I need some cheering up (WARNING: talking about cats)

[El Pollo Guerrera]

I need a little cheering up here.

Over the past... while, there's been a stray cat living around the neighbourhood. We've been half-assed tryign to catch it but with work and commitments and general life she's been able to elude us for over a year.

Last year, when she first turned up, she had four kittens with her. We put up a shelter for her and them, fed them, kept them safe... and one day we were able to capture all four kittens. I kept them. They've been 'fixed' and they are healthy and all four are living comfortable lives in my home (Oscar, Charles, Mambo and Skittles).

But the mother kept escaping. Then the snow happened. And she had another litter.

This time the neighbours helped a bit more in catching them. Of the five kittens, the neighbours caught three, one died, and the last one I caught and took to the SPCA.

But the mother kept escaping.

Then this year, she was back with three more kittens. I just managed to catch them on Thursday and get them to the SPCA.

I found out earlier today that all three had to be put down. Two of them had the Manx syndrome (or something like it) and the third had a bad leg that needed to be amputated and since the SPCA couldn't afford to pay for that... yeah.

And I'm pretty sure that the mother has had another litter... She disappeared about a month ago and just started turning up within the last week.

The SPCA says that they'll be doing a 'sweep' of the area and try to capture any strays, but they've said that they'd be around before and nothing's ever come of it.


So, yeah... a little cheering up would be good right now.

I'm gonna sit in front of the TV and hug my cats now.

[MaggieTheCat]

*big hugs* It's awesome that you're trying to help her, and that you adopted the first litter she had. I'm sorry that the other three kittens had to be put down. Have you tried catching her in a feral cat trap? When we first saw Mint (our "domesticated" feral) hanging around our yard, we got a feral cat trap. Since we had been feeding her regularly, around the same time and in the same location, it was pretty easy to catch her. If you've been feeding mama for a while you shouldn't have much trouble getting her. Just bait the trap with the same kind of food you normally give her and in the same location that you normally feed her. You can then, at the least, get her spayed so she doesn't have any more kittens.

[Seshat]

I've heard that spay/neuter and release is one of the better ways of dealing with a chronic feral cat issue: if you just remove them, others come into the territory.

You did what you could for each of the litters you've been able to trap.

I could so easily take this into Fratching territory, but that's not what you need right now. So I'll just say that the SPCA did the best they could for the population of kittens they had at the time; not giving 'your' kittens special consideration.

For dealing with the mother, I agree with humane trapping. Sometimes a local council or SPCA or other animal care organisation will have humane traps available for temporary use. Most that I've heard of charge a deposit (the things are expensive!) but not rental fees, since they're being used to benefit the community at large.

Read all the advice you can find on the web about humane trapping of a feral cat, and get yourself in the queue to borrow a trap. Then get the mamma cat spayed. Even if you then release her back into her territory, it'll give you a great deal of peace of mind.