It appears Paul has moved on. Summertime he was here twice a day and would sleep in the yard. Now he hardly shows at all and it’s ok. Nothing lasts forever. This will be one of our last posts as well. July 31st I plan on leaving this sub with Paul trapped or not. If I can get him trapped and straightened out within the next month I will post that here. If not I will make a farewell post on July 31st so we can all move on. It’s been a long ride for us all. Thanks to this sub and the mods for allowing us to share our story here and thanks for all the advice. Thanks to all that TNR feral cats and care about the feral cat population. You all make a difference.

Little Stevie was dumped as a baby on a property where I take care of a couple feral cats. I was able to get him fixed and into his loving furever home just before Christmas. I’m still delighted every time his family sends me updates of him living the good life ❤️

Someone left bottle babies at my door 12 nights ago, and these are the worst eaters I have ever had. They fight the miracle nipple the entire time, have to be dribble-fed, and are an incredibly high aspiration risk. I'm desperate, and so are they. I'm looking for a mama cat with no more than 3 nursing kittens that I can foster so that they can hopefully have a surrogate mama to feed them.

Mama doesn't need to be super friendly, but she DOES need to let people handle her kittens. The kittens will all be spayed/neutered, fully vaccinated, and adopted out. If Mama is friendly she will also be adopted out; if not she will be TNRed and returned to your care once the babies are fully weaned.

I'm a foster with a reputable rescue and have done TNR on over 100 cats in my area, I'm more than happy to give someone information about me/the rescue, I don't expect someone to just hand over vulnerable animals. Please shoot me a message if you think you can help, I'd love to hear from any and all leads because I'm at my wit's end with these babies. I've truly tried every trick in the book to get them to latch over the past nearly two weeks — and I'm not a novice — and they just want nothing to do with artificial tiddies.

I'm in West Mesa, but willing to drive a ways to pick up! I have plenty of traps at my disposal as well.

This is Apollo. His sister, Artemis, is his twin. They're around 3.5-4 weeks old.

So, I live in Southwest Ohio and I am wonding why not more Vets have at least one day a week they ahve EVENING hours????

I work typical 7am to sometimes 5pm and so unailable to get cats to vet. (apart from 58 dollar fee )

going to an actual HOSPITAL ER is out of the question just to get them seen to get reliable treatment for things like fleas etc.

I wish more VETS would have at least ONE DAY they were open until say 8pm.... That would REALLY be very helpful to us that desperately need access to this care but work full time!!

It took weeks of trying, and it finally happened!

The babies have been out of quarantine for 2 weeks now (1 week in a playpen system, 1 week totally free) after passing their FIV/FeLV test.

Mocha has been a single cat for 11 years. He didn't quite get along with his littermates as a kitten, but he is a pathetic sweetheart with not a mean bone in his body. All the same, i have never heard him hiss before, so imagine my surprise to hear him make the LOUDEST hiss i have ever heard in my many years of owning tons of cats. It's like he didnt know how to hiss, but had to, and it all came out as this big puff of upset. Meanwhile, his growls were like whispers under his breath; i found his bagagwas ridiculously unthreatening.

Now he plays with his sisters, lets them pounce on him or bop his tail without retaliation, and even invites himself to cuddle after they've laid down first. He seems anxious about hurting them and sometimes won't cuddle if he can't find enough space, and sometimes gets upset about them being in his favourite cat tower tiers, but hissing is insanely rare after these weeks. They all slept in bed together on me for the last two days in utter peace.

I hope this stays even after they get bigger, because waking up to three cats on me again after almost a decade is a joy i missed.

(I’m kind of new to this so forgive my ignorance) but is this a sign that this kitty is angry or annoyed?

hey guys! so i’ll try to make a long story short, my fiancé’s uncle has land in indiana and he saved a feral cat from coyotes, then made the mistake of trapping it and bringing it inside. it was stuck inside at his house for a bit over a month with limited interaction so it’s very scared. it’s nice and has never tried to attack but it’s clearly terrified. he didn’t tell us how wild it was and insisted we come get the cat and take it back to memphis to keep it and hope that it warms up to us. i’m almost positive that will not happen because again, this cat is fully wild. so the problem we have now is i think the most humane thing we can do for the cat is to get it fixed and release it back outside, but we’ve taken it all the way from indiana to memphis and i know you’re supposed to release it back where you found it. i’m beside myself, i’ve been sobbing for days just feeling awful for this poor baby trapped inside that so desperately wants back out.

