Looking for advice regarding "my" stray cats... (long)

I'm so sorry to hear about your dilemma. Would it be worth it to humanely trap them and get them fixed/shots? (I know that's the expensive option) Any chance of rehabbing them into house cats? I really know nothing about cats; I'm severely allergic, but have been rehabbing a feral dog for a couple years and we've made great progress.
Good luck and I hope your health is not in danger with the bite from Georgie.
This is an excellent suggestion.
I also noticed how you mentioned whether or not you are contributing to them suffering, you aren't. Unless they are very sickly, you are doing a good thing keeping them alive and giving them love. Love and knowing someone cares goes a looooonnnnggg way with animals, even if people think animals don't know anything(whatever bonehead made that up.) Please don't let anyone convince you what you are doing is wrong or inhumane, it's not, it's an amazing thing you are doing for the animals, if the world had more of you, it would be a better place. The ones who are doing things wrong or inhumane is not taking resposibility of their pets and not getting them spayed/neuteured and letting them roam free and face all the dangers of the outside world, those are the people who need to feel guilty, because afterall, we wouldn't be in such a situation of feral animals and pet overpopulation if it wasn't for people like that.
 
Sorry, I didn't even read that.:shame: That sounds like a PERFECT solution. The way to get the cats to go in there and realize what they have available is to put the food and water in there, cats will go where the food is.
For me, having outside cats, the summer months always seemed the roughest. There are days when it's 100 degrees outside. The cats would always go in a dark cool spot where they would hang around, and I always provided fresh, cold water for them.
I hope your injury is okay, and it's nothing serious.:heart:
 
:hrmm:
If I was a cat collector with 50 cats in or outside of my home the situation could be called out of control but my situation is far from it. Did you read what I wrote in my initial post about my background? I fully understand the seriousness of the feral cat situation. I have successfully rescued 15 or so cats from my neighborhood and of those cats, only two of them aren't fully socialized. All of the rest of them came from homes where people disposed of them as if they were rubbish. HALF of the cats I have rescued have been either neutered, declawed or both. My most recent rescue was declawed on all four feet but wasn't neutered! ALL but one of those cats have been taken into the shelter where they were neutered and then adopted out to loving families who were carefully screened. Only one cat who was FIV positive hasn't been adopted and so he's living the rest of his life at a shelter designated solely for those cats where he has full roam of a fully staffed shelter (actually more like a house) with no cages where he will be well taken care of. I rescued two other FIV positive cats and even they have been adopted! Every time one of my cats is taken in by the shelter I give a nice donation which more than pays for the medical expense of getting them immunized and neutered.

I hoped for and expected to get different opinions here, which is why I posted, but I don't appreciate your take on the situation because it couldn't be farther from the truth. I am not being reckless or irresponsible. Instead, I am cleaning up after other people who were.

First and foremost, I certainly did not want to offend. When I said the situation was obviously out of control, let me expalin what I took from your intial post...

I understood that you take pets to the shelter to get fixed when you can. This to me sounded like most (if not all) of the cats are running around procreating making the situation get worse and worse. You take a large population now having been introduced to illness (a few SO FAR tested + for FIV) + possibly rabies... This sounds out of control - no??

I know all about cleaning up other people's messes. Dh and I started a rescue that takes the pets from our municipality. Normal business practice would be for them to keep the cat or dog in the pound for 3 business days, then drive them to the dump and shoot them to death. We give them a second chance. Unfortuantely many of those that come in our door end up being euthanized humanely at the nearest animal shelter that is over 2 hours away. Humane euthanasia is not a bad thing - esp considering the alternative fate they would have suffered.

We have been struggling with cleaning up others messes now for a few years and it does not get any easier. Be sure you can handle what you have started... pet rescue is heartbreaking at the best of times. I commend you for sharing your love with the kitties and making donations - if more people did this the world would be a much MUCH better place!

