Which Cats Do you Rescue? Any that are outside?

[cruisetime]

Just curious... Now that I have cats I tend to see them everywhere. Walmart parking lot, outside in someones front yard. At my rent house - the lady next door feeds all the strays so there are a lot there. She has a few of her own too. Sometimes I see them in driveways of peoples houses in the neighborhood. Which ones should be rescued? All? I haven't seen any kittens. I've been lookign just in case. So sad - I went ot the storage facility yesterday where we have our RV and there was a dead cat in the driveway. It had been dead on the side of the road the day before.. Don't know how it moved unless it wasn't totally dead or got run over again. I didn't see any kittens.. All there are are kill shelters around or HSPCA. What do you do to rescue them? Are they better left alone - dont' want them to go to the kill shelter or I've heard SPCA kills them too sometimes... Thank you, Debbie

[catmandu]

I DO,MY BEST,WITH THE STARRY CASTS,THAT ARE OUTSIDE.SCRATCHY,AND NUGGET AKA LUCKY,ARE SOMEONE PETS,AS IS FREDDY.I HAVE ADOPTED SCRAPPY 2,RAGNAR,AND PRECIOUS.RAGNAR,IS SOMEONE ELSES CAT,THAT I HAVE RESCUED,AS THEY WOULDNT LET HIM,IN THE HOUSE,WHEN IT WAS ARCTIC WEATHER,OUTSIDE.AND FRANKLIN,GARY,AND KARINAS KITTENS,ARE REHOMED STARRYS.GEM,KARINA,ROADBLOCK,AND ORANGEY,ARE STARRYS,THAT I WANTED TO HELP,BUT WERE TOO ILL.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/catmandu/catphotos865.jpg

A CAT OF A DIFFERENT COLOR.

[jenluckenbach]

Most of my rescues are ferals or strays. They are living outside with no permanent homes. Most are not neutered and some come to us pregenant or with young kittens.

The rescue group I work with is no-kill, which means we are limited in the number of cats we can help. If we get more foster homes (or we adopt out more cats) we can take more in. This means that there are some left to be rescued.

If your only choices are shelters or SPCA's that DO euthanize than the decision remains........trap them , send them to the shelter and take the chance they find a loving home before they are killed.......OR or leave them to fend for themselves, and most likely breed uncontrollably.........OR trap, neuter and return them to their know habitat. They still have to fend for themselves but the population growth will stop.

The problem is astronimical! But every little bit that each of us can do will help. thanks for caring.

[mruffruff]

I have taken in any cat that:
My neighbors leave behind when they move
A Wal-Mart kitty
A cat that was living outside my workplace
Cats that were eating from a restaurant dumpster
Any cat that I know didn't have a home.

Every one gets a combo test. Then the big snip and all shots. Some are taken to the no-kill shelter for adoption, others are added to my cat room to be tamed enough to be adopted. The ultimate goal is to find each a furrever home. Some just take a long time:D

I have 7 inside now and 7 or 8 eating on my front porch, getting friendlier every day. (Want one--- or two?)
Mary

[moosmom]

Since I started rescue work some 9 years ago, I am ALWAYS noticing cats everywhere. If I'm in my car and I see a cat (especially at night), I'll stop and call to them. If they run scared, I try to put food near where they went. The sign of a true rescue person is food, water and a carrier in the car at all times and TONS of cat related bumper stickers. At least that's what MY car looks like.

Ah, welcome to the wonderful world of rescue.

[kimlovescats]

In my opinion, any cat roaming outdoors without a safe enclosure and someone who is actively caring for it, is a rescue!!! Too many dangers lurking out there!;)

[cruisetime]

Do you have local vets that will work with you on the price of the spay/neuter and the shots?? Are you ever worried you will bring something (ring worm etc.) home to your other cats??? If you pay full price how do you convince hubby???? And my hubby would know that I'd end up keeping them if I didn't find them a home which isn't likely around here. It has been just the two of us with no responsibilities for 14 years now and then last year I was dead set on getting a cat - he has always liked cats not dogs and so I thought I'd try it although I'm highly allergic to cats. It has worked and I now have 2 bobtail/manx cats... Hubby would give them up because of the liability on us - worry about them when we are not home and having to take care of them does put us out of our way - but he has come to love them.. :) :) I love them and wouldn't give them up... But which is better - save a cat off the street or from the animal control where they will die in one week.... ? ? ? ? I'd do the effort in a heart beat if I could find a vet to work with me on price... I'm really thinking about all the strays the neighbor feeds by my rent house... Debbie

[PayItForward]

Originally posted by kimlovescats
In my opinion, any cat roaming outdoors without a safe enclosure and someone who is actively caring for it, is a rescue!!!
Just remember that healthy altered adult cats can roam AND have an active caring owner. The majority of outside cats in England and minority of outside cats in USA have good homes/owners.

It should never be assumed a cat needs a good home without evidence of problems.

My pickup list is unneutered cats, pregnant cats, cats with injuries.

They are scanned for microchip, registered at the cat charities as a found cat and found poster is posted locally. I also ask my neighbours have they seen people move locally in or out of the neighbourhood.

[cat_lover146]

I rescued cats that were strays and now I have 2 cute and fuzzy kittens.(lol)

[cat_lover146]

Before I moved to Panama City I took care of ALOT of stray cats.

