The secret world of feral cat caretaking
An aspect of looking after feral cats is to try and keep their location secret! That might sound ridiculous but it is actually important. I am sure Dee – a regular and wise cat guardian visitor to PoC – will agree with me.
Volunteers who manage feral cat colonies try and keep the colony’s location secret to residents and citizens of the area to (a) protect the cats from the nasty people of the world, of which there is a small but dangerous number. They like to kill and abuse cats and (b) to prevent irresponsible cat owners dumping cats at the site of a stray/feral cat colony. This is not uncommon as far as I know. People who want to abandon their cat or cats find ways to do it. Some are more guilty than others and some are devoid of guilt. I suppose abandoning a cat amongst a stray cat colony makes these people believe that the cat will be okay especially if they know volunteers feed the cats and are involved in TNR. It’s leaning on others.
It is a great shame that decent minded people involved in caring for unwanted cats living on the street are sometimes hounded by others who have opposing viewpoints. Those who oppose the management of feral cats believe extermination is the final solution. It ain’t. They’re just ignorant.
Okay, there is a nice story about feral cat caretaking volunteers living in Longmont, Colorado. The map shows the location.
The video shows one of the volunteers talking about looking for a plot of land where she and the others can care for their cats. They need the land because the land on which one or two of feral cat colonies live may be sold which I guess may lead to development of that land and the removal of the cats.
Note: the embedded video takes a little while to warm up and get going! Select the left hand icon with the cat to play the one about feral cats.
The lady in the video wants to win the Colorado Lottery Mega Millions to buy a plot of land or she hopes (forlornly I expect) that a nice cat loving philanthropist will donate a few acres for the cats. A house on the land would be nice too so she could be surrounded by the cats. Brilliant. I admire this lady who I believe is Nancy Eudeikis (or Tonni Loutzenhiser!).
Nancy and her fellow volunteers feed around 70 cats in four colonies, come rain, shine or snow. Last year they were up to their knees in snow in a snow storm feeding and caring for cats. It’s at these times that caring for them is particularly important.
Their organisation is the Longmont Friends of Feral & Abandoned Cats. It is fully licensed by the state under the Pet Animal Care Facilities Act program.
People who don’t like feral or stray cats or cats per se can sometimes be converted if the dislike is due to a lack of knowledge or misunderstandings about the work of TNR volunteers.
Most people are decent minded enough to want to deal with unwanted cats humanely and they realise the so called problem is of our making.
I have cared for ferals for a lot of years. They lived under my house. The 2 head females were so trap wise, I could never get them anywhere near a trap. Tried all kinds, even resorting to removing the doors to my cat carriers and putting blankets in them with treats and food. They always had food as I had a feral feeder under the house and bowls of water also. I managed to rescue two injured kittens, and a large neutered male. All are deaf. The rest of the kittens and cats disappeared. There are many coyotes, bobcats, owls and other predators where I live. I could approach the ferals to within a few feet-they knew where the food came from. If I approached them when their backs were to me, I could get a little closer, but I didn’t want to scare them away.
The adult male and the 2 kittens (now grown) are the only ones I have left and they live in the house. I respect their reluctance to have me approach, and over the years, they have learned that I won’t approach them, they come to me when they want attention. They were fixed a few weeks after I managed to bring then indoors.
The fourth feral was a rescue from a town north of mine. She was fixed and had to be relocated due to loss of her terrain. The person who knew of her asked if I could find her a home as they had no luck. She came to me and it didn’t take long before I realized that she, too, was deaf. She’s got a lot of old scars and I wonder how she survived. It has taken a long time for her to actually allow me to pick her up and love on her.
God bless those who care for those cats and doge who are abused and unwanted.