EDIT --> Just read through more carefully, and I also commend you for considering all sides of possibilities. If your vet refuses to take in the two cats that have adopted you, try a different vet! They can always pole dart the cat to sleep and perform the surgery, or gas it to sleep in a small crate. Like I said in my first post - get them fixed and vet checked and you're golden with them!
 
Also very very happy you decided to go for the series of shots. Please if you find Georgie call the health unit and/or vet right away so they can determine what is/was wrong with him.
 
:wtf::crybaby:WTH kind of people do that??!!!
God bless you for saving them from that.

It is not only legal here, it is common. TY purplekitty.

Are you in Quebec or France?? I ask because shooting days are very common in towns in Quebec... a shooting day is when the town official drives around and shoots all the pets they see. Great stray control eh? :cursing:
 
yikes. my heart goes out to you. my first instinct as an animal keeper is to do whatever it takes to care for these 2 kitties. Being bit is no fun and I'm not sure what the situation is in Michigan but rabies is almost non-existent in SoCal so the danger is not so great. If you have gone through the rabies shots I think you will be okay from here on out (ask you doc - you may just have to get your blood checked for antibodies.) I know it gets damn cold where you live and I think the best you can do for them is to simply provide a warm shelter for them. They are NOT dumb. It will be up to them to use it or not. I could not personally put them down because I could not care for them anymore. They have strong survival instincts. They have survived your winters up till now. There is not much you can do if they are not socializable. Not all feral cats want to be. I think in the end you just have to respect nature and let them live their lives out naturally. Did you say you did catch them up to have them fixed and vaccinated? I can't remember. If not maybe just do that much for them before re-releasing them so they don't at least reproduce or infect any other animal. It is a moral dilemma though - if they are positive there is a debate whether or not to put down the feral ones or find them a place to live out their lives which can be long in spite of their diagnosis. Follow your gut and your heart. Whatever choice you make will be out of love I am sure.
 
We have a lady in my parent's neighborhood who feeds cats and sometimes takes a few in if they become more socialized. We didn't think much of it until last winter when my dad found 2 frozen kittens (very very young) in the backyard, huddled by the garage. It was extremely sad. Maybe if you let the animal trap people take these cats, you can prevent something like that from happening.
 
Why not trap the cats and get them neutered at little or no cost? Then bring them back to your property. It is not logical to kill a perfectly healthy animal. Also, switching to dry food will lessen the expense to you.
Many municipalities and counties offer a feral cat program where the cats are trapped, neutered and released where they were caught. That way they will not contribute to the population problem and they can live out their lives healthy and happy. Many times your only obligation is to continue to provide food.
I really hope you don't decide to kill them.
I heard the rabies preventative is easier now, requiring only 3 days. I was bitten by an unidentified canine (could have been a dog or a wolf) when I was 14 and had to undergo the procedure. 14 days of needles in my stomach and pain aftward was horrible. The first of two times I ever saw my Dad cry.
 
This is an excellent suggestion.
I also noticed how you mentioned whether or not you are contributing to them suffering, you aren't. Unless they are very sickly, you are doing a good thing keeping them alive and giving them love. Love and knowing someone cares goes a looooonnnnggg way with animals, even if people think animals don't know anything(whatever bonehead made that up.) Please don't let anyone convince you what you are doing is wrong or inhumane, it's not, it's an amazing thing you are doing for the animals, if the world had more of you, it would be a better place. The ones who are doing things wrong or inhumane is not taking resposibility of their pets and not getting them spayed/neuteured and letting them roam free and face all the dangers of the outside world, those are the people who need to feel guilty, because afterall, we wouldn't be in such a situation of feral animals and pet overpopulation if it wasn't for people like that.

I agree with you purplekitty! I think animals know a lot about kindness, love, and patience. I think what mokoni is doing is great!

