Caring For Abandoned and Feral Cats

oh my, Aeri...so very sorry to hear about Skooter. While she was (visiting) on this side, she surely did have a long and wonderful life!

For sure she's waiting for you on the other side.

 

Thank you, Mothman, and thank you, Lynn!

 

I've seen a live racoon, finally! It's been coming to the cat food bowl, in the carport, after dark.

I knew there was a pretty adorable young o'possum that let me walk near it and everything, and now the little bandit.

I've started bringing the food in at dark. All the cats will just have to get used to it.

 

Erin warns me if the bandits are outside... They started showing up for birdseed. Poor things can't find food this winter.

 

We've got a place near where they are coming for the cat food so we throw some things out for them.

I threw out a banana and 4 big apples that had gone bad. Late last night I saw that the apples were gone.

It made me smile.

 

You all know of Baby Kitty that I brought in two Winters ago and nursed back to health. Her mother, Mama Kitty, had 3 more kittens in another litter after Baby Kitty.

One of those had kittens today. I see 3 for sure. She may be having more as I write.

I believe that 2 were pregnant and I'm not sure which one had this litter. I'll have to watch her go in and out to feed them.

 

A friend of mine does this cat thing, he has had up to 20 ferals and has 4 indoor cats. We call him The crazy cat man.

 

These 3 new kittens belong to Runt-Runt.

Polka hasn't had hers yet.

 

I have not seen our resident stray in several days. She usually comes by to see Grace (dog) every time we go out or into the building. Hope she is OK.

 

Runt-Runt's Litter.

Their heads might be as big a round as a quarter. I think there are 4 kittens. I'm pretty sure the white head in back has a grey striped rump and tail that I saw last night.

 

Less than a week after Runt-Runt gave birth, her sister Polka had kittens, too. Polka had hers in the same nest as Runt-Runt. I saw Polka happily nursing all the kittens, or attempting to.

She had a white one with black spots, a grey striped one, and a yellow striped one.

Runt-Runt decided to move her litter to another location (I believe it's across the street) and she stole Polka's two striped kittens when she moved.

I saw her try to get the third one. Polka caught her and made her put it down. Now Polka lovingly nurses and guards her one remaining kitten.

I don't know how Runt-Runt is managing her four plus Polka's two. She comes to eat several times a day but I don't know if all the kittens are surviving.

 

That is unreal. It makes me chuckle, lol. I wonder if the cat will ever get her missing kitty back.

 

There are more kittens hidden in the carport. "Mystic" had some today. In the past few weeks, "Polka" had three, and "Runt Runt" had four. I see a Have-A-Heart Trap in my future for these feral kitties. I'll be taking up donations for spaying and neutering, lol. There are now 11 cats plus the unknown number from Mystic's litter ----all the off-spring of one "Mama Kitty". I'm pretty sure she died during the Fall/Winter; I haven't seen her for months. I have "Baby Kitty" inside. She's a year old and needing to be spayed. Wow... all this from letting one feral eat in my yard.

I posted this to my family and friends on facebook tonight and a cousin, who I've never met in person because he lives across the country from me, sent me a $100 payment to paypal to help out with starting to get the cats spayed/neutered.

I'm just flabbergasted.

I also have another friend there, a friend of a friend, who I've never met. She also said she's going to send me some money for the cats in a few weeks.

People are awesome!

 

We had to bury someone's kitten yesterday.

It didn't belong to one of my ferals.

It was in the road in front of our house, pretty suddenly. No cars had passed. It crawled there or it was dragged there.

Poor baby's eye was out of it's socket.

We think it was a male kitten about 4 months old. Probably one of the feral males killed it because they don't like competition.

 

Aww the little baby is in a better place. Hey do you think i could teach my indoor outdoor cat to use a roughneck home when she don't come inside at night?

 

We live with coyotes, , javelina, bobcats, cougars, bears, etc as neighbors and our cats come in at night. The trick is we feed caned food at 4/5pm and they're in for the night.

 

Billy, I have made several of those feral cat homes in roughneck totes and these cats won't go near them.

I'd say make sure she has some place up high to sleep when she won't come in. That makes them feel safer.

 

We got 2 trees she hides in sometimes

 

If you have a ledge or shelf somewhere, out of the rain, that would be awesome. If not, then a cardboard box kind of hidden away somewhere dry is next best. The totes might work but I think the cats around here are just suspicious of them.

 

My 2 outside cats are right now sitting in one box (that has a blanket that should be way too nice to put in a cat box ) on top of the deep freezer on the back porch.

These 2 have been in the kitchen (which opens directly onto the porch) and when I closed the kitchen door, they almost lost their little kitty minds. With that, they let me know they were not meant for inside.

Once I tried to take them to the vet for rabies shots and I really thought they both were going to hurt themselves in the carriers, and we weren't even in the car yet. So, now I give them their rabies shot.

Anyway, I really feel for y'all having cats you care for and want to protect...and the poor kitties are scared of what would be best for them.