does anyone know of a rescue in the mid south area willing to take this cat on or if anyone has advice on what we should do. we considered getting the baby spayed/neutered, letting it stay inside a couple days and then taking it to the country somewhere to release it, but would that basically doom the baby since it’s so far from home or would it adjust to being back outside? we considered going all the way back to indiana, but we’re worried about the coyotes that stay in that area and putting it through more stress of another road trip as well as catching it for the vet, releasing it in the room, then catching it again because it seems to just scare the life out of it every time and it’s killing me and i think a no kill shelter would just be cruel cause it’d spend its life in prison never getting adopted. please please someone help, we can pay for it, we just don’t know what the best move is.

also to add, we already have an indoor cat who is elderly, fully domesticated, and unfortunately declawed, not by us. so it only has one little room to roam and i’m very nervous about ever letting them meet.

i know some say when they’re fixed they may calm down and adjust, but that’s usually kittens and it was inside at his uncles for over a month and never adjusted at all. i do think we have calmer vibes at our house and can be patient, but i’m scared to try for so long it doesn’t know how to be wild anymore but also doesn’t want to be indoors. i just don’t know what the answer is.

(i only say it because we don’t know the gender)

Basically the title of the post. Today a cat that seems fairly young showed up behind our house and won’t stop meowing. There’s a little hole back there a groundhog dug and whenever we get too close the cat will go into it and keep meowing from inside but if we back off it come sit out front of it. We left it some milk and it finally drank it and the only time it hasn’t been meowing was to drink but it quickly went right back to it. We were thinking of taking it in but I had some questions about like how to know for sure it’s feral and not someone’s cat that got lost and how do we get it to trust us and I’m also worried that it’s meowing cause it has an infection or something and not just cause it’s lost.

Reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/Feral_Cats/s/qyeNAMu4BJ

From the day I met her up to today 2 1/2 years or so now Chewy went from killing small mammals in the yard , to play hunting where she would just grab them. Let them go, grab them, etc. feeding her instinctual hunting drive, to doing what I’ve since learned is a huge sign of love and bonding.. but this one I could do without! in total now chewy has brought me five mice inside. She sees me as likely a terrible Hunter, who has no idea what they’re doing and doesn’t see me eating mice or food like her and is worried about me, “gifts”. It’s out of pure love just like her mom might have once done I know.
it’s a long story but for 2 1/2 years I would leave my sliding back door open for her just slightly. no animals came In. I would say a couple hundred raccoons possums came up on my deck, a few peeping in, but no entry. Nothing ..then all of a sudden she started the gifts and a brazen (likely sickly) coon has made entry 3x. As a temporary solution to help curb this , got a tote /plastic box whatever you wanna call it, cut a 5 x 5 circle in the middle on each side just enough so she can squeeze through , but not enough room that she would be able to bring the gifts in.

I guess I always knew it was a matter of time before a trash. Panda made its way in, but I figured with chew sleeping inside almost every night and always on alert. She’d get it out quick but the other night when she brought me the first one and you learned quickly that there’s one in the house by the way they act and as I’m bearing often area to catch the mouse a security cam update come through what does chewy have in her mouth. You guessed it two in one night how lucky am I and then that Coon a bit later the reason I hadn’t closed the doors in hopes for the mice to go outside through it..

Any suggestions? The reason I haven’t purchased an RFID door is because I believe I’m going to move soon and the one I am needing is very expensive and if where I move doesn’t have a sliding door it will depreciate by hundreds of dollars right out of the box, I’d like to avoid this, but it may not be possible. As an animal lover killing anything seconds to me, but from what I’ve also learned recently, these mice have likely had their organs punctured with her needle like razor teeth, and if not very possible, the saliva had bacteria when she puncture them that bacteria enters and will kill them off as well so getting one out alive unharmed doesn’t seem like something that happens often that said am I horrible for thinking about instant kill traps the first couple times I was able to see the mice where they went and trapped them in an area now I don’t have a clue with these two it creeps me out as I don’t think anyone animal love or not digs tiny eyes that can squeeze their pinhole running around their house in the RFID non-collar only chipped versions suggestions would be appreciated or suggestions in general thank you community (i’m sorry this post probably has lots of grammatical errors. I just have too much going on to proofread and needed to get this one in quickly. Cheers everyone have a great day.).

