My poor little kitties are gone!

[dskidmore]

I had to give up two of my cats today. I'm allergic, the two people that asked me to hold them until they moved both backed out of the deal (after my having held them for a total additional 6 months for them.)
I found these guys at about six weeks old, ferral, in my backyard. I tamed them, and trained them. They learned everything I taught them except not jumping on the counters/table when I'm out of the room. (Extremely food motivated critters.) By the time they were old enough to be neutered, it was midwinter, and I couldn't put them outside. By spring, they were fully indoor cats, who had no desire or defenses for the outdoors. Two uncucessful attempts to find them good homes, and I just couldn't go through it again and had to take them to the humane society. I'm hoping some children are asking for orange tabbies for Christmas this year.
I was one carrier short of being able to take thier mother in the same trip, and now I don't have the heart to make the second trip. Winter is the worst time to try to consider if a cat stands a better chance outdoors or at the shelter.

 

[dskidmore]

Here they are:

 

[dskidmore]

And Momma, who we still have to do something with:

 

[squidd]

First thing you should do is get her "fixed"...:thinking:

 

[beth]

So why not hold them until spring? If you work with the humane society you could probably get a home without having to shelter them. They will likely be put to sleep.

 

[alison]

You need to get momma spayed. There are feral cat rescues that spay cats for free, and also you can go get a cat spayed at reduced prices for feral cats for around 30$. Cats can go into heat up to 3 times a year, and you need to get this taken care of. Oh, and I would recommend highly to just give the cat away rather than keeping it outside. My brother has 2 feril cats that he keeps outside rather than finding homes for them, and I think it's a little cruel. Just some advice. -ali

 

[hagfish]

alison, just curious why you would think it cruel to leave a cat outside? I mean, they come from outside naturally.
I have two cats and I would definitely say it would be cruel to take one of them (patches) outside because if I even try to carry her outside she goes nuts. My other cat (kit-kat) attempts to dart out the door every time we open it. She's dying to be outside. But I don't want her out there. Really though, I'd probably say I'm being cruel by not letting her go outside.

 

[dskidmore]

Mommacat was spayed about a year ago. She was a stray that I took in at the same time as her kittens. I would _not_ breed cats on purpose. Hunter and Wilbur were about 4-6 weeks old when I discovered the family. She was spayed as soon as the vet could schedule her.
My origional intention was to get the cats spayed/neutered and vacinated and go right back outside. (Given the truce between soft heart and bad allergy.) The vet wouldn't neuter before 5 months, by then it was midwinter. I found someone willing to take them in when she moved in the spring, then she decided to move into a tiny studio that had no room for cats. By this time, my husband didn't want to give them up. Eventually my sniffles plagued his conscience enough that he relented and I started looking for another home for them. I created a web page for them and tried to get my friends to circulate the address around. I found a second person willing to take them in "as soon as they moved." But a week before transfer time, my go-between said she was going to back out because the toddler in the house was a destructive brat not to be trusted near animals. I then started bugging my husband to put an ad in the paper. (I had already written one, but it was stored on his hard drive...) He couldn't bear that, and prefereed the clean break of dropping them off at the shelter. I've put posters up at work, asking people to pick them up at the shelter. (Perhaps it will do some other cat good if not my own.)
As far as working with the humane society, I sent one of the no-kill places an e-mail last winter about listing them while they still lived in my home, and I never got a response.
Momma was an outdoor cat when we found her, she knows how to survive out there. There is a neighbor that feeds stray cats. She is not very adoptable due to not being very friendly and also making messes when she gets nervous. (Moving to a new home is bound to make her nervous enough to make herself unwelcome.) I'm afraid that dropping her off at the shelter would result in her death, and I've spent a year trying to find another home for her to no sucess.

 

[alison]

Hagfish, the reason I think it's cruel is that an indoor life is way better as far as safety, and better for the environment. My brother doesn't let these 2 strays in, and one is a kitten, the other is a mother cat. One of the cats got attacked by a racoon the other nearly ran over, so that's my point. I think it's ok to keep a cat indoors/oudoors, but not all the time outdoors, because NO they aren't ment to be living like that, but even allowing your cat to be outside you are risking it's life, because they don't know about cars, or wild animals, and can devistate the local small animal life. The best home for a cat and the environment is for the cat to be living indoors, ask any vet. My brother did this so he could keep the cats, since he has a cat indoors that doesn't tolerate other cats, but I think he should just try and find a good indoor home for these cats rather than making them live outdoors. Thats just a p.e.t.a opinion. -ali

 

[dskidmore]

It's not always so easy to find a home for displaced animals. It's not just a matter of being willing to give them up. You have to find someone willing to take on that responsibility.