[Jayna78]

This is such an interesting post. My problem is at my Grandma's house in the country in Southern Illinois. She and my Grandpa feed all of the strays that come near their house, and that's a lot because people are so cruel and they just dump the cats (and sometimes, dogs) out in the country to fend for themselves, once they don't feel the need to take care of them anymore. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, my Grandma's cat population is just soaring at this point, because they all keep having full litters. They are the most adorable cats too - a lot of them are wild and won't stay around if people are on the carport, and they just come up for food. Most of them are at least partly long-hair.

At Christmas, it was soooo cold outside there for a few days, and while my husband and I were visiting for those few days, we took a couple of boxes lined with old clothes/blankets over there so they would have more shelter than just the open air of the carport. I think that probably helped them a bit. There was just soooo much more I wanted to do. It got me very upset. The fact is that in rural Southern Illinois, there is just no TNR program, and spays/neuters cost $35 apiece when they're discounted 1 time per month. There is a limit on how many you can bring to that event as well. They do have an adoption program through the Southern Illinois Humane Society, but only the most adoptable cats brought into the Humane Shelter get put in that program. The rest (the majority) have to be euthanized after so long. My dilemma is whether or not to help round up those cats and take them to the shelter, expecting that most will probably be put to sleep because they're so shy & feral, or let them be in the country, where for the most part, they'll live. The problem there is that sometimes coyotes can get those little guys.

I really wish we could just TNR all of them, but my husband and I (and my immediate family) are not wealthy enough to be able to handle the whole thing. It just breaks my heart that TNR and other programs like it haven't become widespread yet - I believe that could truly make a difference in the huge overpopulation problem we have.

[cat_lover146]

People are mean. Someone told us that she found a newborn liter of kittens in the middle of the road before.

[cat_lover146]

Jyna are u there?

[Jayna78]

That is incredibly cruel!! I can't stand seeing any animal in the road or off on the side, run over, but a whole litter of newborns!!?!?! I just get so angry at the animal cruelty that goes on in this country, unpunished. In my opinion, animal cruelty should be prosecuted as if they were crimes against people...I really do. Maybe that's extreme, but there is NO WAY that any animal deserves the idiocy of some humans and their inhumane behavior!

[cat_lover146]

Don't worry I agree.

[cat_lover146]

What realy upsets me is those kittens my never have an owner.

[Jayna78]

cat_lover146, welcome to PetTalk, by the way. :)

I do have to go now, though. Enough goofing off while at work...I should probably wrap things up so I can leave for the day in a little while.

You'll find, though, that this place can be very addictive, especially if you've been away from it for a while, as I was when I was in the process of getting a different job, closing on and moving into the house we bought, and going without Internet while the idiots tried to figure out if we could get DSL or not in our neighborhood (we couldn't, had to go with cable Internet - pricier, but faster).

Anyway, welcome! :)

[cat_lover146]

Thanks for the warm welcome.G2G

[Hello Kitty]

My Grandma and Grandpa (K&L). Have found a ton of cats at A city park . What they have done is trapped them and then had them spade or nutered so that they won't have kittens then they have there ear clipped sp that they can see which ones they have gotten and whats ones they need to get. After that they return them to there home. They have done such a good job and they couldn't love cats anymore then they do: >)

[Fox-Gal]

Originally posted by PayItForward
Just remember that healthy altered adult cats can roam AND have an active caring owner. The majority of outside cats in England and minority of outside cats in USA have good homes/owners.

It should never be assumed a cat needs a good home without evidence of problems.

My pickup list is unneutered cats, pregnant cats, cats with injuries.


This is also my way of thinking too. Never assume, that just because a cat is roaming free, makes it a stray. Injured, pregnant, or kittens with no sign of a mother around, I have picked up.

In my case, though, some of my strays do roam free, but I live in a very very rural area and in my own mind have come to accept that, they are better off here, running free, then the death that is waiting for them at the shelter. Some might disagree with my thinking, but I too live in a area where all the shelters are kill shelters, with the exception of one small local woman, who never has any room. So I made up my mind that given where I live and the safety level, that I will do my best for them here at home.

They all have access to shelter, via the screen porch or shelters built around the yard. Also some do come inside as they want, some have choose not to. They all get there shots and are fixed, by a local vet, that gives me discounts, $30 per cat, that includes their rabies shots. Feed and loved daily and hopefully will have a long happy life, here. I have had some luck with a few of my guys, getting re-homed, but it's a hard job to find homes now days, here. So till then, fingers crossed, lots of prayers, that one day the others will get a new home too. Out of all the cats I have, only 3 are really mine, the rest are mine, till something better comes along.

Now if I lived in a city, town, I would not do this. My choice then would more then likely be to take them to a shelter. The thought of them getting hit by a car or something over being put down, humanly at a shelter, just kills me. So I'd pick the best of the two evils, knowing that I can't take them all in and save them.

Right now I have 4 kittens that will end up at the shelter, soon, as I'm at my max with cats. My hopes are sense they are still Kittens their chances are better for adoption. It tears me up inside, but sometimes you have no other chooses. I'm pushing my luck with cats as it is now, when it comes to them all getting along, I can't take a chance of pushing it any more, even the cats have their limits on how many can be around.

[lizbud]

I USED TO, but only from my neighborhood. Young kittens that
were wandering around my area. I simply cannot do it any more
and am even considering rehoming two of the youngest kitties
that I have now. There are three not feral & could go to any
good home, but I've picked the two youngest. This will leave me
with five ferals who have nowhere else to go. They'll stay here.