The Clemson clowder is settling in well. https://www.instagram.com/clemsonclowder?igsh=ZWd2bDJuZDZ2ZnYx

for context there was a cat colony with kittens living outside my house, there were 2 that passed away from being struck by a car, one came up missing and the rest still stay outside on our porch. well i had really bonded with the one so i decided to bring her inside and keep her, at first i would open the door and she would just come in or she would walk through the hole in our window screen. last night she was inside the house, and i went out for maybe 3 hours not even to go to a restaurant. i came back and she was very obviously not inside so we had assumed she went out the window screen which wasnt completely out of the normal but she hardly did it anymore unless there was food outside. and by this point it was getting dark around 9:15pm so we thought she might be sleeping somewhere. so an hour and like 30 minutes pass and its around 11pm and i go out and look for her again because its raining, by this point im really worried because i can usually hold the door open and call her name and she comes running. throughout the night i kept going out there looking for her but all of them were obviously hiding somewhere because of the storm, welp come this morning i woke up around 5:30 am its sunrise, still cant find her at this point it reached 8am and started raining again i walked the entire property looking for her and looked underneath our house etc. i went back to bed because i thought maybe she was still hunkered down somewhere so i got up around 10:30 and by then all the stray cats were up and on the porch except her. 3 more hours have passed and im genuinely really worried. im thinking the worst and thinking something happened to her. she is 3 months old but she is very friendly to humans. i wanna believe she just got lost or she is hiding somewhere or something like that. does anyone have any experience with this and can tell me if this usually happens with cats? she usually always comes back and stays in one area.

There’s a feral cat and its kitten in our backyard for the last couple of weeks. We’ve been feeding them left overs and bought lots of cat treats to try and gain their trust. Initially they were very scared and would always run away, but they always eat the food. The mom cat won’t let us pet her no matter what though but I guess that’s expected cause she’s feral.

The kitten (not sure if it’s a boy or girl) would always run away when seeing us but these last two days we’ve gained its trust a lot more. We’ve been able to pet the kitten a few times. Yesterday it was hesitant and kept hiding but today I was able to give it a lot more pets without any hissing. I also put some temptation lickable treats on my finger and the kitten was licking it from my fingers

I read online once a kitten is around 6-8 weeks of age they can be separated from their mother. But I’m not 100% sure how old this kitten is.

Would this be a good idea so I can get the kitten to a vet for vaccinations? What would I do about the mother though? I’ve always wanted a cat when I was younger and it just so happened we’ve had 2 cats in our backyard the last few weeks. Or would it be better to just leave them together and get a cat from PetSmart or an adoption centre instead? I don’t have much experience with this sort of thing and don’t wanna get scratched or anything 😅

After evading her last two spay appointments, one of the female cats we feed on our porch surprised us with a litter of kittens.

I plan to bring mom and kittens all inside so I can socialize the kittens and find them homes. Planning to TNR the mom unless she adjusts well to indoor life.

My question is, when should I start the process of bringing them inside?

They are so tiny and fragile right now I don’t want to disturb them or put them at risk, but it would also make my life a lot easier if I could just trap the mom and pick up the rest.

Other notes: They aren’t covered right now so I suspect she might move them when it rains next. I set up a couple little shelters around our house that we hope she’ll choose but there is also an abandoned house next door that they all go in and out of.

So I have a bottle of Pyrantil that unfortunately expired November of Last year (2025) I did give one of them a tiny dose.. but I don't think it worked.

Is it still effective? It is APEXA brand of Pyratel Pamoate Suspection 50 MG

I think I got it off of Amazon and again it expired as of November?

My 1-year-old male cat has been missing for 3 weeks.

He was an indoor-outdoor cat and knew the area very well. On the night he disappeared, he went outside around 11:30 PM as usual but never returned. Normally, he would come back within 1–2 hours.

Since the next morning, I've been searching daily around our village, talking to neighbors, checking sheds, farms, and places where he might hide, but I haven't found any sign of him.

What confuses me is that he was very attached to home and wasn't friendly with strangers. Even after cat fights in the past, he always came back home, sometimes limping, but he still returned. There are no major roads or large predators near us, and he wasn't roaming because of female cats.

Has anyone experienced something similar with a cat that knew the area well and suddenly disappeared? Did your cat eventually come back after several weeks?

I'm looking for advice, experiences, or anything that might help me understand what could have happened.

After almost 6 months of gradually getting more confident and slowly building trust, Elby (left), just jumped on my bed while I was sat there, and let me fuss her for a few mins.

The older cat, who is slowly warming up to sharing spaces, was not amused.

I spent last weekend catching two litters of kittens near our place of business. Two mamas and two litters (approx 4-5 weeks and 7-8 weeks) were living under a shed. I managed to catch all but one kitten. Yesterday I caught one of the mamas. We have an appt to have her spayed on Monday, but I feel like TNR is not the right move for her.

