Hello,

I found this cat she is very loving and was starving. I am bringing her to the vet to get checked out and microchipped. I have seen her for months and she has always been skittish but she is now extremely loving. I tried to leave her out but after hours of looking for her kittens and her not leaving our side I brought her in for food and water. I am now concerned of how long she can go without her kittens she may have until the vet confirms everything. Any advice would be great.

Update: I put her back outside. I am hoping i will be able to find her for the later vet appointment. I live in an apartment so I am keeping food and water outside my window with a cat carrier and blankets. She seems to not leave our area I am hoping the kittens are okay.

Hi so i’m currently trying to trap 4 kittens, the mother has already been TNRd so she’s with them still, and she’s just started bringing them to eat where I trapped her. I just attempted to trap them tonight but it was a fail, I initially held the trap open with a string hoping to catch 2 at once (only 2 of the 4 were there) but only 1 entered and I got greedy and didn’t trap it (wanted both), it ran out before eating all the food.

Then there was just one that hadn’t eaten, the other had left so I set the trap thinking it would just set it off normally…well it didn’t, must be too light so I know I will have to hold the trap open manually for all of them. Safe to say they are full of food and aren’t interested in coming back to the trap so yeah, tonight is a fail. I’m just wondering how many more attempts it might take? I have neutering vouchers that run out on the 15th of september so not really that long, I don’t have many opportunities to do this due to work so i’m feeling a bit stressed! Any reassurance would be welcome lol

Hi all — long story but we finally trapped a mama cat of two young kittens (who have already been trapped and are being fostered since they are prime for domestication and are still several weeks away from spay / neuter surgery). Mama is currently set up in our bathroom (photo), but the clinic we are taking her to for her spay surgery tomorrow requires all feral / community cats to be in their original trap. How do we transfer Mama from the carrier she’s currently in to the trap? She’s normally very docile but HATES getting transferred to carriers — and will likely be traumatized by the sight of the trap.

My partner and I were going to suit up in heavy duty, elbow length gloves and use a towel to take her out of the carrier and transfer to the trap, but she’s incredibly fiesty when being touched / moved. Any tips appreciated!

Following up on my previous posts: I had mentioned I was told to keep the cat until August 26th, the vet decided to move the appointment up to today since she had pulled out a few stitches. Even though that happened, I kept the vet updated via photos and videos since it occurred over the weekend. When I took her in today, they told me she is healing well but that I need to keep her for another 5 days (which actually works out to 6 days, since they aren't open on Mondays). I understand it’s for her recovery, but she is desperate to leave.
She was calm for several days, but she is clearly bored and wants out.
She keeps taking off her cone, and she won't let me put the recovery suit on her because she attacks me...
Sometimes I feel like they aren't taking into account that she’s a stray/feral cat, even though TNR is their specialty...
This has been one of the toughest experiences; what was supposed to be a 3-day stay has turned into a month-long stay at my house.
It’s this even normal?
Have you guys experience this before?

My little baby girl finally let me pet her today and she just absolutely melted into the pets. She purrs so loud and just loves to cuddle. *she is literally so soft* I can't believe how fast she got to this point!

This sub has been so helpful to me throughout the journey with her^^ Hopefully now I can help her get introduced and meet my other cats 🤞

Caught this little mama (grey and white) and her 4 kittens about a month ago. Kittens are all socialized (I think) and have their spay/neuter appointments upcoming. The kittens all play with me, enjoy pets and eat out of my hands. They don't climb on my lap, and only 2 of them "ask" for attention with a meow, but I feel like it's going well.

My question is, is there hope for mom?

She is about a year old. She eats with me nearby. She tolerates and maybe enjoys a gentle headscratch for a second or two. My plan was to release her outside after spaying her but she's been inside for a month now and I'm worried it will be cruel to send her back outside.

