we appear to have a family of feral kittens on the yard....

georgiegirl

georgiegirl

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Got the shock of my life yesterday filling haynets when all of a sudden a little black kitten came shooting out of the bale and scampered off and hid under some wooden pallets. Turn out we have 3 kittens in our hay/tack room who are all completely feral - I would hazard a guess and say they are about 7/8 weeks old.

Ive seen the mum once or twice on the yard but she is very very wary of people indeed so its very rare that we see her. Left a bit of food out last night behind my hay pile and this morning it was all gone and found all three kittens asleep behind my bale of hay. I didnt try to go near them today but got a lot closer than yesterday and they didnt take off running so Im guessing my haybale is their safe place!

So what to do?? Has anyone had this problem before?? The farmer where we keep our horses said something about 'getting rid' of them but not on my watch he wont! I guess the main priority is to get them neutered (mum included) to help prevent us becoming over run with cats!

Does anywhere offer free or heavily discounted rates for neutering them? Im quite happy to have them down the yard (they have mousing benefits of course!) and provide extra food etc but of course these cats ideally would need neutering so we dont end up over-run. Any thoughts or advice anyone?
 
Yep our yard is full of them we have at the moment 3 lots of kittens from 3 different mums & it started the same as yours now
We have loads of em, soon they'll be able to breed themselves & you might find yourself in the same situation. We appromitly have around 15-20 cats now :/
 
I had a similsr problem ... Cats Protection League were brilliant, rehomed kittens and arranged for a trap to catch mum plus gave me a voucher for spaying
 
Does your vet not do heavily discounted spaying/neutering for ferals?

All I would be worried about it by the time they are ready to be spayed the females may well already of got pregnant!

Imo you should catch them and get them rehomed/cpl

I have two ex feral kittens, who are fab now, they are already great pets and were 7 weeks home when I took them home :)

You could always get some feral cats to live in your barn anyway :)
 
jess2353 said:
Yep our yard is full of them we have at the moment 3 lots of kittens from 3 different mums & it started the same as yours now
We have loads of em, soon they'll be able to breed themselves & you might find yourself in the same situation. We appromitly have around 15-20 cats now :/
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I think you would also be wise to contact the Cats' protection league, I think they are experienced with dealing with feral cats and someone really needs to get on top of the situation at your yard. Good luck. :)
 
Some vets will neuter at 12 weeks (ours does). You can get a feral trap from the Cats Protection for a £50 deposit (you get that backwhen u return the trap), then take the cat(s) to a vet that has agreed to do the neutering through the CP. Then pick them up & release them when they're done (assuming they done test positive for feline aids or leukemia. If they do, they're pts). It is highly likely that the CP will only neuter them if you are willing to take them back afterwards. I used to work at a CP adoption centre for several years. Good luck with them :)
 
Our kitten/ & cats are all handled so can easily be picked up, but it's not my place to get involved as I don't own the yard, & the owners dont seem to bothered tbh :/ specially as the cats hunt the mice.
 
I have been adopted by two feral cats from my yard as the farmer wanted to shoot them and would set his dogs to chase them if he saw them around. The yard is just 5 mins walk from my house and the cats started appearing at my door when they were just kittens. They now turn up at 8am for breakfast and at 6pm (they know when my daughter comes home from college as she loves them and they are gradually coming close to her). They sleep under a large conifer bush in the front garden. I think they know they are safe with me.

We got a trap from local CP and caught them, had them neutered and brought them back here. The farmer is very silly to have scared them away from the yard, as they are terrific mousers. They are also very good with my two old cats and don't fight with them.

They are both pure white long haired cats - called Simon and Martina, and are just so pretty. We would love them to become house cats, but i think they are probably a lot happier with their freedom (but with free food on tap as required!).
 
I adopted a feral kitten that was running around an industrial estate. Poor blighter had FIV and cat flu and didn't make it so if you keep them get them checked for FIV too. Cats protection are brilliant for everything you need. I think PDSA also offer free neutering/spaying.
 
Thanks for the advice folks! Will ring cats protection tomorrow as my first port of call - let's hope we can get these little guys/girls?? sorted out.
 
we have this at our yard :( 3 female cats, only one of them speyed and thats after having about 4 litters. the other 2 are always shooting babies out, one of which isnt even a year old yet, the other just over a year. the owner always manages to sell the kittens, but i feel so bad for the mums, theyre just like baby machines :( wish i could sneak them off and get them speyed in secret, as much as i love the kittens scampering about.
 
