neighborhood business trapping ferals and pets

I live about 2 blocks from a Dairy King. I have been missing some of my ferals I have fed for years. My cousin feeds some of mine too. He told me they had been at the Dairy King so I went to try to see if I could find them. I wanted to bring them home. What I saw was a trap and cages. They have been feeding them and getting them used to eating there and then trapping them, calling animal control , and then of course they kill them. I am just sick. I have looked for my gray feral for weeks. I stood out and called for him and he always came in the morning. He meowed all the way to me usually. What can I do?

Hi Darla,

I would suggest you leave a note attached to each trap that you would like them to contact you. Then you will have the opportunity to talk with them to find out why they are trapping and explain what you have been doing. If they insist that the cats are a problem where they are located then you will have to move the colony. Not a simple thing to do, but you may have no choice. You might be able to enlist them in helping you to trap them. I'm new to this board so I don't know if your ferals have been spayed/neutered and are utd on their shots. If not, have you considered contacting Alley Cat Allies for help?

Newt

You can try and educate these people to instead of killing the cats, trapping and neutering is a better answer.But really, there is little you can do. Feral cats are open game for all sorts of bad things to happen. The best thing to do is to neuter and spay those you can so that there is not an increase in the cats population.

Originally Posted by hissy

You can try and educate these people to instead of killing the cats, trapping and neutering is a better answer.But really, there is little you can do. Feral cats are open game for all sorts of bad things to happen. The best thing to do is to neuter and spay those you can so that there is not an increase in the cats population.

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they know I am trapping them to spay and neuter but they said that they have complaints about it being nasty with cats running everywhere. they even own a cat. they told me they haul dogs off at the edge of town to get rid of them. I even e-mailed the humane society to see if they would pick up the cats. If they would stop feeding them they would come back home. I went by and they had thrown a bunch of french fries to them. None of the same cats were there from last time.

I had a couple of male cats that came in my colony and tried to take over. They were fighting my cats and guarding the food. I think that is one reason they leave because they have shelters and clean water and food. I want a cat fence but I can't find anyone to build me one.

Originally Posted by Darla S

they know I am trapping them to spay and neuter but they said that they have complaints about it being nasty with cats running everywhere. they even own a cat. they told me they haul dogs off at the edge of town to get rid of them. I even e-mailed the humane society to see if they would pick up the cats. If they would stop feeding them they would come back home. I went by and they had thrown a bunch of french fries to them. None of the same cats were there from last time.

I had a couple of male cats that came in my colony and tried to take over. They were fighting my cats and guarding the food. I think that is one reason they leave because they have shelters and clean water and food. I want a cat fence but I can't find anyone to build me one.

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Darla....sounds like you need to involve some other people in this....surely there are customers who do not mind or even like the cats. What about other cat rescuers?

What about asking local hardware stores if they know someone who is willing to help you with the cat fence.

I would certainly contact these other groups and see if they can assist you in this matter:

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

Katie

I talked to the lady that owns the Dairy King and she said she has traps but she is not trapping anymore cats. She feeds them but I told her that she needs to get them spayed and neutered. I am giving her an application to fill out to have them altered. I would say there are at least 20 cats there. She wants someone to come in and take the cats but in this area I don't see it happening. This town is over run with strays and the people will throw food out but not fix the problem.
I looked at the websites but nothing is close to where I live.

Originally Posted by Darla S

I talked to the lady that owns the Dairy King and she said she has traps but she is not trapping anymore cats. She feeds them but I told her that she needs to get them spayed and neutered. I am giving her an application to fill out to have them altered. I would say there are at least 20 cats there. She wants someone to come in and take the cats but in this area I don't see it happening. This town is over run with strays and the people will throw food out but not fix the problem.
I looked at the websites but nothing is close to where I live.

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Darla...you can also explain to this woman about the Vacuum effect....basically, if these cats are removed..more will move in. Restaurants are notorious for attracting ferals and strays because they are a food source. Best thing she can do is have these 20 fixed and returned. They will tend to keep other cats away and having the cats TNRed will make it easier for her to identify any "newbies".

Katie

We have a member here that when she joined, her town park was overrun by cats. Her and her husband decided to do something about it, and joined with a local animal rescue league. This was a few years ago. I recently contacted her on another matter, and she told me that they haven't seen any kittens in a very long time. They systematically began to trap, neuter and release all the cats in the parks, essentially stopping the mating/fighting and nuisance complaints. TNR does work, it does not happen overnight, and if you can band together with a local rescue organization you have help with how to do all of this successfully. Just a tip, if you offer a donation to the organization, they will respond to you a bit quicker. But most of them are swamped under 90% of the time, because people do not spay and neuter their cats.