Since Smokey, (the grey female cat, that took over our back porch) came to stay ……she added a couple of kittens to the family.
They are definitely outdoor cats. We are allowed to pet “Smokey” and “Lightening”, when they are eating, but don’t let them see your hand moving towards them or they will run.
“Bolt” wont even come to the plate if we are close to it.
Jim gave the kittens their names because of the lightening like pattern on their legs. This is Bolt. You can see his marking on the R front leg.
This is Lightening. His mark is on a hind leg. Don’t you just love that little butterfly mark on his mouth?
Since we go boating for a week or two and camping for as long or longer, we needed a way to help keep them fed, even though they are not pets.
I did some research on “feral” cats and how they feed colonies of them without raccoons robbing the feed. This is the type of feeder some were having good luck with.
It’s a bit over 3’ off the ground and the same distance from the deck. The heat pump is to the left of the feeder and about the same distance. I’ve seen them jump from the ground up and from the deck.
The aluminum around the base is to prevent raccoons from climbing up the post. Supposedly, Raccoons cant jump. It’s been in place a few days and so far we’ve not noticed any robbing by them. I put Vaseline around the top of the post, up under the skirting, to prevent ants from getting into the food.
It has too openings so they can’t get trapped in there by another cat or critter.
The only thing we had to buy was the feeder inside. Everything else Jim recycled from something else. The skirting around the base is from the old camper…. the wood from the car hauler and he made the brackets for the post from camper parts.
The enclosed corner is towards the west where many of our storms come from. The two open sides face the deck/screen room and the mobile home. That should keep most of the hard rain out. A neighbor will check the food to be sure it hasn’t gotten wet or spoiled or empty.
We could have put it in the woods…but then we wouldn’t be able to watch the cats and harder for our friend to check on it. Not the prettiest thing around but we’ll live with it.
Smokey has been spayed and the kittens neutered. That will help keep the feral or stray cat population down…and if they decide they want to stay….they have a home.
Smokey must like us….she presented us with a nice big fat rat a few days ago. She’s a keeper.
This is such a great idea. I really like how you take care of all the critters around you.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, and glad you got every one spayed and or neutered.
ReplyDeleteIn 5 to 15 years you can kiss all of your NATIVE wildlife goodbye. Thanks to people like you in my area, ALL the wildlife on my land was eventually destroyed by their INVASIVE-SPECIES cats. From the smallest of prey to the top predator. The native prey tortured to death by cats to make them into living and twitching gutted and skinned-alive play-toys for cats. All the larger predators STARVED TO DEATH from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. The gravity of the situation brought to my attention one day by a mother raccoon who was so starved to death from cats destroying the food-chain on the land, that she dragged her two starving cubs to my door in the middle of the day. She couldn't even make milk for her cubs.
ReplyDeleteEventually all you'll have left is cats to look at. Your world will be dismally empty and you won't even notice it had happened until it is far too late.
Thanks to people like you, I eventually was forced to shoot HUNDREDS of cats to bring all the native wildlife back to my land. One year of shooting cats, and then 2 years of waiting, eventually brought back the fox, owls, raccoons, hawks, turkeys, grouse, opossum, etc. If you're lucky, you'll have people in your area with enough strength of heart to do the right thing and do the same as I did, to shoot the cats that you are now feeding.
Otherwise you can eventually kiss your world goodbye. Doing even more damage to all the wildlife in your area than paving over 1,000 acres of their habitat. It is people like YOU who are destroying the natural world. But you'll never see nor admit that. This is why it is happening. Your own bliss of self-inflicted ignorance is far too great and far too enjoyable for you.
Thanks for your imput..I guess the act of killing so many cats is what made you so sarcastic...but I will take your insight into consideration. Should I see the feeder is attracting more strays then we will take care of the situation. I can see why the people who feed feral cat colonies suggested the feeder be put where no one else would notice it.
DeleteTNR-Advocates "Vacuum Effect" is an absolute 100% LIE.
ReplyDeleteThere's an interesting study done by the Texas A&M University on TNR practices. They started out with about 12 sterilized cats. At the end of 9 months they had over 30. An increase of more than 200%, all moved in of their own volition. This isn't due to any mythical "vacuum effect" that cat-advocates spread and lie about so often. You would have had to remove cats to create a vacuum for others to replace them. The exact opposite happened in this study.
Simple reason being: CATS ATTRACT CATS
Cat scents attract cats. This is why they spray everything; to attract mates, rivals, and mark territory. Cat sounds attract cats. Mewing kittens will even attract stray toms who kill the kittens if they are not their own (basic feline behavior of any cat species).
If you want more cats, keep some around. More will find you. Get rid of them all and there's no reason for other cats to come to that area. I proved this myself by getting rid of every last cat on my own land. ZERO cats moved in to replace them for OVER TWO YEARS now.
Another interesting finding, sterilized cats very poorly defend their territory. Any new cats see this as easy-pickings and move in to take over. If that cat-colony is being fed then non-sterilized cats will actually overtake the sterilized colony's food-source because the non-sterilized cats are not as docile and complacent.
NO cats outside.
ReplyDeleteIn a quandray here...didn't want any cats..but she did solve the fruit rat and mouse problem we had..being a stray that cant be handled, she'd be destroyed, the same for the kittens. I'm trying to find a home for them as barn cats.
DeleteI was hopeing that supplying them with feed they wouldn't deplete my wildlife population, as suggested in a previous comment.
a cat and kittens will not deplete your wildlife population, do not let loser low life haters into your positive thinking and good you are doing for the innocent cats
ReplyDeleteIf everyone would spay or neuter their cats we wouldn't have this problem...but since they showed up on my doorstep..with no home...I gave them one...as I said before...everything is welcome in my yard. I like cats..I like dogs...birds..you name it...I will just create a "cat free zone for birds and squirrles etc. Appreciate your comment. The only reason I posted the other ones was to show just how uninformed some people are. Most likely they are the kind who would dump a cat or dog in someones elses lap to be taken care of.
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