Wee bit of a rant...

Raminahobbin

Gah. I moved into an apartment block. Started noticing cats outside. Namely one black cat and several small kittens.

I started feeding them the odd time, and got to know them all, so that they weren't 'just cats.' Mammy cat was this awesomely protective cat who stood up to my dog (not that my dog would have done anything anyway) and always hid her kittens in the bush before coming out to me to confront me about my audacity in approaching her. She got used to me and became very friendly, so I'm convinced she was abandoned. Her kittens followed her lead, although they were still extremely nervous and certainly wouldn't let me touch them. I thought to myself, 'oooh, I can get these rehomed.'

I gave my name to all the vets and petshops in the area so that anyone looking for a cat could contact me. I rang around all the Kildare/Dublin shelters, but only the DSPCA said they would come out. (I have no car) But I had to catch the kittens. With help from the pet shop owner, I secured a pop-up run thing, and borrowed a pet carrier. I stood behind a curtain for HOURS with a string attached to the door of the pet carrier. I had two kittens in the box at one point and pulled the string, but in the split second it took for me to get to the box, one had escaped.

Next morning, I rang the DSPCA, but they said they would only come out once I had caught all the kittens. Cue many nights, over a bank holiday weekend, of trying various trapping methods on a limited budget, to no avail. On the last day, house kitten escaped and managed to get into the walls of the apartment. We just left all the doors open and the kitten made his way outside.

I was feeling pretty low, and quite the failure. The DSPCA said they couldn't come out and trap the kittens, and that they wouldn't take feral kittens. So I committed myself to a more long term plan of taming the kittens until they were easy to catch and rehomeable.

MONTHS of feeding and encouraging them into my apartment, and I began to get quite attached to them all. Mammy cat disappeared for aaages, and arrived back heavily pregnant ( :mad: ), then disappeared again, I assume to have the kittens. From the original litter, there were now only two kittens left, who we christened Lou and Ian. They got into a routine of waiting for me in the morning/lunch and evening, mewing for food. Lou got more adventurous, and I was able to pet him as I fed him. They would wait in the bushes outside my apartment, and loved coming into the apartment to snuggle up on the couch or look at my hamsters (cat TV).

It had been incredably difficult to arrange for someone to drive us to the DSPCA, as I don't know that many people who don't balk at the idea of cats or who have a car/time to spare. Finally, a friend said he would as he has recently (very recently) been converted to a cat-lover/tolerator.

In the mean time, mammy cat was being shadowed by 8-12week old kittens, and the original duo were about 7/8 months old. And a tom cat was constantly on the scene. During the snow, mammy cat came into our apartment and stayed for ages. Over a week. She refused to leave, so we let her be. She is now nearly as tame as your ordinary household cat. Unfortunatley, I learned that you cannot keep a cat where it doesn't want to be, and after hours of crashing/banging/breaking things/mewing loudly, we had to let her out at 6am the night before we had planned to deliver them to the DSPCA.

I managed to catch Lou and Ian easily enough (I was now allowed touch both and I even picked Lou up twice for short periods) and we dropped them over to the DSPCA, FINALLY. I know how difficult it is for the staff there, or in any shelter, and since I am an animally person I really do applaud them and their work. But when I went in, they were clearly disgruntled to see me, and didn't appear to believe me that they were not my cats, and that I had just been taming them. They even filled out on the form 'member of public "found" cats.' They took the cats anyway. I think it was the fact that I was upset and shaky to be giving up the two that made me look like I was lying.

Currently, as the situation stands, Mammy cat comes and goes, and I am still just waiting for one last lift, which I cannot seem to get. For certain reasons, the guy who gave me the first lift has to wait several weeks to give me another one, but I'm nearly certain mammy cat is pregnant again and I want to get her moved ASAP.

I don't really know why I'm posting this, as I'm not looking for a lift (I'd feel wierd crying in a car with strangers, and cry I will)- I guess I just needed to get out the frustration of how long this is all dragging out!!! I know I'm probably guilty of dragging my feet at times, as I enjoy having cats around, but there's no way I can keep them. Gah.

