I started feding 1 cat, and now im feeding 4! I need someones help!

For the past 2 years by my house I have only seen 1 cat, and that was an orange one. I thought it was someones so for the the past 2 years when i saw it I never fed it. This summer I started feeding Starlight, the black and white cat. Starlight is now a pretty healthy weight, but this month 2 medium kittens have come to eat with him/her ocassioanlly. Starlight watches over them, and lets them eat some food. I thought they were her kittens, or at least I think Starlight is a female? Tonight the kittens came back after Starlight ate the food, and were meowing to me for more! I gave them some food, and then i saw this super-skinny orange cat, the one I have been seeing for 2 years! It meowed alot calling the kittens over for the food, the exact 2 kittens who I see with Starlight? Now is this a case of the male & female cat caring for the kittens? These are the ONLY stray cats by me, since all the others have been adopted by me and my neighbors over the past 7 years, so if these 4 found homes, then I dont have to feed any more cats. My trouble now is money, and the fact none of them are fixed, and I cant get them all fixed. I called in the summer asking around 12 shelters/rescue groups to take Starlight in for me, they are either full or dont accept strays at all. These cats now all depend on me, so what am I supposed to do if I cant care for them now?

Have you searched around your area for low cost spay neuter clinics?
I am SURE there are some. Some don't charge very much at all and then you can charge that much for the adoption fee to make up for it.

I would at least help the super skinny one first. Just go one at a time.

The skinny one wont eat, it lets the kittens eat then leaves. I cant find the low cost clinics that are low enough for me to afford all 4. Anyway nobody is willing to help me pay or to bring the cats to the vet. I dont have enough time to do one at a time, I have been trying to get Starlight a home for half of the year already, and I got no help or a single cat a home. And now theres 3 others, who all seem to depend on eachother. Plus if I capture one, get it fixed, and let it go, I still have to feed it, but my goal is finding it a home, because im really feeling overwhelmed now, and soon my parents may not allow me too feed them anymore because they want me to save my money and not spend it all on the cats. I get $10.00 a week for allowance, and all of it goes to cat food. If they stop my allowance, there will be no money to buy cat food.

As hard-hearted as it sounds, you need to stop feeding. If you feed one stray, more will come. Chances are you have two females with the last surviving kittens from their litters (toms kill kittens) and they are sharing the responsibility of the kittens. If you cannot afford to spay and neuter, you are only creating more of a problem. If you feed, you spay, it's really that cut and dried. The cats will move elsewhere searching for food and perhaps that person putting the food out will be able to TNR

try petfinder.com, they have a free classifieds section. you can post pets for adoption and you have to ask an adoption fee to ensure a good home.

you can try craigslist.com too, just go to the main page and post for your city.

Be careful of people contacting you from out of state or country, ignore those responses. you might get a few of them. they are scammers.

search here for low cost or free clinics http://www.lovethatcat.com/stny.html#NewYork

if you can get a picture of them post a flier up at petstores around you or at a vet office. Some vet clinics let you pay small amounts at a time.

Maybe if you find a low cost place, you could ask your parents if they can advance you the allowence money and then not get an allowence for some amount of time to make up for it.

There really isn't much else we can help you with here. If you are feeding them they are basically your responsibility. What if one showed up badly injured? you would have to take it to the vet. I would forcus on one at a time really. I know it is hard but this orange one sounds like he needs your help now. I don't think seperating them would be a problem at all.

Just to reply to Hissy's post, One of the 4 cats; Starlight, I have been feeding for more than 6 months, I cant just stop feeding her, if I forget to feed her, the cat sits on my back door step meowing to remind me it's food time. Nobody else on my block or in the area feeds cats, I asked many, many people already. Does anybody know someone with money or space who loves cats that can travel here to pick up the cats if I trap them, I do have acess to a have a heart trap, and i'm very patient and will try many times to trap them if I know they will go to a nice home. I already tried petfinder nobody was interested in them, they have been on petfinder for at least 3 months already. Some person even said I was crazy for feeding them, and this was someone on petfinder, some of those people dont seem all thats trustworthy.

