If you take care of feral cats....
 

Please make sure to check with your humane society to see if they know of a low cost vet for spay & neutering! I was so glad I checked our h.s. - they recommended a super reasonable high-volume spay/neuter clinic. They are in a town about an hour from us, but to make it easy for people they do pick-ups at the humane societies - and drop the animals off the next evening for you to pick up. It can't get any easier. And we were able to get mama kitty, her two kittens (they do pediatric spay/neuter) (and the mama was pregnant before we could do anything to stop it) - AND dh was able to catch the daddy too - so the whole family got "fixed" AND vax'd for less than it would've cost me to do one. I am sooooo grateful. They are all home now and recovering in cages in our basement (away from out inside cats) so we can make sure they're all ok before we release them again.

Mama has become much friendlier since she had her kittens - and with a lot of work, the big tom cat has even come to really enjoy a good head scratch. I hate to have to let them go again.... I'd love to keep them inside, but we already have 3 in a tiny house.

Anyway, I know we couldn't have done the daddy cat, and it would've cost a ton to get our two females done - it made such a huge difference and was so reasonable that I'd love to catch more just to stop the cycle. I'd gladly pay their price! (I can't remember the actual breakdown, but to do 2 females and 2 males, incl rabies & distemper, it was only $150!!!! - and they even trimmed their nails)

You are a hero in my book!

Thank you for doing this for the cats. (((hugs)))

For the dogs and cats in my life....my rule is~If I feed you - you will get fixed~ Good job in caring for the cats in your life.

My daughter takes care of 15 feral cats and had them all fixed.
I dont know where she took them but it was very reasonable. She traped them two at a time with special cages.
Since she lives in a rural area with lots of land she enclosed an old porch for them to sleep in. They are fun to watch and they keep the pests at bay.
Right now Im watching a couple of them trying to get at something in a stack of logs outside my window.

They're so fun! I do wish we were in a more rural area though. We are on the edge of town and have a large yard with neighbors on one side that are good with cats - but on the other side is just one lot and a busy road. Over the years I've found too many of them there. If they would just stay in their yard I'd be so happy.

when a neighborhood cat started coming into our backyard with her kittens, we finally let her stay in the garage at night. then into our house. when the two girl kittens were old enough we took them to our Vet and had them fixed. $300.00 each!!! the mamma had another litter (the dad snuck into our garage!) and after she had weaned the babies, we took her to a planned pethood place to get her fixed. couldn't afford another $300.00 if she didn't want to stay with us in the end.
but she did and we have 3 cats and love them all. i feel bad having taken her to that planned vet place. it was horrible. so noisy with kids running everywhere and she was so frightened when we took her home.

I have that rule, too, but mine extends to DHs, too... LOL! You are a hero! Have y'all been seeing that PSA about "fix at 4"? I never knew they could be fixed so young...

Being on social security our local Humane Society has a plan that only cost us $5 for our male and $10 for our little female. The vet that we used doesn't like to do them until they are 6 months old. I agree with that since they can have issues if not fully developed when spayed or neutered. Fortunately the big male that is now lliving under our house has been done. He is fed twice a day like our other outside animals and is very friendly. I have 3 indoors only cats and a small house so I sure would like him to go home. If not he is welcome as long as he behaves himself. We have had skunks that lived under the house years ago and were no problem I just didn't feed THEM ! LOL

Here in Las Vegas, NV we have a city/county wide TNR program (trap, neuter, release). There are tons of volunteers city wide that actively trap feral cats, they are given shots, spayed or neutered, groomed if needed, ear mites treated etc, and then they are released back to their colonies to live out their lives. The tip of the right ear of the cat is clipped to show that it has been fixed. There are many volunteer caretakers that feed these colonies. The city now even has a new law that if you register the colony you are caring for, if one of those cats are picked up by animal control, they are returned to you.

A year ago a stray cat showed up in my yard and had kittens. She wasn't a feral cat, she was one that had apparently been abandoned a year before due to a home forclosure in our neighborhood. We of course fed her while she was nursing the kittens. When the kittens were old enough, we trapped them and the animal foundation took them in to be socialized and find them homes. We then trapped Momma Cat and brought her to the place that does the TNR program. The cost was $25 to me to have her fixed and get shots. We took her home and locked her up in an empty room for her 48 hour post surgery care. We were told to release her where we trapped her at and she would rejoin her colony. Funny thing is that she never left. I have tried to make her an inside cat, but she doesn't like coming in the house with my other cats, and they dont like her. She lives on my back patio, sleeps on the patio chairs or in our tool shed (which we now have to leave open for her). She has plenty of food and water, and even a potty box inside the tool shed. A few months ago we even took her to the vet because she developed a urinary tract infection. For the past month or so, two of her feral friends have been coming around for dinner. One of them is sporting a brand new clipped ear, so I know he has been fixed. I have to borrow a trap and try and catch the other one so I can get it fixed too.

