I am a big animal lover and it seems now people in the neighborhood know this and keep dumping their animals off near my house for me to care for.

I have 2 of my own cats and 1 dog now that are all house animals. They are well cared for go to the vet, get free choice food and water.

We had some people move in a few months ago and they had mutiple cats and kittens that they just let roam outside. One of their cats decided she liked my house better than her own and kept hanging out. I live across a busy road from their house. I took her home and told the owners that they needed to keep her inside because she was coming to my house and I was afraid she was going to get hit by a car. They said they don't put animals in the house and that the cats fend for themselves. But this particular cat was their granddaughters and was special to them Ok well keep her inside if she is so special. Anyways weeks go by and she keeps coming to my house we all get attached to her. There were many times I just wanted to bring her in and tell the people I didnt know what happened to her. But I didn't because I knew who it belonged to and I didn't feel right. In hindsight I should have becuase recently she did get hit by a car. I found out the other day that they have no more cats as all of theri cats got hit on the same road I warned them about.

About the sametime the little kitty from next door started coming around I saw another cat hanging way back in the distance. He limped and looked old was very feral wanted nothing to do with anyone. I started buying extra food and putting it out for him. This was during the cold winter months and I felt so bad for him. I would heat blankets in the dryer and put a hot water bottle underneath so he would have something warm to sleep on. He never did stubborn cat but anyways I tried. Finally after a few weeks he would come closer and closer when I put food out until he finally let me touch him. He was so skinny, was missing fur all over his tail only had a tuft of fur left it looked like a lions tail. Well we all got kind of attached to him while feeding him we always looked for him and finally I was able to pick him up. Took him to the vet got his shots, had the skin problem taken care of and had his infected foot taken care of. He now lives comfortably in our house. We named him Jack.

Now.... We have 3 more strays hanging around 2 I can't get near. One and this one is the one that makes me even angrier than Jack is a female she started coming around about 2 weeks ago. I would see her in the distance and as soon as I would put the food down she would run to the dish grab the dish and take it with her so no one could take her food. I finally got a good look at her and OMG she was nothing but skin and bones it is awful she makes me cry everytime I look at her. Just Thursday she finally had enough trust in me to let me touch her. I just bawled I could feel every single bone she has. How can someone let their animal get like this? How can someone have an animal and just throw it out. She now lets me pet her and she is sooooooo sweet. She has obviously been around people as once she let me touch her that one time she softened right up. She now sits at my front door or my glass sliders looking in at us. She wants to come in and be with people so bad. I can't bring her in until she goes to the vet for fear of illness to my other cats. I am very careful with strays as I used to work with a vet. I wash my hands and change my clothes before I even touch my house cats after handling a stray.

Now Tuesday I am going to load her up take her to the vet, get all her shots, have her spay and its going to cost me an arm and a leg to do it because someone didn't care enough about their animal to atleast find it a decent home when they didn't want it anymore they just dumped it off hoping some poor sucker like me would take it in. My poor DH is so good about it. He just lets me bring them all in. But now this will make 4 cats and I just can't take anymore in I know this. But people keep dropping them off at my door step.


Anyways I am sorry this is so long I needed to get it off my chest.

You really should call the SPCA. These new neighbors should not have pets.

Thank you. Just for being you.
It kills me to see what people will allow to happen to animals that they have "owned". It's easy to take home a cute young animal only to find out what time and money is involved in having a pet.
My own animals are very old and territorial so I am not able to take in strays but I do help support two no kill shelters here locally. And I think people would be surprised to find out what kind of support these shelters need.
Of course money is always helpful but time, food, old blankets and towels, lumber, expertise in construction, plumbing, electrical ect.
Again thank you just for being there.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

I can so relate to your situation. We have had several strays show up on our doorstep. In the town I live in there is an older man who is legally blind and has about 40 cats and kittens that live in his old barn. I just got in a discussion with one of his relatives a few days ago in which she informed me that they were taken care of and fed. There is no way that this is true. I actually have one of the kittens (its now a cat). A few years ago my daughter saw it at the end of his driveway, and slowed down, scooped her up and brought her home. I was not very happy with my darling daughter. To make a long story short, we took her to the vet. The vet could not believe the horrible condition of this cat. She was so small and we thought she was about eight weeks old, but come to find out she was six months old. She was suffering from malnutrition, was covered in fleas (they were so bad we thought she had a black belly, but it was actually white). She also had worms that had taken over her entire system. We nursed her back to health and had her spayed when she was healthy enough. She never would have survived childbirth because of her small size. So, my daughter saved her by taking her. The vet said she probably wouldn't have survived because of the fleas and worms....let alone if she had gotten pregnant. So, my little *Peanut* is very special to me. She cuddles with me very night, and will never be hungry again. She is still very little, but healthy.
At one time the cats were removed from his house, but I have heard that he has more now. Very sad. I hate any kind of animal abuse....

Greetings from a fellow cat-lady. I care for two feral cats at myworkplace that someone dumped in the woods as kittens. Do you know that there are some programs that will help you with the vet costs for spaying stray or feral cats? I spent many hours this past winter trapping the two cats to participate in my local Trap, Neuter, and Release program. They provided me the trap and instructions. I trapped the cats. The program gave them medical evaluations, shots, and neutered them, at no cost. I did make a donation to the program. I returned them to their 'home' where I continue to feed them. Call your local humane society to try to find a program near you. At least this may alleviate some of the financial burden that comes with having a big heart and caring for stray animals.

Also, tammyleeb, if you could locate a program near you, I would call and let them know about the cats in the old barn. They could help those poor creatures.

