Feral cat pestering house cats - looking for a "live trap" (?)

the_syco

Hey all,
Mates mum lives down the country, and lately there's a feral cat that is coming over to eat her cats food. All her cats are old, so don't put up much of a fight. Thus my mate is looking to get rid of said feral cat. I'm wondering if he could rent out a live trap and either release it either far away, or would someone have an idea where to release it (cat shelter, etc)? It's becoming more of a problem now, as the cats are starting to go outside due to the nicer weather, so the food is left for them outside as well.

Situated in the North Kildare region.

dharma200

Dump the thing so someone else's problem? I wouldn't like that on my head. There may well be cat rescue near you a google would do it... Perhaps feeding the poor animal now and again wouldn't hurt. Imo. If none of these suit perhaps not leaving any food outside and it will go and find food elsewhere.. If the cat can get food outside then it might be attracting rats etc... Which incidently feral cats are quite good at hunting...

aonb

contact the animal rescues in your area. they will have cages to trap ferals. Would you mum be willing to pay a % of the neutering of the feral??
The alternative, if its pestering your older cats, would be to feed it too - problem solved, and a good deed too!

Your mums is this cats source of food (at the moment) - major brownie points for feeding a starving animal

boomerang

That's abandonment - completely wrong IMO. The cat may not find food wherever you dump it, and may face dangers it's not accustomed to. Completely irresponsible. It'd actually be kinder to pts in that case. No cat rescue worth its salt will loan you a trap to do this - and it's a major reason our group do not loan out traps unsupervised.

The humane and practical solution here is to trap and *neuter* the cat. This will vastly reduce the conflict with your mum's cats.

ETA: No decent cat shelter will take in and house a feral cat indefinitely - the stress of confinement is inordinately stressful on them.

Hoboo

Ring the blue cross, as far as I recall they help neutering ferals. Other than that feed your cats inside, feed the homeless guy outside, he won't bother you or your cats, and keep rats and mice at bay. I used to dislike cats, I won't say hate, now I have a feral living with me 2 years , only recently he's started sitting beside me on the sofa. Got him neutered, chipped and shots, got him a sureflap, he comes and goes, and I fxxckin love him. He rocks.

the_syco

Hoboo wrote: »

Ring the blue cross, as far as I recall they help neutering ferals.

Cheers, I'll ask him to look into this.

For the rest of the posters; I don't think my mate really cares where the cat goes once it's no longer interfering with his mums cats. It's less of a case of "neuter and feed the cat", and more of a case of post 4 of the charter

snoman

the_syco wrote: »

Cheers, I'll ask him to look into this.

For the rest of the posters; I don't think my mate really cares where the cat goes once it's no longer interfering with his mums cats. It's less of a case of "neuter and feed the cat", and more of a case of post 4 of the charter

Hmmm. Then methinks you're probably in the wrong place...

Graces7

the_syco wrote: »

Cheers, I'll ask him to look into this.

For the rest of the posters; I don't think my mate really cares where the cat goes once it's no longer interfering with his mums cats. It's less of a case of "neuter and feed the cat", and more of a case of post 4 of the charter

You have to do what is best for all. There is also the danger of disease being passed to the existing cats.

Feeding a very friendly feral here but in the outside utility. he is keeping other ferals away which is a consideration I had not thought of. Also he keeps mice etc at bay. Ferals are territorial so if you remove him another will probably come. Best befriend the one who is there.

If that can be achieved, grand. I feed my cats inside and the feral outside. so he never gets a chance to steal food. And they avoid each other, apart from hissing matches through the windows. :rolleyes:

Cuddlesworth

Whats the point of neutering? It doesn't fix the immediate problem of the cat eating her cats food.

the_syco

snoman wrote: »

Hmmm. Then methinks you're probably in the wrong place...

Nope; totally in the correct place. I would like a animal friendly option, and thus I asked here.

