Cats and cats and more cats.. there are cats everywhere and the peas are letting me know it

[DylansMom]

You should tie that cat to the rocket and send it home!

Mittens says

 

[Garden Peas]

You should tie that cat to the rocket and send it home!

Yikes, do you have a problem on your hands!

I totally get the living in a rural area, ain't nobody worryin' about a mess of cats at an abandoned house thing... I think you are on your own. Those cats are kitten machines, and there's plenty to live on in your neck of the woods, so they will keep breeding like crazy. You've got rabies and distemper to worry about, and a whole host of other cat diseases that could spread...

First thing you gotta work out is how to stop the population explosion, then you can work on decimating the cat pack in whatever humane fashion you think is appropriate. Here's one possibility, some stuff called feralstat:

http://www.communitycatsmd.org/feralstat.html

That will help stop the kitten crops. You put it out in food. Apparently some cat fanatic folks are concerned it could possibly cause diabetes and/or cancer... feral cats maybe should have more concerns with lead poisoning, seems like. I am always worrying about rabies and also about the plague, which is carried on fleas... You don't have to see too many sickly and dying cats or skunks to start getting nightmares about your kids/grandkids... I always find out the kids have found a litter of sick kittens and sick feral momma cat AFTER they've been playing with the sick kittens, which they usually find from the mewing, buried down in a stack of hay bales...

Rabies is huge concern. We even give rabies vaccines to the horses out here, because the horses (no kidding) get bitten by rabid critters and occasionally get rabies.

I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but those cats are a health hazard... And this is coming from a person who owns cats and has adopted abandoned ones... You can try cage traps, but I wouldn't want to be handling any sickly, feral cats. But if you can get some of them turned in to the pound, all the better. Good luck

 

[zazouse]

yep you are correct it is up to me to take care of this on a good note no live cats seen today but DH said there were two dead in the road near where the cats are coming from.

 

[MinxFox]

Maybe that big bobcat boy that lives in your area will prey on the cats. Although I wouldn't want him to catch anything nasty from them. He is such a pretty cat!

Coyotes might get them too. I found a white cat foot in the back field one day. I am sure the coyotes caught someone's pet kitty.

 

[zazouse]

Wishful thinking Minx fox there have been cats breeding over there for over 15 years,i am sure the wild critters get some but after a while cats get savvy and know how to elude such predator's, when they can't get away they go straight up the nearest tree and they got no problem jumping down from 25 feet up when threatened .

 

[KsKingBee]

I think the worst part of feral cats is how they decimate the natural wildlife. Bird populations can be totally eliminated in their areas especially ground nesting birds like killdeer, quail, pheasant, prairie chicken, turkey, etc. And tree nesting birds aren't safe either as the nestlings chirping draw in inquisitive cats to the nests. Feral cats for many reasons need to be killed to protect the environment. Sometimes nature will provide answers like that feline disease cats can get from bobcats so maybe if you can't get them killed mother nature will help you out, but I sure wouldn't wait around hoping for that.

 

[zazouse]

Yea they are working the fence lines problem cause i got sorghum and sunflowers planted and the song birds love that . No sign of any cats again today but i did find out that the Mobil home where they live will be gone soon and they won't have nothing over there.

 

[elsfieldchickens]

maybe wen they stop getting food theyll disperse

 

[zazouse]

We are going to see about buying it, i know for a fact that the 5 acres were tied up in the loan as collateral and they still owed 12 years on the loan, i have not been in that trailer in 10 years but i know they were having problems from the get go when they purchased it and after hurrican rita hit back in 2007 it has been missing siding so the outer walls are rotting, we don't want the trailer just the land so if the bank will accept a cash buyout from us then we will get rid of the Tailor or tear it down if it is to far gone, the land has grown up over the last 10 years and would cost someone about 10,000 to have it cleared, we got two dozers here and 4 tractors and a dump truck , we could clear it and then resell it and double our money if the price is right pulse some of it borders my place

if we wanna hang on to it for a while

 

[KsKingBee]

Land is always a good investment, they aren't making anymore.