Originally Posted by keith p

Just to reply to Hissy's post, One of the 4 cats; Starlight, I have been feeding for more than 6 months, I cant just stop feeding her, if I forget to feed her, the cat sits on my back door step meowing to remind me it's food time. Nobody else on my block or in the area feeds cats, I asked many, many people already. Does anybody know someone with money or space who loves cats that can travel here to pick up the cats if I trap them, I do have acess to a have a heart trap, and i'm very patient and will try many times to trap them if I know they will go to a nice home. I already tried petfinder nobody was interested in them, they have been on petfinder for at least 3 months already. Some person even said I was crazy for feeding them, and this was someone on petfinder, some of those people dont seem all thats trustworthy.

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Keith....it is the wrong approach to ask people to take the cats. What you need to do is contact TNR groups to trap, spay/neuter and return. Reality is that if no one is willing to take them..they are going to stay there and if they stay there and you continue to feed them, they WILL get pregnant and you will end up with more cats. Please stop trying to place these cats somewhere else and take care of their spay/neuter needs so they do not end up having more cats. After they have been spayed/neutered you can continue to try to place them.

Katie

Might I add again one of the adult cats is orange, arent all oranges males?

And second, why would I start wasting my money feeding cats, only to stop feeding them after spending over $100, only to eventually find a dead cat/cats in my yard that starved to death, and went in my backyard to die because my yard was safe, because it once knew I fed and loved it, and because mine is one of the few yards in my area without a dog. The fact is I dont want dead cats because I suddenly stopped feeding them, thats a waste of my money and a waste of friendly cat lives. It's not my fault I dont have all the space and money like most of you TNR people, im not as lucky as you to have a chance to make a difference. I'm just looking for answers because I cant bear the fact to have cats dieing when I have the knowledge to know I could make a difference in trying to find these cats a home. My problem is I cant do it alone, and the fact that people who have the time, space, and money by me wont help, or just dont care

Originally Posted by keith p

Might I add again one of the adult cats is orange, arent all oranges males?

And second, why would I start wasting my money feeding cats, only to stop feeding them after spending over $100, only to eventually find a dead cat/cats in my yard that starved to death, and went in my backyard to die because my yard was safe, because it once knew I fed and loved it, and because mine is one of the few yards in my area without a dog. The fact is I dont want dead cats because I suddenly stopped feeding them, thats a waste of my money and a waste of friendly cat lives. It's not my fault I dont have all the space and money like most of you TNR people, im not as lucky as you to have a chance to make a difference. I'm just looking for answers because I cant bear the fact to have cats dieing when I have the knowledge to know I could make a difference in trying to find these cats a home. My problem is I cant do it alone, and the fact that people who have the time, space, and money by me wont help, or just dont care

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Keith...the problem is that you want a group to take these cats. If you were to contact groups about spaying/neutering so you could return them...I'm sure you could find a group to help. Expecting a group to take these cats is unrealistic. You aren't helping them if you allow them to remain intact..that is something you do have control over. Contact the low cost clinics in your area and see if they would be willing to spay/neuter for free or a low cost. Explain that these cats are part of a TNR effort:

http://www.lovethatcat.com/spayneuter.html

Then theres the problem nobody will help me get them to the clinic. Also the TNR will only take them in if they are fixed and have all there vaccinations, besides that theres no other group.

My mom used to work in an animal shelter, if there was someone or some group that could help me that she knew about, dont you think I would have done it already.

Originally Posted by keith p

Then theres the problem nobody will help me get them to the clinic. Also the TNR will only take them in if they are fixed and have all there vaccinations, besides that theres no other group.

My mom used to work in an animal shelter, if there was someone or some group that could help me that she knew about, dont you think I would have done it already.

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TNR is not about taking the cats...it's about getting the cats fixed and returning them to where they currently live. If you were to contact a TNR group about simply trapping the cats, getting them fixed and then returning them to where they currently are...I suspect you would have a better chance. But you seem fixated on having these cats find a home away from where they currently live. That is a lovely long term goal..but for now, these cats need to see a vet and get spayed/neutered.

Katie

Life is so unfair why couldnt I be rich.....

Keith,

It isn't that people do not care. It is that people are overwhelmed with their own cats in their own area, which is why I tell anyone who starts feeding cats, unless you can TNR don't feed. Feeding attracts other cats to the area, this results in the cats fighting, mating, breeding and can really cause long-term problems. You are likely not to find dead cats in your yard if you stop feeding. They will move on to another food source when they realize that no food is available, but you are likely to watch one cat die from wounds sustained in a fight with another feral, if you continue to feed.

