Feral Cats

[Pendlewitch]

There is the sweetest little cat hanging round the blocks at the uni, she is probably not yet 6 months old but is obviously pregnant. Some of the students are feeding her and so am I as no-one can bear to see the little thing going hungry and she is so nearly touchable now. The problem is there are a lot of cats about there now and I can see the problems starting to develop, there was one with a plastic drink can thing round it's middle a couple of weeks ago, fortunately it managed to get it off. These moggies are feral and breeding like crazy, next will be cat flu or more getting tangled in stuff or even starving or freezing to death. Cat rescues are stuffed full and taking on ferals would probably not be what they would do, one large black tom is a real bruiser and is starting to attack anyone who gets too close!

 

I'm a bit worried that if I raise a question about the amount of cats there would be a total cull, would that be a bad thing depending on how it was done of course? If I could find a place for the little cat and borrow a trap then at least she would be safe and she is in with a chance of being tamed, she's nearly there already and if would be one saved at least.

 

Ideas or comments welcome!

[Fee]

It might be worth contacting your local Cats Protection League and see if they can help. My uncle had a large colony of feral cats that took up residence in one of his barns in a remote field. The CPT came and trapped them all, neutered them and released them again so they could live out their lives but not keep breeding.

[phoebejo]

I agree, call Cats Protection. They ought to be able to set up a trapping & neutering scheme. Unless they know of somewhere looking for ferals it's unlikely they'd remove them completely and besides, even if they were all removed you'd only get more moving in because there is obviously enough food and shelter to sustain a colony.

 

As for the one who is pregnant, if it were my branch then I'd offer to foster her so that she can have her kittens in a home and they can be handled and rehomed.

[kats n greys]

Definitely call the CPL and if they threaten a cull, do what I did at work and threaten them with going to the papers (definitely stopped them doing it on our works site).

[murtle]

My local Cats Protection is working with a number of farmers locally to do a similar thing of trap, neuter and release.

 

Definitely worth a call to them to see if they can help.

 

Any help with funding would probably be appreciated. My local CP says the farmers they work with often don't provide cash help, but just being allowed to neuteur the animals initially is a huge step for them so the CP are pleased to help.

[Pendlewitch]

Ho hum, well some of the students got a cat trap from Cats Protection and left it outside the blocks. Of course it was promptly nicked by some idiot who left a note saying CPL put cats down and other silly mindless stuff. We had to do a global email insisting the trap be returned asap or serious and awful retribution would fall on everyones heads. Fortunately it was returned but the uni have had a hissy fit and have banned the students from putting it out again.

 

A badly handled episode from well meaning students, I've told them it would not work during the day anyway as kitten gets scared off and what action plan did they have for once mog was caught, err none! Also did they have any idea just how dangerous ferals can be once trapped? Again no, they did think kitty would be really pleased to be taken in, bless them!

 

I'm going to have a go with a basic cat basket, suitably chained to a drain pipe and just feed her in there for a day or two but I will first find a rescue place who will take her!