Stray Cats!

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telboy
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Stray Cats!

Postby telboy » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:45 pm

Feeling sorry for a mother cat and its two kittens prompted us to leave food out for them and then eventually buying cat food for, the two kittens male and female are now semi-domesticated due to our care. The mother is still unapproachable but occasionally still turns up for food. Unfortunately there will come a time when the population of these cats will expand.

We don't really want to get too attached to them, we had two of our own cats but there life was terminated due to the challenges of campo living, hunters, farmers, dogs, drivers etc, etc.

Is there anyway we can get these kittens neutered for free or a small fee via a pet charity.

:thumbup: Ann - terrys OH

El Cid
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby El Cid » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:08 pm

Talk to your local pet charity - they may well help. Some vets will do it at reduced prices or for free. You also need to get the mother done if you can catch her!

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:18 pm

We had a young female stray into our (community) garden 6 months ago & give birth to two kittens. We managed to trap the mother and get her spayed, but made the fatal mistake of feeding the babies while she was away (and afterwards, since usually the milk dries up after neutering); now it's a daily task! The mother has killed a couple of pigeons, and the odd lizard, but having been near them all summer when using the pool they're used to us and talk to us every time we pass now, and we're complete suckers! A large bag of cheap Compy from Mercadona goes a long way and we can't deny them!
One of the kittens is female, so we caught her at around 5 months when the first season can happen and had her done too, and just for good measure, had the boy done as well soon after. Cost us €200 for all three with our vet. They're all healthy and happy, and hopefully will guard their territory and keep other cats out now.
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby gerryh » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:24 pm

Good for you Miro. :thumbup: :thumbup:
I wish more people would take a similar approach to stop the seemingly never ending unwanted births.
I dread to think how much we have spent on getting stray cats neutered.
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El Cid
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby El Cid » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:26 pm

Agreed - that's the way to do it and you will have your new feline friends for many years.

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Sat Oct 29, 2016 5:45 pm

If we hadn't taken one in six years ago (she turned out to have already been spayed, so was clearly abandoned / lost rather than stray / feral), these three would probably already be curling up on our bed at night - but missy is very jealous, even though she gets Purina and they get Compy!
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:38 pm

Absolute nightmare.
The three cats I mentioned in my previous post are all happy & healthy and living peacefully in our small community garden. We leave dry food for them daily, no mess, no complaints - until now. We are only 12 owners, mostly from when the building was completed in 2004, and for years we had a good atmosphere with everyone getting along. But a couple of years ago a retired Spanish woman from Madrid who only spends a few months a year here lost her husband, and from then on has become a complete bitter & twisted old bitch who hates everybody and causes problems for the community at every opportunity. I've had personal run-ins with her when I was president. And today she approached the current president complaining about the cats being fed in the community garden, and said she wants the cats gone. If not, she will go to the council. Whether the council will do anything or not, since the cats are on private property (they never leave the garden), I don't know, but our worry is that she will stop at nothing to hurt us - including probably poisoning them. We're frantic with worry over our beautiful little family. We expect to be moving back to the UK in about 3 months time. Another (non-Spanish) neighbour already said she would feed them when we leave, but now I think she will be reluctant to do so, and we couldn't expect her to either. We've already spoken to a few charities, who all say the same - that they already have hundreds of domesticated cats to re-home, and wouldn't take semi-ferals anyway because they'd probably die being caged when they're used to living free. The only option at the moment seems to be to capture them (if we can) and take them out to the campo, somewhere with an existing colony of cats, and release them. I can't believe we may have to resort to this. :cry:
It's real long shot - but if by any chance there's anyone out there, or who knows someone else, who lives somewhere where they could take 3 cats and give them a place to live the life they deserve....
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Pamela1 » Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:25 pm

Well let her get the council and if they come then tell them the cats are fine and cared for so whats the problem? There are more than enough stray cats and abandoned cats everywhere in Torremolinos to keep the council busy rather than come along to answer some complaint about cats that are being cared for...

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Wed Feb 08, 2017 7:31 pm

Absolutely, and the other owners understand that they keep other cats out, and keep rats & 'roaches down. They know we personally forked out over €200 to neuter them. But this bruja is out to hurt us, and we are genuinely worried that she may poison them. Plus, we won't be here after June - so we're thinking it may just be best to try to relocate them.
Thanks for your comments.
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby IreneD » Wed Feb 08, 2017 11:56 pm

What a horrible woman! Miro, if you don't have any luck re-homing, you could maybe bring them to our village and see if they'd settle in with the local ferals. I don't know if that's possible? It's quite a distance plus I don't know if the cats could settle into a new 'tribe'. And yours might not be traffic savvy......We have an amazing person here (a good friend of mine) who feeds 3 separate groups of cats every day. The Canillas ferals are a healthy, friendly, chubby lot :D She's also - with the help of a local charity - trapped and had around 50 of them neutered and then released back. Other villages have similar people, in this area, maybe it also happens in your area? I do wish you the very best of luck.

