Feral yard cat question

[SEL]

When I bought my yard it came with a cat. Technically his yard and I am there to serve him. No one ever bought or adopted him, he has been in the area for many years and when the last yard cat died he decided the bench looked comfy and moved in.

Huge male, not neutered. Pretty friendly on his terms but I think has a territory much larger than just my yard.

A while back he went AWOL for 10 days and I put something on FB to see if anyone had found a cat in a ditch. He rocked up later that day.

My problem is now I keeping getting PMs from people locally saying he's in their farm / garden / house. The last time it was a message at 10pm telling me he was in their house terrorising their kids (!). I was surprised he'd go into a house and it wasn't him - he was asleep on the hay.

Another one today. I'm pretty sure this one is "my" cat and I've just told her to ignore him and he'll head home. He's been in the area for at least 10 years so I kind of think he just needs to be allowed to live his life the way he chooses and I'll provide whiskas on demand. If he moves house then my choice of food is obviously not up to par.

AIBU? I'm being polite responding to messages but there's a few lookalikes in the area and I don't think he's any bother.

 

[splashgirl45]

Any chance of trapping and getting him neutered ? That might stop him wandering so much and he may be fathering loads of litters which isn’t good as there are so many cats around..

 

[Glitter's fun]

We have a much loved huge black cat that we've had since a kitten & who is definitely ours.
Ages ago he went missing temporarily & I asked for sightings on a local FB page. Since than i get reports of what "he" has been doing. (Fighting , sleeping on a compost heap over a mile away, all whilst on the bed here.) It bothered me at first but I have come to the conclusion that people are just bored, or maybe lonely & looking for a connection.

 

[m1stify]

I would definitely try to get him neutered. If for no other reason to stop him adding to the feral cat population I’d say at 10 he has had enough of sowing his wild oats

 

[SEL]

We have a much loved huge black cat that we've had since a kitten & who is definitely ours.
Ages ago he went missing temporarily & I asked for sightings on a local FB page. Since than i get reports of what "he" has been doing. (Fighting , sleeping on a compost heap over a mile away, all whilst on the bed here.) It bothered me at first but I have come to the conclusion that people are just bored, or maybe lonely & looking for a connection.

I think the latest contact is just making sure he has a home - but in typical cat fashion I think he assumes the whole area is his home! They're quite used to semi feral cats around here with all the farms

I suspect he's quite a bit older than 10 - he's got that grey speckles in places on his face and struggles to reach round to groom himself. Not sure he'd cope with being neutered. Vet out for horse teeth in 10 days so I'll ask her what she thinks

 

[FinnishLapphund]

The idea to ask the vet if he could be neutered sounds like a good idea. If you're willing to pay for it, maybe they could take him in to take a blood sample on him to check his liver + kidney functions, and if the result is good enough, they try neutering him, and if his blood test isn't good enough, well, that might still be good for you to know about his health.
As long as both testicles are where they should be, it's usually a simpler surgery than spaying a female cat.

Other than that, I don't think you're unreasonable. Just continue telling people But I just saw him, Maybe it's another black cat, Just shoo him away, etc.

 

[hobo]

If he is not to old for neutering you probably can get the cats protection league to pay for it they are keen to help as long as you have him back. I have just had one done through our local branch. He is now chipped in my name also paid for by them but if found it will be more a finders keepers situation as my own yard cats that I bought and paid for their neutering myself would prefer he did not live here .

 

[SEL]

If he is not to old for neutering you probably can get the cats protection league to pay for it they are keen to help as long as you have him back. I have just had one done through our local branch. He is now chipped in my name also paid for by them but if found it will be more a finders keepers situation as my own yard cats that I bought and paid for their neutering myself would prefer he did not live here .

I'd be happy to pay but I had the horrible thought since writing this that there could be another yard out there assuming the old tart is theirs - he goes AWOL often enough!!

He was around 24:7 over winter eating his way through twice whiskas recommended daily amount and I think it was another male cat in the area that started the wandering. Mentioning a chip has got me wondering if I can ask my horse vet to see if he's chipped - do you think it's the same reader as the horses?

 

[MissTyc]

I'd be happy to pay but I had the horrible thought since writing this that there could be another yard out there assuming the old tart is theirs - he goes AWOL often enough!!

He was around 24:7 over winter eating his way through twice whiskas recommended daily amount and I think it was another male cat in the area that started the wandering. Mentioning a chip has got me wondering if I can ask my horse vet to see if he's chipped - do you think it's the same reader as the horses?

Checking for a chip is a good idea. When I was young we "had a cat" on the yard. He came into the house sometimes and helped himself to my actual owned cats' breakfast and generally lived in the hay store above our little goat house with long periods of absence as they do. We managed to catch him had him vaccinated for rabies (France), neutered and a tattoo id number put in his ear as was law at the time. No microchips yet! We "had him" for about 10 years. Yeeeears later, talking to a lady from the down the road, we found out they too thought they "had a cat" and were mighty surprised when he turned up without balls as they'd been talking about neutering him, but figured the government did it first and didn't question it. He had two yard homes

Before social media, times were simpler.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I'd be happy to pay but I had the horrible thought since writing this that there could be another yard out there assuming the old tart is theirs - he goes AWOL often enough!!