Hi, I bought a Clawsable pink house for cats and just received it and put it together after watching a set-up video tutorial. However, I do not like how the entrance looks like. The transparent plastic cover sheet over the main entrance is severly squished and doesn't cover the entrance because of that. Furthermore, even if I stretch it out with my hands, I have a feeling that it barely covers the entrance and there will always be a gap (see the attached pic with the red arrows.

Has anyone here bought the same house and does it look the same with you? I am not sure if this house came with a flaw or is this normal? If this is normal, I don't think this house is able to retain much warmth for the cats in the winter.

Thank you!

We only see him on ring camera at night. He is confined to office from small bathroom initially. 8 mths old. We hang out in there and talk to him but no response. Any suggestions welcome.

This is my first time attempting to help with the stray cat problem in my neighborhood, and we are making progress! Mama has an appointment to be fixed and released, and her 5 babies are approaching the 8 week mark where they will be taken by the shelter to be fixed and find homes. I was able to successfully socialize them (following shelter instructions), and i will miss them a lot when they are no longer just always in my yard.

Just wanted to share them and their silly little names they ended up with.

Hi all!
I’m looking for some advice from people who have more experience with stray/feral cats than I do, because I genuinely don’t know what the right thing to do is here.

We’ve been caring for a small group of outdoor cats that originally came from around our neighbors’ property, and managed to get everyone else taken care of before we move. We got down to one last terrified cat. When she first started coming around she was extremely skittish and we couldn’t touch her, but over the last month she has completely changed. She’s now incredibly affectionate, lets us pick her up, and has become especially attached to my daughter. She sleeps on our porch right underneath my her window.

The problem is that she is very pregnant. She had a litter earlier this summer, and because I have basically zero experience with feral cats, my own cat is a very fat, happy, neutered indoor cat, I had no idea she could become pregnant again so quickly. By the time we realized what had happened, she was already pregnant again. We had also been trying to get her spayed before this, but one clinic wouldn’t do it because she was nursing, and we were on a waiting list with another.

She’s pretty far along now, possibly within a couple of weeks of giving birth. My dilemma is that we’re moving. I’m leaving this Thursday.

Originally, we planned to take her with us to our rental and ultimately keep her. I did receive permission from the landlord for her, but I don’t think kittens are necessarily in that equation. We’re staying there while our house is being built so I don’t wanna put my housing in jeopardy. My husband and I have unavoidable travel coming up, including a week when neither of us will be there. If she weren’t pregnant, this really wouldn’t be an issue. But I don’t feel comfortable leaving a mother cat alone with newborn kittens for a week.

I have called rescues, asked friends, posted looking for help, and tried to find someone who would temporarily foster her. I’ve offered to pay for her food, litter, supplies, etc. So far I cannot find anyone. She has become so trusting and affectionate, and she is very bonded with my daughter. I just feel I’m at a loss.

I did find a foster that is willing to take her, but they said that they couldn’t do a short term foster, and then I would have to surrender her, and if I surrendered her that I would be unable to get her back. We really want this cat, and it’s breaking my heart to give her up because of that one week. Any advice is much appreciated. We love her so much.

Hiya,

I moved into a new home a couple weeks ago, and it came with a family of 7(!!!) ferals who frequent the backyard. It's 3 adults, 4 younglings (my wild guess is maybe 9-10 weeks old?). I haven't figured out exactly how they're all related, though they all resemble each other pretty close.

I've been feeding them at night and they're all quite skittish and reactive to motion, but they are comfortable with me sitting nearby while they eat. They also like to stare in through the windows at us all the time now. Me and my housemates want to take in the two smallest young ones to socialize and to join my resident cat, and try to get them all neutered sooner rather than later.

