This is what happens when you are nice to one stray cat.

When they make a family and take a liking to your porch, it's all downhill from here. Something as simple as putting out food for one lone cat can land you into this mess. The cats are all tame, sweet, and not troublesome, nevertheless it was a handful to cater to all of them (they became attached to those who paid attention to them) and it was hard to leave this house with sleeping litters and those who were awake following you.

Most of these cats have been vet-checked and are now in happy homes [adopted out by the neighborhood]; this video was taken a year ago. One or two have met tragic ends due to natural causes beyond our control (they are strays, after all). Keep in mind they are of semi-domesticated origin. The mother whom it all began with (multi-colored) was kicked out young and learned to adapt to the world around her, and took a liking to our neighborhood. A few male stray cats also took a liking to her, and we ended up with eleven cats (not all are shown in the video) who made a living off of our front porch. One big flea-ridden family.

All is well now, and there is currently one male that has not taken well to human/professional care, and so he still roams the neighborhood and is fed well by the residents here, accompanied by loose housecats and occasional strays. He is very plump, self-sufficient healthy and content, and so everyone decided to leave him alone in his birthplace. The rest, however, were dependent on human attention, so they needed and were happy to leave.

Let this be a warning to those who are willing to take on the challenge of stray cat. We ended up having to help over three litters of cats birthed by two females of the same family. You could end up waking up to this. A very fortunate turn-out ensued with this; happy endings occurred for most of these cats, but it doesn't mean it will be the same way for you. Think about what you're doing the next time you invite a stray over without preparing a pound call.

What you see is 2-3 generations worth of cats and kittens. There used to be even more than this, but the prior litters were not dependent on our porch and care, as the mother did not trust us as well. Those kittens grew up and moved away as they pleased, like what happens with most strays.

We didn't do anything sooner because it was hard to find homes for them, and it took a while to gain the mother's trust- it would have been impossible to catch all of them beforehand, and our county does not have the best vet service. To ensure safety for the strays, we would have had to pay serious money or else cope with the fact that they would have been killed at the SPCA.

Allowing a cat colony to form on your property isn't fun and games; everything that happens becomes your responsibility, and it becomes that many more beings to look and clean up after. I miss them all, but as you can see in the video, enough is enough.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• cats
• kitties
• kittens
• litter
• too
• many
• calico
• stray
• taking
• care
• of
• your
• pet
• invasion
• feeding
• tabby
• mix

[sadeyedangel]

AWE! I had a stray we took care of and gave her to a farm, then ever since then there have been other cats that show up that never did before. They sit in the same spot she did. I think she told them about us and now they come around like little furry hobos wanting to be petted and fed.

[Oldbmwr100rs]

@sadeyedangel Your door bears the secret cat mark! It's indelible, so you will always be a draw for strays! That's not really a bad thing, but I'm willing to bet that some of the neighbors cats are also in on the free food gravy train, it's in their nature.

Housecats are the ultimate predator, and they routinely take down the most firm of people, once they have you in their sights, they're as good as fed!

[soupdragon151]

There should be a programme for capture, neuter, and releasing of feral cats locally otherwise this is the result.

[brightkid101]

that happened to my brother, my cousin and i. we found a black stray cat that was at least a month old under a pile of wood when he was abandoned by his mother. we gave it a name and gave him some cat food out side for the past 5 months. now he's grown bringing his girlfriend, his buddies and other stray cats leaving us in a cat hang out. now every time we arrive at my cousin's house we have to try not to step on any cats in the entrance.

[Abygel4]

That's exatcly what happened to my stepmother, in the area whe she live it's not uncommon to see feral or abandonned cats and one day she started giving foods to one cat and then she had a bunch of them later on the porch. It's sad because sometime, even though we do care and want the better for them, it's too much handling for one person and it get out of control later on.

[MrPhoenis]

meow. thank you for caring for these unwanted creatures, even if it was troublesome. :)

[sunshinegirl1967]

@loralieisa Thank you! I heard about that litter box before. I just use the jumbo size with unscented clay litter. Was using Swheat scoop but one of the kitties had such a sneezing fit all the time i guessed he was allergic. I have to scoop at least twice a day but it's worth it, and they are too!

[loralieisa]

@sunshinegirl1967 I am happy to hear that you and the six kitties were able to move away from the miserable neighbors. I am up to 10 indoor cats myself and hope to not crumble and bring more in. Time will tell. . .I also wanted to mention that the Omega roll away cat litter box is excellent in that you simply roll it backwards and all the clumps fall into a tray that you can easily throw away.

[sunshinegirl1967]

@loralieisa Thanks! I already support ACA when i can. I think they've done a great job. Just wish every city in the nation could get on board with TNR because it reduces the amount of money already spent trying to trap and kill. TNR was what i was trying to do, but when the neighbors had the property manager call Animal Control i had no choice but to bring all six of them inside my house. I've moved away from there since then. That was 7 yrs ago. I still have all 6 - and NO more!! LOL.

[loralieisa]

@sunshinegirl1967 ALLEY CAT ALLIES CAN HELP WITH ADVICE ABOUT DEALING WITH ANIMAL CONTROL AND AWFUL NEIGHBORS. THEIR NUMBER IS 240-482-1980 You can also google them.

I have been as of recently taking care of a large group of feral cats and have found them to be very helpful.

[SkickPank]

That would make me so happy.

[RoMayDrako]

NOTE: In some places they have a catch and release program to desex cats. Google Trap-Neuter-Return