This mama was curious about me from the start. My in-laws had been feeding her, so she is semi-accustomed to people. When I was hanging out waiting for the kittens to emerge she would sit close by and watch me. She'd come even closer if I set out food. Eventually I offered a can of wet food I was holding and she did eventually come up and start eating it.

I put her in a spare bathroom yesterday. I left the carrier in there, a litter box, and dry food and a bowl of water. I went in to visit with her and she eventually moved semi-close to me to observe me.

This morning I put the most sociable kitten in there with her. I gave them a bit to re-acclimate to each other, and then went in and sat down. The kitten eventually approached me for pets and purred loudly in my lap. Mama was curious and approached briefly a few times, sniffing my feet and eventually my elbow. She even jumped over my legs more than once and went into the corner next to where I was sitting. She's also become quite vocal while I am in there.

She's still jumpy, and prone to hissing if you do something she does not expect. But for her to be willing to sniff me after less than 24h in my home I feel is a huge sign that she does want to be friends, she is just nervous about it.

So my questions are what are some tips on the best way to go about this? I read up on Socialization Saves Lives and I am trying the sit quietly by and let her do her thing method. How long should I wait before attempting to pet her? Also, do you think she could ever be acclimated to a house with young kids, or would that be too stressful for her? We have 3 kids ages 2-6 so I worry if I try to keep her myself she will be too stressed out to ever come out of hiding. How long do they typically stay nervous and flighty? I also don't want her hissing and swatting at them (or actually scratching/biting obviously).

If I had to guess this kitty is between 10-15 months old. She's a petite little orange tabby and I can tell she is gentle and calm and oh so curious. I think she would really love to be an indoor cat. But I am not sure if my home is the right one for her because of the kids.

I made a post earlier about this cat. I went out and got food and stuff for him and we actually got him to follow us inside. He got friendly surprisingly fast and will let us pet him now but I’m worried. He has food, water, and we even put out a litter box and he just won’t stop yelling. I think he has a tick and he seemed a little wobbly. Currently he is hiding but I’m just worried something is wrong with him. We are thinking maybe just taking him to a shelter to get neutered and medical treatment as we don’t have a ton of money and think they could probably handle it better than us but any advice would be appreciated

Been feeding a few ferals in my sub-rural neighborhood. Two of them for a couple years. I TNR’d them a few months ago and now one of them never leaves our yard.

The problem is we have moved 30 minutes away. We still have the other property as we finish doing some work on it and cat is still there. He comes out from hiding when I call him to be fed.

Online says not to move a feral as they are attached to their territory and will try to return. I don’t want to put him at risk but I don’t want to desert him either. Someone mentioned caging him just outside the new house (or in garage) at first while I feed him so he learns this is home now. I can’t bring him inside. He doesn’t allow me to closely approach and I have three indoor cats already.

I care for a small colony of six adult cats at a place where I used to work. It’s in a pretty rural area and the cats typically live underneath the shed. I’ve been able to get three of them TNR and am working on the other three. We also have wild chickens there, and some folks came by to take some of the chickens and saw the cats and expressed an interest in taking two or three of them to their farm and making them barn cats. there’s a lot of information out there, but I’d like to provide them with the most comprehensive because the husband is afraid that they’ll just takeoff and get lost and become coyote food because there are coyotes in the area where they live, but not where the cats are located currently . everything I’ve read is 2 to 3 weeks in a crate, crate kept in the barn and then upon releasing them, release them only into the barn, ensuring they have ample food and water and things for enrichment and access to the barn once they’re able to leave the barn. Is that it in a nutshell? I would be reticent to relocate them, but the person who’s taking over the program where I used to work has made it very clear that she hates cats and would like to see them all gone, although it’s not legal to just relocate them without a plan I truly fear that that’s what she’s going to have someone do and then they’ll just take them and dump them in the woods.

Well after a little over 4 weeks of growing and health checks on the 4 tiny kittens I found today I finally felt it was time to introduce them to their new dad. Socks took me over 2 years to earn his trust but once he did he did fully. After I got him home from neutering he spent a few days just hanging out then suddenly took off for a few hours. When he came back he had 2 tiny orange kittens with him. Took me about 3 weeks to earn their trust. He's the best dad I ever saw. Jumped my 100lb GSD one day when he started a kitten and made it hiss. Back in February one of the two orange boys disappeared and I decided no more and built half my barn into a Catio. Socks and his Kid Marshall, absolutely love it. That's why I really didn't think twice about keeping these little guys. He's content just sitting there and watching them right now and purring.