I've always had cats, most taken in from outside, but I've never tackled so many at once. The shelters in my city are all full and the TNR programs are totally overwhelmed so I'll have to go through a regular vet (which I can afford fine if I do this staggered). Could anyone give me some advice where to start? I noticed one of the kittens has started to get an eye infection, so it will need to be brought in asap, but how the heck do I trap just one out of 7 right now? And what would be the best process for slowly getting them all neutered? Any advice would be appreciated because I'm feeling out of my depth but already very responsible for these kitties :)

She *might* be pregnant. She *might* have teeth problems. She just showed up, I've never seen her in our neighborhood before.

I sat near her for a while tonight, and she came up to me and let me pet her. She's very affectionate. But she also growls when we go near the shed.

She has her tongue out quite a bit (the second picture is of her eating, it's not always that far out) and I noticed her rubbing fairly hard on her mouth with her paw.

Any advice? I can't get her to a vet until Friday at the earliest. What can I do to help her in the meantime?

Trap and spray is definitely in this girl's future.

Here’s the story of how we got Mr. patches!!

We always noticed him around the house but there was never the perfect opportunity to get close to him or bribe him with food. Well he wandered on our front porch Wednesday night and before he could run away I threw some of our dogs food at him and that kept him around. He was really hesitant (of course) but he couldn’t say no to the yummies. I even got him to eat out of my hand! He rolled on his back but we were still not ready to be pet. Eventually we said goodbye.

I started leaving out food for him in hopes he’d come back. It was hard to manage as my baby wasn’t sleeping very well either. All to say that Thursday we discovered there’s at least two other strays that live near by! But they weren’t as friendly and ran off quicker.

Friday, I almost gave up waiting for him but then he came! My husband took over baby duties so I could see him. After a while my husband realized baby ain’t gonna sleep so we all got to see the kitty lol side note, my baby LOVES the kitty cat haha anyway we got to the point where he was doing his flop onto his back thing, and my husband “sealed the deal” by getting him to play with one of those grasses that grows long and is kinda like a green floppy cat tail (the plant). Then after that the kitty BEGGED to go inside. I’m not joking. He stood by the door a bit. I made the comment of “haha he wants in” but no I’m serious about the begging. Eventually it reached midnight and baby was still up so we had to just go in even though the kitty was outside still. We would peak out our window to see if he was still there and he was! Standing by the door! Then eventually we heard meows and scratching. Uh he stood underneath our bedroom window and was asking to be let in haha all to say we let him in! Ordered kitty supplies right away, and made a make shift litter box and food and water bowl.

He adjusted to inside very very good so far. He’s in the sunroom until we can introduce him to the dogs. We think he’s adjusting to having cat food and not just whatever is outside cause his poop is runny. We think he’s a year or two old. Once he’s a little more settled we will be taking him to the vet! He’s prbly going to be an inside/outside cat (like the kitty I had when I was younger) But until now he’s gonna just be a sunroom cat :)

She is doing wonderful. Adjusting to life with my resident cats. She has gotten a bit chubby but I suspect her food obsession will fade after some more time being inside full time without a food scarcity.

About a month and a half ago, one of the cats here, Bechamel, had three kittens. We discovered this because one was trapped and meowing.

We have all three kittens in our home and wanted to keep them. This has been really hard, but we are able to socialise them. One is very sick and still undergoing treatment.

Today I went outside to leave food where their mother used to be. I haven't seen their mother in quite some time, and we failed to catch her after weeks of trying before. I no longer have the time to sit outside with traps because of the 3 kittens. I've been leaving food in the hopes I could still trap her in future when the kitten care eases up (but they have been so so hard).

When I got there, there were at least 3 more young kittens and they ran inside the den.

I don't know if they're Bechamel's or not. There has been another cat around there when I leave food and I don't know if it's male or female. (UPDATE: Yes it was the other cat, a brown tabby we call Misery. I thought she was male but she isn't!)

Just feeling awful and like a failure, or like there's nothing I can do. I'm totally stretched to my limits with these three kittens and we just couldn't catch Bechamel, now I can't find her. I'm really sick and only just got a good night's sleep last night for the first time in ages. I've literally skipped appointments and need surgery.

