Help! Friendly feral kitty- what should I do?

Hi,

We moved into our house in late August. The second day we moved in, a black and white cat about 6 months old wandered into our garage. He was rail thin and came straight for the bag of cat food. I have put food out twice a day everyday since then for him (and about 6-10 other feral cats). I have asked the neighbors and he was born outside and belongs to no one. He's just friendly. He purrs and lets you pet him. If its late at night, he runs.

I live in Kansas and winters are pretty cold. I think these cats live in some out buildings a few blocks away. I have no means to make those cat houses for winter because I could only put them in my back yard. Those outbuildings belong to other people.

So I have brought in the feral for tonight to decide what to do. He is non neutered male about 8 months old. Right now he's in a bedroom away from my two other cats with a litter box. He cries a bit and tries to find a way out.

1. Should I just let him back outside to fend for himself? (Aside from the food I put out.)

2. Should I take him to the humane society? (One of my two cats was an 8 month old feral when we adopted him from there and he's the best cat.)

3. Should I make posters & post ads and find him a home myself?

I would really like him to have a nice home. I can't keep him. What should I do?

I did look at the links for KS on AlleyCat Allies, three links dont work and the other only assists for people with limited income. The links for MO are for a support group and a general info site. None I could find offer low cost neuter or TNR programs for my area.

Originally Posted by Trinity

Hi,

We moved into our house in late August. The second day we moved in, a black and white cat about 6 months old wandered into our garage. He was rail thin and came straight for the bag of cat food. I have put food out twice a day everyday since then for him (and about 6-10 other feral cats). I have asked the neighbors and he was born outside and belongs to no one. He's just friendly. He purrs and lets you pet him. If its late at night, he runs.

I live in Kansas and winters are pretty cold. I think these cats live in some out buildings a few blocks away. I have no means to make those cat houses for winter because I could only put them in my back yard. Those outbuildings belong to other people.

So I have brought in the feral for tonight to decide what to do. He is non neutered male about 8 months old. Right now he's in a bedroom away from my two other cats with a litter box. He cries a bit and tries to find a way out.

1. Should I just let him back outside to fend for himself? (Aside from the food I put out.)

2. Should I take him to the humane society? (One of my two cats was an 8 month old feral when we adopted him from there and he's the best cat.)

3. Should I make posters & post ads and find him a home myself?

I would really like him to have a nice home. I can't keep him. What should I do?

I did look at the links for KS on AlleyCat Allies, three links dont work and the other only assists for people with limited income. The links for MO are for a support group and a general info site. None I could find offer low cost neuter or TNR programs for my area.

Click to expand...

The worst option is to return him back outdoor intact....if the humane society has a good track record for adopting out kittens, then I would take him there. That will cover you 2 fold...if you report that you found him as a stray, the humane society can hold him for the stray period (I would also post flyers in the area stating that the cat you found is at the humane society).

As for the other cats...I would contact this link:

No More Homeless Pets in Kansas City

Area served: Kansas City
P.O. Box 140202
Kansas City, MO 64114-0202
Phone: 816-333-PETS (7387)
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: nomorehomelesspetskc.org
Contact person: Gail Longstaff


See if she can direct you. Thank you for caring for these cats.

Katie

Originally Posted by CatSnaps

It is a really good thing you have done to care for the street cats and I would also take them in over winter if I could but...

Ferrel cats are used to outdoor conditions and sometimes our human emotion makes us think that they will suffer if left outside. They won't

CatSnaps

Click to expand...

But I would add....it is important for us to get them spayed/neutered and UTD on shots before we rerelease them.

Katie

Katie has a real good point... Without birth control you will be feeding a whole tribe of cats before much longer. I'm not sure about the USA but here in England most Cat Shelters and Charities can help with spaying/neutering.

I just talked to the Humane Society. They can take him, but they just took in over 200 dogs and cats seized by the state. The woman I talked to said the animals they took in are sick and dying. They did say if I brought him, I could get him back before the worst happened.

So I'm going to call around tomorrow and find a place to get him neutered and checked out, hopefully at low cost. And make some posters and post up to try and find him a good home.

My last resort would be taking him to the shelter. I really dont want to rerelease him. He purrs and purrs when you go into the bedroom. He's taken to sleeping on the pillows or in the laundry basket with the dirty clothes.

Here's an article on the 200 animals taken in: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/de...ed_rural_home/

187 animals seized from rural home

Humane Society employees work all night to accommodate influx

By Joel Mathis (Contact)

Friday, December 2, 2005

Nearly 200 dogs and cats were delivered to the Lawrence Humane Society on Wednesday and Thursday, all of them seized from a single residence in Miami County.

“Weâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve taken in animals from the state before, but never 187 at once,†said Humane Society director Midge Grinstead, who stayed up all Wednesday night with staffers processing 112 dogs and 75 cats into the societyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s shelter, which already held 720 other orphaned animals.

“It puts a lot of strain on the staff,†Grinstead said Thursday afternoon. “We havenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t been to bed yet — weâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve been here all night.â€

The animals came from a rural residence in southern Miami County, where they were seized by the Kansas Animal Health Department. Officials with the department did not return calls Thursday, but Miami County Undersheriff Mark Schmidt said state workers executed a search warrant at the home at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Schmidt said it took 24 hours to remove all the animals from the site.
The Lawrence Humane Society took in 187 animals, including this dog, from a woman who had them all at her rural residence in Miami County. The Humane Society staff stayed up all night processing the animals, some of them in rough shape.

Under state law, any home or facility housing 20 or more cats or dogs is considered a “shelter,†which must be licensed by the state and subject to inspections.

Larry Carter, a rural Paola resident who lives nearby, was grateful Thursday that the “huge doghouse†had been evacuated. Carter said his neighbor steadily accumulated animals during the 11 years he had lived there.

“Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s been years since itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s been this quiet out here,†Carter said. “Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m still in shock about how nice it is already. Thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s six dogs or so there now, but they donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t bark at me anymore. I can listen to the birds instead of the dogs.â€

There was plenty of noise at the Lawrence Humane Society shelter, though. Some of the animals were in rough shape, Grinstead said, with mange afflicting several dogs.
Jason Stafford, animal caretaker at the Lawrence Humane Society, gives a new resident dog a treat. The shelter took in 187 animals from Miami County, where a woman had them at her rural residence.

Jason Stafford, animal caretaker at the Lawrence Humane Society, gives a new resident dog a treat. The shelter took in 187 animals from Miami County, where a woman had them at her rural residence.

“One of the cats died right after it got here,†she said. “We had another dog in real bad shape. Most of the cats are sick.â€

Lawrence was chosen as the delivery point for the animals because the shelter here had space, officials said. Under state law, the petsâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji] owner has 10 days to post bond to pay for care of the animals if she intends to challenge the stateâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s seizure of them.

Carter said he didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to see the animals returned to the owner.

“I know she loves dogs — and I do, too. But you canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t take care of that many by yourself,†Carter said.

And he added: “I hope you keep all the dogs. I hope you keep them and do a better job.â€

Here are the low cost clinics I could find in Kansas:

KANSAS
Pawprints on the Heartland
Pittsburg KS
1-877-887-7729
Mobile s/n clinic that visits outlying area in the community.


Humane Society of Greater Kansas City
Kansas City, KS
913-596-1000

The Pet Connection
Overland Park KS
913-671-PETS

Good luck with this cat.

Katie