For a while now myself and my mother have been feeding a group of feral cats that have appeared in my mother's garden. At first they seemed to come and go, though now they seem to have taken up perminent residence in my mothers garden, and only go off occasionally. We've been feeding them around six months now and have become quite attached to them despite them growling hissing and sometimes having the odd swipe at us.
There is a mother, two kittens and the father. There is also another female who comes around who we think may be nursing kittens elsewhere at the moment as she comes and goes quite infrequently of late, so we think there may be babies close by.
We feed them all twice a day, just ordinary tinned food and biscuits that we buy between us, and they have left overs from Doris (my mum's cat) and also dinner left overs from us if it's meat or something they may like.
Sometimes it's difficult to feed them as they fight amongst themselves and we have to try and keep them apart.
They are more trusting than they were at first, but won't let us go out to them, only look and talk to them through the window.
The male I think may have been domestic at one time and have had a home, as he doesn't appear quite as wild as the others. He's lovely and my favourite, though a bit of state covered in bites and scars from his obvious many many fights.
Last week I contacted Cardiff Cat's Protection, which is the local branch of the Cat's Protectin charity. (this is where I got Jack & Sunny from)
They are currently running a free neutering scheme so I want to take advantage of this and get them all spayed/neutered.
I have been in touch with a lady called Fran who does trapping and neutering of ferals in the Cardiff area, and she is bringing a trap to us in the next few days.
So wish me luck, hopefully we'll catch the mother, two kittens and father and be able to get them neutered for free, which will be fantastic.
It's going to be difficult catching one at a time, I wonder if they get wise to the trap?
Any advice on trapping and what it's like would be welcome.
I've never done this before and neither has my mum, so we're novices, but looking forward to it as we want the cats to be healthier and not produce more unwanted cats.
I will take my camera tomorrow and try and get pictures during feeding time
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