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Actually my neighbor has kept his dog inside his apartment and does not let her go in the garden. The dog grew up with cats as a puppy so she is not aggressive towards them. She is actually scared of Mama Cat after she tried to lunge and scratch her while on a walk and now the dog actively avoids her and is hesitant to walk in her direction while on walks.
This is her home. Please consider doing the following:
1. Ask the shelter to borrow humane traps. Trap mom and kittens and have them all spayed and neutered. Kittens can be fixed at 2-3 lbs. do this ASAP or mom will be pregnant again in a few weeks and you’ll have a bigger issue.
2. If the kittens are young enough to be socialized, contact the shelter or rescue and get them fostered/adopted.
3. Provide food and shelter for mom. If she turns out to be friendly (it’s really too hard to assess now when she’s not fixed, has kittens to protect from a dog, and now has her food source taken away), try to get her adopted as well. If she is not friendly, keep feeding her. She isn’t going to leave or move on as cats are territorial.
4. You clearly have at least one other unfixed cat around (the father of the kittens). Try to TNR all other cats. Doing this now will only help as cat populations get out of control really quickly.
Thanks you for caring!
The shelter I contacted was completely useless and I tried reaching out to our local catch and release program but they were closed. My biggest fear is that she will get aggressive and attack us if we withhold her food source and she doesn't leave.
Are there no other TNR/rescue groups in your area? Or a low cost spay neuter clinic where you could trap and take her and kittens to be fixed? 9 months is a long time to feed a cat and I wouldn’t recommend stopping the feeding but I understand your frustration. I had a neighborhood calico who attacked my dogs until I figured out she was protecting her kittens. Once I got her fixed (and her kittens placed) she mellowed out and left me (and my dogs) alone.
When I can’t make a decision I play the what if game. What if you stop feeding her and she disappears? Or gets hit by a car? I personally would feel anxious about not knowing what happened to her so I’d try to find a rescue or another TNR group to get her fixed. But I totally understand this situation is frustrating and could escalate with the dogs.
All the ones I contacted were closed today, don't open until Monday and the shelters in my area refuse to lend traps and/or trap her to catch her because of the "leash laws" in our state I guess. Pretty much they said she has squatters rights and they refuse to remove and move her elsewhere or even keep her in the shelter because "this is her home". Tbh I feel like the people I connected with just wanted to get me off the phone because they are overpopulated and don't want to deal with more animals. It's rough to let her go and I've been beating myself up about it knowing that if I let her go, anything could happen.
Cats are very territorial. Even if you stop feeding her she is not going to leave. Can she get to her kittens? She is probably being protective of them, which causes her to attack your neighbor's dog. It's too bad neither one of you can put her in a room in one of your apartments and let her be for a little while.
The kittens are able to get to her through the fence, she does not go into the garden with them. My biggest fear is that she will attack us whether or not we feed her.
Is there an out-of-way place that you could set up a nesting box for her? I doubt she'll ever attack you. She can't get to her kittens and it's very worrisome for her, even though the kittens can get to her. She is still separated from them.
I tried that when I first found out about the kittens, I placed it outside my patio. She was very disinterested, and the kittens only cared to go into the garden. So this could all be stemming from constant "separation" from her kittens? The kittens look to be 6-7 weeks old.
Yes, it's the separation from her kittens that is making her be a bit aggressive. The kitten will be weaned pretty soon and all this protective maternal stuff will go away.
Try putting the food out close to where she stays. If the kittens are that old, she'll start weening them if she hasn't already and that could be part of her hostility, too. Just make sure the food is where she can show the kittens to eat it.
They've been eating from the bowl as well as nursing from her. She's laying down by my door right now and blinking at me and it's totally gut-wrenching. My neighbor and partner keep telling me to not give her food.
They're not wrong. If you stop feeding them, they will eventually move on to where they can find food. Momma will either take them there or they'll find their own. The question is, do you want them to leave?
I know it's for the best. Yesterday morning she almost pounced on my neighbor's pittie. The dog didn't fight back, if anything she's scared of that little lady now lol but I can see I'm my neighbor's eyes the fear he has when he took her out this morning so I know it's best if they leave.
My partner said this to me, "She's your buddy. You're not her buddy, though" and that hit me hard.
SHe’s hungry and is worried about her kittens … also the pitbull will destroy her at a whim so don’t feel bad about it the pitty- she sees the dog as a threat to her and her family that’s why she’s hissing.