Mokoni - I hope you find a solution that benefits everyone. I agree with bagnshoo that the cats are smart and will find ways to stay warm if provided. (maybe they don't like the smell of the current house? I dunno?) And :woohoo: for you (and anyone else that works with a rescue) for caring about the animals enough to try and do what's right.
 
Just wanted to give everyone an update...

I saw my doctor last week and she said that I don’t need the rabies prophylaxis series. While I was in the office she called the state and county health departments and was told that there hasn’t been a reported case of a cat with rabies in my county for over 20 years. She told me that she was 100% confident that I did not need the series. She looked at the bite, said it looked good and that there was no infection.

As for Georgie, he is doing incredibly well. We are 8 days post bite and it is now overwhelmingly clear to me that the reason he acted so freaky in the couple weeks leading up to the bite was because he was feeling so bad. He must have had a raging infection in his foot that didn't show until a few days after he bit me when he was only walking on three legs. He’s now back to walking on all fours and he is such a sweet cat. He’s been coming every morning and every night and for the past few days he hasn’t once hissed, growled or acted weird at all. This morning while I was crouched down putting food in his dish he was walking around me meowing and he kept rubbing his head on my back and legs. I am actually seeing a future at the shelter for him! I hope my vet will consider him. I know he bit me but there was a reason for the bite and the bite wasn’t very serious. He was feeling like crap and he was hungry – that’s why he bit me.

Anyway, thanks everyone for all of your encouragement and insight. I am so happy that I had animal control remove the trap after a day and that I wasn’t able to catch him myself. If he had been caught he would be scheduled to be put down on Wednesday just because he bit me which would be incredibly sad because he’s not a mean or aggressive cat.
 
mokoni -- i'm so glad to see a happy update!

and just FYI, cats can live just fine outside as long as they can get out of the elements -- so please don't worry any more about that. we've got barn cats here that live outside all the time, and they are happy and healthy. when it's frigid out they find someplace sheltered to cuddle up, and they eat a little more to generate more body heat.

so i think you can just consider your two to be your cats, and keep on as you have been. i would try to trap them once a year for shots, but they usually get over it and forgive you for it in a couple days.

cheers!
 
Mokoni-- first of all, I just want to say GOD BLESS YOU for caring so much about this often forgotten about kitties.

Your story renewed my faith in the compassion that humans have towards animals.

I am not sure about your house set up, but is there any way you could make an indoor/outdoor 'cattery' for them? Kinda like a dog run but with access to a warm area when your cold winters come?
 
I was just coming here to post a new thread about a stray I have been feeding. I guess I'll just join in the discussion and hope to get a few answers.

I noticed a really disgusting looking cat in my backyard and thought it could use some food. I have bags and bags of dry food that was for my own cat, who died at home, from very old age last winter. She was on special food the last year of her life. Rather than throw out all that dry cat food, I thought it was nice to give it to a cat in need.

I didn't expect this awful looking cat to reappear in my backyard, but she did and I have been feeding her regularly. She doesn't look so bad anymore, by the way. I'm calling her a "she" but I have no idea what this cat is.

This cat won't let me near her but when I see her, I put out food and she comes quite close and waits till I leave. That's fine, I really don't want another cat at the moment. My last cat shed so abnormally. I cleaned the floors when she was too old to remember she had a litter box. ... but we loved her and I let her live out her life. The shedding and the peeing... I don't want to go through that again.

Should I stop feeding this cat? If I trap her, the Humane Society (which I regularly send cheques to, since they do such good work) will put her down for sure. They are overrun with cats. They are giving them away now, with no charge.

Canadian winters can be brutal... I don't want her to have to wait for me to put out food when it's freezing. She was doing that today, and it was so hot and muggy... what will she do in the winter?

My husband hates the fact that I'm feeding a stray. Any advise? Stop feeding her now?

ETA - we have a huge problem with raccoons, squirrels and skunks in this city and if I leave out food overnight, I will be feeding them too. They already get into our garbage cans. I don't want to encourage skunks and raccoons to loiter near my back door.