# Apparently, I've Been Running a Cat House! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-ive-been-running-a-cat-house/384824 "2006-12-19T20:00:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-ive-been-running-a-cat-house/384824/1 "2006-12-19T20:00:41Z")
It being unseasonably warm, I left a window in the house open yesterday, since the cats like to use it to go in and out. (Saves me the trouble of having to clean the litterbox so often.;)) I get home last night, and a couple of the neighborhood strays start peeping around my other car. I tell them to give me a minute and I’ll get them some food, and I admonish the one cat with a collar that she needs to go home and stop hanging out here. I get inside and I notice that [Heket](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/heket.JPG) and [Squeaker](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/squeaker.jpg) are curled up together at the foot of my bed, I find it a little odd that they’re not running up to greet me like they usually do, but I figure they’re sleeping. I set down a couple of things I’ve brought in with me, and I spot a neighbors cat in the house (I think they’ve dumped their cat, as they moved out of their place, and I thought that they moved into another trailer in the park, but I haven’t seen them around, and their cat insists on staying on my front porch.). I lecture her about being in the house, and realize that Heket and Squeaker weren’t asleep, but keeping a watchful eye on the intruder. Then, I spot an orange male tabby, who’s timid, but will allow me to pet him when he’s eating. I begin thinking [Kirk] This is damned pecular.[/Kirk] I start trying to flush the out of the house, when I spot yet _another_ cat in the house. This is a very timid black and white female, who will _not_ have anything to do with people. I talk to her softly trying to encourage to her to come out and not be afraid, but she’s just too afraid. So I grab the bag of cat food to go out and feed the strays, having spotted my [favorite stray](http://usera.imagecave.com/tuckerfan/burglar.JPG) (who I’d love to “capture” and keep) coming up to the porch. Two of the intruder cats, realizing that the biped’s taking food outside, scamper past me and hop out the window. As I go to open the screen door to go outside, I hear the sound of a cat racing towards me, and I figure that Heket’s decided to drive the outsiders from her domain, when _Wham!_ The timid stray smacks right into the glass of the screen door at about the same level as my head. :eek: She scrabbles madly, trying to get a grip or claw her way through, I start laughing hysterically, and I try to grab her to calm her down, but she leaps away from me, dashes through the opening, and leaps off the deck into the dark! 😃 I have _never_ seen a cat run so fast in my life. I feed the kitties, and then, when I get back inside, carefully check around to make sure there’s no other interlopers and close the window. Don’t want to get a rep for running a house of illrepute! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-ive-been-running-a-cat-house/384824/2 "2006-12-19T20:10:05Z")
Good on you for feeding the stray babies - you get karma points for that. However, you might want to check with your local Humane Society to see if there is a feral cat trap/neuter/release program in your area. That way they will have their shots and won’t produce more fuzzies to feed. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-ive-been-running-a-cat-house/384824/3 "2006-12-19T20:43:05Z")
What **SCL** said. We have a whole pride hanging out at our place. We are slowly working through the group with the neutering. I like having them around (including the two that look exactly like Squeaker) but I don’t want them to breed. Our indoor kitties are slightly jealous of their outdoor cousins, but tough…they aren’t getting out to play. They can just suffer through having a houseful of toys to play with, steady food and water, and the attention of two bipeds, one of which spoils them mercilessly. (Hint: it isn’t my wife!) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2006, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-ive-been-running-a-cat-house/384824/4 "2006-12-20T07:59:18Z")
[QUOTE=SnakesCatLady] Good on you for feeding the stray babies - you get karma points for that. However, you might want to check with your local Humane Society to see if there is a feral cat trap/neuter/release program in your area. That way they will have their shots and won’t produce more fuzzies to feed. [/QUOTE] I don’t think there is, in this town, as the shelter’s right down the street from where I live, and it ain’t much to look at. _However_, they _do_ take good care of the animals (that’s where Heket and Squeaker came from), and given that they have a pet chicken (which is against codes, since they’re within city limits), I don’t think that they’re in any “hurry” as it were, to put down any animals. As I watched the herd feed tonight (and the timid female may be shy about people, but she’s certainly _not_ shy about guarding the food dish when she’s eating from it), I realized that I’ve _got_ to do something about all these little ones, but I really don’t know what. One, I’m certain is simply mooching off me, and another one probably is, but “Fuzzy,” the dumpee, is just pathetic. She’s healthy looking, but she _desperately_ wants to be an indoor kitty, and that _won’t_ work. She doesn’t get along with Heket or Squeaker. I don’t want to take her to the pound, and the nearest no-kill shelters are full up at the moment.