Emma and Lucy

I live in Queens, NY and I am the caretaker for 2 feral ladies who live on the front porch of an elderly woman's home. She has given me permission to be on her property to care for them. I have also adopted 2 kitties from the property. I would really like to have them trapped and moved out. The woman has asked me many times to take them and I can't...I already have 5 at home. Emma and Lucy; as I have named them; have been vetted; they're eartipped. They're not crazy feral. Emma rubs my legs as I prepare their food. Lucy is shy; but not crazy. I have also provided shelter; a dog house which is now a cat house with a cushion to sleep on. I keep the porch clean and tidy. Does anyone know of an organization who can trap these ladies and relocate them? Perhaps a colony or barn cat situation? They're nice kitties and I hate to say it; when this woman dies; she's very elderly; what's going to happen to Emma and Lucy? Thanks.....

Originally Posted by churchbug

I live in Queens, NY and I am the caretaker for 2 feral ladies who live on the front porch of an elderly woman's home. She has given me permission to be on her property to care for them. I have also adopted 2 kitties from the property. I would really like to have them trapped and moved out. The woman has asked me many times to take them and I can't...I already have 5 at home. Emma and Lucy; as I have named them; have been vetted; they're eartipped. They're not crazy feral. Emma rubs my legs as I prepare their food. Lucy is shy; but not crazy. I have also provided shelter; a dog house which is now a cat house with a cushion to sleep on. I keep the porch clean and tidy. Does anyone know of an organization who can trap these ladies and relocate them? Perhaps a colony or barn cat situation? They're nice kitties and I hate to say it; when this woman dies; she's very elderly; what's going to happen to Emma and Lucy? Thanks.....

Click to expand...

Relocating ferals is not an easy task and oftentimes it is only recommended if the cats are in immenent danger. The best thing to do is to read up on relocation on the Alley Cat Allies website:

PART I: IS RELOCATION THE ANSWER?
The first recommendation for relocating a colony
feral cats is: donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t do it. Unless the catsâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] lives are
threatened or their environment about to be
demolished, the optimum place for them is where
they currently live.
Cats are territorial animals and form strong
bonds with the location they inhabit. They have
likely lived there for a long time, perhaps many
years. A food source exists in the area and the cats
are acclimated to local conditions. Relocating feral
cats, whether a few or an entire colony, is a difficult,
time-consuming, and problematic undertaking.
A far better course of action is to resolve the
problems that are forcing the cats out of their
established home. There are straightforward
solutions to most problems.

http://www.alleycat.org/pdf/relocate.pdf

BTW....just because they are very friendly where they are now does not mean they are good candidates for introducing into another colony. They know their surrounding where they are and may feel comfortable around people since they are at "home". Moving them may cause anxiety which can change their reaction to people.

TNR:
Thanks for the info. I'm just concerned about the elderly woman who owns the house. She and her nephew (who goes often to look in on her); have my phone number and I would hope they would call me if there was an emergency. I just want Emma and Lucy to be OK. They are nice girls...

Originally Posted by churchbug

TNR:
Thanks for the info. I'm just concerned about the elderly woman who owns the house. She and her nephew (who goes often to look in on her); have my phone number and I would hope they would call me if there was an emergency. I just want Emma and Lucy to be OK. They are nice girls...

Click to expand...

Understood...you may want to contact a TNR group in New York to see what their opinion is of the situation.

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

Katie

did you contact any of the groups? I hope that you can find a solution for Emma & Lucy.

How about neighbors? If the lady has any nice neighbors, they could take over feeding if/when something happens to her. Or even if they would agree to allow you to move their current shelter to their property, then you could keep feeding them. I think it is easier to move ferals within what they consider to be their space. Like my kitties move around my yard, from one barn to the other, etc.

i had contacted alley cats and they recommended that i not move the cats. the neighbors do not like the cats at all. they will not allow them to be relocated to their property. i keep their home as clean, odor free as possible and they leave the cats alone. sometimes i see paper plates with food on them; so someone does bring food from time to time but basically i'm the primary caretaker. emma and lucy know me and they approach and rub my legs as i prepare the food. it's cold here now in ny and their water keeps freezing up; i wish i could figure out a way to keep the water from freezing; other than that; they are fine. i prepared their shelter a couple of months ago for the cold weather and they are doing well. thanks for asking.