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Thu Feb 09, 2017 5:13 pm

Irene, thanks for the suggestion. And yes, she's a vile, despicable woman intent on upsetting anyone and everyone. As I said, we already had them all neutered, and basically just released back where we found them - but that's not good enough for some. :evil:
We currently have a couple of lines of enquiry on-going, hoping that someone in the campo with a finca may be able to help. Failing that, we've identified an area of wasteland far enough from here so they couldn't return, & where there's an obvious "feeding station", where we could release them - and we'll just have to live with the guilt. But we're only thinking of what's best for the cats in the long run, and leaving them to their fate when we move, not knowing what this horrible cow and her equally disgusting sister might do, doesn't seem like an option.
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby peteroldracer » Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:27 pm

We tried "relocating" a couple of feral cats a couple of years ago. We took them a circuitous route of about 12kms and left them in a sheltered spot with access to water and some houses within a stroll, then returned home via a different route. 4 days later....female and youngster were back waiting to be fed, another day and the male joined them. Neighbours have told us of doing the same leaving cat in Velez-Malaga, some 25+kms away, only for them to be back within a week or so.
It appears that Spanish feral cats have some genes from homing pigeons!
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Free at Last » Thu Feb 09, 2017 8:47 pm

peteroldracer wrote: Neighbours have told us of doing the same leaving cat in Velez-Malaga, some 25+kms away, only for them to be back within a week or so.
It appears that Spanish feral cats have some genes from homing pigeons!
Good. We have quite enough stray cats here, thank you, without people dumping more from other areas.

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby jhonie99 » Fri Feb 10, 2017 9:01 am

So it's the bloody immigrants that are taking cats out to the countryside and dumping them on our doorsteps!! Do u people realise the problems you are causing, pretending to do good but in fact achieving the opposite.

I'm with the Madraleña on this one. She is seeing the future problems and wants rid of them now. Not everyone likes cats. Some people are even allergic. Personally, I know the impact of cats with fleas, etc. If you like them so much, take them into your houses and away from everyone else.

Cats don't relocate well. They are territorial. Dumping them in another cat's territory doesn't work.

We've had to dispatch lots of very sorry cases over the years - hate having to do it, but when half dead cats, blind, diseased and starving arrive on one's doorstep there really isn't any other option.

OH would love to care for them all. I'm much more pragmatic. We care for one adoreable semi -feral cat that's been "with" us for 6 years now. When she's gone, we'll "adopt" the next stray that arrives.

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby elusive » Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:40 pm

Had to have one of our stray cats put down today. It had gone for a wander for the last few days which wasnt to normal but then came back in a right mess. Looked like it had been in a fight with a torn ear that was infected and a glased over eye. It walked like it was punch drunk and seemed very weak..maybe been hit by a car.poor thing was a mess after we had seen it grow into a pretty healthy looking cat over the last couple of years.thankfully with the help of a neighbour we managed to catch it as it came to sit on our terrace as it had been hiding in the campo.hated the thought of it dieing a slow death down there.

Im not a cat person at all but its upsetting to see any animal suffer even the other cat we feed was watching it struggling and seemed upset by it.

Poor thing is best out of pain now. It looked like it had bad liver problems aswell going by its gum colour that the vet saw.who knows what it had given that it was a stay. So who knows how long it had as it was over ten .it had a good couple of years getting two meals a day and sunning itself on our terrace. You do what you can ...

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Pamela1 » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:26 pm

Well Elusive at least you can feel assured that you had cared for her by feeding her in her last few years.. :thumbup:

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby Miro » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:42 pm

Exactly. The odds for ferals living a long and healthy life are not good, so if you can give them a chance of a few good years and ensure that they are not "half dead, blind, diseased and starving", then you can be proud of a job well done. :clap:
Don't worry about what people think, they don't do it very often

"Acquiring a dog may be the only opportunity a human ever has to choose a relative," Mordecai Siegal 1935-2010.

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby peteroldracer » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:53 pm

The biggest stress for my OH in moving house is her worry about the up to 16 cats we have been feeding in the garden. The eldest will be over 12 and she and her daughter have never strayed far from "home", the rest a mixture of neutered females, non-neutered females and a ragbag of males.
We asked the animal rescue charity what they could do to help, but the answer in reality is nothing. We cannot trap them all, they have noone to do it, and there is little they could do if they were caught. Sure, they could get the females all neutered but there would be no aftercare and where would they be released?
It is a warning to anyone else thinking they are doing a kindness feeding feral cats - the biggest kindness is to not feed, and let natural selection take its course.
We have no option other than just leave.
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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby elusive » Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:07 pm

Thanks all. We all agree it prob lived two years longer than if we had just ignored it when it first arrived. As it was in pretty poor condition then so we gave it a good couple of years. It was just so sad to see the state it was in.i hate to see any animal in pain and suffering especially when he had done so well over the last couple of years. It gave us some solace that he managed to get out of the campo and up the stairs onto our terrace where he would sit in the sun.and sat with us as we lifted him into a carrier. He must have been so weak as normally you wouldnt be able to go within a foot or two of him let alone put a towell around him and lift him up.. It was nice he saw us as "home" and came back in his last moments and trusted us as much as a stray trusts anyone.

Agree peter its very difficult especially if you move.thankfully the other cat we look after who was a pet that was passed around as ppl left has been looked after for many years by a neighbour until he decided to adopt us so we know if /when we leave he will be looked after as hes been in the street all his life and must be at least ten-twelve

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Re: Stray Cats!

Postby patricia » Sat Mar 25, 2017 2:44 pm

peteroldracer wrote:We tried "relocating" a couple of feral cats a couple of years ago. We took them a circuitous route of about 12kms and left them in a sheltered spot with access to water and some houses within a stroll, then returned home via a different route. 4 days later....female and youngster were back waiting to be fed, another day and the male joined them. Neighbours have told us of doing the same leaving cat in Velez-Malaga, some 25+kms away, only for them to be back within a week or so.
It appears that Spanish feral cats have some genes from homing pigeons!
Yes they will make their way back.

Is there any way you could befriend these two ladies! Call at their door with a bunch of flowers etc. You could tell her you have seen rats bigger than the cats and that they have now gone because of the cats. They might resort to poisoning which has happened here where I live, but in another block the residents are happily feeding about 10 cats outside the block and no one minds and the cats are all in good condition with water and food. :thumbup:
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