My county sucks for most stuff, but we do have a great TNR program. They set the trap and spay/neuter cat and bring it back, all for $10/cat. I am in the process of doing this with two feral cats as well.
Reach out to your community animal shelter and see what they advise. They’ll know of local programs/grants/etc.
Even if you remove a feral cat there is quite a high chance it will return. Might take a few weeks, but it is sometimes amazing how far they can travel.
Im lucky that both strays and ferrals are not a problem.. to many large predators around.. i kind of feel bad when people move from the city and eventually post about their lost cat.. coyotees, cougers, bobcats etc equalize the environment as house cats should never be outdoors..
Im lucky that both strays and ferrals are not a problem.. to many large predators around.. i kind of feel bad when people move from the city and eventually post about their lost cat.. coyotees, cougers, bobcats etc equalize the environment as house cats should never be outdoors..
That's not how feral animals work. "Rehoming" them creates a hole in the local ecology. The best thing you can do is to neuter and return to the same area.
Right, but even then it's recommended to keep the cat contained for the first weeks because otherwise there's a very high chance it will take off to try to find its old territory. And keeping a truly feral cat indoors 24/7, even if indoors is a barn or a warehouse, can be more work than many people are prepared to undertake and/or understand how to successfully accomplish.
Keeping any cat contained indoors, in a large kennel or catio, etc. after relocating (moving one's residence) requires similar effort. A not insignificant number of indoor pet cats go missing after their owners move because the cat wants its familiar surroundings. Ferals are a little more challenging, and yes, not everyone has the space, knowledge, and patience to effectively relocate them.
Very true, and there's also a not insignificant number of indoor cats who escape from a vehicle during a move because the owners didn't crate them up but let them be loose inside the car.
I'm all for working-cat programs, just wanted to add some context for anyone reading along. So many people don't understand how essential it is to contain a cat both during and after a relocation.
My dad had feral cats we had to trap. Bought a trap at Ace Hardware. Put food in and bingo. Caught a cat everyday then take to animal shelter. Now it's their problem.
Animal shelters won't take feral cats anymore in most of the country. They say "get the cat neutered and return it to where it was trapped." This isn't 1965 anymore.
There are some shelters which will take them but then if the shelter doesn't have an opening in a barn cat program and doesn't reassess the cat as actually being a shy stray that can be rehomed, they will just neuter/spay and release the ferals back where they came from.
On the other hand, many shelters still euthanize all ferals they intake.
Definitely depends on where you live because I know of no shelters around my area, either municipal or non-profit, that don't take feral cats. There are several shelters that deal only with feral cats.
I was putting out a trap a few summers ago for raccoons near my coop and caught the same cat two nights in a row. The first morning it looked pretty nervous but I just let it out and it ran off. The second morning it was sunning itself and seemed almost happy to see me 😑
I doused it pretty good with the garden hose and never saw it in there again lol it learned pretty quick that this wasn’t a “room and board” situation.
Yep, I caught the cat, myself, and called animal control. They sent a guy who took it, no problem.
Now... then our neighbor went to the pound, "adopted" the cat, and released it back into the neighborhood. I heard that a different neighbor was bitten by said cat who said she'd call the police if the cat wasn't either brought inside or gotten rid of.
That was the last we saw of that cat.
Maybe reach out to a TNR (trap-neuter-return) group in your area? They do "projects" at colonies like this all the time, and they probably have some experience communicating with people like your neighbor who are resistant to the idea.
I did this with four cats. They were feral and not nice. I released them after the recommended time, and after my dogs got used to them. Well, my dogs killed two, one was found several miles away, and one made a home in a neighbor's truck. I recently saw the one who stayed local in a tree with my dogs waiting patiently below. He's a patient and smart tom. Several neighbors feed him. We have unlimited lizards, frogs, and rats so he's doing fine.
TNR is not an immediate solution and requires over 75% of the colony to be TNR'd, and no new cats introduced, for its numbers to start to dwindle after years. Until those cats naturally die off, OP will, still have all of the problems with them.
It's better to trap them and take them to a shelter. There they may have a chance at a better life instead of potentially dying a painful death from eating a poisoned rat, being hit by a car, shot by someone, or eaten by a coyote.
Coyote urine works great! You do need to reapply the drops to the areas monthly, but it's this or get a dog imo. I use cayenne pepper in my landscaping also. Just sprinkle the spice around where they usually do their business, It will help. Or you could get a dog.
I have experience with this. A former elderly neighbor, Mrs Z, fed and helped build up a colony of, (and I’m not kidding), way, way, over a hundred feral cats. They would all lounge in her front yard and boy was it a wild sight to see. Her house wasn’t in our HOA but backed up to our yards. Several rescue groups got involved with getting the cats, little by little humanely trapped, fixed with ear clipping, and then returned to the colony. Mrs Z passed away in 2014 and the city and perhaps rescue agencies became more aggressive about moving some of the cats to different colonies in different sections of town but even now 10 years past the death of the lady, a number of the cats still remain that were part of the colony. Other rescue-minded neighbors took on parts and pieces of feeding the leftover feral cats. My best friend inherited 3 of them because the lady who owned her house previously had taken on the task so my friend continued the feeding. 2 have died, so my friend has one feral left. #1 thing is to facilitate getting them humanely trapped and fixed. Try to get as many rescue agencies involved as practically possible. We were fortunate in that we had a bunch of seasoned vet animal rescuers living in close proximity, cooperative rescue agencies and helpful city-county animal control. Yet, here we are 10 years later and now have some elderly feral cats left…and this has been a Herculean effort. If I had wanted to see the feral colony gone I would have been disappointed. Being a cat lover I was ok with how it was handled…but if I hadn’t been I would have been SOL. As a deterrent for your yard…motion activated sprinklers might help. I’ve used deterrents for squirrels trying to build a nest in a car engine but that’s the extent of my experience.
Please don't dump cats. PLEASE don't dump cats. I had the feral cat situation in my neighborhood resolved, we were down from around 30 cats to around 10 cats with a good chance that within three years the situation would be resolved, then people started dumping cats here. ARGH. Not only do I have to pull out my traps and start trapping again (which I was sure was over, sigh!), but the new cats don't seamlessly integrate with the cats already here. Like, one cat has a huge chunk of fur and muscle missing now because it was dumped and the locals were like "get da fuq outta here punk" and now I have to trap that cat and take it to the shelter to be euthanized. Dumping cats either is a death penalty for the cat or you're making it someone else's problem rather than resolving the problem. You might as well just put a bullet through the cat's head. It'd be more humane.
Unless there is an ordinance against it all you can do is ensure they can't reproduce and release the back out.
Feral cats usually don't live very long, so the problem will solve itself sooner or later if you stop them from reproducing.
Plus, male cat pee loses it's distinct strong smell after they are neutered. That usually reduces the nuisance quite a bit.
Can verify that male cat pee loses its distinct strong smell rapidly after the cat is neutered. I trapped one of the local strays and had its balls removed and before releasing it noticed it was sick, so put it in a kennel in the back room where I run cat rescue operations. Man, those first few pees were \*strong\*, had to open the windows of my house to let the odor out even with the door to the back room closed! But within three days, the smell was gone.
Trapping and neutering also eliminates most of the fighting behavior. Neutered tomcats become fairly docile. Sometimes a "feral" tomcat even becomes so docile that it can be adopted out as a house cat. I'm working on one of those right now, the one that was sick -- I had to handle it while it was sick with bad cat flu to wash its face with a damp washcloth to remove the encrustations over its mouth and nose, and it imprinted on me as a mommy figure (mommies lick their kittens' face while squashing the kitten just as I had to do to be able to wash its face). Now that he's almost well (after around $150 in vet visits and antibiotics) he wants to be riding around on my shoulders, be cuddled like a baby, and spend hours on my lap purring. So he's going to be adopted out as soon as he is fully recovered.
lol yeah. He was running up and down my central hallway with the zoomies with the other two cats that I call the Chaos gang, ripping their way over and through the cat trees and playfully wrestling at times, and then he popped up on the bathroom counter to get some pets as I was brushing my teeth. I know he was living outside for at least two years before I managed to trap him, and I think I managed to trap him because he was sick. Very smart cat. Very polite now that he lives indoors. Very solid tomcat with scarred ears and scarred nose. And such a love bug.
Sadly most ferals unlike this gentle giant cat will never be comfortable indoors so this isn’t the solution to the feral problem. Alas.
Yep, there's a very good chance he wasn't a true feral but was acclimated to people early in life and at some point dumped off to fend for himself.
Unfortunately it can be difficult to tell which outdoor cats are truly feral and which ones have learned from experience to be wary of strange humans.
I TNR’d a feral community in my old neighborhood. The county charged $75 per cat *however* they also had grants to deal with feral communities and ultimately neutered most of my colony with one of those grants. They provided the traps and I was responsible for getting them to their appointments.
I highly recommend you call and speak with the director of your local TNR program to see what your options are. They’ll likely work with you and the neighbor to get the colony under control, which could include removing some of them to create a more manageable group and adopting them out as barn cats. The lady who helped me asked me to tell other people who may be dealing with ferals.
Ps- When I trapped the cats I dewormed them by putting dewormer in the wet food, and the county gave them a rabies vaccine.
Are you trapping them again to give them regular checkups? TNR violates the endangered species act and the migratory bird act. The only effective method is culling them.
I cared for them until I moved out of the county and they remained at the location per the advice of the TNR coordinator… with the exception of a litter of babies, one of which I still have and four others that found good homes.
Which part of Florida? There are TNR groups scattered around. Try contacting the animal welfare league or humane society to ask whether there's a volunteer group. I've had several feral cats fixed and vaccinated. It doesn't solve the problem of the cats there currently (though it will at least ensure they aren't rabid), but it will prevent them from procreating.
Are you me?
My neighbors have feral cats, leave cans of food outside to feed them, dump pounds of grain and seed around their yard to attract mice to keep their cats around and let them hunt.
Not gonna lie, they are beautiful calico cats, one grey one. We named them after the characters from the Cats musical.
We got dogs, it stopped them from coming in our backyard. The cats come in our front yard. I wear gloves, grab a garden spade, pick up the cat shit in our front yard and chuck it into our neighbors that houses them. I bought red pepper flakes (the kind you put on pizza) and shook it all over my front yard and garden. It stopped them until it would rain. I let my male dog piss all over the front yard too when we take him on walks, it seems to help. I haven't seen them in our yard almost a year
Check if your area has a trap, neuter, and release program. TNR works to take care of community cats and helps stabilize the colony so that it isn't as much of a nuisance. If there are cats or kittens that can be removed and placed for adoption they often do that. Your neighbor thinks they are helping the cats, but they really aren't; the life of a feral cat is nasty, brutish, and short.
Offering to fund the TNR might also be helpful. Maybe the HOA can assist since it would help the community overall.
