It truly hurts my heart when I see stray cats in the streets hungry, wet from rain and things of that nature. I wish people would not throw out their cats. It makes me really sad. They are just too cute to be running in the streets with no home. I wish more could be done about this growing problem.
A big problem is people not spaying/neutering their cats, letting them roam free and then the stray cat population just keeps growing.
Years ago, we had a beautiful, but very skittish cat that kept showing up to eat the bread we'd throw out for the birds. He was so skinny. And I saw one of the neighbors (JERK!) chasing the cat and trying to kick it, succeeding once. We started putting some cheap cat food out for him. He would run away if we tried to go outside with it. Eventually, he started living under our back deck and became somewhat more friendly. Then one very bitter, cold winter night he kept crying at our doorwall and licking his paws, which then would get stuck on the metal part. It was heartbreaking. I talked the hubby into letting him inside just for ONE night. Well, long story short, he stayed until he died many years later! He always seemed very grateful, like he knew we saved his life.
3 of the 4 cats we have (siblings) were just dumped out on our street one day. They were only about 4 months old (thought we had 3 girls, but two morphed into boys a few months later LOL).
We also live next to what was once a chicken restaurant and they had a lot of cats ... all of them pets really. Over the last 2 years, they have managed to whittle down from about 30 cats to roughly 8. However, they are all sick in one way or another. And the owner feeds them the cheapest "cardboard" cat food, mixed with wet food. He mixes the food in a large white bucket and he's allowed the bucket and spoon to get moldy and icky. He also provides a water pan, but just adds water, rarely does his clean the pan out.
I often sneak over at night and clean the water pan and give fresh cool water. I also feed the cats normal good food. My heart breaks at seeing sunken in hips and runny noses. When I do a good run of feeding them, I notice a marked improvement in their health and weight.
beyre, if I were you, I'd turn that neighbor in. Maybe take some photos first of the awful condition of the cats and their food/water situation. No one should be allowed to have animals that can't properly care for them. That is shameful how those poor cats are neglected!
You're an angel though for trying to better their lives! :-)
If you can find a realy cheap or perhaps free source of spay/neuter for T/N/R, talk to your neighbor about this. Explain the health benefits for the cats if they're fixed, and how it will help keep the population down. Offer to help trap and transport. For help finding or starting a T/N/R program in your area, contact Alley Cat Allies at
http://www.alleycat.org.
Oh, the folks that "own" those cats are county celebrities. I don't want to say more or that would identify them, but everyone just turns a blind eye. Again, I live in a small rural county where the old families run everything. The animal control/shelter doesn't have the money/man power to do much on their own without legal interactions. It's a mess. Honestly, we've talked to all we can talk to and there is not much we can do but just wait it out. Like I mentioned before, they did reduce a lot of the cat population over the last few years and there are only about 6-8 cats left. So it's just a matter of waiting it out and trying to give the cats some quality of health in the meantime.
It’s a real travesty that people own cats who aren’t prepared to look after them and subsequently abandon them. As previous commenter’s have mentioned the increase of strays is due to people failing to spay or neuter their pets. When they have kittens they can’t care for them all and get rid of them, often by leaving them on the streets.
If I see a stray in my neighbourhood I try to give them some cat milk and food. If they want to stay they can. Good on you for having a heart and wanting to help the poor felines. :-)
My fiancee and I like to walk through our neighbourhood in the early evening. We see a lot of homeless cats and it also breaks our hearts. We tend to talk to them, pet them and if we have some on us, give them a healthy cat treat.
We even give them names matching the personalities of stars from the golden age of cinema or politicians.
I joke that we should take him or her in, but with such a lack of space, it would be darn near impossible, unfortunately.
What's scary is that we hear raccoons at night eating an animal and we hate to thin that it's eating one of the cats we saw earlier in the day.
(06-09-2012, 04:41 AM)laurasav Wrote: [ -> ]A big problem is people not spaying/neutering their cats, letting them roam free and then the stray cat population just keeps growing.
Years ago, we had a beautiful, but very skittish cat that kept showing up to eat the bread we'd throw out for the birds. He was so skinny. And I saw one of the neighbors (JERK!) chasing the cat and trying to kick it, succeeding once. We started putting some cheap cat food out for him. He would run away if we tried to go outside with it. Eventually, he started living under our back deck and became somewhat more friendly. Then one very bitter, cold winter night he kept crying at our doorwall and licking his paws, which then would get stuck on the metal part. It was heartbreaking. I talked the hubby into letting him inside just for ONE night. Well, long story short, he stayed until he died many years later! He always seemed very grateful, like he knew we saved his life.
That is a beautiful story and it's wonderful that you gave a cold, hungry and homeless little cat a loving home for the rest of its life. 