I hate people like that. At least you are nice enough to take care of them. I wish more people were like that. I grew up on a farm and love them all. I hate seeing cats walking the roads for fear of them getting hurt/hit/killed. I "accidently" killed one about a month ago and I cried for days. There was no way I could stop and it happened so fast. I think my cat knew I did something bad since it took her over an hour to come and visit me, which isn't like her.

I'm pretty sure that some people must think that any cat or dog, dumped anywhere, will be able to fend for itself just fine, and do no harm by breeding, because that's how nature works, right?

I have a tiny girl cat who was found in a dump and fostered, and a boy cat who was left at a shelter by his former owners. Both eat really well and get all sorts of attention, but I hate that I can only give that much attention to so many animals. I hate that while I was getting my guys fixed someone else was letting theirs out to make more kittens no one will want. I hate feeling I need to clean up after someone else's carelessness when what's being cleaned up is very much alive, and in need of care.

I am grateful to people who are patient enough to work with feral cats, and to take in creatures no one else wants. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there are enough out there to make up for people who don't care.

Thank you all for letting me vent and being so understanding. I was just reading about a organazation called the Feral Cat Coalition. They do exactly what mailady was talking about. Trap, spay and realease. I think its a great program but.. I have this fear that if they stay outside they will get hit or killed by another animal and it worries me. Thats why I end up bringing them in.

The other day my son told me I should just open a cat rescue. I would love to do that maybe someday after our house is built. I know this kitty has to be the last one I bring into my home as a pet because truely where does it end? If I bring them all in I will have way too many and I am smart enough to realize I can only reasonably care for so many without shorting the others if that makes sense.

We got one of our cats from Animal Control, and the other one we got as a 2 week old kitten. A lady found him, and his siblings, in a big trash dumpster. He was the only one still alive. What kind of sick-o would do that???

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I did a lot of reading about this awhile ago. My understanding is that if a certain area is able to support a population of feral cats, it'll continue to do so, as long as there are feral cats around. Basically, if you could catch and adopt out all the ferals, new ones would move in. Spay and release doesn't help the individual cats as much as getting them homes would, but it controls the population better. Does that make sense?

oh man,I can relate,people are dumping cats and dogs left and right around here.I have now4 cats and one dog.all rescues.but can;t afford anymore.all spayed and neutered.
but i saw one cat and 3 kittens around the corner.and I left some food for them.my kids havent seen them yet.I hope they won;t
my dh found our dog on the railroad tracks where he works,and she is part of our family for the past 10 years.the sweetest dog.and she gets along with the cats.....

I can relate also
I LOVE Cats
Have one even though I am allergic
When I was living at my grandmas there were lots that kept coming around because they must have known I would take care of them
I fed them all the time
Got the nicest one fixed , shots all that and talked my dad into keeping him
two others were sick I could tell, They just layed on my grandmas porch so I had them tested and they had FIV had them both put down
and there are still lots of strays sround her house
A woman 2 doors down has indoor outdoor cats, which I don't agree with
Thats so dangerous It just breaks my heart that they don't get the love and attention they deserve
One white cat had kittens and I took her and them in and offered them on Freecycle and SKYLER10 from her was soo nice and took them all
That made me very happy
=)
Suzanne

My local TNR group will also spay/neuter strays as well as ferals. If you plan to adopt it yourself, I'm sure they would be supportive of that and still help you.
A couple of people where I work were upset with me for releasing the feral cats after their surgery; they felt I should have found homes for them. The sad fact is that there are not even enough homes for all the beautiful, friendly abandoned cats out there, never mind for the ferals who are as wild as a skunk or a racoon. I have two indoor cats, and I know that I cannot take on the challenge of adding two ferals and trying to socialize them. The female was already pregnant when she went in for surgery, so I am quite releived that there will be no kittens from these two. I do worry about them, but providing food and water is about all I can do.

I Am In The Same Situation, I Moved Here With My Husband On A Farm With My Four Cats And Dog Which 1 Of The Cats Was A Stray And The Dog, My Kids Watched Her Get Dumped..so We Took Them Both In And Guess What They Were Pregnant, Then I Move Here Cant Keep Them In The House Anymore(the Owners Don't Belive In That)and Guess What I Have 16 Cats That I Feed, Just So I Can Feed Mine!!!last Year They Made Me Get Rid Of A Bunch, I Don't Know What They Did With Them, But This Year I Stood My Ground Seeing As How I Pay For The Feed, Even Took One Of Thier Cats To Get Fixed( They Say Shes Ruined Now) But I Told My Husband That No One Is Going To Mess With Them This Year Or I Will Start A War, They Are On My Safe List..lol!! You Get Attatched To Them Ecspecially When They Are Wild And Learn To Trust You Over Time..ya Know!!i Love Them All Dearly, But It Is One Of My Pet Peeves That People Can't Take Responsibility, I Have 5 Kids And Still Manage To Get Them Fixed, They Are Partners On A Dairy Farm And Offer Not A Dime Or A Bag Of Cat Food, I Am Waiting For Indiana To Get An Animal Cop Group, Because I Really Want To Be One!! By The Way I Have Only 3 More To Get Fixed, Not Bad And I Am Proud Of Myself And You Learn ...you Do What You Can And Accept The Things You Can't...sometimes The Hard Way!!!

OP, on behalf of the cat lovers THANKS for looking out for your little corner of the world! There aren't enough of us out there!

We are currently a"Foster Family" for out local humane society. I have a mother cat and her 4 kittens. Someone left the pregnant cat in an apartment when they moved out and the landlord brought the mother to the shelter. We raise them until they are big enough to be spayed/neutered then they go the Pets Mart for adoption. The Humane Society takes care of the vet bills, we feed and love them. My kids will always have kittens and are learning responsibility. This is the largest batch of kittens we have had and I have to say they are wearing out their welcome!

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Mom to Miss C & Mr. E
Former SAHM now working full time
feboll@neo.rr.com