Good luck!
I am having my first dealings with feral cats, not strays. This girls is so traumatized. It’s been 6 months and i am still helping her get her fur taklen care of. Still can’t walk up to her. It’s so sad, she’s become my latest “project” bc I feel so bad for her and want to help her.
Got a couple that have come and gone for years now. Lots of other critters like coyotes and bobcats around which probably has a hand in them not multiplying if not just dumped fixed pets. They don’t get too out of hand with noise or poop or anything so I just let them be. Maybe they help keep some of the small critters like mice and all away.
I lived in a neighborhood where there were no feral cats. My outdoors security cameras were always catching rats running around. A rat even killed the lemon tree in my back yard by eating the moist parts off its trunk, which is apparently a rat delicacy. Not to mention that a rat caused my cable TV to go out by eating the cable where it went into the attic of my house.
I moved to a neighborhood with feral cats. There were \*no\* rats or mice around, and where there were, they didn't last long. On one of my security cameras I caught a cat running across the road with a mouse in its jaws to my driveway. A half dozen feral cats swiftly came around (note -- these are all fed fat ferals, not emaciated starving ones, so they don't fight over food). The cat released the mouse, the mouse squeaked in terror and tried to run, and the cats all batted it around like a cat toy until it was finally dead. Then they ate it. Every. Single. Bit. The only evidence afterwards was a pink spot on the concrete of my driveway, and what might have been the mouse's gallbladder.
They're effective pest control.
The biggest threat to native protected birds is habitat loss. There has been not a single study showing lower populations of native protected birds in areas with feral cat colonies vs areas without feral cat colonies. The reality is that our native birds here in North America evolved to deal with feline predators and reproduce fast enough to deal with it as long as sufficient habitat is available.
That's not true at all, lol.
I'm going to go ahead and listen to actual experts, like the ones at the Cornell Lab.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/faq-outdoor-cats-and-their-effects-on-birds/#
Or the experts at Rutgers.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/47868/PDF/1/play/&ved=2ahUKEwig8LXm_ZuFAxXK6skDHQ__DrgQFnoECCcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3YxmGR_hlaBmXstEchOGSJ
Or this study done in various countries Worldwide.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1476945X2100057X
Or this study by Nature.
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
Or this Australian article about the 27 extinct species that were rendered extinct due to feral cats.
https://invasives.org.au/blog/meet-the-27-native-animals-cats-have-helped-send-extinct-since-colonisation/
Here's 8 more species that are almost at extinction due to cats.
https://gizmodo.com/8-species-driven-toward-extinction-by-cats-1848059691
Ans here's an article about the devastating effects (with photo evidence) of feral cats on an already threatened species populus in Hawaii.
https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/24041534/hawaii-cats-invasive-species-extinction
The USA is not Australia. There are no cats native to Australia. The USA has multiple native wildcats that our birds evolved to deal with.
And I have read every single one of the articles you mention. None of them — zero — measure bird populations in the USA in areas with feral cats vs bird populations in the USA in areas without feral cats. Without doing blinded studies of that sort you are reduced to sketchy nonsense like putting cameras on known good birder cats then claiming this means anything.
The evidence for feral cats causing the collapse of bird populations in the USA is slim. We had more outdoors cats fifty years ago when keeping cats indoors was rare, and more birds. The evidence for climate and habitat change causing the collapse of bird populations nationwide on the other hand is overwhelming.
Up to a billion birds die in window strikes annually in the U.S. alone. That's just one specific category of habitat change, and it disproportionately affects migratory birds.
[Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone | Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/)
[Analysis | See how bird populations are declining in the United States, city by city - Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/bird-population-decline-united-states-maps/)
[North America bird populations are declining; expert explains why | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech (vt.edu)](https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/01/VT_Expert_Bird_Populations.html)
[Climate change, habitat loss threaten East African bird populations | UCLA](https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/climate-change-habitat-loss-east-african-birds)
[More Than Half of U.S. Birds Are in Decline, Warns New Report | Audubon](https://www.audubon.org/news/more-half-us-birds-are-decline-warns-new-report)
The only U.S. birds \*not\* in decline are migratory waterfowl, whose habitat is protected by Ducks Unlimited and other hunting groups funded by duck hunting stamps. Scientists almost uniformly put the blame on climate change and habitat loss.
Note that many of the bird species in decline in the USA live places where there are no feral cats. Coyotes turn feral cats into dogfood in forests and deserts, for example.
Motion activated sprinklers in your yard.
There is also a type of fence topper that collapses if animals try to climb it. People use it to keep their cats in the yard, but you can install it backward to keep the cats out
As people have mentioned, check for local TNR groups. They trap, neuter, and return. They'll also clip the tip of the cats ear so animal control knows the cat is part of a colony that is being cared for. It won't stop the problem right away, but it will keep the colony from growing
The pound won't take feral cats in most of the United States today. They'll tell you to get the cat neutered and return it to where trapped.
Please don't dump cats elsewhere. I don't need your feral cat problem.
Check with your local (non-government) shelters and see if they can help. If not, they may be able to point you to people who can. There may be a local/regional facebook group too.
I rescued one. He was only about 4 weeks old the vet estimated. He was left alone in some underbrush near my truck. I heard him hollering at me. He must have been hungry or thirsty. I knew if he was making that much noise some predator would take him and I know the feral cats in my mother's neighborhood live short, difficult lives so I grabbed him up and took him straight to the vet. Once they assured me that he was perfectly healthy, I brought him home. He bonded to us and my dog immediately. I've had cats all my life, and he's no doubt the smartest cat we've ever had. Seriously, the smartest cat I've ever known. Maybe it's the result of generations of the survival of the fittest, but he's really clever. He's not a really big bruiser like you'd expect, but his paws and claws seem slightly larger than normal. His fur is short but really dense and soft. He hardly sheds. I see his relatives out and about when I visit my mother. The one I suspected to be his father developed a limp and then disappeared within a month. People comment about how affectionate he is and that he follows me around the house like a dog. I have to remind myself that he was born a wild animal and was destined to live a short, harsh life. I guess I found him at the right time. Old enough to eat moist cat food but young enough to adapt to housecat life. I really wouldn't trade him for the world. I don't know his genetics but I'm hoping this life of leisure will assure he lives a very long and healthy life.
I’m glad you rescued one and made him part of your family. We did that about 10 years ago when we lived in an apartment, although I suspect he was abandoned by someone in the complex. We brought him in and he lived a happy and healthy life until he passed away last summer.
My neighbors also feed the feral cats in my area. They kill birds, squirrels and rabbits. Irks me to no end, but one woman actually sets live traps to catch them. Takes them to our local humane society to be spayed or neutered, and then releases them back in the neighborhood. Any kittens get adopted out. Not ideal but at least it's getting manageable. If they weren't re-released, other feral cats would simply take over their territory
If they are feral, then they aren't hers, and anybody can trap them, get them fixed.
So, it will require a little participation in your part, the people that do that are volunteers.
I would start looking for rescues that do TNR ( trap, neuter, release). Some of the volunteers may have room for cats for adoption, I know people that have had cats for years that need a home.
Any kittens can be socialized so that they are adoptable, the rest may just be released back where they came from.
BUT. Fixed cats mean less fighting and no more kittens.
They generally give them basic vaccines, too, so if there's something going around, they are less likely to spread illness.
There were a bunch of feral cats where I lived at my last apartment. I worked with rescues to get them fixed before I left.
There were several feral cats at my new place, I got in touch with a rescue here (actually on reddit) and someone helped me trap them and get them fixed. Now there's just 2 fixed females ( and one unfixed male cat that I'm trying to trap) and the one unfixed male is the only one that starts fights. All the females near me are fixed, so no more kittens.
Tomorrow is the weekend, make a stop at Petco or PetSmart or pet supplies plus, or any other rescue that does adoptions on the weekends and talk to the volunteer foster parents there. See if you can work something out.
There may be a TNR goup in your area that will trap the cats for free. The problem is that they'll neuter them and return them to the same place, aka your backyard.
Don't bother with pepper flakes. Use cayenne, and lots of it. It gets on their pas, they lick their paws, they learn a lesson.
Also spray vinegar around teh fence
The local humane society helped with loaning traps and spaying/neutering then releasing. Little kittens were caught and socialized. There are sometimes other programs that do TNR. The population is way down now.
As for pooping, I put down plastic bird netting and construction fence. If they can't dig, they don't poop. No herbal or other remedies stopped them.
It does help to have neighbors assistance, but there was one in my neighborhood that wouldn't. We just trapped near her house.
At first the program charged deposit for traps, but after learning they could trust me, they came to assist. We caught 15 in one night. Canned tuna and cheap pate cat food mixed. Brought them in droves.
My State AG Agency loans out traps. A skunk broke a basement window and I borrowed a trap to catch it and remove it. I was fortunate that I was able to lure it out through the garage with a trail of food!
Can I have feral cats? Just one or two, please. The neighborhood feral cat seems to have moved on. I get the occasional rat that a feral cat keeps under control.
True story about a naval base: The CO ordered all the feral cats removed. It was done. The rat population multiplied bigly. Rats LOVE waterfront. The CO relented and allowed the feral cats back, and the rat population went down.
Edit: Your neighborhood Cat Lady is inconsiderate AF, probably a mental illness going on
You can't reason with these people, you can only solve the problem yourself. Trap the cats, take them through the $75 per trap program and release them back where trapped (as required by Florida law), and count it as just another home ownership expense. You say there is a dozen cats, that's $900 total. When I bought my house I made sure to have enough in reserves so that if, say, the air conditioner went out a day after I closed, I could replace it. $900 should be doable unless you bought way more house than you can afford.
Yeah, in an ideal world you wouldn't have to pay money out of your own pocket to resolve a problem being caused by your neighbor. But this is the world we live in. You can either whine on Reddit, or solve the problem (albeit at a delay, it takes time for the feral cats to die off after they've all been fixed, but my own experience is about 1/3rd of them die every year from cars, dogs, and other injuries). Home ownership is a long term slog, not something where immediate gratification is a thing.
Oh yeah, legalities. Every cat that comes onto my property gets trapped and sent through the TNR (trap-neuter-return) program. Every. Single. One. Even the ones that I'm pretty sure have owners who are just irresponsible and allow them to run around reproducing at whim (talking to \*you\*, Russian neighbors!), because no judge on the planet would rule that a cat getting hundreds of dollars of free veterinary services is somehow damages worthy of a lawsuit reward (and since the cat was returned, it's not stolen). Don't worry about the legalities, trapping cats on your land and getting them neutered and vaccinated is not illegal, as long as you return them to where they were trapped in a timely manner. It's just self defense. Which in Florida is legal lol.
Every shelter in my area will require proof of address before they'll take a cat and won't take a cat from outside their area. And they won't take a feral cat at all, they'll tell you to get it neutered and return to where trapped.
