Hero status goes to all who trap and spay/neuter feral cats... I would like all animals to have safe, healthy and loving homes - I currently have 3 rescues but cannot take in any more (DH is mildly allergic but knows how much I love my furbabies so loves the cats also and tolerates his issues).

I have four feral cats, all males all neutered, ages 16.11,11,5. They never go outside. A young couple next to us has captured about 30 cats, was able to find homes for 20 and they kept 10. All right here, this is a rural area and people either dump them and/or move away and leave them here.

My Pearl was a semi-feral 'barn' cat who 'knocked' on my door when she was pregnant. I adopted her as an outside cat and began to feed her regularly.

After she delivered (where we never knew) I caught her in a doggie cage by using her food dish, moved it closer and closer to the door each day until she finally went inside it to eat. We finally also caught one of the other barn cats, a male, a year later and fixed him too.

Now they both are my "babies" and live on the porch or at the well house (especially in bad weather) where we've placed some soft pillows for their comfort. The are the most spoiled "feral" cats ever!!:D

Jan in VA

Pearlie drowzing on the well house steps.

Bless you for caring.....if more people did this we would not have so many at the animal shelters. You are a wonderful person. :)

I love hearing all of your wonderful stories! I just wish more people would be responsible. I saw a new feral in our yard the day I brought these guys home from the vet. It just doesn't end. The good thing though is that dh is totally agreeable to taking care of whoever winds up hanging around - now that we know we don't have to spend an arm & a leg doing it! I cringe now when I think of how much money we've put into outside animals and then later found them on the road or just disappeared. The friendly ones though all eventually wind up on our bed. ;) Just haven't figure out how to add more right now...

If you ever find anyone that needs info on feral cats, please refer them to alleycat.org or indyferal.org. Both sites have a huge amount of information.

Indyferal.org got the laws changed in our city for trap/neuter/return and now it is an established program in the city.

The FACE clinic does cats for $20 and if you live in a few inner city zip codes, it is totally free. These zip codes have a large % of the problem cats and dogs for Animal Care and Control.

Thanks for getting the word out. I have rescued 12 feral cats. The first one I had fixed cost $290. A friend told me about the MARX program (Managing Animal Reproduction without Extremes). It costs $39 for males and $52 for females. The vet in my town that participates in the program is wonderful. He works with me and doesn't complain when I have a cat scheduled and can't catch her. He just cancels the surgery and reschedules! Once I caught 3 at once, so he did all their surgeries on the same day. Check the internet for your state and see who participates near you.
I have the latest mama cat scheduled for Friday, hope I can catch her. Her 4 kittens are now about 8 weeks old, so this fall, I will be at it again until they are all fixed. Twelve is my limit, though, even if they are all outside cats but one (inside due to medical issues). It is sooooo expensive to feed them!
I didn't think I would have a cat "problem" when we moved to the country down a quarter mile lane. I think my address must be on some sort of cat underground newsletter...

I shouldn't...Oh, what the heck. Does this apply to husbands, too? Signed Mother of 8 (He is my third. We have none of our own and he's a keeper. LOL)

If you do a search on line go to- LowCost Spaying/Neutering - their in almost all areas.It cost me $25 to spay and get my kitty her shots and flea treatment.These places will actually fix and return to the same area feral cats free of charge and if you take them in as feral/barn cats there is usually no charge for the fixing and only a minimal charge for shots.

thank you all to help out these lost/forgotten/unwanted animals... I myself have caught, fixed and rehomed 10 cats in the past year & half- thank goodness to these low cost clinics.

I really want to know why can't the vets charge less to spay/neuter? why the $300 +? If they were more affordable, then we won't be having such a huge population of unwanted animals. doesnt' this make sense? My feral fixed cats had no problems with their surgeries like my 2 cats that were "fixed" at the reg vets. greed i tell you...

talk about spoiled kitties- our postman wrote us a note back in the winter -thanking us for what we do (he has seen the kittens/cats) and nominated MommaGirl as the most spoiled feral in the area... my husband took all of our patio cushions (I had to replace them -ouch $)piled them up and hung a heat lamp for MommaGirl during the winter months. I am not allowed to use the downstairs bathroom for he doesn't want her to run away for her spot is right outside the window( I do use the bathroom)- but she is a spoiled princess. she is scared of everyone else, but when she sees my husband- you can't get her to shut up or stop rolling.

word of warning (stop reading if you can be squeamish): do NOT advertise kittens/cats if they are black or partly black on the net for FREE. alot of people take these, sell them on the black market to owners of exotic pets... this was shared with me by multiple animal caregivers (vets and rescue groups who do not interact with each other) Charge a good amount of $ then donate it to a rescue group- the high cost will deter alot of these ruthless, soulless creeps.