I love to hear stories like this....It is a shame more people don't understand about the Feral Colony and how it works....Feral cats have become a problem in some areas but if more people did take it more seriously instead of just complaining, all could live happily....

In my neighborhood, I think everyone has inside cats but there's always 1 stray/feral that finds it's way to my house...But, for years, we've made sure, it is taken care of, health wise and fed...Right now, "Jake", who is very feral, has a heated "cat house" on our back porch and gets fed 2 -3 times a day...We do laugh, since it's gotten colder, some mornings, Jake doesn't like to come out for breakfast.....

I've always felt, it's not the cats fault that they've ended up feral, feel so sorry for them......

I've never heard of a feral cat colony, but I'm glad those cats are being taken care of. When we lived in Ohio we had a lot of stray cats. With the help of our humane society we got them trapped. The Humane Society then neutered and spayed and returned them to us. We had a cat door in our overhead garage door, heaters going in the garage, beds everywhere, food and water. Those that had had kittens I raised. Some we kept and the rest the Humane Society took to place. I loved raising those babies and getting them adjusted to humans, our other cats and dogs. The Humane Society said they had never seen such well adjusted kittens and wanted me to continue doing that. I loved it but we were moving south, so couldn't do that any more.

We have a local TNR group which takes care of several feral cat colonies. They also foster friendly strays that show up at the colony, as well as pregnant females so they kittens can be socialized and adopted out. They do a great job and since they started out over a decade ago, they have been able to greatly reduce the feral cat population (via consistent spay/neuter) as well as improve quality of life for the colonies.

Please avoid contact with feral cats..... I feel so sorry for the animals, but they can be dangerous. I had one friend who recently died from a scratch from a feral cat on her farm (a healthy 50-year old woman), and another friend who nearly died, and spent 2 months in the hospital recovering when one started to get "friendly" and she was feeding it on a regular basis and it scratched her.

sunnydj - I bet Jake feels like one lucky guy to have a heated house! I think it's Alisande that also provides a heated house for her cats? And you're right... it's not the cats that are at fault for the feral cat population! I try to avoid judging others because in my early adult years I was not quite as educated. Now, I have not had a pet get pregnant in 35 years or so. Have taken in some pregnant ones, but not owned any.

linda - you had your own little TNR group! Good for you! I bet you miss the involvement!

petra - that's good to hear! I hope more communities will jump on the band wagon. But there are still so many people against the idea.

grainlady - that's terrible! But people with a love for animals will take that small risk of possibly contacting something. Wow, how horrible to die from something like a cat scratch!

I have quite a few feral cats that live here. Some were relocated from a park in Houston and some came from a house that was torn down and they were trapped and sent to the shelter and I adopted them. I have heard of cat scratch fever but it doesn't concern me. I handle a lot of nasty animals every day. I am bit, scratched, stomped, kicked, ran over.....on almost a daily basis. I rehab possums and there is hardly a week that goes by that I don't get bitten by one. It is painful but it never gets infected. Maybe I am immune to the bacteria now. I don't know. By the way...wild possums will almost never bite. It is the ones that have been injured or have to be raised that are the most likely to bite and mine usually bite me when I am hand feeding them. I just have to remind myself to be more careful. I am more concerned about the people coughing and sneezing in my direction when I go to the supermarket.

This is interesting. Can you tell me how long it takes for these colones to die out? (You say they are neutered.)

chisue - the theory, from what I just read, is that eventually the colony will die off. However, I can see how there will always be more strays coming into the colony, with the promise of food, so would they really all die off? I doubt it.

LOL I just saw my double-typo in the OP. Funny. :)

The problem is, people will see the cats and dump off their unwanted cats. Not so much that stray cats just show up.

All of the ferals that are trapped and neutered have their ears marked, so if they are trapped again, you can tell they have been neutered. The Siamese cat is City Kitty, from Galveston and his right ear is notched. The black cat is Lydia, from Houston, and the tip is cut off of her left ear.

chisue

This is interesting. Can you tell me how long it takes for these colones to die out? (You say they are neutered.)