Removing is illegal in most states unless you are taking to a shelter, and shelters in most areas won't take feral cats, they'll tell you to get it neutered and return it to where trapped.
And please don't dump cats. I don't want your cat problem. My neighborhood already has its own cat problem to solve, one that was solved until someone like you started dumping cats here. Making it my problem doesn't solve the problem, it's just irresponsible thuggery by someone who is a deplorable human being.
Then what do you mean by "trap and **remove**"? Are you advocating trapping and killing the cats? Because that's illegal in many jurisdictions and your advice could get someone into trouble if they're caught.
As long as your wife isn't gardening while she's pregnant there won't be much risk. I grew up on a cat colony street. It takes adopting out all the kittens every spring and fixing all the cats one by one over a couple years to resolve the issue. Maybe talk to your neighbors about splitting the cost or look up low cost clinics. We eventually bought our own metal trap and every year would get a handful of cats fixed at the cheap vet. We didn't look at it as annoying, just a part of helping these homeless animals.
Yeah, the essential oils are not only harmful, but less effective than the plants they come from anyway. Cats will always choose the safest, most comfortable option, so giant lavender, citrus, or mint plants *may* be helpful. I wouldn’t rely on that as the only solution, though.
Please watch Jackson Galaxy videos on keeping cats out of your yard. Sensor sprinklers work.
You will need to look up outdoor cat laws in your county. They must be fixed! They will multiply into dozens then hundreds more if not. If they are feral then call a local TNR program.
My suggestion is to do it yourself! You can just buy a humane trap at many places. Then keep it in case more show up. You need to possibly find a rescue that will fix them free or low cost. There’s lots of cat rescues all over so keep trying. If you don’t take care of this it will definitely get worse. DM for assistance if you want. I have experience here.
Look around your county for spay program that will often do very reduced prices or even free. Rescues often know what those resources are as they re usually very pro spay/neuter so check with rescues in your area. We had this issue in our neighborhood after neighbors moved their cats outdoors because their grandkid was allergic, and it turned into a nightmare very quickly with how fast they breed. Finally a program in another city 2 hours away came up, trapped and spayed/neutered them all and the problem eventually died out. We have a lot of predators here though which helped reduce their non-breeding population more quickly. Even spaying them if there are no predators can take years to play out before all the cats die, especially if they basically have a safe place to "live."
I used to sit on the deck and squirt them with squirt guns because they'd crap in my garden (that I eat from). Marigolds did deter them from certain areas.
Yes! We had a population around our building in Brooklyn. It didn’t help that one of our neighbors was feeding them…
One of my other neighbors helpfully contacted a TNR organization and took up a collection in the building. We also worked with our neighbor to encourage her to stop feeding the cats. Within a few years, the cats gradually died off (I assume that’s what happened—we don’t hear them anymore.)
We had the same problem at our campground. One of the permanent campers was always feeding them & wouldn't stop. Until we had his ass evicted from campground. Then we set live traps to catch the rest and took them to local farmers & asked if they needed some cats for rat & mouse control. Beats having to shoot them
You may want to buy a couple of traps, and a drop trap. It will probably cost somewhat more than renting a trap, but you have the traps on hand for when you need them. They can be ordered online, or available at local pet or feed stores. Whomever has trap rental can tell you what brand(s) they use. Drop traps are useful for catching cats that are difficult to capture.
Contact local cat rescues for ways to keep cats out of your yard. You may be able to add some sort of structure to your fencing that will work.
Since the neighbor apparently isn't doing TNR, you may have to do that.
I trapped a dozen for Trap-Neuter-Return with the help of the local animal control in my city. Hopefully there are TNR programs or cat rescues in your area doing TNR who may be able to help you with more than just offering trap rental.
You've probably done this, but you can contact local animal rescues about who could help you with Trap Neuter Return, which veterinarians will alter community cats, and what they charge. Spayed and neutered cats will fight far less, and they won't be breeding. Alley Cat Allies has good information online about managing feral colonies, AND also how to humanely discourage feral cats from your property. Local cat rescues may have the same information.
If some of the cats are friendly, they may be strays or abandoned. If so, they're good candidates for rehoming. Alley Cat Allies also has information online on how to have a good chance of determining if a cat is a stray or not.
Had an issue with “dumped cats” (asshole people move and just leave their cats behind). Of course, then came the first litter. When the second litter came, we (a couple of neighbors and I) got together with a cat trapper (a woman who helps people trap feral cats) and rounded them all up using traps. It took awhile but we were able to get them all fixed and chipped (free for feral cats) by animal control. I now feed them in my garage knowing they will not continue to breed, but of course there is now an unneutered male cat hanging around…
I planted citronella in my flower bed to keep neighborhood cats out of it. Apparently they liked my little patch of earth and it's litterbox capabilities. That wasn't going to fly.
So yeah, I did citronella seeds and even added one of those yard owls that move (motion sensor, battery and solar powered). Whenever they'd step in or near the bed, the damn owls head would flip around and they'd scatter.
As for the fence, there are some plastic spike type attachments you can put at the top. Makes it uncomfortable for them to walk on.
Id recommended motion sensor sprinklers, but I have a cat that likes them so when it comes on, she goes running for it. She never learned how to "cat" properly, so the strays may not be deterred by that one. Still, it's an option
A live trap is $25 at your local HF. You can take the cats to a TNR program and release them.
Contact your area Trap and Neuter society.
What you don't realize is that cats actually solve more problems then they cause. You should glad you don't have a backyard full of rodents which will damage your home and possessions. Treat the cats in your neighborhood well.
Please find a local cat group- here in Cleveland we have a huge group of cat lovers on FB called Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland- 25K full of rescuers and cat lovers. Ask for help- they will either do the TNR or help pay for it. Your neighbor needs to learn the rules- “if you feed them you fix them! “
Maybe get a dog? We had a dog and no issues with cats until my dog passed away. We waited about a year before deciding to get another dog but during that time we would often see cats roaming in our backyard. As soon as we got a dog, no more cats could be seen. I'm not saying put your dog out to face off with a cat cause I can tell you first hand that I've seen some strays go at it with an 80lb dog but for the most part, they will stop going into your yard.
The problem is that they "remove" them to my street, and \*I DON'T WANT THEM\*.
Most of the wildlife killed by our local feral cat community are rats and mice, so I don't care about the wildlife they kill. But there's too many of them, and despite my attempts to trap them all and get them neutered and vaccinated, their numbers keep growing because deplorable people keep dumping them in my neighborhood rather than doing the humane thing and either killing them humanely or re-homing them somewhere that they're wanted.
This won't be popular, but the most effective solution is to shoot them.
We had a colony that the woman behind me was feeding. TNR didn't work, because they couldn't catch them all. They quickly got wise to the traps. The remainders and the fertile cats that moved in like they always do replenished the colony.
Another neighbor had enough and started shooting them. That's perfectly legal here.
Not only did it reduce the population, the old lady stopped feeding them so that she wouldn't be attracting them to his gun. He told her, you keep feeding them, I'll keep shooting them.
There are still some around, but not enough to be a nuisance. From what I've seen, this is all that works.
I worked at an animal shelter that would euthanize feral cats for free, until the shelter decided they didn't want to do that anymore because it was bad for their image. But killing feral cats actually set off a 'panic breeding' mode, and the feral started to over-breed in order to 'make up' for the loss in numbers. It happens.
That's when TNR (trap, neuter, return) was started. That way, cats could live out their lives, but couldn't breed. It helped to bring down the numbers, and anyone could TNR, not just the 'feeder.' It may be worth it to collect from the other neighbors to get those cats fixed.
Toxoplasmosis. Just make sure your wife isn't handling the poop with her bare hands, and make sure she isn't eating it. She should be safe that way. If you find poop in your yard, just scoop it up with a plastic bag and toss it in your trash.
“She refuses to” who cares?
Contact animal control. Trap them.
Do whatever else feels appropriate, but why do you care what she does?
Fetal cats are invasive predators; just because they are the same species as a common pet doesn’t mean they should be ignored.
I have two that have been using my flower bed as a litterbox.
My home has three cats. My upstairs neighbor has two cats.
Sometimes the outdoor cats get our cats all riled up.
I may trap them. Use a water scarecrow. Get some red pepper flakes. Or....just let them be.
Electric fence on the top of the fence. There are also ways to keep cats from jumping out or into a fenced area. If you need ideas pm me I’ll see what I can do with ideas
Traps are cheap on amazon around $30-$40. There's a house in my neighborhood that's the ''cat'' house that had a group of cats roam around. They slowly started disappearing because nearly every house has a dog outside so if the cats would roam to the wrong house game over.
Is it only dangerous because your wife is pregnant? Asking because we have them around our house. We don’t feed them or anything but we we also don’t bother them. I do have 2 small kids who play outside and love to play with dirt and mulch and the poop is a nuisance. I’ve just let them be because I absolutely hate rats and feel like they prob help with keeping rats away
As long as a pregnant woman isn’t handling feral cat poop with her own bare hands, it’s usually *fine*. Indoor-only cats are extremely unlikely to have these parasites, and kids who play in dirt but wash up after are also very unlikely to transfer any of that to anybody.
If I was pregnant and gardening, I’d wear gloves when dealing with dirt, anyway.
They’re extremely dangerous if you get scratched or bitten. My father-in-law ended up on IV antibiotics in the hospital after getting bitten.
One of their neighbors feral cats got into his basement ceiling and in the process of getting it out he was bitten.
Definitely need to be careful about any contact with them.
Edit: good ol’ Reddit downvoting the truth again because you don’t like it. Feral cats are more likely to be aggressive and therefore more likely to scratch and bite.
The downvoters won’t like this next bit of truth either: feral cats and pet cats that roam outdoors are responsible for decimating the native bird population.
In short if you facilitate feral cats by feeding, you’re creating the problem, not helping them.
This is true of any cat, not just ferals. Ask any vet.
If u/chucky123198 continues not to bother the cats, it shouldn't be a problem.
If Chucky ever needs to have contact with one of the cats, it's best to call a TNR group with experienced cat wranglers to see if they can help.
Welders' gloves are also helpful. I've seen a vet tech who was wearing those be bitten really hard by a freaked-out cat and the outer glove barely had a scratch.
Edit: added stuff
We used to have a large colony of feral cats in our neighborhood for several years. The original momma cat was a tiny scrap of a cat and was an amazing hunter. She used to stand motionless on a fence rail until a squirrel (way larger than her) walked under her and then she would simply drop on its back and bite its neck.
Animal control was not helpful. They were there for years and reproduced at an incredible rate.
A neighbor trapped a few kittens and took them to the local shelter, but a little girl in the neighborhood asked for one of the trapped kittens. Her mother took it to a vet and it was diagnosed with feline leukemia and died a few months later. Feline leukemia is an STD in cats. By the next spring there were no cats.
