I agree about not calling AC if at all possible. In many counties/cities it is illegal to feed outdoor cats and it could be that animal control will come pick them up. Like she just said, feral cats are not adoptable anyway and AC has no time or people to work with them to try and tame them (which usually isn't possible anyway) so they would be killed right away. AC wouldn't have a choice but to kill them because they can't have cage space taken up indefinitely by animals that will not ever be adopted and can't even be handled. I've been feeding for 11 years. My very first feral just died a few weeks ago of renal lymphoma. I'm not sure of her age but I'd been feeding her for 11 years, so depending on the situation sometimes it can go on forever. Course I've lost some to coyotes, the highway, etc. after just a couple years. Anyway, the few times I've been on vacation I bought a huge self feeder for dogs, like the Petmate things that hold almost a whole bag of food, and left that and it will last for several days or a week if raccoons and other animals aren't around to help eat it. You could do that and try to find someone to check on them and refill the feeder every few days. If you have the funds you could pay a pet sitter to do it. They would just have to go out every 3 days or so. Another thing I would suggest is calling all the local humane societies to see if they have a volunteer that does TNR. Just call the rescues, not Animal Control. You would be surprised at how many people there are that feed ferals. There's probably someone in your area doing it that you just don't know. One other thing is to contact the national group called Alley Cat Allies. They have a network called Feral Friends. They can tell you if there is anyone in your area that you can contact to help with the ferals for that six weeks you can't drive.
“I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t….the pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” – Mark Twain > Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:33:22 -0400 > From: felineres...@frontier.com > To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] outdoor cats plight > > Please do NOT involve animal control. Shelters everywhere are FULL and > these cats will be euthanized. Are any of them socialized (tame) or are > they feral? Ferals are not adoptable. I've been feeding and TNR a colony of > feral cats for 10 years now. They count on you for food. Where are you > located. Perhaps some of the people in this group can pitch in and help > while you recover. > > > On 08-27, dot winkler wrote: > > Hi. I threw this out there a few weeks ago but don't i know if it went > > thru - I didn't see any replies. > > I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with outdoor (stray) > > cat feeding. I have been feeding 7 for a year and a half now. > > I am going to have arm surgery and will not be able to drive for 6 > > weeks and will have a very difficult postop recovery. I have no-one > > else to feed the cats. I am thinking of calling some shelters and > > maybe simultaneously the newspaper to expose their plight. Perhaps > > some can be adopted, if a facility would take them in and if they got > > the proper exposure from the newspaper. I also could try to help in > > the adoption process. ALSO, my other question is, how long have people > > been feeding their outdoor cats? I am thinking this cannot go on > > forever. Where do I find people to help me out with it, if I can't > > find adoptions? Any input on this, would be great. Thanks > > __________________________________________________________________ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Felvtalk mailing list > Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org > http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
_______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
