I share a 3 bedroom house in a small town (which is actually a part of a larger town) in a decent older neighborhood. I was excited because it was a new start for me in a new town where I actually knew people.
I was also excited because I saw a few cats running around the neighborhood. My daughter was really excited because she loves cats and moving to this new place would allow us to mingle with the furry critters until we had a place of our own and we could adopt one or three. There has been a couple of cats that have taken a liking to my daughter and myself (my roomie is allergic & cant be around them for very long). Every few months there seems to be a new kitten or so runnin around. We knew that the owner of the cats lived across the way, but what we didnt know is that she has a LOT of cats/kittens running around and she cannot afford to get them fixed. None of them. So every few months one or more of the old-enough cats is getting themselves pregnant. I’d help out and fix a cat or two, but there is no way I could keep up and I cant afford to fix all of them myself.
These cats really need to be fixed - and the Tom-cat(s) need to be caught and fixed as well. I’ve seen 2 of them running around and most of the kittens look like one or the other. I dont want to call animal control - but, this situation really looks to be getting worse. It pisses me off that these cat-owners let their fertile pets run around, especially the tom-cats because hell, they dont have to deal with the litters.
I would hate to see all these cats picked up and not be adopted. That would really suck. i asked my SO if we could have some barncats, which he said we could once we get moved in to his place. But even then, I would only be able to afford the upkeep of a few of the critters.
See if the state has a subsidy for feral neutering. I know California does. If you can capture them, a local vet ought to be able to get paid by the state for the ops. Check around.
There is help out there for her. Check with your local rescue groups, if you don’t want to go to the county animal control. Be sure to check with the feral groups too, as the cats may fall into this category.
Also, talk to the lady and see if she needs help trapping or transporting cats to the no/low cost cat neutering clinics (Clinics as in, a once a month volunteer session, as opposed to a open 9-5 building). These situations often involve an older, kind-hearted person who simply doesn’t have the physical strength to get the animals to the care they need.
It sounds like she started feeding a feral colony and things have gotten out of control. There are a lot of trap and release programs out there. Talk to the lady and see if she needs help to get the colony under control.
What everybody else said. These services are usually cat-friendly and free. My own local programme uses volunteers to catch the cats using life-traps, fixes them through a related vet, and checks them out to see it the cats or the various litters are tame enough, or can be tamed enough, to be adopted. If not, the cats are released from where they came, but now they don’t breed anymore and the neutering removes a lot of the problems (continuing new litters from exausted female cats, fighting, spraying TOM-cats) If the above avenues don’t work, try though Animal Welfare.
The volunteer people will have experience in talking to the old lady, as well. She might have let the problem get out of hand because she was afraid that “the men will come in the vans and kill all my darling cats”. Call today, anonimously if you like. You will be doing the old lady, the cats, the environment (all that wildlife feral cats kill!) and yourself a huge favour.
A strategic suggestion: if there are limited funds or resources for getting the cats fixed, concentrate on the females. If you spay all but one of the females, the problem is almost completely solved. If you castrate all but one of the males, the problem is hardly improved at all.