Graces7 wrote: »

If that can be achieved, grand. I feed my cats inside and the feral outside. so he never gets a chance to steal food. And they avoid each other, apart from hissing matches through the windows. :rolleyes:

From what I gather, this is what they were doing up until recently, but they currently prefer to be outside during the day now.

Pumpkinseeds

Are they sure that it's a feral cat? It's very common for people to dump cats and dogs in rural areas. If the cat was dumped and hungry it will fight with other cats for food in order to survive.

I'd get in touch with local rescues and see if anyone can help. Trapping the cat and dumping it elsewhere is just cruel.

boomerang

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Whats the point of neutering? It doesn't fix the immediate problem of the cat eating her cats food.

Because it is a more humane (and feasible) option than killing the cat or dumping it elsewhere. Neuter the cat and he won't an aggressor.

Cuddlesworth

boomerang wrote: »

Because it is a more humane (and feasible) option than killing the cat or dumping it elsewhere. Neuter the cat and he won't an aggressor.

And does this forum always offer the same resolution with wild dogs, rats or mice? Its a bit hypocritical.

Tranceypoo

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

And does this forum always offer the same resolution with wild dogs, rats or mice? Its a bit hypocritical.

Don't think there's many 'wild dogs' in Ireland?!

DBB

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

And does this forum always offer the same resolution with wild dogs, rats or mice? Its a bit hypocritical.

Yes, we always encourage the ethical and humane treatment of animals in this forum, and are currently updating the forum charter to further strengthen the rules in relation to this.
We are not the go-to forum for issues relating to pest control. So no, not hypocritical.

loveisdivine

Rats are completely wild animals so not compareble at all. We don't know if this cat is truly wild. Its most likely a stray.

If you remove the stray, another one will eventually take its place.

juneg

Just feed the cat. It doesnt cost much and they are no trouble. I'm sure the resident cats are well able to take care of themselves and an extra cat who only wants a bit of food is no threat.

OldNotWIse

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Whats the point of neutering? It doesn't fix the immediate problem of the cat eating her cats food.

If everyone took that attitude we'd be overrun. Neutering one cat saves hundreds of other unwanted cats being born - if someone had done this to another cat, OP might not even have had this problem. In any event, neutering will cut down on aggression and fighting and there are plenty of places that will trap and neuter for nothing. Moving it somewhere else out of its environment is just plain cruel. Where my folk live, there are always strays because people think its ok to dump their animals in the mountains. "Ah sure let him run around free with the bunnies and the sheep". Idiots.

OldNotWIse

Hoboo wrote: »

Ring the blue cross, as far as I recall they help neutering ferals. Other than that feed your cats inside, feed the homeless guy outside, he won't bother you or your cats, and keep rats and mice at bay. I used to dislike cats, I won't say hate, now I have a feral living with me 2 years , only recently he's started sitting beside me on the sofa. Got him neutered, chipped and shots, got him a sureflap, he comes and goes, and I fxxckin love him. He rocks.

Us too She was at deaths door when we found her. Got her "the works" - chipping, neutering, treatment etc and expected never to see her again when we let her go. She was back the next day looking for grub :P She's gone from being a demonic cat that hissed if you walked past to actually jumping up on the sofa yesterday and batting the OH for food. I'd love to cuddle her*, and hope that some day she will trust me enough. baby steps

* the cat. OH already lets me do this

Cuddlesworth

OldNotWIse wrote: »

If everyone took that attitude we'd be overrun. Neutering one cat saves hundreds of other unwanted cats being born - if someone had done this to another cat, OP might not even have had this problem. In any event, neutering will cut down on aggression and fighting and there are plenty of places that will trap and neuter for nothing. Moving it somewhere else out of its environment is just plain cruel. Where my folk live, there are always strays because people think its ok to dump their animals in the mountains. "Ah sure let him run around free with the bunnies and the sheep". Idiots.

Neutering might cut down on the aggression and fighting. Its a lot of effort for something that could fix the problem. Plus even I'm aware that there is quite a lot of evidence that points towards neutering being very ineffective at keeping down wild cat populations.

