Saddened to see stray kitties on my almost perfect outing

[carole]

Today my husband and I went for a drive to Te Aroha, which is a small town under a largish mountain, Te Aroha is a Maori name meaning Mountain of love,(yeah where is the love for those poor kitties eh) anyhow they have the most awesome mineral spas,nothing like it here in the big city, so we venture over there from time to time.

To cut a long story short we were to have a picnic, but the weather was too cold so we sat in our car eating our picnic lunch, trying to find a suitable spot that was nice enough we went to this reserve by accident, it was not nice at all infact a car wrecker was situated there, and then i noticed three lovely young cats, all black, I said to my hubby i bet they are strays, we had a spa booked in so we went to that, i could not get them out of my mind and had suggested we go and buy some cat food at the supermarket opposite and give them some, Hubby agreed and so off we went, well they all started appearing from nowhere and there were six instead of three, i assume from the same litter, all little blackies, well kinda brownish really and one black and white one and a grey tortie looking one, they all looked around nine months to a year old and were obviously feral.

It just broke my heart to see them and of course realising that this situation is everywhere, even in my own city and my suburb, i had talked to a shop owner there who said yes someone had dumped a mother cat there and well you guessed the rest.

When we first arrived back from the spa not a kitty was insight, but as soon as i opened the cat food, they came out, just watching me, and as soon as i went in the car they all came and started eating even though we had not left, there was also a guard dog a German Shephard at the premises, i felt sorry for him too, chained up, he did have shelter and i assume his owners come and feed him and let him off the chain, but i will never know that, he did not look in bad condition, and never even barked at us, infact when he smelt the cat food he wagged his tail, poor dog, i did not venture near him though as i did not know what he is like.,friendly or ready to attack, he appeared harmless but one never knows.

I had a wonderful day, but it was spoiled by witnessing these poor wee kitties, most of them did look reasonably healthy considering , but two of them had rough looking coats,but none were sick or stick thin, so i hope that maybe the owner of the wreckers or someone else is helping them out by feeding them.

Te Aroha is too far away for me to do much i am afraid, i just have to hope and pray these poor wee souls get some care from the locals, i do think i will contact our cat shelter here, who used to trap and neuter and spay and release to see if that is a possibility, but somehow i have a feeling they are no longer able to do so, hopefully someone in the town might beable to do something ,certainly not contacting the local council as they will kill them all.

Te Aroha is where i myself was raised from about 3 years old to 12 yrs old so i remember it well, it sure did leave me feeling sad, and in despair, to think all this suffering and neglect is caused by human beings, just makes me so mad,THANKS for letting me vent that out, i know you all feel the same.

[Laura's Babies]

It is heartbreaking how "disposable" some people think cats are! All they had to do was spay their cat to prevent that litter of kittens they did not want. There are so many more out there. The colony Mike is feeding everynight has 3 or 4 beautiful long haired black ones, several tuxies and tabbies. Then there is a solid white BIG BOY that is deaf. These are at an apartment complex and several of the people there feed them all on a regular basis and thy to keep him for doing the TNR.

One of them is however warming up to Mike and what he is doing since I have made sure I send pictures of Miss Tuxie so she can see how well she is doing and to let her know he is only doing what is best for Miss Tuxie.

[moosmom]

Carole,

My heart broke reading this story. I know only too well your feelings of helplessness. You have wonderful intentions and a heart of gold. Thank you for taking the time to feed these poor babies.

I was on Petfinder.com looking for a Maine Coon for my daughter's friend the other night. A wave of depression came over me. The thought of all these precious babies in cages, with no human contact just overwhelmed me. I wanted to save every single one of them. Unfortunately, you can't save them all. I then got angry at the humans who put them there. Humans can be so unkind.

Bless your heart, Carole. Hopefully, the shop owner will take over feeding them so they at least have a meal everyday.

[phesina]

Carole, thank you for caring about those kitties and feeding them and trying to help them. My heart breaks too any time I come across stray or lost cats, and I become enraged again at the stupidity and/or selfishness of so many people.

Pat

[Kalei]

That is so terrible, and it is even more terrible to know that it goes on in each and every city and town in the world. Its sad to know how horribly cruel some people can be. Just because their cat got pregnant and they would throw it outside, its awful. Shows that some people just don't care. I think if someone is going to get a cat then they should love it unconditionally no matter what. Poor kitties, I hope they will all be okay and be fed.

[catmandu]

Thats so sad.It reminds me of the time I went to Cooperstown, and when we were having our Subs in the Park , a Stray came over and I gave her a nice piece of Torkey and Cheese.
It is a sad thing to see a Creature Of God so shabbily treated.