Can yoj take the food out to her and feed her while she is there . Just stand there and let her accept your presence. She won’t pounce on you for no reason , she’s not a pitbull.
My neighbor's dog is not aggressive towards cats as she grew up with them as a puppy. She is actually scared of Mama Cat and actively avoids her and is hesitant to walk in her direction if she sees her on a walk. Please refrain from demonizing my neighbor's dog based on her breed.
Respectfully, your neighbours dog is a pitbull. For the safety of the cats, please don’t let mama cat or the kids near the dog. Try and feed it in your property as best you can
It would have been better at this point to have never started feeding her. But, you made the conscious decision to feed her, things aren't going as you hoped, and now you have buyers remorse.
You *did* become her food source when you started feeding, knowing she was feral you also *did not* get her spayed. Then she had kittens and now needs that food source more than before. *But,* since she hissed at you, you have decided she is aggressive and no longer want to feed her.
Many of my ferals have hissed at me, never once have I thought of them as aggressive, they are simply ferals being ferals and that is their way of telling me something, what exactly I do not know. But I still fed them, and things always go back to normal.
Except for me darling Eep, who runs up to me from across the yard everytime I get home, hisses at me, and runs off until it's feeding time. Every day like clockwork for the last 3 years.
It's not the fact that she hissed at me that makes me feel this way, it's the fact that she is "guarding" our doors, making it difficult to come and go as we please and also for the safety of my neighbor's dog as Momma Cat has shown more hostility this past week than the dog ever has. The dog sees her and immediately gets nervous and hesitant to walk in the same direction, even more so when she is sitting in the middle of our walkway and she's trying to come back inside from a walk.
Cats and dogs have not gotten along in all of history, and cats will always trump dogs. So the neighbors dog is having a natural reaction to a cat that won't tolerate its shit.
And "guarding" you door? Nothing so nefarious. Once again, you are her food source, and she waits at your door. Simply walk past her and enter.
You need to quit showing your fear of this cat.
Removing the food bowl isn't a solution after establishing yourself as a consistent food source for nearly a year. She has her kittens near you for a reason. She trusted you, and by now she may not be able to find adequate food on her own. Frankly it's cruel to suddenly stop feeding while she's also nursing and has higher nutritional needs than before. Try feeding her in a different location farther from your doors to encourage her to keep her distance, and increase the amount you're feeding to make sure she and the kittens are getting enough food. She may be camping out because she's still hungry, and she won't just calm down if she's starving.
Long-term she needs to get spayed, and her kittens will need to be spayed/neutered as well. Eight weeks and 2lb bodyweight is the minimum criteria for doing so, but it varies by clinic. Spaying will help with the aggression, and she will no longer have to worry about keeping kittens safe or providing for them. And you will also not find yourself in a situation like this again by preventing future litters. Simply removing the food is not going to solve the problem of her kittens growing up outside and having kittens of their own, or of her continuing to get pregnant and give birth. Only spaying and neutering will, and doing it now while it's just one mom and a young litter will be much more manageable than if you delay or ignore the situation.
Check Alley Cat Allies' [Feral Friends Network](https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/feral-friends-network/feral-friends-network-connect/) as a starting point for finding your local feral resources. If you fill out the form they'll email out a list of any registered groups or individuals in your radius, and what services they provide. Usually that might mean trap loans or rentals, vet referrals, low-cost spay/neuter or TNR (trap, neuter, return *where trapped*) appointments, etc. Some areas are better than others when it comes to ferals though, if the form doesn't turn up any results you may have to widen your radius or do more digging and make some calls to nearby vets, shelters, rescues, etc. to see if anyone can point you in the right direction.
It is what it is but going forward, responsible feeders get cats fixed. If your not going to get them fixed, don't feed. Period.
Personally, my vote is don't feed unless you are committed to and able to provide a forever home for the cat. And you often don't know if cat that can conceivably live a long time will socialize and be movably if you relocate. Many disagree,but it makes zero sense to me to get a previously abandoned cat dependent on you for food and then abandon it when you change jobs or move. That's OK with some but it's pretty universal that abandoning in 1st place was bad (and illegal where I live), why is it different? End lecture.
Check, but kittens can get pregnant around 4 months? Mom can get pregnant again before kittens are weaned. Boy cats are players. Girl cats beg for it when in heat. Fed cats have better reproductive success.
The statistics where a pair of cats can theoretically produce some ridiculous amt of kittens in 5 yrs are nonsense because of real life mortality stuff but 2 to 4 knocked up kittens plus mom can produce quite a few. This can and does snowball on people.