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.

My DH must be your DH's twin! My hubby installed heat lamps in two different dog houses for our rescues during the winter. It is so much fun to peek inside and see a tangles mess of kitties! Since the new mama came this spring with her family of 4, I guess we will need to add another heated doghouse this winter!

We just adopted two feral kittens. The mother was a feral that a friend of a friend kept feeding until he could get her inside. She was pregnant and had four kittens. Just got them yesterday and they have decided to play hide and seek and we haven't been able to find them. They are in the house somewhere. All the bedroom doors were closed so they are somewhere in the main part of the house but they have definitely hidden themselves well. I guess when they get hungry enough they will show themselves. Meanwhile, we'll keep looking.

The animal control here does spaying and neutering and shots so when they get old enough we'll take them and have that done. It's cheaper than our vet.

oh careful where you sit. they may be inside teh sofa or chair!!

In california they have a group called feral cats. they will help trap them or whatever needs and then they have a time that they do all the fixing for free. they do except donations if you can. it is all volenteer so if you can give some time that day if they need its welcome. we just watched and made sure they were okay after the surgery. We had over 25 cats done that came for dinner out of those we ended up falling in love with some of the kittys that were sick and we got better. so we ended up with 12 cats we were in county and a large place but we also had everyone fixed of course. We have lost all but one now.Last month on the 27th we lost our tabby so the one left crys if she think she is alone. She has never been alone before without her sister or the others. But she refuses to get along with others without beating them up. She's 16 now and set in her ways. She was the baby of the bunch.

Thank you for stepping up and taking charge! We took in an adorable little guy last fall and although it was expensive getting him fixed, his shots and havingmhismblood checked to,ensure he was ok around our existing guys,
he was worth every penny!

My daughter does this. She lives in the city and people are constantly moving and leaving the cat behind. So, when she's convinced they're feral cats, she takes them to the Animal Council and gets them neutered and their shots before turning them back lose in the neighborhood. She does try to find homes for the younger ones.

Ugh. Mama is finally out of her cage and walking around - I'm hoping this will help her lack of bm since Monday. But the tom cat - he was doing great, but now he has diarrhea and even threw up once. The low-cost clinic could see him free of charge for the first week, but it's over an hour away and my schedule is really solid until Monday. I hate the thought of having to take him to a regular vet ($$$).... now that all these kitties are hidden (temporarily) in our house, another cat was snuggled on our front porch. I swear they tell each other where to find help! (If I'm remembering them all, I think we're now up to 12 feral/strays that we've fixed)

We've checked there too. No kitties. I can't imagine where they're hiding but they sure have done a good job. I did hear one meow a couple of times this morning. Nothing like a 5:00 wake up call. LOL They come out and eat and use the litter box then hid again. I can see where they've been in the mornings. Things distubed that weren't. Mainly my dining room table. That will have to stop. I guess our mistake was not keeping them confined to one room until we got them tamed more. Lesson learned.

wE FIX HUNDREDS AT THE SHELTER AS YOUNG AS 2 MONTHS AND HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS, CATS CAN GO INTO THE HEAT CYCLE AS YOUNG AS 3 MONTHS OLD(MY CAT DID), fixing them before their first heat cycle reduces the chance of cancer so I don't know who told you to wait until they are six months old. There is actually a veterinary paper stating there are no links to fixing them young and problems, so whoevers telling you that needs to do their homework. We just had someone call about that the other day and the shelter vet gave them the name of the paper and study

I also want to stress that kittens can be spayed and neutered at around 2 pounds. That is our clinic's limit. They do absolutely fine. All mine were done as kittens and i have had zero issues. My males have never sprayed and their urine is not smelly. I think it has to do with the fact they never developed a lot of the male hormones due to pediatric spay. I had more problems years ago when they waiting until the cats were older.

Thanks for doing this work!

Here's an interesting article that appeared in The Houston Chronicle recently, about people who are placing feral cats with businesses where they can live and help control rodents: http://www.chron.com/life/article/Fe...er-3671126.php

We live in a very small rural town but have no shelter so what we have done is join 2 local shelters in our 2 neighboring counties. We help support them by running a thrift store & taking donations of pet supplies. At 1 of the meetings, it was mentioned about clipping the ears & how cruel this is. I was stunned as this makes sense. No sense trapping the same cat, transporting them to the clinic only to find out it has already been fixed. I think everyone who helps out is a furbaby angel.
Sue