Do you have feral cats where you live?

[Anne]

I know, I know, we have a ferals and strays forum here,

but even though I'm a day late, I wanted to do something for Feral Cat Day (October 16th) and start a thread about the topic here in the Cat Lounge.

I'd love to hear from members who aren't necessarily involved with feral cat care about the state of feral cats in their area. For those of you who don't know, I live in Israel, where we have a huge feral cat population. Due to the wonderful Mediterranean climate, cats manage to breed on the streets and create generation after generation of kittens. A handful of cities do have TNR projects, but they're just a drop in a sea of cats.

While traveling in the US, I saw very few cats outside. I wonder if that's because there are significantly fewer feral cats, or because they're more shy and stay out of sight during the day. I'm curious and I'd love to hear more about how our members across the glove experience feral cats in their respective area.

Sorry about barging into the lounge with this topic. Editorial privileges of being the site owner

I wanted to point the spotlight at feral cats for Feral Cat Day and get the topic out of the ferals forum for a bit.

 

[Draco]

How dare you spam the lounge! gasp! Though this reminds me.. have you given any more "Friends of Ferals" badges lately?

I've seen the same black and white cat in my apartment courtyard. I have no idea if its a feral or a stray. It looks very healthy and chunky, so I am to think he's a stray.

Last week, I saw a tail of an orange cat disappearing, for the first time. I've been keeping an eye out for it, but i haven't seen since!

I would love to help ferals, even feeding this one cat, but finances forbids me to even consider. I know its not expensive, but one cat can lead to more, which can lead to TNR and vets and thats where it gets pricey!

 

[peaches08]

We did, but a neighbor and his dog are reducing the population. I wish there was a way to stop him. I'd rather do TNR.

 

[dejolane]

There are cats walking around  but I know they are taken.care of.

 

[di and bob]

We have ferals regularly show up at our place, most likely due to the food I put out for MY feral, Russel who I've had for 6 years, and feed despite the 'law' stating it is illegal to feed strays in McCook. I've found homes for at least 30 in the last 4 years, mostly mothers and their litters. Some we've fell in love with and did pay for their spaying/neutering to get them better homes and the best life possible. We did learn however to pay the vet, not the person, it's heartbreaking that people would accept the money and then get rid of the cat! Pregnant cats are often 'dumped' around  here and then their litters become feral. There are no TNR programs, the city traps them and euthenizes them, but I'm so glad they quit poisoning them after our outrage brought attention to what they were doing. Some one was feeding a feral colony down the road and there was a big sign that said "IT'S ILLEGAL TO FEED FERAL ANIMALS "  and a trap sitting nearby. I wrote a big sign and pasted it over the top that said "PLEASE TRY TRAP NEUTER AND RELEASE (TNR) INSTEAD OF KILLING - MORE WILL JUST MOVE IN!  I don't know if it did any good but it made me feel better!

 

[sivyaleah]

In my town, there are two pockets of ferals that I know about.  The first, is where I park my car in the morning on my way to the train to commute into NYC.  This group of cats, I know fairly well, as I used to live around the block and a few of them were there when I lived there.  The others, seem to all have come around just after Hurricane Sandy hit - I think that most were lost or put out right afterwards.  

This colony, is comprised of ferals and semi-ferals, one in particular who is incredibly friendly and surely was someone's house cat.  There are several people who feed them regularly from what I can tell (there's an apartment complex right there) and it is also off a river bank, with several restaurants close by.  So, I think as far as food goes they are fairly well set.  Also, being set back from major roads they are pretty safe - people who use the parking lot don't seem to drive quickly and I think most people know they are there and tolerate them.  

I've tried reaching out to a few people to see if there is more that can be done to help them.  I remember seeing more of them with clipped ears in the past - only one has a specific mark of being TNR at the moment.  The rest, I don't know about however, I've never seen a single kitten running around and I've been watching this colony for nearly 5 years now.  I can't seem to find anyone to help further, the local pet food store isn't very interested (he mostly caters to dogs), the rescue organization I am friendly with is not in this area and the ones that are haven't been very helpful when I have reached out to them in the past.  

Having said all that, since they seem to be managing ok, and I keep seeing the same ones year after year, evidently they are surviving.  I also have never seen one single kitten in all these years, so I'm hoping it is because has TNR'd them.

The other colony, is about a mile from this one - in a housing neighborhood right off a major highway.  I believe, that one of the people there tends to the cats themselves, I remember seeing shelters on their property at some point - they live right next door to a fast food restaurant.  The cats there are all feral as far as I can tell - none have ever come near me when I've tried to entice them, totally different than the ones where I park my car.  

