FEEDING FERAL CATS
I feed at least 9 feral felines a day. Four or five of the cats are black and white. The smallest of the black and white cats stays on my patio at night and greets me in the morning. Oh, I know; he could care less about me. He's waiting to be fed. But this cat wants to be petted, too, and allows me to pick him up and put him on the countertop on my patio to be fed away from the other cats.
Don't get me wrong. I've never warmed to cats, but I can't stand to see little creatures suffer. I know they can survive on birds, rodents, bugs, and worms, but I've heard that they get skinny in the summers until the Snowbird that feeds them 6 months out of the year returns from Minnesota. I can't let them get thin, and I cannot live with the thought that they might not make it due to starvation.
I've only lived in this small development of 30 townhouses in the Texas Hill Country for 7 months. We're surrounded by wildlife. Deer, foxes, and coyotes are a common site. The notice on the tiny Post Office about 2 miles away warns us about mountain lions.
I worry about our cats.
Most of the residents here support feral cats. They firmly believe that we do not have rodents because of them. Since these townhouses are second homes to most owners, I took on the role of 'the cat lady.' sigh.
When I first moved here, there were approximately 12 cats, so some wandered off or died. I don't want to think about it. One of the original 12 lived on my patio for a while. She had much of her face missing, which I later discovered was due to tumors taking over her face and one ear. I fed her antibiotics and food daily for a while, but she quit eating, wandered off, and was captured by Animal Control inside a neighbor's garage. After he traveled several miles away to have her euthanized, the cat got loose and ran away. I hope she isn't suffering somewhere in the hills in this 105-degree heat. Perhaps she died peacefully under a big tree overlooking the lake. I hope so.
Outside my patio, I place a bowl of food every morning. I see about three cats eating from that bowl, not counting the one on my patio. Two of those cats are black and white. I can only guess that there are 9 cats because I feed them in two different places.
Then, I travel down a hill to my Winter Texan's patio and front porch, where he has fed cats for the six months he has lived here. One eats from his patio. Three or four eat from his front porch. Three of the four are black and white. One of the cats, kind of 'siamese looking,' was probably abandoned by its owner. I hope Karma catches up to the person who did that. The Siamese one runs to see me as I'm going to the front porch and follows us on our walk in the evening, but he won't come on my porch. I'm sure there's some territorial behavior, and he knows he'd get his rear kicked if he entered their territory. My dog and this cat rub against each other and sometimes play a short game of chase. He's the only cat with his ear intact. Years ago, my neighbors had the cats captured, neutered, and returned. We can tell the ones who've been fixed by a missing tip of one ear. If I were a cat lover, I'd bring that cat into the house. I might convince someone else that they need a cat!
For all I know, I feed the black and white cats outside my patio, and they run to my neighbor's front porch to be fed again. If that's true, then we have a total of 5 cats, or is it 9? It could even be more in our community, but they are being fed elsewhere. Who knows? All I know is that when the Winter Texan returns, the cats won't be thin!
Don't get me wrong. I've never warmed to cats, but I can't stand to see little creatures suffer. I know they can survive on birds, rodents, bugs, and worms, but I've heard that they get skinny in the summers until the Snowbird that feeds them 6 months out of the year returns from Minnesota. I can't let them get thin, and I cannot live with the thought that they might not make it due to starvation.
I've only lived in this small development of 30 townhouses in the Texas Hill Country for 7 months. We're surrounded by wildlife. Deer, foxes, and coyotes are a common site. The notice on the tiny Post Office about 2 miles away warns us about mountain lions.
I worry about our cats.
Most of the residents here support feral cats. They firmly believe that we do not have rodents because of them. Since these townhouses are second homes to most owners, I took on the role of 'the cat lady.' sigh.
When I first moved here, there were approximately 12 cats, so some wandered off or died. I don't want to think about it. One of the original 12 lived on my patio for a while. She had much of her face missing, which I later discovered was due to tumors taking over her face and one ear. I fed her antibiotics and food daily for a while, but she quit eating, wandered off, and was captured by Animal Control inside a neighbor's garage. After he traveled several miles away to have her euthanized, the cat got loose and ran away. I hope she isn't suffering somewhere in the hills in this 105-degree heat. Perhaps she died peacefully under a big tree overlooking the lake. I hope so.
Outside my patio, I place a bowl of food every morning. I see about three cats eating from that bowl, not counting the one on my patio. Two of those cats are black and white. I can only guess that there are 9 cats because I feed them in two different places.
Then, I travel down a hill to my Winter Texan's patio and front porch, where he has fed cats for the six months he has lived here. One eats from his patio. Three or four eat from his front porch. Three of the four are black and white. One of the cats, kind of 'siamese looking,' was probably abandoned by its owner. I hope Karma catches up to the person who did that. The Siamese one runs to see me as I'm going to the front porch and follows us on our walk in the evening, but he won't come on my porch. I'm sure there's some territorial behavior, and he knows he'd get his rear kicked if he entered their territory. My dog and this cat rub against each other and sometimes play a short game of chase. He's the only cat with his ear intact. Years ago, my neighbors had the cats captured, neutered, and returned. We can tell the ones who've been fixed by a missing tip of one ear. If I were a cat lover, I'd bring that cat into the house. I might convince someone else that they need a cat!
For all I know, I feed the black and white cats outside my patio, and they run to my neighbor's front porch to be fed again. If that's true, then we have a total of 5 cats, or is it 9? It could even be more in our community, but they are being fed elsewhere. Who knows? All I know is that when the Winter Texan returns, the cats won't be thin!
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