and then there were none.... (about kittens *senstive*)

[flowermama]

I feel like I'm living a version of the story "and then there were none." :banghead Remember how we have lots of feral cats around here? I wasn't going to get attached to any more kittens, but there they were and so cute were they. :banghead Now two are gone and three are left.

I don't know what happened to the first one, he just ended up missing one day. The second one who died just died this morning. He was sickly and wasn't eating with the other kitties or nursing. I saw him on the porch. Then a few minutes later I didn't see him anymore, so I got dressed, got a little food for him, and went outside to check on him. And he was dead. Only part of him was there. We think a racoon got him.

:banghead :cry

Last year this happened, too... I mean we slowly watched a batch of kitties dies over the summer. Two lived, though... one still is around here and we feed him (Sarge -- I've posted a pic of him here before) and one we have as an inside cat. But the others died such sad deaths last year.

:banghead

There is a huge overpopulation of feral kitties where we live, and I don't know what to do. :banghead

And another issue ... last night my mom told me she heard they aren't taking kitties in our area because there is a disease going around amongst them. So I'm afraid the chance at least one more kitty, if not all, will die, too, is high. :cry

btw, these kittens were from a different mama cat than the kittens we saw die last year. The other mama cat appeared to have two sets of kittens earlier this year, but we feel that they probably all died very, very young.

:cry

[Wonder Woman]

:bheart :hugheart

[expatmom]

:hugheart

[ShangriLewis]

Call the humane society and see what they say.

Occasionally they have free or low cost clinics and sometimes they will fix them if you can catch them. That means you have to get them in a cage usually. Like one they have for raccoons. I'm so sorry about having to deal with that. It's because people don't care for their animals.

You can, also, ask the humane society if there is anything you can do to help with this problem. Like hang fliers or volunteer at a spay/neuter table. I know that it's hard to do that stuff with kids though.

If you see a pregnant momma cat perhaps you can catch her and take her in. Even if she is feral she may be easier to catch.

It's hard because you don't want to catch anything from them ya know.

http://www.feralcatproject.org/

[Chris3jam]

Do they not have people that go to areas and catch them, and get them fixed, and release them again? Or was that just in certain areas?

[boonpnutsmom]

:hug I have a stray at the office that I have been feeding for close to 3.5 years now and she still will not come close enough to me to catch her. I can tell she has been fixed and at one point was somebodies pet, but I would really like to bring her home so she could be safe. Sorry rambling here, but I totally understand your plight and again offer :hug.

[UltraMother]

:hugheart

It's a rough life for feral kitties. :(

[Marzipan]

:hugheart

[beccafromlalaland]

Somewhere around where i live there is a feral cat rescue that will take them in patch them up, spay and nueter then try to find homes for them.

[This Busy Mom]

We think a racoon got him.

:( :mad I hate racoons. They tried to eat my oldest cat when I lost him for 6 weeks when I was in the hospital with my 3rd dd the last time... rotten critters they are... they also ate 40 of my chickens.

I was trapping them, but then what?? I am not one to kill pest critters & I couldn't find anyone else (wildlife people didn't want anything to do with them... they are pests).

I'm sorry about the kitties :( . Feral cats are a problem almost everywhere. I'm always sad when I see a large population of them that are sick and diseased on someone's "farm" (usually horse people in my limited experience).

[ShangriLewis]

My parents have racoon problems most likely because they have chickens. They dunk them because no one wants racoons. It makes me sick to my stomach and I told them to not tell me or the kids anymore :sick2 But, it is horrible what they have done to my parents chickens and rabbits. They don't even eat them all they just kill everything. It's so hard to like a creature like that. (But, I do.)

[Sanveann]

I'm so sorry, sweetie!

I would definitely second the idea of calling around to different rescue groups and seeing if anyone will help you do a spay/release sort of thing. Maybe even a kind-hearted local vet would be willing to help.

Another thing you can do is see if anyone would be willing to take the kittens as soon as they are born, or at least before they are weaned. My rescue group has done that before ... taken kittens and bottle-raised them so they won't turn out feral.