Resources for Feral Colony Care - not spay/neutar

[onelove6366]

I have a small colony I am managing. Have had most fixed and am still working on the last few (if the darned snow will ever stop!).

I put flea powder on the blankets in the shed I keep open for their use and where they eat (we call it the cat house now).

Are there any resources to help offset the costs for flea treatment and food at all?

 

[ArkRescue]

Not that I've heard of - most of the colonies I have helped already have 1 or more caretakers that provide the food at their own expense. The colony I am working on right now has 2 caretakers and with 20-30 cats they spend a lot on food. Then again the local wildlife come to get their share nightly too.

Flea powder is a good option if you can get them into a central point to sleep/eat. With a small colony that's probably more easily managed. I've actually had some of the ferals get close enough that I was able to Frontline them if I was fast enough.

I just found out there is a spray you can get called Ovitrol that can be used on ferals. You spray their back with it - better than nothing ..... it runs about $10 a bottle online. You do have to be pretty close though. I was wondering if a different type of sprayer (this one only sprays) that could also do "stream" would help to get the ferals at a distance? Although you can't get it in their face/mucous membranes. However I'd think by spraying it on their back they would lick it and get it in their mouth? Maybe they wouldn't like the smell and not lick themselves there until it was absorbed? Darned if you do and darned if you don't, you know?

I have a small colony I am managing. Have had most fixed and am still working on the last few (if the darned snow will ever stop!).

I put flea powder on the blankets in the shed I keep open for their use and where they eat (we call it the cat house now).

Are there any resources to help offset the costs for flea treatment and food at all?

 

[onelove6366]

One will actually allow me to pet and sometimes pick him up but not for long! He purrs and rubs my legs too. Another one has just started allowing me to pet her. There was another who was super friendly and loving but she was hit by a car (my husband and I were heartbroken). The others range from arms length to get the heck away from me lady!

the shed is right next to my house (my garden shed - not anymore!) and I leave the door ajar for them to come and go as they want. Sometimes they hang out in there and sleep on the blankets, sometimes they sleep under the shed. I keep a routine for feeding them but dry cat food ends up being in the bowls and others come around for the free meal. I do 2 cans of wet food a day and the regular crew is always on hand for that one. I just wish I could do more for them but realize that what I am doing is keeping them alive probably.

I get visitors from the nearby trailer park that apparently has a large population of uncontrolled ferals with one person who provides some care as I understand it but I am trying to stay out of that and discourage strange cats from hanging around. i can only do so much!

Oh and I have at least one VERY well fed raccoon too!

 

[ArkRescue]

When people feed feral cats and don't get them fixed they are actually HELPING the cats to breed more. Fecal cats will absorb the babies if they don't get enough to eat to support the pregnancy. So feeding them w/o spay/neuter just helps them have more babies. That's something most people don't realize when they feel sorry for the cats and feed them. I wish I could find a way to explain that to all the folks who feed feral cats.

Great that you are doing what you can to fix them. I'm certainly willing to help the folks in the trailer park too if you know who feeds them? I can go talk to them about it. Maybe even the residents there would be willing to donate money to help pay for the cats to be fixed? I like to teach people how to handle it themselves if possible (TNR) and help them get started. Then I ask that they tell another feeder and teach them how to do it. I taught a lady (feeder) after I started TNR at a carry-out in Waldorf and she took over the project from me . There were over 30 cats there but that has grown to more as people dump off cats there and she has to keep catching the new ones.

The key is we have to teach others how to manage these colonies because we can't do all ourselves.

One will actually allow me to pet and sometimes pick him up but not for long! He purrs and rubs my legs too. Another one has just started allowing me to pet her. There was another who was super friendly and loving but she was hit by a car (my husband and I were heartbroken). The others range from arms length to get the heck away from me lady!

the shed is right next to my house (my garden shed - not anymore!) and I leave the door ajar for them to come and go as they want. Sometimes they hang out in there and sleep on the blankets, sometimes they sleep under the shed. I keep a routine for feeding them but dry cat food ends up being in the bowls and others come around for the free meal. I do 2 cans of wet food a day and the regular crew is always on hand for that one. I just wish I could do more for them but realize that what I am doing is keeping them alive probably.

I get visitors from the nearby trailer park that apparently has a large population of uncontrolled ferals with one person who provides some care as I understand it but I am trying to stay out of that and discourage strange cats from hanging around. i can only do so much!

Oh and I have at least one VERY well fed raccoon too!