Hi, I am in the Cincinnati Ohio area and have been caring for a feral cat since last spring when I saw her struggling to keep her kittens healthy. Most of them died except one. I started feeding her and eventually she brought her baby around. By the time the baby was old enough to take the mom in for TNR, she was very pregnant and had 4 more kittens in late August. The family started sleeping in the cat shelter I have and eating at my patio most nights. Then in December the weather was unusually warm and I really worried about the mom getting pregnant again as the kittens were about the same age as the first one was when she got pregnant with these four, so I called the local cat clinic who confirmed I should bring them in for TNR even though it is winter. Unfortunately the first appointment I could get was two weeks ago. At that time it was still fairly mild weather and the forecast did not seem bad. So I did the TNR and returned them outside, and then the weather pretty immediately got really bad. Right now the temps are in the teens and will drop to single digits. We’ve had 6-8 inches of snow so far and another 5 coming next week. On top of that the cats have not returned to use the shelters, but two kittens came for food four nights ago and I think the mom finally made an appearance a couple nights ago. I did more research online and it seems like TNR in winter is a really awful thing to do to the cats. I wish I had researched more before.
I am really worried about these cats being in the elements with their shaved bellies. Will they survive? Why aren’t they coming back to use the shelters I have - does that mean they probably have another place? Also, why did the cat clinic allow me to (and encourage me to) TNR with the dangers of winter? Any insight into how they might be doing would be really appreciated. I can’t find many real life stories of what happens to cats who are TNRed in winter.
I am really worried about these cats being in the elements with their shaved bellies. Will they survive? Why aren’t they coming back to use the shelters I have - does that mean they probably have another place? Also, why did the cat clinic allow me to (and encourage me to) TNR with the dangers of winter? Any insight into how they might be doing would be really appreciated. I can’t find many real life stories of what happens to cats who are TNRed in winter.