Anyway. Sorry about the long post

Magenta

I feel your pain OP, I have been through all this myself apart from the DSPCA.
They have probably gone out to a lot of people before to catch cats only for none to be found (cats are smart buggers!) and probably don't have enough time or staff to do this anymore.
What we did was tame the kittens and we got them homes through small ads (say in the newspaper).
If you put the ads up when they're about 4 weeks you usually have enough good homes sorted by 8 weeks (there's always time wasters who cancel on you). Once the kittens are weaned and eating themselves we got the mothers neutered. I don't know what your financial situation is but if there's any way you could get the mother neutered it would help the situation as female cats will always get pregnant otherwise. You can still get them neutered when they are pregnant, the vet will advise.

Big congrats to you for putting so much care into these cats, so many people just don't care.

The Sweeper

Anyone who works in a shelter for more than a month becomes extremely skeptical about people handing in kittens for rehoming - especially if they can be handled. It's just par for the course. Trust me, far less scrupulous people than you will do all sorts of things with animals.

If something like this happens to you again, the first stop is to catch the mother cat. If you cannot find a shelter to take the cat, then take her to your local vet. Explain the situation. The vet may put her to sleep, or they may look to rehome her if she is healthy - it depends entirely on how busy the practice is, and on the individual views of the staff the day you're in there.

The alternative for you is to accept your role as manager of a feral colony - in which case you pay to get the mother cat neutered, and return her to life in your apartment complex - in which case she will continue to occupy a territory, keeping out newcomers, without having any more kittens.

However you will then have to deal with the kittens - either pay to have them neutered or catch them before they breed and have them put to sleep, or rehomed through the DSPCA or another shelter who'll take them and won't rehome them without neutering them.

The mother cat is capable of coming on heat when her kittens are around seven or eight weeks old (sometimes earlier). Her gestation period is around two months. So in other words, every four months, she'll have a litter of kittens. Each of those kittens needs to be caught and either desexed and rehomed, or put to sleep.

Feeding a feral colony is a problem - unless you're going to take the extra steps of catching / actively desexing etc. By feeding them, you're giving them additional strength to survive - so you're actively empowering the female cat to continue getting pregnant because you're keeping her well fed. Additionally, by feeding the kittens, you're assisting their quick growth to breeding weight.

I know you're trying, but if you keep feeding this colony, and cannot get organised with lifts/shelter collection, you are going to be up to your proverbials in cats within two years - and I mean a colony of 20 or 30 cats, most of whom will be completely feral and unable to be handled.

Keep in mind the worst case scenario in all this - the block property managers may receive complaints from other tenants about the number of cats. This may end up reflecting badly on you, as the resident who's feeding them.

What you describe about the female cat in your apartment - if her kittens were that age and she was wrecking your apartment to get out, chances are she was on heat again and there was a tomcat nearby (especially if she was making lots of vocal noise - "calling" - and yes, she will be pregnant again).

I don't live in Ireland, but there may be one of the other boardsies on these forums near you in Maynooth who can help with a lift or cages if you can catch these cats? There are plenty of good folk on here who may have the facilities to help you out with a car ride or a cage...

Magenta

The Sweeper has good advice OP. I didn't use a rescue for the strays we sorted, however we are lucky in that we have the space to keep the neutered mammies, which you may not have yourself.
Best of luck

Raminahobbin

I was silly enough to assume cats were like dogs when it came to being in heat, and I suppose that's why i didn't get her spayed as quickly as I should have. Byjaysus I have learned my lesson!!!

Mammy cat has only had two litters so far- first one was dealt with as detailed. Second one, I'm gonna try tame, but she didn't bring them near us until the last few weeks. They're fully weaned and independant, and she has now gone and got herself pregnant again, I'm nearly certain, but it's very early days.

Anyway, good news, just got a lift sorted for tomorrow I just managed to guilt someone I'd been working on for weeks into it. Meh- ends justify the means!!

I gave the DSPCA a substantial donation (for me!!) and I have added them to my standing order list, and I'll give them more tomorrow, cos I do feel terrible about adding to what I'm sure is their overwhelming burden as it is.

NOW we just have 3 12 week old (ish) kittens outside.

