How I wound up with eight cats

It really started innocently enough. One day I saw animal control at a neighbor’s house removing a litter of kittens that were born under a shed. As they came out with the last kitten, I asked if I could take him. My neighbor said he was lucky to be chosen so I kept that name for him, Lucky.

A few months after that I had spotted an ad for a rescue place that had kittens for $5. I called up the lady and went to meet her to pick out a kitten. She must have had 15-20 kittens in that carrier she brought with her. It was so hard to choose, but I finally decided on a fluffy grey kitten with really big eyes.

Then she brought out this other kitten. She must have had a second carrier of special kittens with her. This one was all black. Maybe she sensed something about me that let her know that an all black cat would be safe with me? I don’t know, but I took him too.

So now I had three cats, Lucky was joined by E.T. (the fluffy grey one) and Spades (the all black one). Even my not-thrilled-at-all-with-cats husband enjoyed the new additions. He had the honor of naming Spades and since E.T. is a girl and Spades is a boy they were fixed as soon as possible. Lucky had already been neutered. 

Now we move forward a couple of years. We had some neighbors across the street that had a lot of cats, no one knew just how many. They moved out and guess what? The cats stayed. Of course people who would just abandon cats like that also didn’t bother with another aspect, getting any of them fixed.

Those cats were joined by other abandoned cats that had started to appear once I started feeding them. With a big colony of intact cats comes litter after litter of kittens. So that’s how I wound up taking care of a feral cat colony.

I told Muffin’s story in a previous post along with how I added her three babies to my household. Punkin, Lil Bit and Trouble fit in nicely. All three are boys and have been since been neutered.

Six cats - that’s more than enough. That’s what I thought anyway. Who wants to become the crazy cat lady right?

One day a neighbor found a litter of five young kittens in her yard. She was able to find one a home, but the other four went back to the mommy. The mother cat then moved them all into my laundry room.

That worked for her for a few days and then she moved out, but only took two kittens with her. I don’t know why she didn’t take them all, the two left were healthy and very hungry when I realized they had been abandoned. They looked pitiful in there screaming for milk.

So then I took in two more kittens, Gilligan and Sylvester. (I let hubby name these two as a way to soften the reality of eight cats.) Gilligan, little buddy, was so dubbed because he is a very clingy kitten, he loves to be held and frequently curls up near one of us to fall asleep. They are both set to be neutered next month. 

Four of my cats are solid black, Spades, Trouble, Lil Bit and Gilligan. They each have different colored collars, which they frequently remove, making it a lot of fun to tell them apart. Trouble is easy, aside from the fact he is a trouble-maker he is also the only long-haired solid black one.

Now I am up to eight cats inside and many more outside. I spend a considerable amount of money every week on cat food and I keep hoping the numbers don’t increase. I have taken several in for FREE spays and neuters and more appointments are set, but even now there is a month old litter of three kittens out in my backyard. 

My wish is that I would win the lottery so I could just scoop up all the feral cats and have them fixed at once in order to ensure the colony doesn’t grow any larger. Every few weeks too it seems another older cat joins the colony as well and sadly, they appear intact.

If you get one thing from this post (other than that I am a crazy cat lady), it’s my hope that you will always get your cats spayed or neutered. It’s not that expensive when you have only one or two to get done. The Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando (formerly the SPCA) offers low cost services and once a month they have a FREE spay and neuter event.

Muffin’s story

This is Muffin’s story. She is a gorgeous long-haired calico cat that appeared one day. Sadly, she was probably dumped since she quickly accepted human contact; a true feral usually takes a long time to warm to human contact. She has always been a favorite of mine and my other cat-feeding neighbor.

It wasn’t long before she had a litter of kittens. She had three adorable fur babies in my laundry room and spent all her time in there taking care of them. My cat-feeding neighbor hadn’t seen her around and was worried about her until told her what happened and brought her over and showed her where Muffin was.

