Feral Felines
These are semi feral cats that live down the road from me.
I spotted them waiting for dinner when I drove to town and stopped to get some photographs. Just stopping on the side of the road was enough to spook them but I did manage t get a couple shots. I felt bad disturbing them so next time I go by I’ll leave a treat for them.
They are provided food and shelter from the bitter winter cold but they remain skittish and don’t trust people enough to let us get close. Once in a while a kitten is caught and tamed and brought into the civilized world.
Any adults that are caught get shots and fixed. But that’s a rare happening since my friend and I must not look too trustworthy. There’s always a fertile female about so this family has managed to survive for over 30 years.
Those that are tamed and adopted make the best cats. They seem to know their roots and appreciate a loving home all the more. I should know, we have 4 in our house right now. They are our “Pretty Kitty Family” That’s Pretty Itty Bitty Kitty on the post displayed in the sidebar.
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January 2nd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Happy new year. Great photos. I am glad to here they are well cared for and allowed to have a home. We had 2 in our carport and shed till we brought in the chickens. Now they live across the street. And we now have mice. So it was a big mistake on my part. I had no ideal They are still around but my cats can not control the population this year. I do not know where they all come from as we have never seen so many mice.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:04 am
We have two cats right now that are taking up residence in our garage. There was an old mobile home down the road that recently was torn down. There must have been many cats living there as there were about 1/2 dozen around our place. We are down to two and I guess they can stay. They will be making a trip to the vets soon. Lovely pictures of the kitties.
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 am
I had a cat that wasn’t quite tame. After I did a lot to make a truce with the cat, it would let me pet it, but it never tolerated much. Most people that tried to get too close to it got a painful bite in return. For some reason, everyone that came to my house thought this was some kind of challenge, so they would leave never wanting to be near that cat again.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 am
You all have cats. I have cats as well. They are belong to my neighbours. The cats like to sleep above or below my car at night. I always find their footprints all over my car the next day. Most of the time, I also find traces of “liquid” on my windscreen. Ha ha ha! How lucky I am.
January 3rd, 2009 at 5:57 pm
The feral cats here they trap them and fix them.
After they fix them they mark them by cutting nitch in there ear.
Although it looks like a tom cat who been in fight.
Our Cat Ziggy is both and out door and indoor cat loves sitting by the slider and looking out at all the snow.
Coffee is on.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I can certainly understand their running when they see you, as opposed to your neighbor.
If you drive real fast when you spot one on the truck until you get several miles from home, then stop and say “Scat” there is good odds you won’t find them on the truck again.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
What great photos, for feral cats they are beautys and certainly healthy .
January 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
How sad for the poor babies out there in the cold winter weather. My Spike is a former feral who adopted us and our Sluggo was adopted from the local animal shelter. Neither one is allowed outside due to numerous foxes and coyotes in the neighborhood. I’m sure one of the eagles could take off with one of them, as well.
January 4th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Dear Mr. WiseA**
I had tried to leave a comment earlier and I was dropped (like a hot rock !!)
I don’t know what I did to make either your site mad at me or my computer fed up ? haha
I am a sucker for cats .. well, hubby and number one son are too .. hubby fed quite a few while he was in Cuba. We saw so many feral, black and white ones, in Spain .. and in Barcelona especially by that fantastic cathedrel .. it made my heart ache.
We have adopted two from our Humane Society .. trying to do our part ..
You and your family have been so good to take on these little souls. Well done !!
I’m still under a mountain of “to do” chores here … BIG sigh : )
I better get going .. I still have to read my camera manual .. jeez !!!
January 5th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
We have adopted a feral cat that lived under our porch all last winter. We fed her for 6 months before she became tame enough to come close for ‘pets’. Hubby installed 2 infrared cameras under the porch, and we would watch her coming and going aa last winter. We gave her a bed and warmed food a few time a day, and she would come running (but not too close) whenever we were outside. It was a pain to crawl thru the deep snow to get her bowls of food tucked under the porch, but when we came back inside and watched her on the monitor, it was worth it!
Needles to say, she now is napping on the living room radiator cover! She is the best furbaby! Her name is Porchia, of course… but we call her Tubbie.
January 11th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
We’ve fed, tended, tamed and cared for a few ferals over the years, and you’re right that they make awesome pets. The only exception we ever found was Tommy Tiger The Crabby Tabby. We suspect that he might have had some actual bobcat in him; he was huge, bobtailed, gorgeous with tufts on his ears, and loved my husband, tolerated me, but would NOT be picked up. He was only 3 months old when we got him and his ‘brother’ from the same colony, and where Nibs settled right in to being a very much lapcat, Tommy never did. He would BACK away from us if he wasn’t in the mood to fraternize, not turn and run. We loved him dearly despite his idiosyncracies, and were heartbroken when we let him out one night for potty break, a raccoon chased him and he ran into the road and was hit by a car.
I have often remarked that if every tax-paying adult in Nova Scotia was taxed for the fee to spay or neuter ONE cat a year, and the fees went directly to such surgeries, the populations of wild cats would be dramatically decreased in a big hurry. I, of course, want to rescue all of them. When I win that lottery, of course, I will.
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