I have too many cats and don't know what to do. I have one inside female kitten who's been spayed, she's no problem. I have two female and one male indoor/outdoor cats who have also been neutered, they're no problem (although one doesn't get along with the others).
However, There are two outside male strays, presumably unneutered, although one has a flea collar on so someone owns him and may have had him neutered; two female strays unspayed, one with 2 kittens (male and female) unneutered. The outdoor females and kittens are not friendly enough to get near, they run whenever we go outside, but will eat food we put out for them.
My question is, if I can't get near them how do I get them neutered? If I don't get it done, we'll be absolutely overrun with cats and I know it has to stop before that happens. What do I do? Can someone please help?
Oh-Oh.. Do I know this problem! Some years ago we lived in a house that was near a large complex of units for the elderly. It had extensive lawns and gardens, and people used to just dump cats/ kittens there. I had 2 cats of my own, and eventually these dumped cats would wander to my place and hang around, at one stage there were nineteen cats/ Kittens! Call your local Cat Protection society if you have one, or the equivalent -animal control-- and explain the problem. They brought wire cat traps to my place, and eventually all the strays were caught. I will add it was a process that upset me, but it had to be done. I'm now in a different area, in a second floor apartment.. and have 2 cats, one male, one female, they are both spayed/neutered, and have collars and council registration tags. Good Luck!
Check with your local human society or cat rescues in your area. I know one in our area gives you a cage to trap them, then you trap the cat, take it to their free clinic to get it neutered/spayed, then you can re release it in your neighborhood (that way you don't get it sent to the pound if it's not bothering anyone... and it can't make any more babies/stray cats). My MIL has done that quite a few times because she is sick of seeing kittens and unwanted feral cats.
Here is a cat trap instruction sheet. We had a problem with stray cats in our yard that were always giving my dog worms even with prevention. So we followed these instructions, put a few tweaks of our own, like wire mesh around some parts because of the particular milk crates we used, and it catches cats like nobody's business. It's easy to make, cheap materials and it's humane. We put sardines and they can't resist. We then bring them to our local pound, they have a neuter and release program. http://www.pegasusfoundation.org/CAT_trap.pdf
We had the same problem when we moved to Southwest Arkansas. We had many,many cats at one time (all strays). My husband began feeding them and they followed him around like a bunch of puppies. Eventually they became warm enough to us that we could pet/catch them.
We took them to our local ASPCA who had a program for spaying/neutering/shots. We took 15 cats at that time. One we could not catch and she has since had a litter, but we took them into the garage when tiny and have since had them fixed. We now have only one male who has not been "fixed" but it seems to not be a problem because no other "toms" come around since there are no interesting females. At one time we had 26 cats -- the infants, the nursery, the toddlers and the mammas! SO, it may take some time, but you can eventually get them all fixed and have a happy "cat" house!
Call the animal control officer in your town. They have strategies and equipment to deal with situations like this and will help you capture the animals. If the cats are strays, there may even be a rescue organization in your area that provides low-cost or no-cost vet care. The ACO will know or your own vet with know, and it doesn't cost anything to ask.
First of all, you need to determine if they are strays or drop-offs. You definitely don't want to have an irate neighbor on your door-step. If they are one, or the other, then you have a couple of options. 1. You can try to win the animal's trust, by being gentle, and enticing by food, try to trap it, whatever you have to do. 2. Your next action is to advertise "Found Cat"; around the neighborhood, in the newspaper, etc 3. If the owner doesn't come forward, you can either call Animal Control to come pick it up, or, you can have it spayed or neutered, and consider yourself the proud owner of a new cat. 4. Some vets have told me, " if you feed it, it's yours". Hope this helps. C. Heaven
Pet stores sell cat trapping cages. (around $45) The local rescue places will often loan or rent them out. There is often help too with low cost spaying with certificates from local organizations. Call a vet to find out who has them. Our sherriff's department here in California passes them out when they are available. The cages work real well, we have to trap feral cats fairly often.
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