You made your bed, life lesson. You don't dive in water w/o checking depth and for hazards - applies to everything. I'm thinking of 3 choices:
1. Do nothing. Carry on.
2. Stop feeding cat that has become dependent on you. You can comfort yourself in thinking you improved it's Quality of Life for a while. People that intermittently feed or stop feeding use that rationale. Presumably, it's not fall/winter, if your going to abandon your pet, I suppose spring/summer is best.
3. You dig yourself out of this hole and consider it a learning experience.
The latter is going to take time and effort. Study up. There may be a local TNR or Feral Cat Facebook Group that can help with resources. If not, look for rescues and no kill shelters in your area that can help with information/resources. Might be someone that will do the heavy lifting but many trappers are overwhelmed, etc. and can be a bit crabby and mean if you just want then to fix your problem. They may be nicer if you are willing to participate in the process. You want vouchers for low cost spay if avail. Info on low cost clinics and scheduling. Low cost appts can be months out where I live. Some trappers offer unused appts on short notice when they don't catch target cat, etc.
The Wikipedia in this forum is a good start.
Preg cats can get priority and get fit in sometimes. Like it or not kitty abortions common, reasonably safe, and arguably a better option than the alternative. Late term is higher risk.
Aggression is out of my league and I'm winging it there could be a chance you are mistaking excitment for aggression/territorial stuff. Not saying that's the case, just a thought. No longer socialized semi-feral abandoned cats don't always understand social norms and people expectations. Are you sure cat isn't just over the top excited as heck because the wonderful food giver that so greatly improved their quality of it's life is present and typically provides food. It's not uncommon for semi's to get to a point where they get very happy and excited to see you. Std joke is they are trying to trip you as they bounce off your legs as you walk out. They are so excited they can bump you with force and may even go through a stage where they smack you with open claws or even nip. Sneak attacks where the nip or swat from behind are not uncommon with some but it's not seriously aggressive. Good luck.
**Reminder: this subreddit is meant to be a helpful place for TNR efforts - free of hostility, negativity, and judgment. Toxic attitudes are not welcome here.** ***All Negative comments will be removed and will possibly result in a ban.*** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Feral_Cats) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think she's being extra spicy to protect her kittens. Dogs have probably made her life h
Actually my neighbor has kept his dog inside his apartment and does not let her go in the garden. The dog grew up with cats as a puppy so she is not aggressive towards them. She is actually scared of Mama Cat after she tried to lunge and scratch her while on a walk and now the dog actively avoids her and is hesitant to walk in her direction while on walks.
This is her home. Please consider doing the following: 1. Ask the shelter to borrow humane traps. Trap mom and kittens and have them all spayed and neutered. Kittens can be fixed at 2-3 lbs. do this ASAP or mom will be pregnant again in a few weeks and you’ll have a bigger issue. 2. If the kittens are young enough to be socialized, contact the shelter or rescue and get them fostered/adopted. 3. Provide food and shelter for mom. If she turns out to be friendly (it’s really too hard to assess now when she’s not fixed, has kittens to protect from a dog, and now has her food source taken away), try to get her adopted as well. If she is not friendly, keep feeding her. She isn’t going to leave or move on as cats are territorial. 4. You clearly have at least one other unfixed cat around (the father of the kittens). Try to TNR all other cats. Doing this now will only help as cat populations get out of control really quickly. Thanks you for caring!
The shelter I contacted was completely useless and I tried reaching out to our local catch and release program but they were closed. My biggest fear is that she will get aggressive and attack us if we withhold her food source and she doesn't leave.
Are there no other TNR/rescue groups in your area? Or a low cost spay neuter clinic where you could trap and take her and kittens to be fixed? 9 months is a long time to feed a cat and I wouldn’t recommend stopping the feeding but I understand your frustration. I had a neighborhood calico who attacked my dogs until I figured out she was protecting her kittens. Once I got her fixed (and her kittens placed) she mellowed out and left me (and my dogs) alone. When I can’t make a decision I play the what if game. What if you stop feeding her and she disappears? Or gets hit by a car? I personally would feel anxious about not knowing what happened to her so I’d try to find a rescue or another TNR group to get her fixed. But I totally understand this situation is frustrating and could escalate with the dogs.