You are a wonderful person for doing what you do.
May God send you many wonderful Christmas blessing
for all your hard work on behalf of the old lady AND
the cats.

This is from another site:

We (the organization I do feral cat stuff with) use those air-
activated handwarmer thingees (the kind that you buy at sporting
goods stores, you open the package up and once exposed to air, or
sometimes shaken, they heat up for x number of hours) -- but we use
them for keeping food unfrozen long enough for kits to eat.
Generally we put one under the food dish (say on a styrofoam plate,
then another plate on top with the food)... I've also tossed some
inside shelters on bitterly cold nights. They do get expensive, of
course, but we've been able to get sporting goods stores to order
them for us wholesale. They are extremely effective, though I've
found you have to be careful not to cut off the oxygen supply to
them, or they just freeze.

I use Snuggle Safe discs for water, with limited success-- though I
would say they get the water unfrozen for at least a bit... what I
did was built a box for a water dish out of foam board insulation...
took one square of it for a bottom, then cut another square, traced
around the Snuggle Safe dish or water bowl (which ever is bigger),
cut a circle out of it, duct-taped the two squares together... then
I heat up the Snuggle Safe disc, put it inside the insulation box,
then put the water bowl on top. It looks ridiculous and I've never
stuck around long enough to see how it works, but it makes me feel a
little better... but you could probably do something similar w/ the
handwarmer things (microwave or disposable).

The Snuggle Safe discs are expensive, but they last a long time, so
not a bad investment. I have two, so I can swap them out as needed,
though sometimes if it's super cold, I wrap one in cloth and pop it
in the shelter...

One of these days I am going to learn about solar power and figure
out how to take one of those bird bath de-icers and power it with
solar power... it can't be that complicated, when they solar
fountains, solar flashlights, etc., etc...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/feral_cats/message/74297

If you have access to electricity, you can plug in a heated water bowl. We use one in our garage, and last winter, Josie would sleep in it if it ran out of water! (Her heating pad is one that turns off when they get off it, so she needs to step on it for it to warm up.)

Actually why not as suggested use a solar fountain? The pottery ones
might work, and if the water keeps moving, it wont' freeze
as fast...

There are solar dog water dishes - but I understand they don't
keep the water unfrozen below certain temps...

I used to put handwarmers under Maj. Grey's wet food
dish when he was eating out by the gully rather than my
yard. (And I wasn't sure he was getting to the food).
I had a styrafoam block 3 inches think, I hollowed out
shallow hole for the base of the dish and handwarmer.

I would put 2 hand warmers in the base, bowl ontop.
Might work for water dish too...

Also for my feral shelter (if Grey will EVER use!!)
I am putting in reusuable emergency heat packs
wrapped in thick piece of polar fleece
scrap. These packs can be reused, heat to
130 for 15 hours and are fairly goodsized but
flat shape (unlike snuggle safes..)...A package of
5 cost me 30 dollars (shipping not included) from
www.industrialsavings.com

i appreciate the suggestions offered here for emma and lucy. i am going to see them more often. i can't always get to them everyday. last night i filled some juice containers with warm water and changed their water. they both drank a lot. i gave them some canned food which they eat right away; it doesn't have time to freeze. i always have dry food out for them. i keep the dry food under the glass window frames to protect the food from snow, rain. it works great. we've had snow here in ny a couple of times already. there are several glass windows that are leaned against the porch wall for shelter. i have a thick sheep skin bed and on top of that is a kitty cushion for added bedding. i also have 3 double feeders with dry food and i use a double feeder for the canned food. i have 2 double feeders for the water. i like things nice and neat and in good order. i have noticed that a couple of times this week someone has left paperplates with food on them for emma and lucy. the plates were licked clean. i usually clean up any debris and sweep the porch to keep it clean and the neighbors happy. i do know that they sleep in the kitty kondo that is there. they also use the kitty cushion that is there as well. i put several thick door mats on the bottom of the condo and then i took an old comforter (blanket) that i had and folded it up a couple of times and put it in the condo. i had another old thick comforter that i literally wrapped around the condo (this condo is really a dog house...now it's a cat house) as added insulation. they seem to be doing ok. i do my best for them and i try to give them a decent diet. i would really like to get them out of there because i honestly don't know what will happen with this old lady and the house when she dies...she's well into her 80's.