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-   -   Trapping feral cats - releasing them - advice? (http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=88767)

marko August 22nd, 2019 09:15 AM

Trapping feral cats - releasing them - advice?
 
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Hi Everyone,

We have 4 Ferals in our backyard that I think got left behind in July's move. (It's a problem in Montreal...because 85% of all residential leases end in July and when new places don't accept pets....some people feel leaving their pets outdoors is a brilliant solution.)

We have been using the SPCA's traps and have 2 of 4 (so far) spayed/neutered.

Any advice for letting them back out...or advice in general.
(After the surgery we have a small room where they can recover for 24 hours...and then we plan to release them) The SPCA says the one they neutered (that's recovering now in our basement) is still too wild (because he's not into being petted...basically they are looking for cuddly cats) and won't place him for adoption. I suspect the same for the other 3. The one we have now is 5 years old. He looks so young..... seems gentle but afraid.....he might also be missing his sibling which we expect to trap and neuter/spay in the next few days.

This morning when we opened the door for him to leave....he just wanted to still hang out in his cage...yup that's where we are.

Any advice is appreciated - thx! :goodvibes:

hazelrunpack August 22nd, 2019 10:46 AM

Will the shelter take him for adoption if he warms up to humans a little more? If he seems gentle, maybe he's not 'lost', yet... Do you have the time to get him acclimated to humans?

On a semi-related note...what do the upstairs kitties think about the ferals?

marko August 22nd, 2019 12:05 PM

The 3 kitties never saw the feral in our home as he came in caged, but they LOVE to watch them through the window in the backyard.

....after lots of thought, We released him as recommended by the SPCA.
He's not unfriendly but not friendly yet either... and unfortunately at this point, for a whole host of reasons we don't have what it requires to have these 4-5 new cats indoors with us.
We do plan to build temporary shelters and hang outside more...so if they do come back (and we think they will) we can try feed/bribe/pet them in order to acclimatize them and potentially bring them inside a room to try and foster/socialize them for adoption.

Man this is difficult.... in other news, yesterday a brand new cat with a collar dragged itself across our backyard. Its 2 hind legs looked paralyzed. My wife picked him up and brought him it into a room. (Man she is an :angel::angel:)
The cat looked so tired and happy to be safe in the room purring with Carmy and me. Owner was called and thankfully came within a few hours....the cat had been missing for 2 weeks and strayed 30 blocks outside its territory.

2nd trapped and now spayed cat comes back tonight and we will set the trap again for the last 2. SPCA doesn't do this during the weekend so the 1 cat may get a break but all its friends will nopefully be spayed/neutered. :cat::cat::cat::cat:

hazelrunpack August 22nd, 2019 05:47 PM

That sounds like a good plan--feeding them to keep them around and maybe getting them acclimated enough for adoption!

So sad about the stray with the lameness. :( I'm glad the owner came for him. Poor little guy! I hope they can fix him up! Carmy is a good woman!

I entirely understand about not have the requirements for new cats in the house. We're sort of under the same gun--I just noticed another stray, probably another dumped kitty :(, hanging around yesterday. Now we have to figure out a place for it if we can rescue it. With luck, the shelter here has room...if I can even catch it... Haven't seen it yet today so maybe it's already become a meal for something in the woods :cry: It just destroys me to see them--they don't last more than a week in the woods...

marko August 23rd, 2019 09:06 AM

Ouch...yours are more at risk then. The main risk here is cars and other cat fights...no real predators aside from rotten humans.

hazelrunpack August 23rd, 2019 02:52 PM

Yeah, we have a human attitude problem, too. It's legal to shoot stray cats on your property in WI--they're considered exotic invasives and it's allowed to protect the native birds... I know of at least one person in the township who [I]does[/I] shoot them on sight.

Have you seen your little guy since you released him back into the yard? Also, does your shelter help defray the cost of the neuter? When we manage to catch one out here, we have to swallow the cost of the initial vetting ourselves. I think Midnight cost us upwards of $200 to get vetted! And that didn't include a neuter, which was done after the clinic offered to take him in and get him adopted out through their county shelter. I consider it money well-spent, since it makes it more likely for a shelter to be willing to take him in, but it's not something we can do everyday. Thankfully, it's normally a once in two or three years prospect, as opposed to 2 or 3 times a year...

marko August 25th, 2019 08:29 AM

We HAVE seen our released guy. He still comes for food and Carmy has pet him while eating! SPCA pays all costs for their TNR program , so it's just time (1/2 drive each way)and respecting their strict schedule and procedure.

The female we had spayed though.....they say let them back out after 24 hours. Most other places of info say 2-4 days....... So she has been in a small room healing up for the last 3 days.

hazelrunpack August 25th, 2019 03:33 PM

Aw, bless your heart! That's nice of you to give her a little extra time! Is she pretty feral? How awesome that Carmy has been able to pet the little boy. Maybe there's hope for an adoption later. Will the shelter take him if she can tame him up a bit, even if he's a little older? :fingerscr

Also nice that the shelter has the TNR program--I'm not sure that ours does, but they may these days. I haven't asked them about it recently. That won't cover immunizations, though, will it?

We saw our stray last night, too--whew! I was a little worried about him. He appeared to be mousing in the front yard under the bird feeders after dark. More power to him! He can have all the rodents he can catch! :D

Barkingdog August 25th, 2019 05:03 PM

Are there people who would be
willing to foster the cats so they can be adopted?

marko August 26th, 2019 08:56 AM

They pay for the basic immunizations as well - 1 shot that covers the 3 basics I think.

Might end up being Carmy and me that do the fostering.....not sure yet.

hazelrunpack August 26th, 2019 09:31 AM

Oh, I wish I were closer to [I]your[/I] shelter. :fingerscr That's a marvelous program!!

marko August 26th, 2019 09:36 AM

The program is good :goodvibes: ...just the info could be a bit more in favour of letting the spays heal longer before releasing them.


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