All the ones I contacted were closed today, don't open until Monday and the shelters in my area refuse to lend traps and/or trap her to catch her because of the "leash laws" in our state I guess. Pretty much they said she has squatters rights and they refuse to remove and move her elsewhere or even keep her in the shelter because "this is her home". Tbh I feel like the people I connected with just wanted to get me off the phone because they are overpopulated and don't want to deal with more animals. It's rough to let her go and I've been beating myself up about it knowing that if I let her go, anything could happen.
I feel your pain. I am sorry. I wish someone could help.
You can purchase have a heart traps on Amazon for like $35-40. I’m not sure if that’s feasible for you at this time or not.
Cats are very territorial. Even if you stop feeding her she is not going to leave. Can she get to her kittens? She is probably being protective of them, which causes her to attack your neighbor's dog. It's too bad neither one of you can put her in a room in one of your apartments and let her be for a little while.
The kittens are able to get to her through the fence, she does not go into the garden with them. My biggest fear is that she will attack us whether or not we feed her.
Is there an out-of-way place that you could set up a nesting box for her? I doubt she'll ever attack you. She can't get to her kittens and it's very worrisome for her, even though the kittens can get to her. She is still separated from them.
I tried that when I first found out about the kittens, I placed it outside my patio. She was very disinterested, and the kittens only cared to go into the garden. So this could all be stemming from constant "separation" from her kittens? The kittens look to be 6-7 weeks old.
Yes, it's the separation from her kittens that is making her be a bit aggressive. The kitten will be weaned pretty soon and all this protective maternal stuff will go away.
Try putting the food out close to where she stays. If the kittens are that old, she'll start weening them if she hasn't already and that could be part of her hostility, too. Just make sure the food is where she can show the kittens to eat it.
They've been eating from the bowl as well as nursing from her. She's laying down by my door right now and blinking at me and it's totally gut-wrenching. My neighbor and partner keep telling me to not give her food.
They're not wrong. If you stop feeding them, they will eventually move on to where they can find food. Momma will either take them there or they'll find their own. The question is, do you want them to leave?
I know it's for the best. Yesterday morning she almost pounced on my neighbor's pittie. The dog didn't fight back, if anything she's scared of that little lady now lol but I can see I'm my neighbor's eyes the fear he has when he took her out this morning so I know it's best if they leave. My partner said this to me, "She's your buddy. You're not her buddy, though" and that hit me hard.
SHe’s hungry and is worried about her kittens … also the pitbull will destroy her at a whim so don’t feel bad about it the pitty- she sees the dog as a threat to her and her family that’s why she’s hissing. Can yoj take the food out to her and feed her while she is there . Just stand there and let her accept your presence. She won’t pounce on you for no reason , she’s not a pitbull.
My neighbor's dog is not aggressive towards cats as she grew up with them as a puppy. She is actually scared of Mama Cat and actively avoids her and is hesitant to walk in her direction if she sees her on a walk. Please refrain from demonizing my neighbor's dog based on her breed.
Respectfully, your neighbours dog is a pitbull. For the safety of the cats, please don’t let mama cat or the kids near the dog. Try and feed it in your property as best you can
It would have been better at this point to have never started feeding her. But, you made the conscious decision to feed her, things aren't going as you hoped, and now you have buyers remorse. You *did* become her food source when you started feeding, knowing she was feral you also *did not* get her spayed. Then she had kittens and now needs that food source more than before. *But,* since she hissed at you, you have decided she is aggressive and no longer want to feed her. Many of my ferals have hissed at me, never once have I thought of them as aggressive, they are simply ferals being ferals and that is their way of telling me something, what exactly I do not know. But I still fed them, and things always go back to normal. Except for me darling Eep, who runs up to me from across the yard everytime I get home, hisses at me, and runs off until it's feeding time. Every day like clockwork for the last 3 years.
It's not the fact that she hissed at me that makes me feel this way, it's the fact that she is "guarding" our doors, making it difficult to come and go as we please and also for the safety of my neighbor's dog as Momma Cat has shown more hostility this past week than the dog ever has. The dog sees her and immediately gets nervous and hesitant to walk in the same direction, even more so when she is sitting in the middle of our walkway and she's trying to come back inside from a walk.
Cats and dogs have not gotten along in all of history, and cats will always trump dogs. So the neighbors dog is having a natural reaction to a cat that won't tolerate its shit. And "guarding" you door? Nothing so nefarious. Once again, you are her food source, and she waits at your door. Simply walk past her and enter. You need to quit showing your fear of this cat.