I have been doing this for a long time. I have fourteen cats right now, all strays or ferals. I no longer feed outside except on schedule and thus am able to just feed the remaining two barn cats, the only ones of my group that will not come in. ALL my adult cats are spayed or neutered, the kittens will go in in a few weeks to be spayed and neutered, and no, I am not blessed with a full time job or a lot of money. We live off my husband's retirement pension plus what I make by providing website content for people.

But the point is, if you can't trap, spay and neuter you are not helping these cats, you are creating a bigger problem. This was not your making, the cats in your area should not be here. If the person responsible for them existing had spayed or neutered the adult cats, the kittens and cats wouldn't be.

I know the person whom these cats came from, and he is a 19 year old guy living on his own in a broken down house, the cats are his only friends.

Can someone find out for me if the Suffolk County SPCA does free spay/neutering, I dont see this info on the website, and it's too late to call them their closed.

I have a hypothetical question: Lets say all 4 cats got fixed. How can I find them homes quick? If they are fixed would that make rescue groups more eager to take them in?

Originally Posted by keith p

I know the person whom these cats came from, and he is a 19 year old guy living on his own in a broken down house, the cats are his only friends.

Can someone find out for me if the Suffolk County SPCA does free spay/neutering, I dont see this info on the website, and it's too late to call them their closed.

I have a hypothetical question: Lets say all 4 cats got fixed. How can I find them homes quick? If they are fixed would that make rescue groups more eager to take them in?

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There is no guarentee you will find a quick home for these 4 cats. Most rescues pull from kill shelters and may not be willing to take on these cats even if they are spayed.
Spaying/neutering will improve these cats health regardless of if that leads long term to a new home.

You should call the Suffolk SPCA tomorrow to answer your question.

Katie

Originally Posted by keith p

and soon my parents may not allow me too feed them anymore because they want me to save my money and not spend it all on the cats. .

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Tell your parents that once upon a time people did buyed at high costs relicts of saints and sacred things, to buy their souls partly free from their sins and afterlive punishments. No??
Most of the relicts were false, and many of the sellers were false too. So most of them had no use at all of the "relicts".

But. What you are doing, and the money you are spending, is for real. And the help you are giving the smallest, these in most need for help, is real - too.

It is a worthy doing if you are either believing christian, jew, moslem - or simply a decent human.


God bless you.

Wow, what makes you think TNR people are wealthy? I for one am a student and work part-time for $8/hr (which does not go far in a big East Coast city). I eat so much Top Ramen that I probably should own stock in the company. I drive a junker car that I paid cash for. I do not have cable TV or even a home phone. You get the picture. I am many things, but wealthy sure isn't one of them!

But even with serious financial limitations, I have spayed and neutered literally hundreds of stray and feral cats by working with feral cat organizations in my local area. And I'm far from unique in this. Anyone with average intelligence, access to a car, and the ability to lift and carry 20 lbs is very capable of having the stray cats in their neighborhood spayed and neutered. In all the years I've been doing this, I have never met anyone who has seriously tried to trap and neuter the cats they feed and failed at the task. The only ones I have ever met who have failed are the ones who didn't really try. So you can take encouragement from that. I am sure that if you try, you will not be the first person I have ever known to fail!

What you need to do at this point is accept full responsibility for the situation. As much as we'd like to, no one can do anything to help the fact that you started feeding one unsterilized cat and now you are feeding four cats. This sort of thing is inevitable unless the cats are fixed. I know they are not "your" cats and someone else abandoned them. However, at this point you are feeding them so you have taken on responsibility for them. That means it is your responsibility to get them spayed/neutered and vaccinated. It is your responsibility to call the SPCA and find out what services they offer. It is your responsibility to surf the internet and find out where you can borrow traps and how to properly use them. We are here to offer support and can certainly answer specific questions, but we can't do the work for you.

To restate what others have said, it is simply not humane to feed stray cats without spaying and neutering. I took on a situation this summer where someone had been feeding for years and hadn't spayed or neutered anyone. What she had was literally 30+ cats and kittens in her backyard. All of the kittens had severe upper respiratory infections and two kittens' eyes had literally burst from the infection and needed to be surgically removed. It was only June and many of the females were pregnant with their second litters of the year. They all had ringworm, which is usually only found in indoor situations because of the crowding required to really spread ringworm. On top of all this, the neighbors, who had been patient and tolerant of her feeding the cats before, were really getting fed up with the constantly growing numbers and were beginning to threaten to harm the cats. We were lucky that none of the cats had leukemia, but feline leukemia is very prevalent when the cats are being fed but not fixed. As Hissy said, you will not find dead cats in your backyard if you stop feeding. But I would say it's entirely likely that you will sooner or later find dead cats if you persist in feeding without sterilizing. So if you are not willing to do what it takes to get the cats fixed, it is kinder to stop feeding them altogether.