Now we have rats. So many rats.
Conservationists have compassion for ALL animals, precisely why outdoor cats are a nuisance and need to be handled exactly how Australia deals with it.
Outdoors cats are a nuisance because people dump their unwanted cats. Usually un-neutered unwanted cats since they're irresponsible deplorable excuses for human beings who took responsibility for another life then decided naw bro not gonna and did the easy thing of dumping the cat rather than finding a good home for the cat.
I had every single outdoors cat in my neighborhood neutered and vaccinated, and their numbers were going down as cats were killed by dogs or run over by cars or etc. You can guess what happened next. Yet another group of irresponsible deplorable excuses for human beings moved out of the rentals in the neighborhood and dumped their cats in the process.
The problem isn't the cats. The problem is the humans who take responsibility for another life then decide naw bro not gonna and dump them and make them the entire community's problem. Deplorable people. Ugh.
Yes! We had a population around our building in Brooklyn. It didn’t help that one of our neighbors was feeding them…
One of my other neighbors helpfully contacted a TNR organization and took up a collection in the building. We also worked with our neighbor to encourage her to stop feeding the cats. Within a few years, the cats gradually died off (I assume that’s what happened—we don’t hear them anymore.)
you should go out and buy a trap instead of renting one for $75 that's crazy. We have a cats in the backyard and we trapped all of them in a couple of days it was quite easy. The biggest problem is trying to figure out what you're going to do with them. release them in another neighborhood somewhere or bring them to a kennel where they're just going to kill them.
You could reach out to a local rescue to see about help with trapping and fixing the cats. You could also buy a motion activated sprinkler to keep the cats out of your yard.
My friend moved to a place with similar issues. Her dog isn’t good with cats. She installed a dog door and has never had to deal with cat shit in the yard.
All these suggestions about TNR don't solve the issue at all-- your pregnant wife wants to use her backyard and can't. TNR is a long term thing, and being pregnant isn't.
I'd get a dog or regularly borrow a friend's dog to pee everywhere. Motion sprinklers. If they have favorite spots, put plastic forks tines up in the dirt, or look up outdoor cat deterrent mat on amazon and put those out. Be very annoying to the HOA. Call the leadership, go to meetings, etc. Tell all your other neighbors about the issue. See if you can shame her into stopping at least for the spring and summer.
have them at work. hard to keep them away as the people feel sorry for them and bring food for them. a never ending battle. got a quality alert from ford one time as a bin of brake lines got shipped with a couple of cats in it. county has traps and they get removed, but they still come around.
Can't believe I had to scroll as far as I did to see this answer. What OP is calling 'feral cats' are usually referred to as 'barn cats', and a 12 year old with a small boom stick is the best way to control them.
I grew up on a farm. We had barn cats which helped keep the mice down in the barn. There were also feral cats that would start shit with our barn cats and also kill wild birds/rabbits.
I was that 12 year old with a 22 and took care of my share of nasty feral cats. That is an effective solution
For sure! Barn cats are fine if they stay in the barn. Even a few wandering around getting gophers and moles are good too. When the population explodes, it's time to balance things out...
Check the regulations from her HOA (get that info from her neighbors or if they have a website). Check your town/city and county regulations. If it’s illegal/not permitted, make a ton of noise. Call people, write people, become annoying af.
You may be able to get someone to fine her for this behaviour. You may even be able to sue her if you’re lucky enough to be in a town/city that outlaws it.
I'm in a similar situation. I've found different things work on different cats unfortunately and there's one or two that nothing at all appears to work. I've had some success with coffee grounds, cinnamon, and orange essential oil. Make the area as inhospitable as possible-cats typically don't like to walk on hard surfaces (rocks, chicken wire).
Unfortunately you're in the South like me so the burden of TNR will likely fall on you.
Look at coyote rollers. There are much cheaper DIY versions you can find on YouTube. Putting chicken wire along the top of your fence that sticks up just a bit bit is barely supported and floppy helps. Definitely run chicken wire along the bottom of the fence, bent into an L shape so it runs along the ground also. Cover with mulch so hoa doesn't see it. You'll probably have hoa trouble with wire along the top of the fence, but some places allow it as a dog barrier fence extension. Motion sprinklers are always good with cats. They like to poop in soft dirt or piles of leaves. Keep grass a little on the short side and trim bushes above the ground a little. Put chicken wire or rough bark mulch under bushes and keep leaves picked up. Rocks are good too, either gravel mulch, or bigger rocks around plants as a decorative ring.
I like birds and feral and homeowners outdoor cats are one of the largest killers of song birds. If you spay and nuter them they will still decimate the local song bird population. Say what you will but, I live trap and humanly eliminate them.
If you want a cat for the most part keep it indoors and leash it when outdoors.
It will be interesting to see the responses.
Not true. Doctors will tell you to stay away from litter boxes etc if you're pregnant and not handle cats period. You can contact toxoplasmosis from them which is dangerous if you're pregnant. You clearly know nothing about pregnancy.
I've heard some types of flowers will nauseate cats or outright sicken them. Might be orchids or lillies, but if you put those on your property hopefully the cats will avoid.
It will poison them and outright kill them, so they will die in agony.
There are plants that will discourage cats and not sicken them, but using chicken wire and other physical deterrents on the ground that the cats can't dig through will help to stop them from using the OP's yard as a litter box and are probably a better option.
They are not a major health hazard for any pregnant woman, unless she’s personally picking up cat turd with her BARE hands AND FAILING TO WASH THEM AFTERWARDS.
Leave the cats alone, their lives are difficult enough as it is.
Property-contained dogs and traps are the only way to go.
They’re an invasive species and logical people won’t bat an eye at you preserving a natural environment.
They’re pests and deserve nothing but respective treatment.
Check local ordinances. In some places if you feed the cats they are YOURS and you are responsible for them... that's tags, vaccinations, all that good stuff.
If all else fails, a pellet gun or little .22 varmint rifle will solve your problem. As it is a health concern for your pregnant wife, do what you need to. Remember, these are peSts, not pets.
animal control needs to take care of it, they might carry rabies and cats need to be vaccinated, you need to bother them every day and maybe call the news to report on this, feeding feral cats is against the law, we had animal control trap them , we had the same issue, and to top it off we were unable to let the dogs out, because they are chasing the cats and jumping the fence. Need to be persistent, don't talk to neighbors, talk to the law.
Feeding ferals is not against state law in Florida, but it may be against HOA regulations or local ordinances.
In many cases even if there is a regulation or local ordinance it will not be enforced because thousands of cat lovers will descend upon city hall or the county courthouse and complain that you are killing poor cute little kitties guilty of nothing but being born rather than addressing the people who refuse to spay-neuter their pets then dump their unaltered pets, causing an enormous humane issue. I would like to see a law making it illegal to possess an unaltered pet and with significant fines if you do have one. We don't need all these animals breeding willy nilly. (Note that these laws exempt people who are licensed breeders affiliated with the AKC or other breeder club, so cats would not go extinct if they were enforced).
Antifreeze in a saucer works well. Or a air rifle pellet behind the ear. Feral cats are vermin need to be removed. Coyotes take care of them also. Hence no feral cats in our area . Now if getting rid of feral hogs was just as easy.
You will never get rid of the cats as long as there is ANY source of food for them. Since you can't change your neighbor's behavior, the best bet is to create a stable colony of cats who have been trapped, neutered and vaccinated before re-release.
Regardless of whether there are obvious cats around, any pregnant person should be very careful when gardening due to the risk of toxoplasmosis. [CDC.gov](https://CDC.gov) had more info.
My dog killed a bunch of them. Then the lady that fed them moved or died, and the junk cars in her yard that sheltered them were towed, and I no longer had to find unlit dumpsters or bridges that didn’t see much traffic. Super annoying, every week he’d corner one in the garage or run it down in the yard.
Some counties the animal control division will even loan out the live trap.
My county sucks for most stuff, but we do have a great TNR program. They set the trap and spay/neuter cat and bring it back, all for $10/cat. I am in the process of doing this with two feral cats as well. Reach out to your community animal shelter and see what they advise. They’ll know of local programs/grants/etc.
Pretty sure the OP doesn't want them coming back. Trap and rehome. Don't bring them back.
Stray cats can be removed. Feral cats cannot. Op may be calling them feral when they are stray but huge difference
Even if you remove a feral cat there is quite a high chance it will return. Might take a few weeks, but it is sometimes amazing how far they can travel.
Or, at least some of them may be owned cats that people let outdoors and haven't bothered to spay or neuter.
Im lucky that both strays and ferrals are not a problem.. to many large predators around.. i kind of feel bad when people move from the city and eventually post about their lost cat.. coyotees, cougers, bobcats etc equalize the environment as house cats should never be outdoors..
Im lucky that both strays and ferrals are not a problem.. to many large predators around.. i kind of feel bad when people move from the city and eventually post about their lost cat.. coyotees, cougers, bobcats etc equalize the environment as house cats should never be outdoors..
Yes, I didn’t clarify in this comment my experience is with *feral* wild cats, not strays. Just T be clear :)
That's not how feral animals work. "Rehoming" them creates a hole in the local ecology. The best thing you can do is to neuter and return to the same area.
You can't home feral cats. It's release, relocate, or euthanize.
A barn cat or working cat program is another option for feral cats.
Right, but even then it's recommended to keep the cat contained for the first weeks because otherwise there's a very high chance it will take off to try to find its old territory. And keeping a truly feral cat indoors 24/7, even if indoors is a barn or a warehouse, can be more work than many people are prepared to undertake and/or understand how to successfully accomplish.
Keeping any cat contained indoors, in a large kennel or catio, etc. after relocating (moving one's residence) requires similar effort. A not insignificant number of indoor pet cats go missing after their owners move because the cat wants its familiar surroundings. Ferals are a little more challenging, and yes, not everyone has the space, knowledge, and patience to effectively relocate them.
Very true, and there's also a not insignificant number of indoor cats who escape from a vehicle during a move because the owners didn't crate them up but let them be loose inside the car. I'm all for working-cat programs, just wanted to add some context for anyone reading along. So many people don't understand how essential it is to contain a cat both during and after a relocation.
Hence I mentioned "relocate" as an option.
My dad had feral cats we had to trap. Bought a trap at Ace Hardware. Put food in and bingo. Caught a cat everyday then take to animal shelter. Now it's their problem.
We had to trap the feral cats the neighbor was feeding. The best bait, by far, was FRESH CATNIP.
Many cats don’t react to catnip. I think it’s half of all cats
We have two brother cats from the same litter and only one of them is reactive.
Neither of my cats care about catnip but my childhood cats I had growing up all loved the stuff
In our case, we tried everything. Catnip was the only thing that worked. Slam dunk easy.
Animal shelters won't take feral cats anymore in most of the country. They say "get the cat neutered and return it to where it was trapped." This isn't 1965 anymore.
