Feral Cat Problem

[EweSheep]

Have you considered contacting www.alleycatallies.org? They have programs and resources that allow them to help people like you. They also have a lot of educational resources on their site. Like one of the posters above mentioned the spaying of the cat and ear clipping indicates that the cat has been sterilized and will continue to live out its life without procreating and adding to the problem. Taking a feral cat to a shelter is a death sentence anyway, and TNR (trap neuter return) has been a proven method of maintaining feral cat populations.

There are a lot of rescue groups out there that may be able to help you, without killing it because it exists.

That is exactly my aunt had to resort to because she is one of the "problem" city folks who has a very kind heart for cats. So she gathered them all up, the postmaster took the cats to a vet in Springfield that would spay and neuter them and return them back to my aunt that evening. All the cats were doing well and no new added cats came in the area.

 

[Soli]

Feral cats do not pose an issue for full grown chickens. I have seen a rooster kill an adult cat - a four inch spur through the throat does it quickly.

Build a better chicken coop if you have young chicks. It isn't difficult. There is no need to trap or shoot feral cats - if you properly take care of your birds, you will protect them from the cats as well as any other predators that may be around.

Feral cats are just fine. I am a dumping ground for them as well. They take care of vermin - which is always an issue with chickens - and they also take care of wild birds that come in and eat your chicken feed. Get them spayed or neutered, fix your coop properly, get a good older large rooster with big spurs, and you're fine.

 

[sourland]

Sorry, but depending upon the size and degree of hunger of a feral cat, they can be a SIGNIFICANT problem for adult chickens. In addition to the native species up to the size of rabbits and pheasants that they decimate.

 

[chickathon]

Ask your dad which is more cost effective, $3.22 in gas or the price of replacing a chicken in which you have placed alot of valuable time and money into. It's all a matter of protecting your investments isn't it?

Maybe a neighbor would allow you to trap in their yard? Then you would be far enough away that a .22 wouldn't make any noise that your dad might hear. If you don't own a .22 maybe a friend or family member who has any sense could lend you one or volunteer to do the deed for you?

 

[MusketeerinFla]

Buy a Hav -a - hart trap. Bait it with tuna. Buy a large 30 plus gallon plastic garbage bin. Fill it with water. When you catch the feral cat, dump him, still in the trap , into the barrel of water. Come back in 10 minutes and bury the dead cat. Problem solved, and you have not wasted powder and ball. Not overly humane,but... MiF

 

[Bullitt]

Buy a Hav -a - hart trap. Bait it with tuna. Buy a large 30 plus gallon plastic garbage bin. Fill it with water. When you catch the feral cat, dump him, still in the trap , into the barrel of water. Come back in 10 minutes and bury the dead cat. Problem solved, and you have not wasted powder and ball. Not overly humane,but... MiF

You can find 50-gallon metal or plastic barrels for free. Check Craigslist under the free section. Someone is always giving away things like that. A neighbor might also be willing to give you a barrel. Don't pay for something you don't have to.

If there are dozens of these feral cats running around and no one will do anything about it, I think it is time for some more extreme action, as MusketeerinFla suggests.

The trap and a barrel of water seem like a simple solution, and many people live within city limits and can't shoot a gun.

 

[The Lazy L]

Quote:

I'm sorry, that would be my wife. She's taken so many to the Vet to get "fixed" that the Vet gives her the Humane Society discount!

We no longer have mice, chipmunk or mole problems.

Yard has holes dug all over (cats going after the moles), house widow screens are all torn up from the cats climbing on them and "land mines" all over the yard.

The day they lose the wife's protection is the day I'll taken care of the situation.

 

[Then I Will]

Wow... I know this subject has alot of different views, but let me put it this way. I live in drug-head alley. I do not have neighbors. The neighbors with unscrambled brains that I do have are old people who are living on their government checks, wheelchair bound, veterans, do not own livestock, do not have traps, - hey, I'm in the armpit of the south- Mobile, AL.

Further, gasing cats has proved to be ineffective for one cat- saw it on the news. The shelter gassed her twice and she lived. I do not have the heart to drown a cat. I am willing to spend the money on a gun. My dad does not care if I spend more money on chickens and if I cry he quits listening. Can't stand it.

I am 19, still looking and applying for jobs- taking up a 3-week certification course for phlebotomy in a month. Have no where to keep these cats while I catch more.
The situation is completely circular because my dad doesn't think the cats are a problem. And I'm tired of loosing chickens so I will go buy my own .22 and I will take care of them myself. Any cat who looks me in the eyes and appears the least bit tame, gets his gas paid expense trip to the shelter for a chance at adoption.

 

[riverpilot69]

Wow... I know this subject has alot of different views, but let me put it this way. I live in drug-head alley. I do not have neighbors. The neighbors with unscrambled brains that I do have are old people who are living on their government checks, wheelchair bound, veterans, do not own livestock, do not have traps, - hey, I'm in the armpit of the south- Mobile, AL.

Further, gasing cats has proved to be ineffective for one cat- saw it on the news. The shelter gassed her twice and she lived. I do not have the heart to drown a cat. I am willing to spend the money on a gun. My dad does not care if I spend more money on chickens and if I cry he quits listening. Can't stand it.

I am 19, still looking and applying for jobs- taking up a 3-week certification course for phlebotomy in a month. Have no where to keep these cats while I catch more.
The situation is completely circular because my dad doesn't think the cats are a problem. And I'm tired of loosing chickens so I will go buy my own .22 and I will take care of them myself. Any cat who looks me in the eyes and appears the least bit tame, gets his gas paid expense trip to the shelter for a chance at adoption.

Sounds like a plan. Very good choice.

 

[chigger bait]

When my grandmother became a widow, everybody in the community would drop their egg sucking cats off at her place so that she could feed and keep them up..

Not only did they eat eggs, but they would pee all over the square hay bales in the barn.

Even worse, the tom cats would back up to the exhaust of the tractor, sign their name all over it.

After the muffler would get hot, the fumes of that super heated tom cat whiz, just a foot from your face, would burn your eyes out like CS gas.

On certain Saturdays, my mother would take my grandmother to town, to do some shopping, then Dad and I would go down to her place and thin the herd.

We always let her enought for seed and to keep the rats down to a dull roar.