Personally I wouldn't care if if it was place to get involved. Its totally irresponsible to let a cat keep breeding. The kittens could well be inbreeding when they get old enough and that alone causes so many problems and defects. We used to have a feral colony near where I lived and we trapped, neutered and released as many as we could (FIV tested) and rehomed any kittens which were trapped and fostered until they were relaxed enough to go to new homes. It makes me cross when I see a queen having litter after litter. My advice, get them trapped, to the vet and neutered. As previous posts have said you can get vouchers for neutering and traps to lend. PHEW! Sorry! Its just something I'm really passionate about. Too many unwanted cats in this world without bringing more into the world.
 
thewonderhorse said:
Personally I wouldn't care if if it was place to get involved. Its totally irresponsible to let a cat keep breeding. The kittens could well be inbreeding when they get old enough and that alone causes so many problems and defects. We used to have a feral colony near where I lived and we trapped, neutered and released as many as we could (FIV tested) and rehomed any kittens which were trapped and fostered until they were relaxed enough to go to new homes. It makes me cross when I see a queen having litter after litter. My advice, get them trapped, to the vet and neutered. As previous posts have said you can get vouchers for neutering and traps to lend. PHEW! Sorry! Its just something I'm really passionate about. Too many unwanted cats in this world without bringing more into the world.
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This!

Please please do something about it if you have feral cats having kittens on your yard. 20 could quickly turn into 40+ and then you really will have a problem and you'll be dealing with a horrendous situation. I say this from lots of experience trapping and neutering feral cats, it is extremely unfair on the cats NOT to neuter them because you like the kittens and its not your problem. Next year or sooner when you are having to deal with dead or dying kittens you'll wish you would have done something about it. Cats Protection, or if you pm me I could get you vouchers to get neutering done for free. Sorry very passionate about this too!
 
Neutering is a priority, I know at one one place where the cat situation was out of control. With all the in breeding some kittens were being born with deformities i.e. no back legs etc. It was terrible to see. Enlist the help of Cat Protection/RSPCA etc & get them caught, mother included. Having a couple of feral cats around a yard is good for keeping mice & rats under control but without the neutering the cats themselves become a massive problem. :)
 
Kitty K have pm'd you.

I called into cats protection today who told me the neutering costs would be 50-80 pounds per cat. With mother and three babies I cant really afford to do it! Does anyone know of any other avenues I can go down to try and get help with neutering them?

I have spoken to the farmer who says as long as they arent breeding he is happy for me to release them back on the yard, otherwise they will be shot :( :( :(
 
I would contact them again ask them about their T-N-R scheme (trap, neuter, release scheme) it is on their cats protection york website in the 'what we do' section.

there should be no charge but they are always grateful for a donation, the vets I work at in essex does all their work in the area and we have loads in on the T-N-R scheme. dont let them fob you off

the cpl are inundated with cats and cannot get homes for them all so dont ask them to take them on it just adds to the numbers they are struggling with, why do people feel the kittens need to be tamed and live in a house? they will be happy being feral
 
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yep it was cats protection I spoke to today who said it costs approx £50 for males and £80 for females :( I thought places did it much cheaper/free for people willing to take them back.

As I say, were quite happy to have mum and her three babies around as feral cats and are willing to supplement them with extra food - but we dont want to end up with a colony!

They'll all end up in my house tho before I let the farmer shoot them.... :(
 
You might need to have a very tiny tantrum with the CPL.

I read about the feral cat rehoming problem and persuaded my OH we could have two at the yard. CPL 'front of house' person wanted to charge me £80 a cat 'rehoming fee'. I said forget it I'll go and get two kittens free from the free ads then and they managed to change their minds.

Indeed the manager told me they had been paying a fee to board these cats at a cattery such was the problem and they were very grateful to have homes for two.
 
Its not about feeling the need to have kittens tamed, rehomed and living in a house. Feral cats will have a shorter lifespan and if the kittens are young enough and not stressed and unhappy with living indoors I can't see a problem. Its the older cats that come into shelters (from normal homes) that often have the problem of getting rehomed as people are always wanting kittens or young cats. We worked hard as an organisation trapping and releasing what cats we could and rehabilitating and rehoming the cats that were able to go to homes. My feral cat, although I can't get very near her CHOOSES to sleep inside the house rather than the barn.
 
thewonderhorse said:
Its not about feeling the need to have kittens tamed, rehomed and living in a house. Feral cats will have a shorter lifespan and if the kittens are young enough and not stressed and unhappy with living indoors I can't see a problem. Its the older cats that come into shelters (from normal homes) that often have the problem of getting rehomed as people are always wanting kittens or young cats. We worked hard as an organisation trapping and releasing what cats we could and rehabilitating and rehoming the cats that were able to go to homes. My feral cat, although I can't get very near her CHOOSES to sleep inside the house rather than the barn.
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not everything needs to live for as long as is possible though and i know the cat rescue places (CPL included) in our area are struggling even with young cats and kittens, they just cant home them and actually have a waiting list of over 6 months
 
not everything needs to live for as long as is possible though and i know the cat rescue places (CPL included) in our area are struggling even with young cats and kittens, they just cant home them and actually have a waiting list of over 6 months
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At least we both agree they need neutereing no matter where they live :D
 
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