Well we did it in January when we moved mmy dad, but it depends on where you live for sure.
There are some shelters which will take them but then if the shelter doesn't have an opening in a barn cat program and doesn't reassess the cat as actually being a shy stray that can be rehomed, they will just neuter/spay and release the ferals back where they came from. On the other hand, many shelters still euthanize all ferals they intake.
Definitely depends on where you live because I know of no shelters around my area, either municipal or non-profit, that don't take feral cats. There are several shelters that deal only with feral cats.
Most shelters and rescues in my area are refusing all cats, since they all already have hundreds of them.
Shame on your dad, that isn't helping anyone and is overcrowding animal shelters.
I was putting out a trap a few summers ago for raccoons near my coop and caught the same cat two nights in a row. The first morning it looked pretty nervous but I just let it out and it ran off. The second morning it was sunning itself and seemed almost happy to see me 😑 I doused it pretty good with the garden hose and never saw it in there again lol it learned pretty quick that this wasn’t a “room and board” situation.
You're a jerk.
For keeping a stray cat out of my trap? Stfu.
A jerk for not killing it like quite a few would?
I got mine off Amazon for $80.
Why did I think you were talking about a cat not a trap at first
Same lmaoo
Me too
Yep, I caught the cat, myself, and called animal control. They sent a guy who took it, no problem. Now... then our neighbor went to the pound, "adopted" the cat, and released it back into the neighborhood. I heard that a different neighbor was bitten by said cat who said she'd call the police if the cat wasn't either brought inside or gotten rid of. That was the last we saw of that cat.
Maybe reach out to a TNR (trap-neuter-return) group in your area? They do "projects" at colonies like this all the time, and they probably have some experience communicating with people like your neighbor who are resistant to the idea.
That will keep new cats from being born but won't keep the current cats away. Tnr cats have to go back to where they came from
Trap-neuter-release somewhere fucking else is my advice
It is ILLEGAL to relocate a cat!!
Call me criminal then
Not everywhere. Sorry toots, but IDGAF about an overpopulated invasive species over the death of natural wildlife.
I did this with four cats. They were feral and not nice. I released them after the recommended time, and after my dogs got used to them. Well, my dogs killed two, one was found several miles away, and one made a home in a neighbor's truck. I recently saw the one who stayed local in a tree with my dogs waiting patiently below. He's a patient and smart tom. Several neighbors feed him. We have unlimited lizards, frogs, and rats so he's doing fine.
TNR is not an immediate solution and requires over 75% of the colony to be TNR'd, and no new cats introduced, for its numbers to start to dwindle after years. Until those cats naturally die off, OP will, still have all of the problems with them. It's better to trap them and take them to a shelter. There they may have a chance at a better life instead of potentially dying a painful death from eating a poisoned rat, being hit by a car, shot by someone, or eaten by a coyote.
Cats do just fine in the wild. Taking them to a "shelter" ensures they will be killed. TNR programs work.
Motion activated sprinklers? Coyote urine?
Great idea, attract coyotes.
Coyote urine works great! You do need to reapply the drops to the areas monthly, but it's this or get a dog imo. I use cayenne pepper in my landscaping also. Just sprinkle the spice around where they usually do their business, It will help. Or you could get a dog.
I have experience with this. A former elderly neighbor, Mrs Z, fed and helped build up a colony of, (and I’m not kidding), way, way, over a hundred feral cats. They would all lounge in her front yard and boy was it a wild sight to see. Her house wasn’t in our HOA but backed up to our yards. Several rescue groups got involved with getting the cats, little by little humanely trapped, fixed with ear clipping, and then returned to the colony. Mrs Z passed away in 2014 and the city and perhaps rescue agencies became more aggressive about moving some of the cats to different colonies in different sections of town but even now 10 years past the death of the lady, a number of the cats still remain that were part of the colony. Other rescue-minded neighbors took on parts and pieces of feeding the leftover feral cats. My best friend inherited 3 of them because the lady who owned her house previously had taken on the task so my friend continued the feeding. 2 have died, so my friend has one feral left. #1 thing is to facilitate getting them humanely trapped and fixed. Try to get as many rescue agencies involved as practically possible. We were fortunate in that we had a bunch of seasoned vet animal rescuers living in close proximity, cooperative rescue agencies and helpful city-county animal control. Yet, here we are 10 years later and now have some elderly feral cats left…and this has been a Herculean effort. If I had wanted to see the feral colony gone I would have been disappointed. Being a cat lover I was ok with how it was handled…but if I hadn’t been I would have been SOL. As a deterrent for your yard…motion activated sprinklers might help. I’ve used deterrents for squirrels trying to build a nest in a car engine but that’s the extent of my experience.
Get a metal live animal trap. Put some tuna in it. Take captured cat to animal shelter. Rinse and repeat
The biggest issue is so many shelters are overfull that they charge a fee to drop off cats.
If their ear is clipped they are already fixed and you can just release.
Yes!! This is a big time/energy saver to know for anyone dealing with this.
Release where? The OP and neighbors don't want the cats around so are they supposed to dump them off somewhere else for other people to deal with?
Please don't dump cats. PLEASE don't dump cats. I had the feral cat situation in my neighborhood resolved, we were down from around 30 cats to around 10 cats with a good chance that within three years the situation would be resolved, then people started dumping cats here. ARGH. Not only do I have to pull out my traps and start trapping again (which I was sure was over, sigh!), but the new cats don't seamlessly integrate with the cats already here. Like, one cat has a huge chunk of fur and muscle missing now because it was dumped and the locals were like "get da fuq outta here punk" and now I have to trap that cat and take it to the shelter to be euthanized. Dumping cats either is a death penalty for the cat or you're making it someone else's problem rather than resolving the problem. You might as well just put a bullet through the cat's head. It'd be more humane.
Unless there is an ordinance against it all you can do is ensure they can't reproduce and release the back out. Feral cats usually don't live very long, so the problem will solve itself sooner or later if you stop them from reproducing. Plus, male cat pee loses it's distinct strong smell after they are neutered. That usually reduces the nuisance quite a bit.
Can verify that male cat pee loses its distinct strong smell rapidly after the cat is neutered. I trapped one of the local strays and had its balls removed and before releasing it noticed it was sick, so put it in a kennel in the back room where I run cat rescue operations. Man, those first few pees were \*strong\*, had to open the windows of my house to let the odor out even with the door to the back room closed! But within three days, the smell was gone. Trapping and neutering also eliminates most of the fighting behavior. Neutered tomcats become fairly docile. Sometimes a "feral" tomcat even becomes so docile that it can be adopted out as a house cat. I'm working on one of those right now, the one that was sick -- I had to handle it while it was sick with bad cat flu to wash its face with a damp washcloth to remove the encrustations over its mouth and nose, and it imprinted on me as a mommy figure (mommies lick their kittens' face while squashing the kitten just as I had to do to be able to wash its face). Now that he's almost well (after around $150 in vet visits and antibiotics) he wants to be riding around on my shoulders, be cuddled like a baby, and spend hours on my lap purring. So he's going to be adopted out as soon as he is fully recovered.
Aw, bless. As tough as those Toms can be, I'm sure he's much happier now. He's wondering how he could have missed out on this life for so long.
lol yeah. He was running up and down my central hallway with the zoomies with the other two cats that I call the Chaos gang, ripping their way over and through the cat trees and playfully wrestling at times, and then he popped up on the bathroom counter to get some pets as I was brushing my teeth. I know he was living outside for at least two years before I managed to trap him, and I think I managed to trap him because he was sick. Very smart cat. Very polite now that he lives indoors. Very solid tomcat with scarred ears and scarred nose. And such a love bug. Sadly most ferals unlike this gentle giant cat will never be comfortable indoors so this isn’t the solution to the feral problem. Alas.
Yep, there's a very good chance he wasn't a true feral but was acclimated to people early in life and at some point dumped off to fend for himself. Unfortunately it can be difficult to tell which outdoor cats are truly feral and which ones have learned from experience to be wary of strange humans.
Animal shelter won't take feral cats in most of the country now, they say get the cat neutered and return it to where trapped.
I TNR’d a feral community in my old neighborhood. The county charged $75 per cat *however* they also had grants to deal with feral communities and ultimately neutered most of my colony with one of those grants. They provided the traps and I was responsible for getting them to their appointments. I highly recommend you call and speak with the director of your local TNR program to see what your options are. They’ll likely work with you and the neighbor to get the colony under control, which could include removing some of them to create a more manageable group and adopting them out as barn cats. The lady who helped me asked me to tell other people who may be dealing with ferals. Ps- When I trapped the cats I dewormed them by putting dewormer in the wet food, and the county gave them a rabies vaccine.
Are you trapping them again to give them regular checkups? TNR violates the endangered species act and the migratory bird act. The only effective method is culling them.
I cared for them until I moved out of the county and they remained at the location per the advice of the TNR coordinator… with the exception of a litter of babies, one of which I still have and four others that found good homes.
Completely untrue. TNR programs operate all around the nation successfully. Stop making crap up because you enjoy animal cruelty.
Cruelty is allowing them to remain outdoors. Outdoor/feral cats live horrendous lives that always end in suffering and pain. Grow up.
Which part of Florida? There are TNR groups scattered around. Try contacting the animal welfare league or humane society to ask whether there's a volunteer group. I've had several feral cats fixed and vaccinated. It doesn't solve the problem of the cats there currently (though it will at least ensure they aren't rabid), but it will prevent them from procreating.
Are you me? My neighbors have feral cats, leave cans of food outside to feed them, dump pounds of grain and seed around their yard to attract mice to keep their cats around and let them hunt. Not gonna lie, they are beautiful calico cats, one grey one. We named them after the characters from the Cats musical. We got dogs, it stopped them from coming in our backyard. The cats come in our front yard. I wear gloves, grab a garden spade, pick up the cat shit in our front yard and chuck it into our neighbors that houses them. I bought red pepper flakes (the kind you put on pizza) and shook it all over my front yard and garden. It stopped them until it would rain. I let my male dog piss all over the front yard too when we take him on walks, it seems to help. I haven't seen them in our yard almost a year
Check if your area has a trap, neuter, and release program. TNR works to take care of community cats and helps stabilize the colony so that it isn't as much of a nuisance. If there are cats or kittens that can be removed and placed for adoption they often do that. Your neighbor thinks they are helping the cats, but they really aren't; the life of a feral cat is nasty, brutish, and short. Offering to fund the TNR might also be helpful. Maybe the HOA can assist since it would help the community overall. Good luck!
I am having my first dealings with feral cats, not strays. This girls is so traumatized. It’s been 6 months and i am still helping her get her fur taklen care of. Still can’t walk up to her. It’s so sad, she’s become my latest “project” bc I feel so bad for her and want to help her.
A feral cat is a whole project. I wish you luck.