The main objective is to spay/neuter/vaccinate to stabilize the colony and keep it from increasing via reproduction. The colony eventually shrinks through natural attrition. And whenever new cats are dumped or show up, they are TNR'd as well. If everyone spayed/neutered their pets, there wouldn't be a feral cat problem in the first place. Many animal shelters and humane societies have free or reduced cost spay/neuter certificates, and some communities have mobile spay/neuter clinics, so there is really no excuse to let pets pro-create. In this case, prevention is the best approach.

marilyn_c - that is so true about cats being dumped off at the feral colonies, I would imagine. But, I guess it's better than being dumped in the woods.

When I was reading earlier, I saw that each cat is marked for ID. Just never imagined lopping off a piece of an ear!

petra - AND, in many areas, if you're on welfare, you get an even greater discount. It looks like around here in my area, if you're on welfare, spay/neuter and rabies vac is $9. Otherwise, it's $28 for a male cat and $39 for females, including their rabies vac.

I helped out recently with a guy that traps ferals in his car lot, in an industrial area. I purchased a live trap for him, he had been getting them on loan from the Humane Society. A spay & neuter clinic is currently offering "free" services for feral cats. Karl is willing to feed them. He lives alone in a small trailer in the car lot and has the time to befriend them. He's also aware when a new feral appears.

I'm surprised by the ear lopping. Here in australia, whenever a vet neuters or spays an animal they put a tatoo in the ear so there is no confusion. even if a pet is dumped and ends up at a shelter, they can look inside the ears and tell if it's been sterilised. The tatooing has been done for years here so I'm surprised it isn't done elsewhere. The tatoo doesn't seem to ever bother them, it doesn't crust up or bleed or anything so it seems more humane than chopping off a bit of ear.

Well, I see the comments were deleted. Anyway, some vets do tattoo cats and dogs that have been neutered but the ear notches and clippings are done when the cat is under anesthesia so it doesn't hurt them and you can tell at a "distance" that they have been neutered, so if you see that, you don't have to worry about trapping and neutering them. I am not connected with TNR....but this is what they told me at the shelter.

" But people who have a deep seated hatred of cats, I have found to be very unbalanced."

I have to agree with that, some people are just cat haters and all this nonsense about cats spreading the plague and being responsible for all the ills of wildlife etc are the usual anti cat beliefs/tactics. Whatever, people like that just come across as batty to me :).

I wonder if it was nonpublished who deleted their own comments, way to stand by their rather voluminous comments if that's the case.

Well I missed seeing the post that got deleted, but gotta say, Marilync I just love you. Don't ever change.

I also missed the comment and glad that I did! It's people like Marilyn_c that makes it easier for others to turn a blind eye. Thank you, Marilyn_c for all that you do! And a silent thank you to the "crazy lady" over in the next county that rescues large animals and rehabs wildlife. If I hit the lottery tomorrow she will get a new big barn. Need to go buy that ticket! lol

Marilyn_c - thanks for explaining the notching of ears. It makes more sense than a tattoo. Our rescue dog has a small tattoo on her belly. It's a really cute green spot but it wouldn't be so easy to find that on a feral cat. :)

We have a couple of feral colonies here in Kerrville and some very dedicated people feed and care for them.

My son and his girlfriend live in a neighborhood that was being overrun with feral cats. They were driving the neighbors and pets crazy. So son and GF started trapping them and taking them to be neutered. The vet always tips their ear (that cat, not the son and GF!). They have to keep the cat n their house, penned in a bathroom until they recover. Males are only a day or two but the females need five days. It is a big commitment. They were told the same as mentioned above, that maintaining the feral colony will prevent others ferals from moving in and it will die out on its own. They have to give each cat a name when they take it for neutering, so somewhere out there is a cat with my name!

Marilyn....that made me laugh! "people that don't like cats...."......

Your rescue efforts are NOT going unnoticed by those you rescue...but I want to THANK YOU for rescuing all those animals!

We have had our Feral cat....Miss Kitty for about 15 years now. The first couple of years she was just a yellow streak running in and out of the wood pile we had out back. Then my grandson kept calling her in on the porch. I have a good sized box on the porch for her. it is lined. there is a tarp wrapped around it with a couple blankets tucked around it . She also has a cat heating pad to sleep on in her box. (not overly hot....made for cats.) She loves being outside. She is very loving...and is loved. She is not friendly with other cats.

And we did have her neutered when she trusted us enough to pick her up and hold her. That took awhile.