You have the same resources available to you as the rest of us. I'm not saying it doesn't require time and effort and sometimes money. I'm not saying it isn't hard work. And I'm not saying it won't require some personal sacrifices. But it's worth it. I know feral cat caregivers who have spayed and neutered dozens of cats at the same time that they themselves were faced with serious illness, disability, unemployment, advanced age, and many other challenges. If they can do it, you can do it too.

Below is a list of feral cat organizations that operate within an hour's drive of West Babylon. I compiled this list by visiting www.alleycat.org and finding their list of feral cat organizations in NY. Then I went to www.mapquest.com and plugged in every city to find out how far it was from West Babylon. This is an example of the kind of research that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can do to find out what resources are available in their area and how to make use of them.

ASPCA - NYC -
Atlantic Beach Cats - Atlantic Beach
CSM Stray Foundation - Kew Gardens
Long Beach Cats – Long Beach
Muffins Pet Connection - Brooklyn
www.ncspca.com/home/SPAYNEUTER.htm - Hewlett
Neighborhood Cats, Inc. - NYC
Slope Street Cats - Brooklyn

As to the question of rescue groups, I don't think anyone can accurately answer that. Every group sets its own policies, and in any case it depends on whether or not the cats are friendly enough to be adopted as pets. But it is certainly easier to find a rescue to take 4 cats than to find one to take 10 or more cats - and 10+ cats are what you will have once spring kitten season hits, unless the cats are fixed first.

When i started working with ferals over twenty years ago there were no ready resources available. I prevailed on vets, and vet techs and their kindness and I did odd jobs in order to pay for vet care. There was no internet, no AlleyCats Allies, nothing. It is a choice you make, it is a responsibility you shoulder or you just don't do it. If you can't do the whole thing- trapping, spaying and neutering, do not feed. Your cats that you are feeding right now, are spraying your walls, your plants, your house with a safe scent, telling and drawing other cats to your area.Soon, you will have more than four cats- then what? You still have to follow your parent's guidance and right now they want you to stop feeding? I would suggest you do that.

Originally Posted by hissy

When i started working with ferals over twenty years ago there were no ready resources available. I prevailed on vets, and vet techs and their kindness and I did odd jobs in order to pay for vet care. There was no internet, no AlleyCats Allies, nothing. It is a choice you make, it is a responsibility you shoulder or you just don't do it. If you can't do the whole thing- trapping, spaying and neutering, do not feed. Your cats that you are feeding right now, are spraying your walls, your plants, your house with a safe scent, telling and drawing other cats to your area.Soon, you will have more than four cats- then what? You still have to follow your parent's guidance and right now they want you to stop feeding? I would suggest you do that.

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Keith,
I think you've had excellent advice here...especially the points that Katie made.

I just wanted to share that my heart hears you. I fed a boistrous lost kitty this summer, found his owners eventually, and later rehomed him with their permission since I could not keep him and he would not stay indoors, bouncing between my home and theirs (crossing two roads to do so).

That suddenly brought 2 more kitties to eat...and had me realizing I was getting into a situation. When I didn't see either of them for several months, I felt so very sad. I realized if I'd aggressively caught them, getting the one whole male fixed, I'd not now be worrying if they were dead or where they were.

One showed up again last week...starving. I began to feed her, and guess what, up shows a whole tom to compete for the food. I brought her in, I believe I have found her an incredibly wonderful home..and I have stopped putting out food.

But I have to say, if I see that young tom, who looks fit and decently fed, begin to starve, I will find a way to trap him, alter him and place him.

I am in a position, where in a small way, I can do this, but I sure learned that if I left food out, who knew would show up? It included a possum who apparently lives in the jungle that is one neighbors backyard<@@>.

So....listen, learn, check out the links katie gave you, talk to your parents about the one you feel is starving, understand what is going to happen if you feed and don't alter...and keep coming back to this forum. Lots of very caring and knowledgeable folks here