Homeless Cat Concerns

Fletch123

I've mentioned it a few times but there are about 10 cats that regularly pass through the back area and patio of my ground floor apartment.

A few of them look a bit worse for wear, and some look downright sick. They don't appear to belong to anyone. I've contacted the DSPCA about them who said that they will not Trap-Neuter-Release until after kitten season and even then only if it was clear that no one was feeding the cats at all (one of my neighbours throws them scraps every so often). I contacts Cats Aid and they're snowed under at the moment and so can't help.

So I would like your expert cat opinions on the following issues that some of the cats have and then maybe I'll be able to do something for them:

Mange- this cat is bizarre looking. His long fur is matted in parts and falls off in big long clumps (sometimes it looks like he has an extra tail because the matting falls off in strips but is still attached to his coat). He doesn't seem to groom himself hence the matting but sometimes he'll have muck on his whiskers and he doesn't even get rid of that. The other cats don't seem to mind him so he's not in exile from the cat community. Any visitors to my apartment gasp when they see him and utter things like "Good god, what is that!?"

Flat Ears- this cat has flat ears. It's like they're smushed down pointing forwards, as if they don't have cartilage in them. It's been suggested that it's a symptom of inbreeding. She also seems quite dopey. She'll sit outside our patio door looking in at us for maybe 30mins at a time, but doesn't follow any movements in the apartment with her eyes, just stares straight ahead. She also seems to be pregnant.

Gizmo & Mange's Brother (who turned out to be a sister)- both of these cats seem to have had kittens in the last few weeks (Gizmo got skinny all of a sudden and MB has a little grey kitten feeding from it). They're not neutered and given that there are loads of toms about they're going to be knocked up again very soon.

I've named these cats so you can tell I'm quite fond of them (from a distance anyway). Where do you recommend I go from here? They can't go on living in the back the way they are, they're spreading cat diseases and, on a practical note, using the back area of the apartments as their toilet (even though it's gravel!). I don't want to see them put down so what else is there to do?

Adventure Pout

Do you think you can catch the cats? The kittens should be easier to catch.. well I mean, they can run fast but it is possible.
I had similar experience with feral / alley cats, and with time and patience, I managed to catch them and have them neutered.
I found Marie from the ISPCA very helpful and active. You can contact her here, and ask her if she can lend you a trap and how to use it:
http://www.ispca.ie/North-County-Dublin-SPCA.aspx
It can take time to catch them so Patience is a must.
For the kitty with a matted coat, it might be he is not able to clean himself due to a condition/illness.
I think the best you can do at the moment is to try to catch the female and kittens.. because female cats will go on heat again and you will end up with more kitties in your alley!!!

Fletch123

Thanks Adventure Pout- as I said the DSPCA said they won't do any TNR's and what I didn't say was that their reason is that since it's kitten season they may be taking a mother cat away from it's kittens. I've only seen the grey kitten twice, and I'm only assuming that Gizmo had kittens but haven't seen any.

I'm not sure if I'd be able to catch the cats myself -they pass through the back and hang about rather than live there full time. And maybe it sounds selfish but I don't think I'm fond of them enough to fork out for 10+cats to be brought to the vet and neutered.

It's an open space- gravel and patios shared area for the apartment block- so it's not just me who encounters them (or their poos).

Adventure Pout

Fletch123 wrote: »

Thanks Adventure Pout- as I said the DSPCA said they won't do any TNR's and what I didn't say was that their reason is that since it's kitten season they may be taking a mother cat away from it's kittens. I've only seen the grey kitten twice, and I'm only assuming that Gizmo had kittens but haven't seen any.

I'm not sure if I'd be able to catch the cats myself -they pass through the back and hang about rather than live there full time. And maybe it sounds selfish but I don't think I'm fond of them enough to fork out for 10+cats to be brought to the vet and neutered.

It's an open space- gravel and patios shared area for the apartment block- so it's not just me who encounters them (or their poos).

Hi Fletch123, I can imagine it is hard to try to catch them..
However, just FYI the DSPCA (in Rathfarnahm) and ISPCA (Nationwide, HQ in Longford) are 2 different charities, although they do more or less the same work - animal rescue etc...
The address I gave you is the ISPCA that has a contact in Dublin, Drumcondra area.
The DSPCA will not deal with case like that, as I have contacted them for several cases, and they wont do anything even if the animal is sick or so, unless you catch the animal (this was my experience several times anyway... not wanting to sound bad towards them, as they also do great work).
Everytime I contacted the Drumcondra branch, they always get back to me and offered me solutions.
You can also try to contact the Blue Cross and see if they can help you there. Mention about the sick cats particularly and see what you get. Good Luck!
And No you are not selfish, otherwise you would have not posted the issue here

MsFifers

I was in a similar situation. I was able to borrow a cat trap from the local SPCA and bring a couple of the cats to the vet myself, where they got a check up and neutering. I did have to pay for the vet costs myself, but the vet kept the fees down because he knew I was just dealing with strays. You could try phoning a few vets to see if you can find a sympathetic one. Having said that - the vet just did the bare minimum.

The vet would be able to sedate the cats to put on a mange treatment and clean any wounds, bad teeth etc.

I wasn't able to catch one of the cats at all, and he had hair missing (I was sure it had mange). I have been leaving out good quality cat food, and I found that with the improved nutrition the cats appearance improved greatly and they seemed much healthier - were able to fight off illnesses and infections v well. Even if you could put out some food with a worm tablet ground up in it, it would be of great benefit to the cat as it would help them to absorb nutrition better.

I had a plan that if I coudl get the cats looking pretty and cute that I might be able to find homes for them. But then one of my neighbours got fed up of me feeding them, and caught them and let them loose out into the countryside. I now only have one left, and he is not at all tame, but I'm going to keep him as an outside cat now. As long as my neighbour doesn't get to him.

His name is Bud and he has a broken jaw (now set crooked) and he drools constantly. He is the ugliest cat in the world. He also peed in my car when I was bringing him home from the vet, and months later I can still smell it despite spending a fortune on various cleaning products/services.

Anyway - long post. Sorry!

Fletch123

Adventure Pout- I didn't realise that that branch of the SPCA would help given I'm near the DSPCA, I'll give them an email now and see if they have any advice.

I don't want to give them any food because I don't want to encourage them hanging around my patio. I once tried to give one of them a scrap of food when we first moved in and all of a sudden 15 cats came creeping out of the bushes towards our back door, it was like a Hitchcock film. We had to close the curtains because they were all sitting there, staring in at us.

Even though I'm concerned about them I would still rather them gone as they use the back shared area as their toilet (which is bizarre, I've never seen cats leaving their poos exposed before, or going to the toilet on gravel). Also, I would eventually like to get a cat and I really don't want to expose it to the kind of diseases that it might get from these cats (if it was a semi-outdoors cat).

I'm assuming Dublin City Council don't have any facilities for helping with feral cat problems...?