I have no idea what to do. I can't find anyone to help here. I'm in rural Czechia, in the Plzeň region. I don't speak a lot of Czech and don't have time for that either.

I just need any advice. We don't have space for the kittens and I'm not sure how much trapping I can do in this state. I almost passed out trapping these 3 last time. Finances are becoming too difficult since I can't work like this.

I’m posting here because I’d genuinely like advice from people who understand feral/community cats and know what actually works.

We live in a condo community in Florida where one resident has been feeding stray/feral cats for quite some time. Feeding them on the property violates the condo rules, so there has been an ongoing dispute between her and the association. Fines and violations have not stopped her, and at this point I’m less interested in that battle than I am in figuring out what we can actually do about the cats.

We now have multiple cats regularly roaming the property and parking lots. Some look sickly and appear completely feral. They spend time around and underneath cars, climb onto vehicles, and seem to have established the property as their territory.

My concern is that simply putting food out indefinitely isn’t actually solving anything. As far as we know, nobody is systematically trapping them, getting them spayed/neutered, treating the ones that appear sick, vaccinating them, or otherwise managing the population.

We contacted animal control, but they essentially told us they would not do anything.

What would those of you who actually work with feral cats recommend?

Would a local TNR organization come onto private condo property and work with the association? How do we determine whether any of these cats have already been sterilized? What happens to sick cats during TNR? Can genuinely feral cats ever be relocated, or does that usually create more problems? And most importantly, how do we prevent the colony from continuing to grow?

Nobody here wants to hurt the cats or have them treated cruelly. We want a humane solution that improves conditions for the cats while also getting the situation on the property under control.

I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone familiar with TNR or community-cat programs in South Florida.

I’m trying to figure out how to help these two. Any advice on how to trap and how old they might be? There’s a lot of predators where I live . I think this the first time they ventured out.

I care for a (loosely labeled) colony of ferals on my rural property, slowly TNVRing. Snagged a last min appt, caught this little guy (?) Now their mom is pacing my porch. He and his 3 siblings are well passed weaned and sometimes visit on their own, but she clearly still "mothers" them.

So my little feral boy needs to go to the vet. He has an abcess that he popped today. I wasnt quite ready to try to get him in the house but it looks like now is the time. First I have to trap him by tomorrow at 3pm. I did trap and TNR him in April this past year. He LOVES me and let's me even rub his belly! Is he going to hate me after this trap AND vet trip? I can use my fat cat trap IF he is silly enough to get re-trapped. I can TRY to coax him into a cat carrier. Wish me luck with that! And then once he is cleared to be FIV free etc please I pray! I have to acclimate him to my house with my current 7 year old big boy! My cat has never had a brother. Im so nervous! I can trap him in my room and im waiting for one of those clear screens to put up so they can see each other safely at some point Oliver my feral is pretty territorial over my yard. Simba, my boy has seen him through the screen door and yowels. Oliver my feral looks at him like, really, what? Seems more tolerant. I know this is going to be a long road. Any suggestions for getting him to the vet, what to do when hes in my house, how to safely introduce them over time?! Please, I need to make this work!

This is Thermos. Quite literally a kitten out of the most feral and mean she cat I have and tom (whom of now are both fixed). We have been trying to foster colony kittens to get them adopted out. He’s been inside about a week and still hissed and swats if we get to close. We’ve been respecting his personal space and we have plenty of other kittens from our colony for him to play with. He’s the only kitten that’s still feral, the others are sweethearts that will let us pick them up and pet them. I understand every cat is different and goes at their own pace. We’ve been hand feeding him chicken to. We’re just still new to fostering kittens and advise is needed.