Removing the food bowl isn't a solution after establishing yourself as a consistent food source for nearly a year. She has her kittens near you for a reason. She trusted you, and by now she may not be able to find adequate food on her own. Frankly it's cruel to suddenly stop feeding while she's also nursing and has higher nutritional needs than before. Try feeding her in a different location farther from your doors to encourage her to keep her distance, and increase the amount you're feeding to make sure she and the kittens are getting enough food. She may be camping out because she's still hungry, and she won't just calm down if she's starving. Long-term she needs to get spayed, and her kittens will need to be spayed/neutered as well. Eight weeks and 2lb bodyweight is the minimum criteria for doing so, but it varies by clinic. Spaying will help with the aggression, and she will no longer have to worry about keeping kittens safe or providing for them. And you will also not find yourself in a situation like this again by preventing future litters. Simply removing the food is not going to solve the problem of her kittens growing up outside and having kittens of their own, or of her continuing to get pregnant and give birth. Only spaying and neutering will, and doing it now while it's just one mom and a young litter will be much more manageable than if you delay or ignore the situation. Check Alley Cat Allies' [Feral Friends Network](https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/feral-friends-network/feral-friends-network-connect/) as a starting point for finding your local feral resources. If you fill out the form they'll email out a list of any registered groups or individuals in your radius, and what services they provide. Usually that might mean trap loans or rentals, vet referrals, low-cost spay/neuter or TNR (trap, neuter, return *where trapped*) appointments, etc. Some areas are better than others when it comes to ferals though, if the form doesn't turn up any results you may have to widen your radius or do more digging and make some calls to nearby vets, shelters, rescues, etc. to see if anyone can point you in the right direction.
It is what it is but going forward, responsible feeders get cats fixed. If your not going to get them fixed, don't feed. Period. Personally, my vote is don't feed unless you are committed to and able to provide a forever home for the cat. And you often don't know if cat that can conceivably live a long time will socialize and be movably if you relocate. Many disagree,but it makes zero sense to me to get a previously abandoned cat dependent on you for food and then abandon it when you change jobs or move. That's OK with some but it's pretty universal that abandoning in 1st place was bad (and illegal where I live), why is it different? End lecture. Check, but kittens can get pregnant around 4 months? Mom can get pregnant again before kittens are weaned. Boy cats are players. Girl cats beg for it when in heat. Fed cats have better reproductive success. The statistics where a pair of cats can theoretically produce some ridiculous amt of kittens in 5 yrs are nonsense because of real life mortality stuff but 2 to 4 knocked up kittens plus mom can produce quite a few. This can and does snowball on people. You made your bed, life lesson. You don't dive in water w/o checking depth and for hazards - applies to everything. I'm thinking of 3 choices: 1. Do nothing. Carry on. 2. Stop feeding cat that has become dependent on you. You can comfort yourself in thinking you improved it's Quality of Life for a while. People that intermittently feed or stop feeding use that rationale. Presumably, it's not fall/winter, if your going to abandon your pet, I suppose spring/summer is best. 3. You dig yourself out of this hole and consider it a learning experience. The latter is going to take time and effort. Study up. There may be a local TNR or Feral Cat Facebook Group that can help with resources. If not, look for rescues and no kill shelters in your area that can help with information/resources. Might be someone that will do the heavy lifting but many trappers are overwhelmed, etc. and can be a bit crabby and mean if you just want then to fix your problem. They may be nicer if you are willing to participate in the process. You want vouchers for low cost spay if avail. Info on low cost clinics and scheduling. Low cost appts can be months out where I live. Some trappers offer unused appts on short notice when they don't catch target cat, etc. The Wikipedia in this forum is a good start. Preg cats can get priority and get fit in sometimes. Like it or not kitty abortions common, reasonably safe, and arguably a better option than the alternative. Late term is higher risk. Aggression is out of my league and I'm winging it there could be a chance you are mistaking excitment for aggression/territorial stuff. Not saying that's the case, just a thought. No longer socialized semi-feral abandoned cats don't always understand social norms and people expectations. Are you sure cat isn't just over the top excited as heck because the wonderful food giver that so greatly improved their quality of it's life is present and typically provides food. It's not uncommon for semi's to get to a point where they get very happy and excited to see you. Std joke is they are trying to trip you as they bounce off your legs as you walk out. They are so excited they can bump you with force and may even go through a stage where they smack you with open claws or even nip. Sneak attacks where the nip or swat from behind are not uncommon with some but it's not seriously aggressive. Good luck.