Upset About Freezing Cold Feral Cats
My owner had a rough morning today. She is such an animal lover, she went outside today to feed the birds, and it is FREEZING today. The feeder is on the more protected side of the house, and there against the house, under where the feeder goes, sat one of several feral cats that roam our area. What upset her was that it had a large injury on it’s back, as if the skin was torn in a large area, and it is so very cold, yet it ran off as she walked over to it.
I tried to comfort her when she came in, but she just can’t stand seeing the cats out in the cold and can’t believe that they are really meant to be living outside. They aren’t really wild any more because they come from kittens of domesticated cats.
Our animal shelter will only take cats if we catch them, kittens they will try to find homes for…adult cats that are feral, they will spay or neuter, then we’re supposed to bring them back and let them go. To my owner, in the winter, letting them go is even more cruel than putting them to sleep.
My owner is really upset by all of this. It is bitter outside tonight. What do you people think, and do you have feral cats in your area? Are they able to take care of themselves in the cold?
Aspen – Arizona has a lot of feral cats – it’s actually a big problem in some areas. I know that many consider them pests but, like your Mom, I am an animal lover and it really bothers me to see animals that have been domesticated for centuries tossed into the wild unprepared and no longer as attuned to their natural instincts for survival.
In addition to the extreme temperatures and the difficulties of finding food, these offspring of abandoned animals also have to contend with becoming part of nature’s food chain and are often hunted by local predators – including coyotes, wolves, the larger wild cats and even birds of prey.
This is why people should always spay and neuter and never, never, never take an animal into your home if you are not prepared to care for it no matter what!!! People who get pets and then just toss them out into the wild because they are not willing to care for them anymore are not nice people!
I hope you Mom feels better, tell her I understand exactly how she feels. Pixel and I wish you both a very Happy Thanksgiving and we’ll be back to check out your blog after we get moved to California!
Thank you for understanding, we have different temperature extremes, our feral cats are freezing and your feral (did we spell that wrong in the subject line? oh well) cats have the terribly hot temperatures that we remember when we stayed in Arizona on business trips…at least where we were in Scottsdale for 4 months each trip. T
he poor cat was out there again, and ran. My owner is tempted to leave a little food when he can’t see her, but know a neighbor has been feeding them, so will check with her and see if she knows about the injured one. She feels bad but at the same time doesn’t want too many cats on the property or they will start having their kittens here, and I’ll be barking all the time.
I hope you and Pixel have a safe move, I’m sure you can’t wait for it to be done! Will you be living near any of my owner’s diva friends, whatever that means, I’m a dog, she’s the Diva:-)
We have one who we adopted around 2 years ago. He was thin, hungry, messed up fur. It took a couple of months before he would come near us even though we left food out for him every day. Summer here is hot so we were worried about him becoming dehydrated. It took him 10 months before he would sleep in our house overnight but now he’s become quite a housecat and very attached to me as I’m home fulltime.
Kathie,
I know I might not sound like a very nice doggie, but I’m so little that I won’t let my owners take in any kitties, they might hurt me…I do chase them out of the yard, yes, I guess I’m a tough little dog when it comes to other animals invading my territory. But my owner always feels sad when she thinks about the freezing cats out in the cold, two other neighbors feed them regularly, and my owner sometimes throws scraps of meat from dinner out in the yard away from the house, but not too often because, unfortunately, they also think of one part of our yard as a nice place to use the same way as a “litter box”, if you know what I mean >;-)<
Up in the Toronto Canada area I have painstakenly researched & then planted a wildlife forest for all wild species indigenous to this area for food, shelter & habitat for the four seasons and I have to tell you… it is wonderful! 500+ birds (so many varieties), hawks, foxes, flying squirrels, chipmunks, possums, deer etc… and feral cats.
My heart goes out to these feral cats as the ones that come here seem to have had a home at some point. Some I’ve been able to bring over to the “human” side (usually takes a complete year commitment) and have successfully adopted them out.
Other more wild ferals… I feed them so they leave my “birds” etc alone (it has been extremely successful).
I feed them in a few large heated dogs dishes that are covered by a bid blue box on its side. This also proctects them from the weather. I also have these “heated” trays at the food dishes. Once an animal steps onto the “tray” it heats up enough to take the current chill from them whilst they eat. The possums eat from these dishes as well. I also provide several ground level heated water trays (large litter trays) so everyone has an ample fresh water supply.
Over the years I have purchased several small dog Ingoos (meant to be an outside dog house) and I puchased the fitted cushions as well. I place them in protected areas where the can escape easily without any fear of other animals.
This is where I tend to be called an “extremist” as I hook up heating pads on low setting then place dry old towels (that get washed weekly) over the heater in these small dog igloos so they actually have someplace warm to go when the need or want it. *smile*
We’ve already got snow on the ground and the temperatures are freezing. I too feel for these wonderul critters and try to give them a fighting chance to survive.
Regarding them using their yard as a little box… just think out it as the potential of great manure. Don’t sweat the small stuff. *smile*
Jules you are the smartest kindest person. You are so smart. I have a feral cat. My daughter feed it for weeks then tricked it by putting food in the back sit of her car. The little thing just jumped in and she drove this little gray no tailed cat to my house and let it go. She stayed upstairs for weeks looking over the banister at these strange aliens bringing food and water up and banklets. I even put outside dirt in a liter box for it. Now she is a member of my family and is rightly so called nubbie.