Need some help - am I making the right decision with regards to these animals?

Originally posted by RealSpoke
reply to post by pityocamptes

 

I would say giving them to a shelter would be the better thing to do. Living as a feral cat really isn't all that glorious, you have to dodge cars, cruel people, predators, be infested with fleas/ticks + other parasites, and produce more kittens that the world doesn't need.

edit on 28-6-2012 by RealSpoke because: (no reason given)

no way don't do that. Let them be free. Trust me we are not the solution for animals. We're only the destroyers of them. If they're not a human pet then there the humans enemy most of the time.

reply to post by pityocamptes


I don't know how it is in your area but, where I live, kittens are in high demand. I adopted a full grown cat a few years ago and he got sick and died on us after just 3 years so we were in the market for a kitten to replace him last summer.

I checked the internet ads and called many of them only to find out that all of the kittens had already been adopted, even the ones from very recent listings. Finally, I found a brand new listing, called up and was just in time as one of the other kittens was already promised for adoption. We went down the next day and piked her up before anyone else could beat us to her; a beautiful, long haired grey kitten.



I wouldn't worry so much about turning in the kittens, they'll go real fast. The older cats, you might want to consider leaving them out in the wild though. Although, there is some competition for them in my area as well, I wouldn't count on them getting homes as quickly and some may have temperment problems that make them unadoptable.

reply to post by r2d246


There are many humans that give animals good homes

Some shelters have spay/neuter programs that can be used. They use part of their funding specifically for this, but you may have to go in a certain day of the month. The vouchers tend to go fast and funding is sparse.

It still requires a bit of a fee, but generally is very limited. Feral cats also tend to get cheaper rates overall (vouchers, or adoption fees). Call around. Some more rural shelters will even help trap them, as they tend to be in high demand. If you see a cat with a notched ear, they have likely been fixed.

Some cats really are happier on their own, doing their own thing. However, in urban areas they have to deal with more threats than may be necessary. They get fantastic lives as "mousers" on farms and general rural areas, and can help the people with something that can become a very, very serious problem.

Do note that a "feral" cat is not a "scared" cat. You will not tame a truly feral cat. But they can still be given a great home/territory, doing their own thing and romping through the fields.

Edit: you are likely not dealing with truly feral cats. If you care, just make a few calls around to rescues and shelters. The workers at these places tend to network pretty heavily. "Low-kill" and "No-kill" shelters are going to be the best sources of information. Large facilities will be.. tougher to deal with. And cats are generally pretty easy to take care of. Kittens will have homes almost instantaneously. You can re-home them yourself through avenues like craigslist/newspaper, but do trust your gut on the people you deal with. Some are there to just get moving targets.