[kimlovescats]

I understand your sadness ... such a terrible shame!

[ShylanHal]

I so totally understand! I hate it when people think that they can just use them, abuse them, and then throw them out when they're done. That, I suspect, is how I met Clover, and her owners just threw her out when she stopped looking so kittenish. And then my friend and Clover's foster mommie, Mel, had a friend (not so much anymore) who believed that it was '"dirty" for cats to come inside, and if the cat died, oh well, they're all lesser creatures than us humans, and were just created to serve us in any way that we please" sort of thing. So horrible!
I'm glad you did what you could for those babies!
I'd do the same thing!

[carole]

Yes Donna my sadness and depression just thinking about them turned to anger pretty quick at the people we call humans who have let this happen, they were on my mind last night and like you said we cannot save them all, but my heart aches just thinking about the rotten life they have, i can only well hope that the car wrecker owner does feed them now and then, or on a regular basis but i can only hope for that, at least where they are they have heaps of shelter from wind,rain,sun and a river near by for water and i guess in that long grass there is a lot of wildlife, like rats to be eaten, so even though that is not really good for them,it will full their starving bellies,i hate to think just how many cats there actually were, as they just kept appearing from nowhere,and of course they will breed too, i really need to find out if there is anyone able to trap and fix and release them,as i cannot do anything from where i live.

I don't go over there very often, but anytime i do i will be prepared with food for these poor babies,as i know there will always be some there.

On a nicer note, we met a beautiful shop cat that was the spitting image of my Lexie, even had the white dash on the chest, but a slightly different face and maybe her fur was a little longer, she was super friendly named Dottie,she was a stray that the shop owner took on and is spoilt rotten ,she sleeps at the shop with her own litter box etc, she actually visits the shop next door all day, even though she is owned by the shop next door,she was a real cutie pie, and very content and well looked after,some kitties are lucky and sadly some are not.

I look at my four and think how lucky they are, i know that ellie.mae and Nikki were not for over six years, there life was not as bad as that of a feral, but it was not much better, and i feel so happy to have them in my care and know that they will want for nothing,i just wish every cat could be so fortunate,it is a sad cruel world we live in, and to think that there are human beings, children even worse off than these feral cats, just blows me away,it is just hard to take it all in isn't it? Thanks for listening.

[moosmom]

Carole,

Is there anyway you can ask some of the local pet shops to donate dry food for them?? I wish I lived closer, I'd certainly use my contacts to help out. How about possibly building them a shelter out of a Rubbermaid bin??? It would at least give them shelter from the cold and wet.

Just a suggestion.

[carole]

Donna i think shelter is ok they have like a hundred old wrecked cars to shelter in , there are buildings and old sheds, so that is probably the least of their problems, and they are close to a river with trees, I don't live nearby at all, and i could not possibly go over there all the time not being able to drive or afford the petrol so that is not really possible, oh how i wish it were,i am not sure what is the best thing to do, locals can get a bit shitty when city dwellers come in on their turf asking them to do something about it,i think my best bet is to approach the Humane Alternative and see if they can do anything, they may well have a member over that way or someone who is already looking out for them, i can but only hope for that,but i understand where you are coming from.,believe me i do.

It is a fairly small town and i donot think there is even a petshop there,i did not see one anyhow.

[Catty1]

Is there a pet store right in that area you can contact? I am sure they get out-of-date food, and it could be put to good use.

[carole]

No not to my knowlege, my city is probably the next best bet, but one has to have someone prepared to feed them over there, it is not possible for me to do so i am sorry to say.,maybe the car wrecker owner feeds them, i have no idea, they all looked reasonably ok for ferals, not like our beloved pets obviously and until you are up close you can never really tell,but i was suprised that they looked as good as they did, so i am hoping that means someone is looking after them, i would like to take a trip back soon when the car wrecker is open and ask him, but i am a little scared incase he is bothered by them, and gets annoyed with me asking and decides to take action like getting the council involved,one never knows what the real situation is, however if the council operates as our's does you have to hire traps at ten dollars a wk to trap them, then they are PTS, I donot want to be responsible for that happening for sure, and nine times out of ten no-one is prepared to pay that up front, i mean it could end up costing someone quite a bit of money in the long run, so for them it is best just to leave them be.

Getting them trapped and fixed would be the best bet all round, Humane Alternative used to do that, just not sure if they are still operating that way, i will contact them and find out..really is my best bet and the best possible answer to the problem i think. I will endeavour to do my best, but i can only do so much.