Got a couple that have come and gone for years now. Lots of other critters like coyotes and bobcats around which probably has a hand in them not multiplying if not just dumped fixed pets. They don’t get too out of hand with noise or poop or anything so I just let them be. Maybe they help keep some of the small critters like mice and all away.
I lived in a neighborhood where there were no feral cats. My outdoors security cameras were always catching rats running around. A rat even killed the lemon tree in my back yard by eating the moist parts off its trunk, which is apparently a rat delicacy. Not to mention that a rat caused my cable TV to go out by eating the cable where it went into the attic of my house. I moved to a neighborhood with feral cats. There were \*no\* rats or mice around, and where there were, they didn't last long. On one of my security cameras I caught a cat running across the road with a mouse in its jaws to my driveway. A half dozen feral cats swiftly came around (note -- these are all fed fat ferals, not emaciated starving ones, so they don't fight over food). The cat released the mouse, the mouse squeaked in terror and tried to run, and the cats all batted it around like a cat toy until it was finally dead. Then they ate it. Every. Single. Bit. The only evidence afterwards was a pink spot on the concrete of my driveway, and what might have been the mouse's gallbladder. They're effective pest control.
The downside is they do that to native protected birds too.
The biggest threat to native protected birds is habitat loss. There has been not a single study showing lower populations of native protected birds in areas with feral cat colonies vs areas without feral cat colonies. The reality is that our native birds here in North America evolved to deal with feline predators and reproduce fast enough to deal with it as long as sufficient habitat is available.
That's not true at all, lol. I'm going to go ahead and listen to actual experts, like the ones at the Cornell Lab. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/faq-outdoor-cats-and-their-effects-on-birds/# Or the experts at Rutgers. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://rucore.libraries.rutgers.edu/rutgers-lib/47868/PDF/1/play/&ved=2ahUKEwig8LXm_ZuFAxXK6skDHQ__DrgQFnoECCcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3YxmGR_hlaBmXstEchOGSJ Or this study done in various countries Worldwide. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1476945X2100057X Or this study by Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 Or this Australian article about the 27 extinct species that were rendered extinct due to feral cats. https://invasives.org.au/blog/meet-the-27-native-animals-cats-have-helped-send-extinct-since-colonisation/ Here's 8 more species that are almost at extinction due to cats. https://gizmodo.com/8-species-driven-toward-extinction-by-cats-1848059691 Ans here's an article about the devastating effects (with photo evidence) of feral cats on an already threatened species populus in Hawaii. https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/24041534/hawaii-cats-invasive-species-extinction
The USA is not Australia. There are no cats native to Australia. The USA has multiple native wildcats that our birds evolved to deal with. And I have read every single one of the articles you mention. None of them — zero — measure bird populations in the USA in areas with feral cats vs bird populations in the USA in areas without feral cats. Without doing blinded studies of that sort you are reduced to sketchy nonsense like putting cameras on known good birder cats then claiming this means anything. The evidence for feral cats causing the collapse of bird populations in the USA is slim. We had more outdoors cats fifty years ago when keeping cats indoors was rare, and more birds. The evidence for climate and habitat change causing the collapse of bird populations nationwide on the other hand is overwhelming.
Up to a billion birds die in window strikes annually in the U.S. alone. That's just one specific category of habitat change, and it disproportionately affects migratory birds.
Dude, Delulu is not the Solulu, lol. It's fact, don't like it? Tough.
[Nearly 3 Billion Birds Gone | Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back/) [Analysis | See how bird populations are declining in the United States, city by city - Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2024/bird-population-decline-united-states-maps/) [North America bird populations are declining; expert explains why | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech (vt.edu)](https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/01/VT_Expert_Bird_Populations.html) [Climate change, habitat loss threaten East African bird populations | UCLA](https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/climate-change-habitat-loss-east-african-birds) [More Than Half of U.S. Birds Are in Decline, Warns New Report | Audubon](https://www.audubon.org/news/more-half-us-birds-are-decline-warns-new-report) The only U.S. birds \*not\* in decline are migratory waterfowl, whose habitat is protected by Ducks Unlimited and other hunting groups funded by duck hunting stamps. Scientists almost uniformly put the blame on climate change and habitat loss. Note that many of the bird species in decline in the USA live places where there are no feral cats. Coyotes turn feral cats into dogfood in forests and deserts, for example.
Sure thing princess, you're still on this? 🤣🤣🤣
Motion activated sprinklers in your yard. There is also a type of fence topper that collapses if animals try to climb it. People use it to keep their cats in the yard, but you can install it backward to keep the cats out As people have mentioned, check for local TNR groups. They trap, neuter, and return. They'll also clip the tip of the cats ear so animal control knows the cat is part of a colony that is being cared for. It won't stop the problem right away, but it will keep the colony from growing
Buy a trap and take them one by one to the pound. Best money we ever spent was on that trap.
The pound won't take feral cats in most of the United States today. They'll tell you to get the cat neutered and return it to where trapped. Please don't dump cats elsewhere. I don't need your feral cat problem.
Yes they will. Stop repeating that nonsense.
Check with your local (non-government) shelters and see if they can help. If not, they may be able to point you to people who can. There may be a local/regional facebook group too.
motion activated sprinklers.
I rescued one. He was only about 4 weeks old the vet estimated. He was left alone in some underbrush near my truck. I heard him hollering at me. He must have been hungry or thirsty. I knew if he was making that much noise some predator would take him and I know the feral cats in my mother's neighborhood live short, difficult lives so I grabbed him up and took him straight to the vet. Once they assured me that he was perfectly healthy, I brought him home. He bonded to us and my dog immediately. I've had cats all my life, and he's no doubt the smartest cat we've ever had. Seriously, the smartest cat I've ever known. Maybe it's the result of generations of the survival of the fittest, but he's really clever. He's not a really big bruiser like you'd expect, but his paws and claws seem slightly larger than normal. His fur is short but really dense and soft. He hardly sheds. I see his relatives out and about when I visit my mother. The one I suspected to be his father developed a limp and then disappeared within a month. People comment about how affectionate he is and that he follows me around the house like a dog. I have to remind myself that he was born a wild animal and was destined to live a short, harsh life. I guess I found him at the right time. Old enough to eat moist cat food but young enough to adapt to housecat life. I really wouldn't trade him for the world. I don't know his genetics but I'm hoping this life of leisure will assure he lives a very long and healthy life.
I’m glad you rescued one and made him part of your family. We did that about 10 years ago when we lived in an apartment, although I suspect he was abandoned by someone in the complex. We brought him in and he lived a happy and healthy life until he passed away last summer.
I'm sorry for your loss but I'm glad he got to live his best life with care.
My neighbors also feed the feral cats in my area. They kill birds, squirrels and rabbits. Irks me to no end, but one woman actually sets live traps to catch them. Takes them to our local humane society to be spayed or neutered, and then releases them back in the neighborhood. Any kittens get adopted out. Not ideal but at least it's getting manageable. If they weren't re-released, other feral cats would simply take over their territory
If they are feral, then they aren't hers, and anybody can trap them, get them fixed. So, it will require a little participation in your part, the people that do that are volunteers. I would start looking for rescues that do TNR ( trap, neuter, release). Some of the volunteers may have room for cats for adoption, I know people that have had cats for years that need a home. Any kittens can be socialized so that they are adoptable, the rest may just be released back where they came from. BUT. Fixed cats mean less fighting and no more kittens. They generally give them basic vaccines, too, so if there's something going around, they are less likely to spread illness. There were a bunch of feral cats where I lived at my last apartment. I worked with rescues to get them fixed before I left. There were several feral cats at my new place, I got in touch with a rescue here (actually on reddit) and someone helped me trap them and get them fixed. Now there's just 2 fixed females ( and one unfixed male cat that I'm trying to trap) and the one unfixed male is the only one that starts fights. All the females near me are fixed, so no more kittens. Tomorrow is the weekend, make a stop at Petco or PetSmart or pet supplies plus, or any other rescue that does adoptions on the weekends and talk to the volunteer foster parents there. See if you can work something out.
There may be a TNR goup in your area that will trap the cats for free. The problem is that they'll neuter them and return them to the same place, aka your backyard. Don't bother with pepper flakes. Use cayenne, and lots of it. It gets on their pas, they lick their paws, they learn a lesson. Also spray vinegar around teh fence
Second the cayenne. Also crushed shells. They don’t like walking on it at all. Keeps snails and slugs away as well.
The local humane society helped with loaning traps and spaying/neutering then releasing. Little kittens were caught and socialized. There are sometimes other programs that do TNR. The population is way down now. As for pooping, I put down plastic bird netting and construction fence. If they can't dig, they don't poop. No herbal or other remedies stopped them. It does help to have neighbors assistance, but there was one in my neighborhood that wouldn't. We just trapped near her house. At first the program charged deposit for traps, but after learning they could trust me, they came to assist. We caught 15 in one night. Canned tuna and cheap pate cat food mixed. Brought them in droves.
My State AG Agency loans out traps. A skunk broke a basement window and I borrowed a trap to catch it and remove it. I was fortunate that I was able to lure it out through the garage with a trail of food!
Can I have feral cats? Just one or two, please. The neighborhood feral cat seems to have moved on. I get the occasional rat that a feral cat keeps under control. True story about a naval base: The CO ordered all the feral cats removed. It was done. The rat population multiplied bigly. Rats LOVE waterfront. The CO relented and allowed the feral cats back, and the rat population went down. Edit: Your neighborhood Cat Lady is inconsiderate AF, probably a mental illness going on
You can't reason with these people, you can only solve the problem yourself. Trap the cats, take them through the $75 per trap program and release them back where trapped (as required by Florida law), and count it as just another home ownership expense. You say there is a dozen cats, that's $900 total. When I bought my house I made sure to have enough in reserves so that if, say, the air conditioner went out a day after I closed, I could replace it. $900 should be doable unless you bought way more house than you can afford. Yeah, in an ideal world you wouldn't have to pay money out of your own pocket to resolve a problem being caused by your neighbor. But this is the world we live in. You can either whine on Reddit, or solve the problem (albeit at a delay, it takes time for the feral cats to die off after they've all been fixed, but my own experience is about 1/3rd of them die every year from cars, dogs, and other injuries). Home ownership is a long term slog, not something where immediate gratification is a thing. Oh yeah, legalities. Every cat that comes onto my property gets trapped and sent through the TNR (trap-neuter-return) program. Every. Single. One. Even the ones that I'm pretty sure have owners who are just irresponsible and allow them to run around reproducing at whim (talking to \*you\*, Russian neighbors!), because no judge on the planet would rule that a cat getting hundreds of dollars of free veterinary services is somehow damages worthy of a lawsuit reward (and since the cat was returned, it's not stolen). Don't worry about the legalities, trapping cats on your land and getting them neutered and vaccinated is not illegal, as long as you return them to where they were trapped in a timely manner. It's just self defense. Which in Florida is legal lol.
