- Joined
- Oct 16, 2023
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Hi all I’m looking for some advice (sorry I’m advance for length of this post, I appreciate whomever takes the time to read)
back story- I recently moved into a neighborhood that has an estimated 25+ feral and stray cats. Three houses in my immediate area have their own colonies of various TNR’d cats and there’s probably some unaccounted for dumped strays as well.
The multitude of community cats are not a problem to me. Originally I did not mind the visitors. I suspect my own cats did, as I’ve had problems with two of my indoor fixed males marking. In But between moving and adding two new cats into my home (as well as the community cats scoping us out around the outside) I’m sure they’re just stressed out and I’ve been trying my best to manage it.
Now on to this stray on my porch- this one cat showed up pretty shortly after we moved in. He would nap on my side porch and in my garden. He’s truly a stunning cat and I always admired him. His behavior made me suspect he was feral originally as he’d run off as soon as I’d come home or go outside. But he was around pretty regularly and I would always look forward to seeing him particularly. There was probably about five other cats I’ve spotted randomly over the past few months in my yard but he was showing up multiple times a week. Photo below
So, this is where I went wrong. During one of his sun bathing sessions on my porch I softly spoke to him through the door and he looked up at me and didn’t run off. I stupidly made the decision to go outside and give him three treats. He was scared but slowly approached and ate them from a distance. A few days later he was rolling on my back steps and for some reason I went out and chose to give him a couple treats again. This time he decided to rub up on my legs and meow at me. That’s when I realized he very obviously was not a feral cat. From this point forward is when he decided that my house was now his new home.
So at this point when he was spending hours everyday at my house I attempted to figure out what colony caretaker he belong to. He is in good shape and friendly, as well as fixed, so I knew someone on my street must take care of him- right? Well, when I posted him on Nextdoor my neighbor across the road reached out and told me he did not belong to her colony nor her neighbors colony. So that only left one other house nearby that has cats roaming and cat shelters on their property. I would watch this cat when he made his daily rounds on our street and sure enough he was crossing over to go to this house. I figured I would reach out and left them a kind note informing them he was sleeping on and setting up camp on my porch and simply stated I just wanted to open a line of contact and left my number- no response from them.
So at this point, since it is the start of winter and getting into the low 20s at night, I decided I would at least do the bare minimum to help him as he was cold and sleeping on my doormat. I put out my outdoor cat heating pad and a bed. I had a spare cat condo house and premade tote shelter from the last stray I took care of that I cleaned up and put out (although he won’t go in either though). I started feeding him at this point when he continued spending cold nights here out of pity. He’s clearly an older cat and it breaks my heart to get no response from my neighbor who was most likely providing some sort care for him.
I believe he left her colony probably because he was being bullied by the others, he’s extremely territorial here. He tries to fight with any other cats that come on my property, which I hate. He’s now begun trying to fight my own cats through my back door window and side windows. I’ve tried to move him from my back porch further away from doors and windows onto my side porch but he refuses to relocate and will sleep on the damn doormat yet again. I’m at a loss on what to do.
I’m also unsure of if he’s ever been indoors, he’s terrified of my garage and will not enter it but he’s clearly friendly. I cannot bring this cat in however, I currently have six cats, two of which I recently brought inside after they were dumped at my last house.
so my options are-
1) continue to try to form contact with this neighbor who ignored my note and may take offense to me badgering them
2) take on continuing to care for this cat who already has some type of caretaker
Any advice or insight would be appreciated
back story- I recently moved into a neighborhood that has an estimated 25+ feral and stray cats. Three houses in my immediate area have their own colonies of various TNR’d cats and there’s probably some unaccounted for dumped strays as well.
The multitude of community cats are not a problem to me. Originally I did not mind the visitors. I suspect my own cats did, as I’ve had problems with two of my indoor fixed males marking. In But between moving and adding two new cats into my home (as well as the community cats scoping us out around the outside) I’m sure they’re just stressed out and I’ve been trying my best to manage it.
Now on to this stray on my porch- this one cat showed up pretty shortly after we moved in. He would nap on my side porch and in my garden. He’s truly a stunning cat and I always admired him. His behavior made me suspect he was feral originally as he’d run off as soon as I’d come home or go outside. But he was around pretty regularly and I would always look forward to seeing him particularly. There was probably about five other cats I’ve spotted randomly over the past few months in my yard but he was showing up multiple times a week. Photo below
So, this is where I went wrong. During one of his sun bathing sessions on my porch I softly spoke to him through the door and he looked up at me and didn’t run off. I stupidly made the decision to go outside and give him three treats. He was scared but slowly approached and ate them from a distance. A few days later he was rolling on my back steps and for some reason I went out and chose to give him a couple treats again. This time he decided to rub up on my legs and meow at me. That’s when I realized he very obviously was not a feral cat. From this point forward is when he decided that my house was now his new home.
So at this point when he was spending hours everyday at my house I attempted to figure out what colony caretaker he belong to. He is in good shape and friendly, as well as fixed, so I knew someone on my street must take care of him- right? Well, when I posted him on Nextdoor my neighbor across the road reached out and told me he did not belong to her colony nor her neighbors colony. So that only left one other house nearby that has cats roaming and cat shelters on their property. I would watch this cat when he made his daily rounds on our street and sure enough he was crossing over to go to this house. I figured I would reach out and left them a kind note informing them he was sleeping on and setting up camp on my porch and simply stated I just wanted to open a line of contact and left my number- no response from them.
So at this point, since it is the start of winter and getting into the low 20s at night, I decided I would at least do the bare minimum to help him as he was cold and sleeping on my doormat. I put out my outdoor cat heating pad and a bed. I had a spare cat condo house and premade tote shelter from the last stray I took care of that I cleaned up and put out (although he won’t go in either though). I started feeding him at this point when he continued spending cold nights here out of pity. He’s clearly an older cat and it breaks my heart to get no response from my neighbor who was most likely providing some sort care for him.
I believe he left her colony probably because he was being bullied by the others, he’s extremely territorial here. He tries to fight with any other cats that come on my property, which I hate. He’s now begun trying to fight my own cats through my back door window and side windows. I’ve tried to move him from my back porch further away from doors and windows onto my side porch but he refuses to relocate and will sleep on the damn doormat yet again. I’m at a loss on what to do.
I’m also unsure of if he’s ever been indoors, he’s terrified of my garage and will not enter it but he’s clearly friendly. I cannot bring this cat in however, I currently have six cats, two of which I recently brought inside after they were dumped at my last house.
so my options are-
1) continue to try to form contact with this neighbor who ignored my note and may take offense to me badgering them
2) take on continuing to care for this cat who already has some type of caretaker
Any advice or insight would be appreciated