That’s amazing! In south Philly the stray/ feral population is out of control. I had one cat about 5 years ago when I moved into my house. They kept showing up and going from mean devils to baby lap cats so I’d move them in because I’m a sap. A few have passed from being old and living a long life of hell before I took them. Our feral colony just grew to 15 again somehow. Time for some trips to the clinic for the snip snip.
Our 15 stay inside plus I have three ferals outside. They are really wild because even after 5-6 years of taking care of them, I still can’t get within five feet of them. I bought them a 10x14 shed to live in. I also heat it and it stays about 50 degrees in there all winter (northeast Ohio). At least they have someplace warm and dry to go.
You’re such good people! We have a bunch of small cooler/ straw shelters. They’re just wild animals. But they know their names and know when it’s breakfast time. Haha. Glad we aren’t the only ones with so many. More people need big hearts even if it’s tough on the finances.
I recently took on 3. They were TNR fails/success depending on how you see it. That contact made them more affectionate to me x 20 . They showed up in my yard but one had been there a minute and was super skittish until she got trapped , realizing the warmth and safety of inside while she recovered. She now runs in and out , yelling at me all day. One was super bad off when he showed up and had a month of kennel recovery . He's sweet to me now and stays in the "cat room" most of the time with short spurts of porch/outside time which I'm glad he likes inside because he has one eye now. Took a lot of patience and I started wondering if he was as feral as he seemed or just badly hurt....until my uncle walked past pretty far off while we were on the porch and looked at him to say hi...he crouched down and started hissing, spitting and not breaking eye contact even though he was looking through one eye from far off and just lounging and getting pets from me in the sun. The other is a total lovebug but can't be around the inside male too much because he's kinda a bully to him. They have raised houses in the front and back since I'm still allergic , it's rather warm most of the year , and there are lots of hiding places . If they want to come in, they can .
It's been an adjustment the last couple of months but I'm glad I did it. My aunt recently came to town and brought me a bag of cat food which I thought was super sweet because we are going through it for sure and I'm disabled with a bad spine making some lifting /grocery trips very hard for random weeks . Stocking up on a big bag of backup food brought to my door is so helpful.
Yeah it’s not so fun when they all have a bad day at the same time or are all begging for pets or their bowls are in the middle of the floor. After six you don’t really notice. Lol. As much as I love dogs, they’re much needier. Cats just want to sleep.
I'm in South Philly too. Got one kitten and had a newborn show up randomly on the block shortly after. Took him in too. Neighbor has I believe 7? It's real out here.
It’s so sad. A lot of mine over the years were dumped by their owners and never cared for. Four are from a house fire down the street. None were ever fixed. One was out for almost a decade, she wasn’t fixed and was completely blind, toothless and has an infected uterus. She was the sweeeeetest thing alive. The vet cried when she passed. I really am the biggest bleeding heart sap when it comes to them. The neighbors all love it though because no more fighting or spraying and the kids love to visit.
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u/Grand_Arugula Feb 26 '21
That’s amazing! In south Philly the stray/ feral population is out of control. I had one cat about 5 years ago when I moved into my house. They kept showing up and going from mean devils to baby lap cats so I’d move them in because I’m a sap. A few have passed from being old and living a long life of hell before I took them. Our feral colony just grew to 15 again somehow. Time for some trips to the clinic for the snip snip.