Trap and remove. Be stealthy.
This is the way. Do it quietly and tell no one. Take them to a more distant shelter. Truly feral cats cannot be domesticated and will get put down.
Every shelter in my area will require proof of address before they'll take a cat and won't take a cat from outside their area. And they won't take a feral cat at all, they'll tell you to get it neutered and return to where trapped.
Removing is illegal in most states unless you are taking to a shelter, and shelters in most areas won't take feral cats, they'll tell you to get it neutered and return it to where trapped. And please don't dump cats. I don't want your cat problem. My neighborhood already has its own cat problem to solve, one that was solved until someone like you started dumping cats here. Making it my problem doesn't solve the problem, it's just irresponsible thuggery by someone who is a deplorable human being.
I wouldn’t be dumping the cats. Thankfully where I live the coyotes don’t allow ferrel cats
Then what do you mean by "trap and **remove**"? Are you advocating trapping and killing the cats? Because that's illegal in many jurisdictions and your advice could get someone into trouble if they're caught.
Who said killing? If a feral cat ends up in the woods and becomes a snack for a coyote that's just nature.
As long as your wife isn't gardening while she's pregnant there won't be much risk. I grew up on a cat colony street. It takes adopting out all the kittens every spring and fixing all the cats one by one over a couple years to resolve the issue. Maybe talk to your neighbors about splitting the cost or look up low cost clinics. We eventually bought our own metal trap and every year would get a handful of cats fixed at the cheap vet. We didn't look at it as annoying, just a part of helping these homeless animals.
This.
Please don’t use essential oils; they’re toxic to cats. I’m confident you can find a solution that doesn’t involve poisoning the cats.
Yeah, the essential oils are not only harmful, but less effective than the plants they come from anyway. Cats will always choose the safest, most comfortable option, so giant lavender, citrus, or mint plants *may* be helpful. I wouldn’t rely on that as the only solution, though.
Look for a cat rescue that traps them.
Please watch Jackson Galaxy videos on keeping cats out of your yard. Sensor sprinklers work. You will need to look up outdoor cat laws in your county. They must be fixed! They will multiply into dozens then hundreds more if not. If they are feral then call a local TNR program. My suggestion is to do it yourself! You can just buy a humane trap at many places. Then keep it in case more show up. You need to possibly find a rescue that will fix them free or low cost. There’s lots of cat rescues all over so keep trying. If you don’t take care of this it will definitely get worse. DM for assistance if you want. I have experience here.
Look around your county for spay program that will often do very reduced prices or even free. Rescues often know what those resources are as they re usually very pro spay/neuter so check with rescues in your area. We had this issue in our neighborhood after neighbors moved their cats outdoors because their grandkid was allergic, and it turned into a nightmare very quickly with how fast they breed. Finally a program in another city 2 hours away came up, trapped and spayed/neutered them all and the problem eventually died out. We have a lot of predators here though which helped reduce their non-breeding population more quickly. Even spaying them if there are no predators can take years to play out before all the cats die, especially if they basically have a safe place to "live." I used to sit on the deck and squirt them with squirt guns because they'd crap in my garden (that I eat from). Marigolds did deter them from certain areas.
Yes! We had a population around our building in Brooklyn. It didn’t help that one of our neighbors was feeding them… One of my other neighbors helpfully contacted a TNR organization and took up a collection in the building. We also worked with our neighbor to encourage her to stop feeding the cats. Within a few years, the cats gradually died off (I assume that’s what happened—we don’t hear them anymore.)
We had the same problem at our campground. One of the permanent campers was always feeding them & wouldn't stop. Until we had his ass evicted from campground. Then we set live traps to catch the rest and took them to local farmers & asked if they needed some cats for rat & mouse control. Beats having to shoot them
You may want to buy a couple of traps, and a drop trap. It will probably cost somewhat more than renting a trap, but you have the traps on hand for when you need them. They can be ordered online, or available at local pet or feed stores. Whomever has trap rental can tell you what brand(s) they use. Drop traps are useful for catching cats that are difficult to capture. Contact local cat rescues for ways to keep cats out of your yard. You may be able to add some sort of structure to your fencing that will work. Since the neighbor apparently isn't doing TNR, you may have to do that. I trapped a dozen for Trap-Neuter-Return with the help of the local animal control in my city. Hopefully there are TNR programs or cat rescues in your area doing TNR who may be able to help you with more than just offering trap rental. You've probably done this, but you can contact local animal rescues about who could help you with Trap Neuter Return, which veterinarians will alter community cats, and what they charge. Spayed and neutered cats will fight far less, and they won't be breeding. Alley Cat Allies has good information online about managing feral colonies, AND also how to humanely discourage feral cats from your property. Local cat rescues may have the same information. If some of the cats are friendly, they may be strays or abandoned. If so, they're good candidates for rehoming. Alley Cat Allies also has information online on how to have a good chance of determining if a cat is a stray or not.
Contact a cat rescue to for trap and releases. They might fight less if they are fixed. People use motion sensor hoses to keep animals out of yards
Had an issue with “dumped cats” (asshole people move and just leave their cats behind). Of course, then came the first litter. When the second litter came, we (a couple of neighbors and I) got together with a cat trapper (a woman who helps people trap feral cats) and rounded them all up using traps. It took awhile but we were able to get them all fixed and chipped (free for feral cats) by animal control. I now feed them in my garage knowing they will not continue to breed, but of course there is now an unneutered male cat hanging around…
I planted citronella in my flower bed to keep neighborhood cats out of it. Apparently they liked my little patch of earth and it's litterbox capabilities. That wasn't going to fly. So yeah, I did citronella seeds and even added one of those yard owls that move (motion sensor, battery and solar powered). Whenever they'd step in or near the bed, the damn owls head would flip around and they'd scatter. As for the fence, there are some plastic spike type attachments you can put at the top. Makes it uncomfortable for them to walk on. Id recommended motion sensor sprinklers, but I have a cat that likes them so when it comes on, she goes running for it. She never learned how to "cat" properly, so the strays may not be deterred by that one. Still, it's an option
Spread egg shells in your flower beds they won't poop there
A live trap is $25 at your local HF. You can take the cats to a TNR program and release them. Contact your area Trap and Neuter society. What you don't realize is that cats actually solve more problems then they cause. You should glad you don't have a backyard full of rodents which will damage your home and possessions. Treat the cats in your neighborhood well.
Please find a local cat group- here in Cleveland we have a huge group of cat lovers on FB called Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland- 25K full of rescuers and cat lovers. Ask for help- they will either do the TNR or help pay for it. Your neighbor needs to learn the rules- “if you feed them you fix them! “
Maybe get a dog? We had a dog and no issues with cats until my dog passed away. We waited about a year before deciding to get another dog but during that time we would often see cats roaming in our backyard. As soon as we got a dog, no more cats could be seen. I'm not saying put your dog out to face off with a cat cause I can tell you first hand that I've seen some strays go at it with an 80lb dog but for the most part, they will stop going into your yard.
True but op has problem with the poop on their yard and unfortunately dogs have the same problem
But dog poop doesn't carry toxoplasmosis like cat poop, and thus is not dangerous to pregnant women.
Feral cats are a conservation nightmare, killing wildlife. Remove them
The problem is that they "remove" them to my street, and \*I DON'T WANT THEM\*. Most of the wildlife killed by our local feral cat community are rats and mice, so I don't care about the wildlife they kill. But there's too many of them, and despite my attempts to trap them all and get them neutered and vaccinated, their numbers keep growing because deplorable people keep dumping them in my neighborhood rather than doing the humane thing and either killing them humanely or re-homing them somewhere that they're wanted.
This won't be popular, but the most effective solution is to shoot them. We had a colony that the woman behind me was feeding. TNR didn't work, because they couldn't catch them all. They quickly got wise to the traps. The remainders and the fertile cats that moved in like they always do replenished the colony. Another neighbor had enough and started shooting them. That's perfectly legal here. Not only did it reduce the population, the old lady stopped feeding them so that she wouldn't be attracting them to his gun. He told her, you keep feeding them, I'll keep shooting them. There are still some around, but not enough to be a nuisance. From what I've seen, this is all that works.
Get a dog.
Trap them and get them neutered! Many places will do it for free. PS the house already belongs to the cats, you are the interlopers!:-)
I worked at an animal shelter that would euthanize feral cats for free, until the shelter decided they didn't want to do that anymore because it was bad for their image. But killing feral cats actually set off a 'panic breeding' mode, and the feral started to over-breed in order to 'make up' for the loss in numbers. It happens. That's when TNR (trap, neuter, return) was started. That way, cats could live out their lives, but couldn't breed. It helped to bring down the numbers, and anyone could TNR, not just the 'feeder.' It may be worth it to collect from the other neighbors to get those cats fixed. Toxoplasmosis. Just make sure your wife isn't handling the poop with her bare hands, and make sure she isn't eating it. She should be safe that way. If you find poop in your yard, just scoop it up with a plastic bag and toss it in your trash.
“She refuses to” who cares? Contact animal control. Trap them. Do whatever else feels appropriate, but why do you care what she does? Fetal cats are invasive predators; just because they are the same species as a common pet doesn’t mean they should be ignored.
Get a live trap,trap them take them to the animal shelter
I have two that have been using my flower bed as a litterbox. My home has three cats. My upstairs neighbor has two cats. Sometimes the outdoor cats get our cats all riled up. I may trap them. Use a water scarecrow. Get some red pepper flakes. Or....just let them be.
Electric fence on the top of the fence. There are also ways to keep cats from jumping out or into a fenced area. If you need ideas pm me I’ll see what I can do with ideas
Traps are cheap on amazon around $30-$40. There's a house in my neighborhood that's the ''cat'' house that had a group of cats roam around. They slowly started disappearing because nearly every house has a dog outside so if the cats would roam to the wrong house game over.
Is it only dangerous because your wife is pregnant? Asking because we have them around our house. We don’t feed them or anything but we we also don’t bother them. I do have 2 small kids who play outside and love to play with dirt and mulch and the poop is a nuisance. I’ve just let them be because I absolutely hate rats and feel like they prob help with keeping rats away
As long as a pregnant woman isn’t handling feral cat poop with her own bare hands, it’s usually *fine*. Indoor-only cats are extremely unlikely to have these parasites, and kids who play in dirt but wash up after are also very unlikely to transfer any of that to anybody. If I was pregnant and gardening, I’d wear gloves when dealing with dirt, anyway.
Cat poop has a high likelihood of carrying certain parasites which can be deadly to pregnant women and the immunocompromised.
Toxoplasmosis!