So, while I'm not doing much myself, due to time constraints of work and other obligations, I try and lookout for the colony as much as possible by talking to the tenants I see in the area about the cats to find out who is feeding and caring for them, how they are doing it, etc. and by spending time with the cats as well when I can.  I want to at least be aware of what is going on, to be able to offer assistance if necessary.  And, I actively donate to the rescue organization we got our second kitty from.  Maybe one day I can convince them to expand a few more towns southward

Other than that, we have a few cats running in our immediate neighborhood but I know 2 of them belong to my next door neighbor (which really bothers me because they antagonize our cats nearly daily), and a couple more younger ones that have been coming around now and then - but I'm assuming these also belong to someone nearby and they are just being irresponsible by letting them out, so I don't make a point of being friendly to any of these as I don't want to encourage them to stick around if they have somewhere else they should be.

 

[catbehaviors]

I don't think there are any ferals in my immediate area, though there is a cat that has repeatedly shown up on the trail cam.

However, at a local park/neighborhood there is a feral community. There are about 10+ cats that live there. I know some are pets as they have collars, but others have clipped ears, so I can tell they've been TNRed. Earlier this year in the spring there was a litter of kittens that were living in the community garden shed there, but after about a week or so they disappeared.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

There are "farm" cats across the street; but that's the most I see here.  I know the neighbor behind us has a cat; but again, more of a farm cat.  I see the people across the street feeding theirs; so i assume they are somewhat socialized and not truly feral.  Last year one visited our yard multiple times a day.  I think the bird feeder was the big draw.  He often would run from us; but he also would hang out under our bushes, just lounging,  if we were in our garden.  He stopped coming pretty suddenly so I assume he's across the bridge.   I never figured out the state of his neutering.

Our last neighborhood had feral cats. The lady behind me was working to TNR some, socialize kittens and adopt them out.  There were some bolder ones but some we saw less of.  It was hard to tell if they were actually someones cat or not.  There was one scrappy guy who often had marks from fights; but he was the friendliest cat ever.  I would have loved to make him a part of our crew.  

I know my mother's neighborhood had a small colony at one point; but I think they were removed.  I don't see any ferals in her area anymore.  They may be hiding during the day.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

No. We have bob cats, coyotes, and all kinds of animals that would keep the feral cat population to a minimum

 

[Anne]

 
How dare you spam the lounge! gasp! Though this reminds me.. have you given any more "Friends of Ferals" badges lately?

Excellent question, and no, no applications coming in lately. Reading through this thread I can see quite a few that I'd gladly award the badge to, so by all means, folks, head over to the application thread in the Strays & Ferals forum!

No. We have bob cats, coyotes, and all kinds of animals that would keep the feral cat population to a minimum

See, we have jackals, that are like coyotes in size, but they don't do anything to the cats (fortunately, I might add!). We actually have wolves in the Golan Heights, but I've never heard of a wolf attacking a cat. The only wildlife I've heard that used to attack cats and small dogs were the leopards of the southern part of Israel, but they are thought to be extinct in the past decade or so.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

We have a time or two seen a stray go across the back part of our property. But that is rare. There used to be a man living in this neighborhood who fed the ferals and he lived about two miles from me. Most likely there are still some offspring, but we don't see them here. Of course, my Mattie is a stray on just appeared on my front steps one day. She was already spayed and had at sometime been a pet.

 

[sivyaleah]

Anne - it never occurred to me to even ask for the badge.  I guess, thinking about it, I surely am a friend of ferals.  While I am unable to devote the personal time to them in a way I would like due to my work schedule (and currently some health issues), I do, as mentioned, look over the colony I'm familiar with and try as hard as possible to get help and educate people whenever possible about the feral populations, TNR, etc.

As time goes by, my desire and commitment to helping is increasing.  Taking on our second cat, who was a rescue, gave me insight I never would have had otherwise and put me in touch with wonderful people as well.  Perhaps one day, when I have more time on my hands, I'll be able to dedicate myself in a way which is even more fulfilling to me.  It's funny, I always knew I liked cats, but until I had the two I have now, I didn't realize how much I truly did, and how deep my level of understanding of them would become.

Thanks to everyone who cares.  I think I'll ask for that badge now please lol.

 

[Anne]

Badge awarded and thanks for reporting the issues with the awards thread! No wonder we had no new applicants lately.

The thread is back in action, so please, if you help feral cats in any way, hop in there, let us know what makes you a friend of ferals and get your badge -

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/251561/friend-of-ferals-award-badge-apply-here