Stray cat. Might be feral.

For the past year, I have noticed a Female ( she has had atleast 2 litters )
cat around my community.
I first thought that she was someone's house cat because she was so big, and she appeared healthy.
In my community their are very strict rules about pets, and you are under no circumstances allowed to have an outside animal.
Anyway over the past 6 months I have been leaving food out.
She runs away when she sees me and hides.
She watches me from her hiding spot.
I have been leaving kitten food out, because i thought that would fatten her up because she has been loosing weight. I also noticed (By peeking out the window when she is eating) that her fur around her nose and mouth seems to be yellow. She is a white and grey spotted cat.
Im not sure what would cause this, I don't know a great deal about cats.
Anyway, I know of a few people that have live traps and are trying to catch any cats in the area because they catch the fish out of the pond. I know one person is dumping the cats she catches in another town, but the majority of people send the cats to animal control, where unsocialized cats are euthanised after a 5 day hold, and never put up for adoption.
I would really like to catch this girl and get her spayed, but I don't know what I should do with her after I catch her.
I don't have any experience with unsocialized cats, and she looks to be pregnant ( i could be wrong )
I just don't want her caught and dumped in another town, or taken to animal control.
I can't TNR her because outside animals aren't allowed here, and I am sure that she would be caught by another person.

Sorry this was so long, I just wanted to explain the situation.
I am looking for ideas, how to help this girl.

thank you.
Mandi

Mandi...best to go to this website...this is where you can learn more about TNR:

http://www.alleycat.org/index.html

Also..you can search for TNR groups here:

http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html

Katie

Thank you very much. I will check those out.

Thank you!

I talked to the manager of our community and she doesn't think TNR is a good idea.
She said she thinks it would be dangerous, she said she knows of a few people in the area trappping and killing the cats they trap.

So now i dont know what to do.
Should I try to trap (Spay ofcourse ) and tame her?
I'm sorry I am just really at a loss.
Thank you.

Mandi,

If you have room for her that would be wonderful I did the same with my Mama and her kitten Megan (actually a whole litter but they were adopted out) You would probably need to trap her if people in your area are setting traps to kill them. Once you do trap her, take her immediately to the vet or the next day that they work. She is going to freak out but this is normal and you are going to be very tempted to let her out but remember you are doing it for her own good. Do not handle her or expose her to any other cats until she gets a clean bill of health.

Okay.
I will get a trap as fast as i can and try to trap her.
I haven't done this before, so you guys will probably see alot of "help me" posts.
I will keep you updated.
Thank you so much.

If you can trap her and desex her that would be wonderful. Wishing you the best.

Thats my plan. I am trying to get a trap as we speak.
I think I know who has one I can borrow.

Thank you so much!

Good luck! There is plenty of support here!

Okay. I didn't know if I should start a new topic or not.. so I am just going to post this here.
I couldn't get a trap yet.
But someone I know suggested covering a carrier and putting the food in there and trying that. So I tried that and I almost had her, but she is REALLY fast ( ofcourse )
After that, I thought it would be best to let her get used to the carrier again, so I put some really smelly cat food in the carrier and just sat and watched she went back in and ate for about half an hour and then left.
I am going to try again tomorrow.
She let me get pretty close to her today when she was sleeping in the grass, so that was a major improvment.
And when she gets scared and runs, she doesnt run as far away as she used to.
I think she knows I will feed her.
I don't think it will be too long before I can catch her.

So am I doing the right thing, or is this a bad idea?

Originally Posted by Rice-a-roniee

Okay. I didn't know if I should start a new topic or not.. so I am just going to post this here.
I couldn't get a trap yet.

But someone I know suggested covering a carrier and putting the food in there and trying that. So I tried that and I almost had her, but she is REALLY fast ( ofcourse

)
After that, I thought it would be best to let her get used to the carrier again, so I put some really smelly cat food in the carrier and just sat and watched she went back in and ate for about half an hour and then left.
I am going to try again tomorrow.
She let me get pretty close to her today when she was sleeping in the grass, so that was a major improvment.
And when she gets scared and runs, she doesnt run as far away as she used to.
I think she knows I will feed her.
I don't think it will be too long before I can catch her.

So am I doing the right thing, or is this a bad idea?

Click to expand...

I would really suggest using a trap over a carrier....she will react to your movement towards the carrier and dash out. A trap is triggered by her stepping on a plate inside the trap, so you can sit back and the trap shuts very quickly so she doesn't have the opportunity to escape. My concern would be that you don't trap her in the carrier and she becomes wary and doesn't even walk into a trap.

Katie

Okay.
Thank you.
I am still trying to get a trap.

Do you have any suggestions on where I could get a trap, fairly quickly?

Originally Posted by Rice-a-roniee

Do you have any suggestions on where I could get a trap, fairly quickly?

Click to expand...

Try your local humane society.

Katie

Thank you, I will

No luck with the Humane society. They don't have traps they will rent out, They reccomended animal control.
I am on the waiting list for animal control, they said the wait will proabably be atleast three weeks to a month.
Do you have any suggestions to a place where I might be able to purchase one?
Thank you so much for all your help.

Okay Twist in the story here.
I just saw her with 2 kittens.
They looked to be about 6 wks. old

Now what do I do?

Originally Posted by Rice-a-roniee

Okay Twist in the story here.
I just saw her with 2 kittens.
They looked to be about 6 wks. old

Now what do I do?

Click to expand...

You need to try to trap her and her kittens. Contact these groups and see if they know where you can get a trap:

http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html#ky

Katie

Thank you!
Okay I got a trap from a neighbor ( they had one the entire time.. just decided to let me use it now )
I caught 3 of the kittens with a carrier and wet cat food. The mother cat simply watched from about 5 ft away, didn't even move the entire time.
The kittens Definently have teeth!
I have set the trap for the mother and atleast two remaining kittens.
The kittens look to be atleast 8 weeks old.
I have them set up in a large dog cage in the guest room, away from my other pets.
I will get a vet appt for them monday.
What else should I do? I know basicly nothing about unsocialized cats and kittens.

one of the three kittens will approach the front of the cage and sniff my fingers, and let me touch him.
The other two are hiding (ofcourse) behind the litter box.


Thank you for all your help!