He was around 24:7 over winter eating his way through twice whiskas recommended daily amount and I think it was another male cat in the area that started the wandering. Mentioning a chip has got me wondering if I can ask my horse vet to see if he's chipped - do you think it's the same reader as the horses?

I've always heard it should be the same chip reader for cats, dogs, horses, and any other type of pet we might've put a chip in.

With "all" others calling you about him now, I would've presumed that someone suspecting he's their cat also would've called, but in either case, you're not purposefully trying to harm him, you're in good faith trying to take good care of him. If he's someone's acclaimed stud cat, they should've been more careful with him.

 

[hobo]

Miss Ty that made me laugh. On the owned cat front rather than cat that rocks up and calls it home I think with cats it is always their decission who they decided to live with.

Finn with the one that we just had done I said to the vet if he did have a chip make sure he only goes back to them without his balls , they totally agreed. It makes life safer for them less fights, less wondering and gives the chance for the person they have decided to feed them feel more loved if they turn up every meal!!

Sel enjoy being slave to cat keep providing the whiskers.

 

[Archangel]

I get a few feral toms turn up here every year. I try to catch as many as I can and they are whisked off down to the vet to be castrated.
It's for them and also I'm trying to give the feral females a break from trying to raise litter after litter of kittens that don't survive their first winter.

I have just had a beautiful cat neutered and chipped to me. He turned up one day absolutely starving (I live in the middle of nowhere).
I took him to the vet fully expecting a chip and nothing.
They couldn't castrate him because he had a huge abscess. I took him back a week later and they were more than willing to do the neutering on welfare grounds.

I kept him in the night after the operation in case he was a bit unsteady on his paws after the op and to make sure everything was OK. Then let him out.
He is still here and nobody has come to claim him.
I suspect he was dumped as he is a pedigree cat and I would expect someone to be shouting from the rooftops if he was missing

I got reduced price neutering and treatment for his abscess and I paid £25 for his microchip.
I have only had him chipped to me so that if he wanders again he has some history and he has a place to come back to.
You can get a £5 voucher from Cats Protection (I did this when I had 12 to do ).

 

[Carlosmum]

Your local friendly sheep farmer would have a chip reader. Cats protection would neuter him and provide a crate to catch him in if necessary. We had a big old black neutered tom, who decided he was above being a farm cat so moved in with our elderly neighbour and became a fireplace cat. He lived with her for many years until the ripe old age of 19.

 

[gallopingby]

The CPL sent me vouchers to pay for the lockdown kittens, who were born in next doors hay shed, to be neutered. There were 3 originally but 1 moved on fairly quickly, apparently lives with some older cats. They have become quite friendly over the past two years, usually to be found on top of a round bale but one of them sometimes disappears for a day or so. They’re fed twice a day to keep them happy and here, can be quite demanding if they’re feeling hungry but are definitely not underfed, usually described as the healthiest looking feral cats round here. They feast on mice, pigeons and rabbits as well as any thing else tasty that might be passing when they’re not baiting the dogs by standing on the doorstep trying to get into the house. One would love to be a house cat, it’s not going to happen here.

 

[Glitter's fun]

Where I am, CPL will only pay for neutering ferals if you agree to their blood test policy. The cat is tested for leukaemia and FIV. IF positive it is pts, if negative neutered & brought back & released.

 

[SEL]

I think he knows I'm talking about him - AWOL again. I'm wondering if the lady at the local farm provides a better quality of B&B I know cats are fickle but it would be nice to be appreciated for more than dishing out whiskas!! Although if he's heard rumours of then who can blame him

If he's around when the vet comes for the Appy's jabs I'll see if there's a chip. Somehow I doubt he's anyone's stud cat but if he's chipped to someone local then I can be the one pestering them on social media. Given how much he eats I can just imagine someone seeing my "he's disappeared" post from a while back and thinking that's there's a gullible lady down the road willing to pay his feed bills - kick him out!

 

[gallopingby]

Mine are very demanding if they’re feeling peckish and very fussy they don’t approve of Asda economy cat food. If we’ve had a pigeon cull they mainly sleep as too fat to move.

 

[rabatsa]

I was so fed up of getting ponies for the RDA with the wrong passport/chip that I bought my own chip reader. It was not too expensive and reads dogs/cats/equines and sheep although the latter are not mentioned in the blurb.

 

[Glitter's fun]

I was so fed up of getting ponies for the RDA with the wrong passport/chip that I bought my own chip reader. It was not too expensive and reads dogs/cats/equines and sheep although the latter are not mentioned in the blurb.

A man I sometimes buy sheep from has a wand that reads the chips & stores all the numbers, then you press another button & it prints out a list on a little roll like a till receipt. Very useful!
I'll have to ask him if it reads dogs & cats.

 

[daneferrari]

We have a much loved huge black cat that we've had since a kitten & who is definitely ours.
Ages ago he went missing temporarily & I asked for sightings on a local FB page. Since than i get reports of what "he" has been doing. (Fighting , sleeping on a compost heap over a mile away, all whilst on the bed here.) It bothered me at first but I have come to the conclusion that people are just bored, or maybe lonely & looking for a connection.

Perhaps they want to claim compensation for moral damages if you enter into a dialogue...