In the last few weeks, a mother cat and three kittens have begun living under my nextdoor neighbors porch. I'm not sure how old the kittens are, but they seem to be atleast a few months old. I just bought some kitten food & started mixing it with wet food and put it outside for them. They're still afraid of people (and my dog) and run under the porch at any site or sound of people. My mom (who is allergic to cats, so we can't keep them) says I shouldn't feed them because they'll start depending on us and breed even more. She's also afraid that they'll still hang around the house when I go back to school in the fall. They're too skiddish to trap and we don't have a low cost spay/nueter porgram in the area. I don't want them to be hungry, though. What can I do?
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will stray cats start to depend on me?
- Thread starter sarahk76
- Start Date
I would ask your neighbor if they would be willing to feed these cats. Your mom is correct, if you feed them...they will stick around and depend on you. However, the best thing you can do is to contact a TNR group to have mom and the kittens fixed and then returned back outdoors. Below is a list of TNR groups in PA:
http://www.alleycat.org/orgs.html#pa
Once they have been spayed/neutered, they will not be able to continue to breed, so feeding them will not be a problem.
Katie
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They will start to depend on you. If you can, you should trap them, get them vet care and spayed/neutered, and release the mother if she will be unadoptable and find good homes for the kittens at 10-12 weeks of age while charging at least 25$ for each one.
If not, you can contact one of the numerous groups who care for strays and run no-kill shelters.
Do not feed the mother cat unless you are willing to commit to caring for it somehow. The worst thing you can do is feed it all summer and then leave for school and suddenly take away its food source. Your mom doesn't sound willing to even put out food for them.
But please help the mother cat get care somehow and the babies can still be found good homes!
If not, you can contact one of the numerous groups who care for strays and run no-kill shelters.
Do not feed the mother cat unless you are willing to commit to caring for it somehow. The worst thing you can do is feed it all summer and then leave for school and suddenly take away its food source. Your mom doesn't sound willing to even put out food for them.
But please help the mother cat get care somehow and the babies can still be found good homes!
I don't think you should be feeding them unless you have a plan to trap them and get them spayed and neutered. I know that on the surface it seems nice to feed outside cats, but they just keep reproducing, and that isn't good.
Even skittish cats can be trapped. If you buy or borrow a humane trap, you can hook the door open and put all the food in the trap. After a few days of eating in the cage, you set the trap and catch them.
If you cannot afford to do this, call a rescue in your area. You can use Petfinder to find the rescues. They can either help out, or direct you to someone who can help.
Even skittish cats can be trapped. If you buy or borrow a humane trap, you can hook the door open and put all the food in the trap. After a few days of eating in the cage, you set the trap and catch them.
If you cannot afford to do this, call a rescue in your area. You can use Petfinder to find the rescues. They can either help out, or direct you to someone who can help.