Anyone want a feral kitten?

xoxyx

My mum was in a very similar situation and was at her wits' end, but, eventually she got on to the Cats' Protection Society and a really nice woman came over and caught the (very) feral mother cat and kittens and ended up re-homing all the kittens.
I don't have the contact details for these people, but I can get them tomorrow for you.
In the meantime, it says a lot about a person who is so good to animals!

Raminahobbin

Thanks for your advice guys- I certainly am not gonna get caught up in this again, I know I haven't handled it very well, but they pulled at my heartstrings. It just started with a bit of innocent feeding

I'm not too worried about people compaining, they seem to find it amusing. Esp when I was hiding behind the curtain with my crappy trap set up- heard a couple of them referring to me as a crazy cat lady. Meh.

But I'm now confident I've nearly nipped the colony in the bud, and I'm gonna try and move soon, cos this apartment thing with stray cats around is just not something I can deal with!!

EGAR

I don't take in cats/kittens as I don't have the facilities and am flat out with the dogs and horses as it is. But I don't envy the cat rescues in Ireland. Thousands of feral cats everywhere, no let up and no legislation whatsoever, not even a "control of cats act ". People quite often dump kittens in cardboard boxes at my gate and I have always found a cat rescue to take them in .

Fair play to the OP for doing the right thing even though it has cost nerves and time.

The Sweeper

It certainly shows that you've a big heart that you've put so much work in to date. Next time (and sadly there may be a next time), you'll know what to do in what order.

Some people must think I'm an awful bitch, advocating putting cats and kittens to sleep all the time, but I only say it because I see the results.

Currently on the corner of my desk is my sixth cat. She's 10 weeks old, and she's asleep upside down in her cat bed. I took her through the shelter I donate to, and at 10 weeks she's already had two of her three vaccinations, and she's desexed and microchipped. I think she realised she's won the cat lotto ending up in this house, as both himself and myself are soft touches for cats - but her background? Her mother is a siamese purebred, belonged to a less responsible back yard breeder, who swore blind that she never let her outdoors... Well only sometimes... Well just for 10 minutes a day... Every day... Well sometimes she's out for longer... But she never leaves the back garden...

Bingo! Five siamese cross kittens. It drives me batty - as a breeder she would have known when her cat was pregnant - she should have taken her to the vet to be neutered when she was a few weeks pregnant, and that would have taken care of the litter too, but oh no, this back yard breeder just dumped this litter at the pound, and now she has her still-intact female queen, ready for the next purebred litter, to be sold at hundreds of dollars per kitten, and they'll be rehomed probably as intact cats, possibly wormed, and maybe with their first vaccination if the new owners are lucky...

Except if the new owners haven't done their research, and don't get their kittens neutered, within a year they'll have their own unwanted litters...

(Seriously though. Six is my limit. Six cats is the most I can keep and ensure they're clean, fed, can be separated if they're ill, and they all get attention and adoration in equal measure. Good job I've got no kids and no plans for kids.)

Magenta

Hey OP,
I really feel for you, I have been doing this my whole life and I know how hard it is to see hungry cats looking up at you.
You might have an easier job catching them if you put some food in the trap (smelly stuff like sardines is best) and seize the moment as soon as they get into it.
I have found that the easiest time to tame a stray cat is when they have small unweaned kittens because when they are producing milk for feeding kittens every day they are very hungry and will take more chances to get food. I have spent hours sitting on my back step with a piece of cheese in my hand, watching some hungry mammy moving towards me literally by the inch. You have to remember that for every person that will be kind to a stray cat, more will tell it to shoo so they think you will do that until you convince them otherwise.
It will take patience but 12 week kittens aren't as set in their ways as an adult would be so with a lot of patience they will soon be tamed and forget any fears they have.

lorebringer

Just realised OP is in Maynooth - doh!

Have you tried the vet in Maynooth to see if they could help? Or the vets in Celbridge?

Also, Kitten Cottage, which is part of Last Hope rescue in Navan (not too sure where the Kitten Cottage is though) take on all sorts of cats and rehome them (even semi feral). Worth a phone call to see if they can help you out http://www.lasthope.ie/?page_id=24