The neighbor and I hatched a plan to ensure this would be Muffin’s only litter. Once the babies were old enough, I took them inside to tame and she took Muffin to the vet for spaying. Unfortunately at the vets she bit someone and had to be quarantined so it was two weeks before she was back home. They also really butchered her ear notch and took half her ear off.  With all the complications, her vet bill wound up at $500.

The taming of the babies went well. I failed as a foster though. I couldn’t quickly find homes for them and got attached, so instead they were added to my family. Trouble, Punkin and Little Bit fit right in with my other three cats and my dog.

I didn’t think animals held grudges, but I think she does over the whole vet experience. She used to go back and forth between our two houses for meals, but since that trip to the vet, she only comes to my house.

Muffin still lives outside, but she does come by daily. She is so lovable. I’ve tried to get her warmed up to the idea of moving into the laundry room, setting up all sorts of comfy spots for her, but she always leaves, coming back the next day at feeding time.

Once in a while when I pop out to feed the cats, Muffin will be at the door and one of her babies will come over and greet her. I feel bad that she is still outside, but she doesn’t get along with my dog and there are already too many cats in the house. Maybe one day I’ll sneak her in – who knows?

I keep trying to get her settled on my property, but without any luck so far. I have no idea where she spends her time once she disappears behind another neighbor’s shed after eating. She’s always very clean when I see her, so I assume she has a good spot out of the elements that she likes.

What is a feral cat?

Basically, a feral cat is a wild cat. It’s a cat that is not used to, and will generally shun human contact. A stray/abandoned cat can become feral, but most ferals are born into the wild and are difficult if not impossible to tame.

A stray cat is one that used to be an owned cat that was either lost or abandoned. They will generally “warm up” to human contact and can possibly be re-homed. Sometimes a stray spends enough time on its own that it can become feral.

If feral kittens are exposed to human contact at an early enough age, they can be tamed and are adoptable. I should know, I have a houseful and they love to get their pets, be held and played with – all the time! That alone proves that I am a foster failure. I not only tamed them, but I also got attached to them.

The hardest part about taking care of a feral colony is controlling the population. On average, a female cat can have three litters a year. Note that said on average, they can have more. That is a population explosion no one wants to see.

That’s where TNR comes into play. TNR is trap, neuter and release. It is an important part of any feral colony caretaker’s job. Neutered and spayed cats enjoy longer, healthier lives.

Feral cats that have been spayed and neutered are marked and are easily recognizable. Either a notch is cut into their ear or the tip is cut off, right ear for females and left for males.

Controlling the cat population is simple enough for the average cat owner. Spay and neuter surgeries are not very expensive and should always be done as soon as the kitten is old enough, usually at six months old.

Intact cats should never be allowed out of the house. It’s too dangerous for them because of cats fighting over territories or other cats in heat, plus they can add to the problems created by overpopulation.

When there is a colony of cats, spaying and neutering can get into big bucks unless a caretaker is lucky enough to find FREE programs. Here in Orlando, there is usually ONE a month with a limit of five cats per person each time. It takes a long time and dedication to get an entire colony done within those parameters.

Be a responsible cat owner, always spay and neuter. 

A feral’s life intro

I have decided to create this blog to document and share the stories of what it’s like caring for a colony of feral cats. I didn’t put the cats out there, thoughtless neighbors did. They liked to collect cats. Sadly they didn’t bother with spaying or neutering any of them and when they moved away, they left the cats behind to fend for themselves.

In the time span since then, more abandoned cats have joined the colony. Apparently some people view cats as disposable when they are no longer young and cute. So none of us asked for this, but it is what it is.

Not being made of money, paying for spaying and neutering these cats is not an option. Luckily there are programs available for FREE spays and neuters, but it takes time. In the meantime of course, the colony continues to grow.

I do have some help. There is another neighbor who feeds them and cares for them as well, unfortunately she will be moving away soon. There is another neighbor who helps me out by bringing over bags of food and helping me with traps and transport for their surgeries when I can get appointments.

It’s a daily struggle to keep them safe, find homes for kittens, come up with shelter for the colony cats and chase the raccoons out of the cat food as well as the rest of the battles that arise.