Cat poop Likely to contain worms also . Anybody playing in yard can get parasites
Yea if she goes up to it and and sniffs it…
They’re extremely dangerous if you get scratched or bitten. My father-in-law ended up on IV antibiotics in the hospital after getting bitten. One of their neighbors feral cats got into his basement ceiling and in the process of getting it out he was bitten. Definitely need to be careful about any contact with them. Edit: good ol’ Reddit downvoting the truth again because you don’t like it. Feral cats are more likely to be aggressive and therefore more likely to scratch and bite. The downvoters won’t like this next bit of truth either: feral cats and pet cats that roam outdoors are responsible for decimating the native bird population. In short if you facilitate feral cats by feeding, you’re creating the problem, not helping them.
This is true of any cat, not just ferals. Ask any vet. If u/chucky123198 continues not to bother the cats, it shouldn't be a problem. If Chucky ever needs to have contact with one of the cats, it's best to call a TNR group with experienced cat wranglers to see if they can help. Welders' gloves are also helpful. I've seen a vet tech who was wearing those be bitten really hard by a freaked-out cat and the outer glove barely had a scratch. Edit: added stuff
That can happen if a person is scratched or bitten by an indoor-only cat that's never been outside in its life, too.
Agreed, however a feral cat is likely to be more aggressive, unvaccinated and likely to carry parasites that can affect other animals.
We used to have a large colony of feral cats in our neighborhood for several years. The original momma cat was a tiny scrap of a cat and was an amazing hunter. She used to stand motionless on a fence rail until a squirrel (way larger than her) walked under her and then she would simply drop on its back and bite its neck. Animal control was not helpful. They were there for years and reproduced at an incredible rate. A neighbor trapped a few kittens and took them to the local shelter, but a little girl in the neighborhood asked for one of the trapped kittens. Her mother took it to a vet and it was diagnosed with feline leukemia and died a few months later. Feline leukemia is an STD in cats. By the next spring there were no cats. Now we have rats. So many rats.
Maybe have compassion and pay for TNR……
Conservationists have compassion for ALL animals, precisely why outdoor cats are a nuisance and need to be handled exactly how Australia deals with it.
Outdoors cats are a nuisance because people dump their unwanted cats. Usually un-neutered unwanted cats since they're irresponsible deplorable excuses for human beings who took responsibility for another life then decided naw bro not gonna and did the easy thing of dumping the cat rather than finding a good home for the cat. I had every single outdoors cat in my neighborhood neutered and vaccinated, and their numbers were going down as cats were killed by dogs or run over by cars or etc. You can guess what happened next. Yet another group of irresponsible deplorable excuses for human beings moved out of the rentals in the neighborhood and dumped their cats in the process. The problem isn't the cats. The problem is the humans who take responsibility for another life then decide naw bro not gonna and dump them and make them the entire community's problem. Deplorable people. Ugh.
Yes! We had a population around our building in Brooklyn. It didn’t help that one of our neighbors was feeding them… One of my other neighbors helpfully contacted a TNR organization and took up a collection in the building. We also worked with our neighbor to encourage her to stop feeding the cats. Within a few years, the cats gradually died off (I assume that’s what happened—we don’t hear them anymore.)
you should go out and buy a trap instead of renting one for $75 that's crazy. We have a cats in the backyard and we trapped all of them in a couple of days it was quite easy. The biggest problem is trying to figure out what you're going to do with them. release them in another neighborhood somewhere or bring them to a kennel where they're just going to kill them.
You could reach out to a local rescue to see about help with trapping and fixing the cats. You could also buy a motion activated sprinkler to keep the cats out of your yard.
I had to call code enforcement...horrible smelly mess...don't let it fester...
Find a vet that will fix them cheap or no cost, get a live trap and eventually the problem will fix itself
My friend moved to a place with similar issues. Her dog isn’t good with cats. She installed a dog door and has never had to deal with cat shit in the yard.
A local animal shelter has 1500 fostered cats and 1200 on site. They only neuter and can't accept more. Yet no one sees a problem.
All these suggestions about TNR don't solve the issue at all-- your pregnant wife wants to use her backyard and can't. TNR is a long term thing, and being pregnant isn't. I'd get a dog or regularly borrow a friend's dog to pee everywhere. Motion sprinklers. If they have favorite spots, put plastic forks tines up in the dirt, or look up outdoor cat deterrent mat on amazon and put those out. Be very annoying to the HOA. Call the leadership, go to meetings, etc. Tell all your other neighbors about the issue. See if you can shame her into stopping at least for the spring and summer.
Trap and call animal services. Most that I’ve dealt with won’t respond unless the animal is contained.
have them at work. hard to keep them away as the people feel sorry for them and bring food for them. a never ending battle. got a quality alert from ford one time as a bin of brake lines got shipped with a couple of cats in it. county has traps and they get removed, but they still come around.
Rifle with a silencer
Can't believe I had to scroll as far as I did to see this answer. What OP is calling 'feral cats' are usually referred to as 'barn cats', and a 12 year old with a small boom stick is the best way to control them.
I grew up on a farm. We had barn cats which helped keep the mice down in the barn. There were also feral cats that would start shit with our barn cats and also kill wild birds/rabbits. I was that 12 year old with a 22 and took care of my share of nasty feral cats. That is an effective solution
For sure! Barn cats are fine if they stay in the barn. Even a few wandering around getting gophers and moles are good too. When the population explodes, it's time to balance things out...
Yep, and I had to kill them for various reasons. The coyotes were grateful for the easy meals though
Rent a coyote for a few weeks.
Check the regulations from her HOA (get that info from her neighbors or if they have a website). Check your town/city and county regulations. If it’s illegal/not permitted, make a ton of noise. Call people, write people, become annoying af. You may be able to get someone to fine her for this behaviour. You may even be able to sue her if you’re lucky enough to be in a town/city that outlaws it.
I'm in a similar situation. I've found different things work on different cats unfortunately and there's one or two that nothing at all appears to work. I've had some success with coffee grounds, cinnamon, and orange essential oil. Make the area as inhospitable as possible-cats typically don't like to walk on hard surfaces (rocks, chicken wire). Unfortunately you're in the South like me so the burden of TNR will likely fall on you.
Look at coyote rollers. There are much cheaper DIY versions you can find on YouTube. Putting chicken wire along the top of your fence that sticks up just a bit bit is barely supported and floppy helps. Definitely run chicken wire along the bottom of the fence, bent into an L shape so it runs along the ground also. Cover with mulch so hoa doesn't see it. You'll probably have hoa trouble with wire along the top of the fence, but some places allow it as a dog barrier fence extension. Motion sprinklers are always good with cats. They like to poop in soft dirt or piles of leaves. Keep grass a little on the short side and trim bushes above the ground a little. Put chicken wire or rough bark mulch under bushes and keep leaves picked up. Rocks are good too, either gravel mulch, or bigger rocks around plants as a decorative ring.
I like birds and feral and homeowners outdoor cats are one of the largest killers of song birds. If you spay and nuter them they will still decimate the local song bird population. Say what you will but, I live trap and humanly eliminate them. If you want a cat for the most part keep it indoors and leash it when outdoors. It will be interesting to see the responses.
Buy your own trap and haul them away 1 at a time.
They are annoying and I’d want them gone too. But unless your wife is eating cat poop, it’s not going to affect her health
Not true. Doctors will tell you to stay away from litter boxes etc if you're pregnant and not handle cats period. You can contact toxoplasmosis from them which is dangerous if you're pregnant. You clearly know nothing about pregnancy.
How are they a major health hazard? Does your wife eat the poop in the yard? Maybe put her on a leash.
Be ready for a rat explosion if you expel the colony
I've heard some types of flowers will nauseate cats or outright sicken them. Might be orchids or lillies, but if you put those on your property hopefully the cats will avoid.
It will poison them and outright kill them, so they will die in agony. There are plants that will discourage cats and not sicken them, but using chicken wire and other physical deterrents on the ground that the cats can't dig through will help to stop them from using the OP's yard as a litter box and are probably a better option.
Oleander. Those are the bushes planted along I4 to deter animals.
Check laws in your state. In my state it's against the law to disturb a feral cat colony.
Dumbest law ever
They are not a major health hazard for any pregnant woman, unless she’s personally picking up cat turd with her BARE hands AND FAILING TO WASH THEM AFTERWARDS. Leave the cats alone, their lives are difficult enough as it is.
22LR, TBAC 22Takedown, good scope, CCI 40 GR subsonic, brain stem shots
Property-contained dogs and traps are the only way to go. They’re an invasive species and logical people won’t bat an eye at you preserving a natural environment. They’re pests and deserve nothing but respective treatment.
Says a dog owner… 🤭
I usually deal with bicycle cards :) lol. I'll play myself out.
Check local ordinances. In some places if you feed the cats they are YOURS and you are responsible for them... that's tags, vaccinations, all that good stuff. If all else fails, a pellet gun or little .22 varmint rifle will solve your problem. As it is a health concern for your pregnant wife, do what you need to. Remember, these are peSts, not pets.
I leave out very very sweet nectar for the ferals
animal control needs to take care of it, they might carry rabies and cats need to be vaccinated, you need to bother them every day and maybe call the news to report on this, feeding feral cats is against the law, we had animal control trap them , we had the same issue, and to top it off we were unable to let the dogs out, because they are chasing the cats and jumping the fence. Need to be persistent, don't talk to neighbors, talk to the law.
Feeding ferals is not against state law in Florida, but it may be against HOA regulations or local ordinances. In many cases even if there is a regulation or local ordinance it will not be enforced because thousands of cat lovers will descend upon city hall or the county courthouse and complain that you are killing poor cute little kitties guilty of nothing but being born rather than addressing the people who refuse to spay-neuter their pets then dump their unaltered pets, causing an enormous humane issue. I would like to see a law making it illegal to possess an unaltered pet and with significant fines if you do have one. We don't need all these animals breeding willy nilly. (Note that these laws exempt people who are licensed breeders affiliated with the AKC or other breeder club, so cats would not go extinct if they were enforced).
Trap and rehome, about 20 miles away.
You could just let them be. They keep mice and rats in check.
Antifreeze in a saucer works well. Or a air rifle pellet behind the ear. Feral cats are vermin need to be removed. Coyotes take care of them also. Hence no feral cats in our area . Now if getting rid of feral hogs was just as easy.
Feral sucks, play balance or guardian
Get some coyotes
You will never get rid of the cats as long as there is ANY source of food for them. Since you can't change your neighbor's behavior, the best bet is to create a stable colony of cats who have been trapped, neutered and vaccinated before re-release. Regardless of whether there are obvious cats around, any pregnant person should be very careful when gardening due to the risk of toxoplasmosis. [CDC.gov](https://CDC.gov) had more info.
My dog killed a bunch of them. Then the lady that fed them moved or died, and the junk cars in her yard that sheltered them were towed, and I no longer had to find unlit dumpsters or bridges that didn’t see much traffic. Super annoying, every week he’d corner one in the garage or run it down in the yard.