Trapping Kitties

[Tonya]

I may have mentioned this months back, but my surgury forced me to put this on the back burner... There's a bunch of kitties at my work. I don't think that they live for very long because I only see them around for about a year and then they disappear. (Or perhaps once they are adults they hide better.) I had been off for 5 months and now that I am back, it seems like the cat problem is even worse! They're constantly having kittens and they look skinny and dirty. (Only a few come out during the day, but they're everywhere at night. If you move a pallet, often about 10 cats will scatter, and you'll find a dead one under there that they were laying with.)

I brought up trapping and saving at least the kittens and the guys at work said no because they help the rat problem. They told me to stop feeding them because then they won't get the rats. I can sort of understand where they are coming from, but some of these kittens are starting to tame and they are beautiful. I can't imagine letting a bunch of gorgeous cats run loose without love, but on the same line, they are wild.

I've called my vet and he's going to hook me up with some traps. Should I just keep the kittens? Or attempt to keep the adults too? I've trapped, fixed, and released a few kitties, but not a mass number. Any advice/opinions on how I should go about this?

[K & L]

If you can tame and find homes for the kittens that would be the best thing to do. Tell your co-workers they need to at least trap the cats and have them fixed or their problem is only going to increase. As far as feeding, , they need to be fed. They will still keep the rodent problem down. Some people can be very ignorant in feral cats so you need to educate them. Please go to

http://www.azcats.org/

http://www.alleycat.org/

Print the info and share it with your co-workers. Please help these cats!!

[catmandu]

that is terrible that the Company wont help you trap these Poor Cats! I just hope taht you can help as many as you can! Please keep us updated!

[kimlovescats]

YES, trap and neuter/spay .... and find homes if at all possible! Stop feeding them???? Cats generally hunt rats for sport, they need healthy food to eat! Please educate your co-workers, and hats off to you for taking this problem on! GOOD LUCK!

[Tonya]

I'm still waiting for the callback from the lady that has the traps. I am going to continue feeding them. I don't care what they say. Not to stereotype, but I am the only female out of about 80 people at my work. I think the guys try to not show their sensitive side around each other.

There's this group here called Ally Cat Guardians. They strictly trap and release adult ferals. They only adopt out kittens.

...My main question was should I attempt to tame the adults, or just fix and release them? They're pretty wild.

[K & L]

Unless you have homes once you tame the adults, I would just TNR them. Taming an adult feral takes time and patience.

[Tonya]

Thank you. I read up on those website quite a bit last night. They were really helpful.

It also made me realize that this one particular cat that I am partial to isn't feral like the rest. Someone must have dumped her off there. I was wondering why she is so different then the rest. Everyday when I walk out to my truck after work (or even if I stop by work when I am not working), she runs out to my truck. She won't let me within 5 feet from her, but she only runs a bit and then stays near me.

The rest of the cats vanish when humans are around.

I think I am just going to buy my own traps. I didn't realize they are so inexpensive.