OldNotWIse

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Neutering might cut down on the aggression and fighting. Its a lot of effort for something that could fix the problem. Plus even I'm aware that there is quite a lot of evidence that points towards neutering being very ineffective at keeping down wild cat populations.

One study is quite a lot of evidence now?

Pumpkinseeds

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Neutering might cut down on the aggression and fighting. Its a lot of effort for something that could fix the problem. Plus even I'm aware that there is quite a lot of evidence that points towards neutering being very ineffective at keeping down wild cat populations.

I don't think you did much research. There is far more evidence to support Trap Neuter and Return than there is against it. Nothing is more ineffective at keeping down cat populations than not neutering. The problem is created by irresponsible/indifferent humans. Too many people have an old fashioned approach to neutering and they either don't bother having it done or else think that they should 'let' a cat have a litter.

Then you have the people who very kindly feed a stray/feral but don't think that it's their responsibility to have the cat neutered. I've never understood that logic.

anniehoo

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Plus even I'm aware that there is quite a lot of evidence that points towards neutering being very ineffective at keeping down wild cat populations.

Did you actually read the paper? It does not say "neutering is ineffective" outright, it is less effective than the 3 population control methods they used as a comparison, Trap-Vasectomy-Hysterectomy-Release; Trap-Neuter-Release and Lethal Control with all being ineffective if less than 19% of the population is targeted.

wrote:

At annual capture rates <19%, all methods were ineffective at decreasing population size. At annual capture rates of >97% each method was effective at reducing population size, but LC was most effective, followed by TVHR and finally TNR. At all intermediate annual capture rates tested (i.e between 19% and 97%), TVHR outperformed both alternative treatments

So, in that paper based on computer modelling, TVHR faired better than the other 2 as far as population control statistics went but requires the same exact same effort as TNR. The logic being that keeping hormonally intact but infertile cats in an area who didn't produce kittens and lived shorter lives, was statistically better in controlling the population than having sexually inactive and infertile animals who lived longer.

The paper proposes that

wrote:

Dominant males that are castrated in a TNR program become sexually inactive and are subsequently replaced in the breeding hierarchy by the next most dominant male, so unless every male in a colony can be captured and castrated,continued continued reproduction with maintenance of population size is inevitable. Unlike castration, vasectomy does not alter a male cat's sexual drive or social status. Cats that have undergone vasectomy maintain their position in the breeding hierarchy,compete with other males for females as before surgery, prevent less dominant males from breeding and continue to copulate in an unproductive manner

So, in my opinion as the TVHR method has not been actually tested on a real life colony of cats, plus the animals having a shorter life span (doesn't reduce injuries from fighting etc), many people still feel TNR is the responsible and most effective method of population control that doesn't involve ending the animals life prematurely (TVHR) or instantaneously (LC).

OldNotWIse

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I don't think you did much research. There is far more evidence to support Trap Neuter and Return than there is against it. Nothing is more ineffective at keeping down cat populations than not neutering. The problem is created by irresponsible/indifferent humans. Too many people have an old fashioned approach to neutering and they either don't bother having it done or else think that they should 'let' a cat have a litter.

Then you have the people who very kindly feed a stray/feral but don't think that it's their responsibility to have the cat neutered. I've never understood that logic.

Indeed, I've even heard people say "oh sure why would I get the cat done, its male" - just because they wont be saddled with the burden of unwanted kittens! Also from a compassionate point of view, its better for the individual cat. OH didnt understand why I wanted to get our halfcat done until I pointed out that its hard enough to live on the streets without having the extra burden of coming into heat and being attacked by toms and having kittens, and for toms getting into dangerous fights. I think they have more than enough to do trying to survive. We have always neutered - in fact there's a joke in our house about sleeping with one eye open :pac:

boomerang

Every male in a colony can be trapped and castrated - we do it all the time! And monitor for any newbies and they get done too

Simply vasectomising the males would mean they would still spray and would still fight with other males. One reason for castrating males is to stop these nuisance behaviours so the cats are better tolerated in the neighbourhood.