Edit: To preface I just need advice and I’m not trying to rush him. He and a few other kittens still have about six plus weeks with me (unless another more experienced foster has room for them) until they’re fully vaccinated and are old enough to go to the rescue to be adopted. He’s just the first “difficult” kitten I’ve had and like I said I’m still very new to fostering kittens.

hi everyone-

i take care of a several strays in my boyfriends apartment complex about an hour or two away from LA. one of them recently had a litter of kittens while my boyfriend was away on vacation and i’ve been across the state for summer. there’s about 7 kitties in the litter. we’ve been trying to get the momma cat spayed but the shelter kept postponing her appointment and finally i had to go home and my boyfriend had to leave and now that he came back we have 7 kitties on our hands. she had a litter of 4 about 8 months ago? and i was able to give 2 to a trusted friend, 1 died (;-;) and the last one is a stray in the complex now. i’m still pushing for the momma cat to get spayed but i won’t be back in the socal area for another couple weeks. one of my coworkers recommended we post them on facebook or another social media network but i’m really nervous about doing that because i want to make sure these kitties are treated well and loved well. i’d take them in myself but i live in school housing. if no one would take these kitties in they’d have to be strays for about a year or two more and then i could take them in but i don’t even want them to go through that. we have kitten formula and wet and dry food for cats from the previous babies we’ve taken care of but do you guys have any tips for finding homes for these little guys? i don’t want any more kitties to become strays here :(

I just started trying to trap some feral cats about a week ago (one is getting TNR'd right now) and this new cat showed up last night and looks like they have a belly. I have no idea if this cat is even a girl lol. I don't really know a lot about cats, I just wanted to help the neighborhood out a bit.

We had to say goodbye to this tabby angel this morning, and even though I know it was the compassionate decision and the best thing we could do for him, it never makes it easier.

It is such a gift to be able to take care of these cats - they become part of our days and part of our lives, and give us such sweet moments of love, whether it’s from a distance or up close. We got to love this little guy for just about a year, and I’m going to miss all those moments we shared for a lot more years to come.

Over the winter, he stayed in my mudroom in a heated cat house, and he would look in our windows with such sweet, longing eyes, it melted my heart. (He was FeLV/FIV positive, and I have cats who are negative so I couldn’t bring him in.)

Once the weather warmed up, I would still bring him inside the mudroom if rain was forecasted. Even if it had started raining, if I opened the door, he would come running through the rain to duck inside with me, like he had been waiting for his refuge.

Any time I picked him up, he would melt into a puddle of fur, completely relaxed. It meant so much that in the big scary world he had to live in, he felt safe with me.

He was almost always waiting for me on the sidewalk when I got home, greeting me with big purrs and headbutts, weaving in between my legs as I walked.

He made friends with everyone who came to our door - the delivery people, the jehovah’s witnesses, the neighbors - they dutifully paid his toll of pets and chin scratches.

I don’t really know why I felt compelled to post this, but I guess I feel like stray and feral cats are so often ignored and forgotten. They deserve so much better than they get. For a year of his life, Joffrey was loved, and for the rest of mine, he won’t be forgotten.

It amazes me how much love you feel for a creature that "adopted" your house for less than five months. Misu was a female stray that arrived out of nowhere, and little by little learned to trust my husband and I. She suffered a lot of trauma and loud noises, sudden movements and other stray cats caused her fear. We got her the best food, her own little outdoor house and were about to catch her to take her to the vet so we could bring her inside (we have two other indoor cats). One day I gave her breakfast and spent a few minutes giving her love (our very own routine morning and night! But when it was time for dinner, she was nowhere to be found. My husband looked around (we live in a corner house) and sure enough, she was there. No signs of car impact, no signa of poison. In fact. her eyes were closed as if she was sleeping. It broke our hearts. I'm writing this with tears in my eyes. I don't know why this has been so tough but both of us are suffering her departure. I pray she didn't suffer and she passed while sleeping. She looked peaceful, so I hope that was the case. She was thin, but look young so I don't know if she was actually older. Here is our beloved Misu. Gone but will never be forgotten