fuzzy friends[emoji]128522[/emoji]

@ thebugsmommo

That's good news for you and the fuzzy friends

Let's hope for the best for the future!