Food for the ferals

[MidnightGander]

Hello. I was curious if anyone knew what the best bad food is. I have a small colony of rejects from the neighboring shelter that eat and chill in my back yard. They are perfect, just apparently not able to join the shelter colony successfully.

I put down food morning and evening. Problem is that the wildlife CHOWS DOWN on the evening food. I flat out can't afford to feed hoards of opossum, raccoons, skunks and occasional foxes. Particularly as I only have sporadic visits at all by my ferals at night. So, I was curious if anyone knew what the best bad food was.

Daytime ferals get Purina One. Nighttime ones currently get a mix of fancy feast, tiny tiger and Rachel Ray. Anything I can find on sale.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
I'm thinking that it's not just less expensive food, but a way to get the food positioned so the cats can access it but that at least some of the other critters can't. There are members here who have dealt with this same issue but I can't find threads at the moment. Anyway, can you put the food up higher, on a table or something?

What about Target, Tractor Supply, Walmart et al?

 

[MidnightGander]

Hi
I'm thinking that it's not just less expensive food, but a way to get the food positioned so the cats can access it but that at least some of the other critters can't. There are members here who have dealt with this same issue but I can't find threads at the moment. Anyway, can you put the food up higher, on a table or something?

What about Target, Tractor Supply, Walmart et al?

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I've looked into that a bit as well and I can definitely get it high enough that it's out of the way of the skunks. But the raccoons and opossums are excellent climbers and my station is back against the back fence so they have that to climb too.

I've debated trying to move the station but honestly it's in about the perfect spot for safe easy in and out to the yard and since my little rejects are already feeling quite misplaced (I've even had one that was lost during a vaccination clinic) I'm reticent to move it.

I'm fortunate to have access to all the great places to buy cat food. I even have a tractor supply just a couple miles away. I'm also fortunate enough to he able to store large quantities of it. So I can buy in bulk when I find a great deal. I'm mostly trying to figure out if there is a better of the bad foods. So, Fancy Feast vs. Meow Mix vs. 4 health vs. Purina Cat Chow kind of thing. I add in some better stuff but I have no interest in spending a buck a lb to feed the wild life.

 

[poolcat]

If the cats that come at night also show up in the morning, I'd do away with the night feeding and put extra food out in the mornings. It won't take the cats long to start eating more in the AM.

 

[FeebysOwner]

You could try to place another feeding station closer to your house and leave the 'in the back of yard' station in place too for the time being. The one thing that will help to stop raccoons is a perch that has to be jumped up onto, as most raccoons are not so great at jumping. That should work as well for the possums. This is something I saw a while back, in case it might give you some ideas.
Raccoon Resistant Proof Outdoor Cat Feeding Shelter Stations - Ark Workshop

 

[MidnightGander]

If the cats that come at night also show up in the morning, I'd do away with the night feeding and put extra food out in the mornings. It won't take the cats long to start eating more in the AM.

My nighttime cats come only at night. My daytime only during the day. I had two daytime regulars but one suffered a complete degloving of the chin. Truly nothing left but bone on his jaw. We trapped, sedated and reattached as best we could. During his 6 week recovery I was able to earn his trust and he turned out to be the SWEETEST cat. So he's living his best, indoor only, life now.

His buddy now protects the yard during the day like his life depends on it. So we had a couple try to fill the gap made by Mids coming inside and Gander was having none of it.

The wildlife is getting BAD though so I may pick up at night for a week or so and see if I can at least lessen the number of visitors!

 

[MidnightGander]

You could try to place another feeding station closer to your house and leave the 'in the back of yard' station in place too for the time being. The one thing that will help to stop raccoons is a perch that has to be jumped up onto, as most raccoons are not so great at jumping. That should work as well for the possums. This is something I saw a while back, in case it might give you some ideas.
Raccoon Resistant Proof Outdoor Cat Feeding Shelter Stations - Ark Workshop

This is an excellent idea. I can keep my regular station down for daytime visitors and for the water bowls and set up one like this for the nighttime crew. Set it up close to the back fence but not against it. Except my one regular the cats don't come up by the house very often.

Now just gotta figure out how to build it!

 

[Furballsmom]

I was thinking a pedestal type of table (which would have to be heavy enough to not be pushed over by coons), -- in other words with a center base rather than four legs. Cats could still jump up, but climbers won't be able to do anything more than look at the underside of the tabletop.

 

[MidnightGander]

I was thinking a pedestal type (which would have to be heavy enough to not be pushed over), in other words with a center base rather than four legs. Cats could still jump up, but climbers won't be able to do anything more than look at the underside of the tabletop.

Yes, exactly. I'll have to figure out how to build it based on the pictures above but I feel pretty confident I can figure it out!

 

[Furballsmom]

Regarding food, the problem is that for example meow mix doesn't provide as much fat as fancy feast, from one review I read, which is unhelpful for the cats.

Rather than make a shift in what you feed which is not great for the felines, an approach that truly helps get the wildlife back to eating what they should be, (more than just one night) would be better for everyone

 

[fionasmom]

If you are looking for comparisons of actual foods, there are some charts here

How To Compare Cat Foods & Calculate Carbs: Dry Matter Basis – TheCatSite Articles
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/assets/cat-food-comparison-chart.pdf
Cat Food Chart from catinfo.org