The gentle feral cat on our back porch had brought five hungry babies. We began feeding them and over three weeks magic unfolded.
A previous article shared how I acquainted them with a kind human and human hands. Next, I stroked them and eventually could lift them up and reward them with food once back on the ground. All in preparation for socialization and rehoming them. They
never once scratched or bit me in their initial fear of humans.
The next step was fun for them and me. Soon, they were no longer running to the far edge of the yard when I appeared at the door, rather purr-furring to wait at the door to see if food would magically emerge. We cheated to keep them in our yard. Our ferals were fed tidbits of beef, chicken and fish plus kibble.
When Patty scratched on the glass screen door, it was like the
dinner bell - the eager kittens came running looking for food handouts.
To further tame the kittens, I rolled tinfoil into balls and had them play with me and a string with paper balls tied at either end. (I never left string out so they would not swallow it.) The toys were an instant hit! The mother was thrilled to have someone play with her and she demonstrated to her babies how to catch prey. When a feather was attached to the end of the string it
took play to another level. We all had the time of our life. The kittens are playing at my feet and hand movement no longer scares them.
Good and innocent humans start feeding hungry strays, but it accelerates hardships in their future generations. Especially since female cats can produce litters as young as six months of age and every two months. Is your back porch and budget up to this act of nature?
CAT-ching, neutering/spaying is
important because the inbreeding cats explode in numbers and soon illness explodes. This is a danger to your family’s feline health, and you don’t want your pets fighting with feral cats in their yard.
Often human men don’t want to deprive their pet of their testicles, but the truth is that your pet mating can overpopulate a neighborhood in a year. A female cat can deliver kittens every 64 days, but a male cat can impregnate her, and her female offspring and other
roaming cats in a short time. Neutering males is paramount to stop animal suffering and overcrowded shelters.
Investing time in taming and handling kittens, is a win-win-win by increasing their chances of quicker rehoming with a family. Also, this time next year, according to cat reproductive math from one female and her offspring we won’t have 142 cats on our porch begging for food and ‘cat’erwauling at night. Who can afford that much
food?
We caught the kittens in cat carriers by tossing tuna into the back of them. When the hungry kitties ventured towards the food, each carrier door was closed. We kept the scared kitties in the shower with the curtain closed so they would not feel threatened. But the mother was frantic to escape until.... insert drum roll. Until Whyspurr, our inside kitty, walked into the shower and gently talked to the cats. After that, they remained calm and
quiet even on their ride to the Humane Shelter. The shelter staff said that they have heard of this kind scenario often revealing another amazing level of cat-compassion.
Our next focus was capturing the injured feral father, but sadly he died from an infection before we could live-trap him. Such is the life of a feral cat and speaks to why we should neuter and spay pets to prevent further suffering.