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We had another cat dumping, there has been an orange cat roaming around and coming by the yard. He is very timid and runs from us. My wife called to see if any of the neighbors had a new cat, none did. We live a long ways down a privet road and I saw no posts for a lost cat anywhere, so I am sure it was dumped here. My wife noticed he was getting thin so we are now putting food out for him in the day. He is starting to get used to us and eventually may become friendly, we just feel sorry for him.
Last year in the winter we had a cat come to the door begging to come in. She was very hungry and my wife took her in. We kept her, she is one of the best cats we ever had. She is such a lover and well behaved and so playful. I think she is very grateful to have been given a good home. When we first got her she was a bit afraid of hands, so I think who ever owned her hit her, she is over that now as we do not hit her.
As we live at the edge of the wilderness there are lots of carnivores that would eat pets that know nothing about living out here. Why do people think it is ok to just dump unwanted pets down country roads?

I have two cats from a feral colony. The cat feeder always tries to find homes for the cats that get dumped there. The cat feeders spend a lot of their money on not only food, but they take the animals to the shelter to be spayed and neutered and when they are sick.

One of the cats I now have had been at the colony since she was a kitten. She is afraid of hands and faces. It has taken four years now for me to be able to put out my hand and have her come instead of run away. The other cat was also someone's abandoned pet. She had lived with people probably about 2 years. She was already spayed when she was abandoned. She is very demanding. She likes to sit on me, but of course only when it is her idea.

People think cats can fend for themselves in the wild, but most feral cats only live a couple of years without feral feeders to take care of them. Even then, other people will poison and deliberately run them over. While some cats are good mousers, the ones that I brought home were the ones that could not fend for themselves. Neither of the cats I have now are good at catching anything. They are only good at reminding me to fill their bowl.

We feed four outdoor cats-- I can't really call them feral, since they are very friendly and affectionate. They are ones that just show up. It seems that four is the carrying capacity. We have been doing it for years. If one of the cats dies or disappears, very soon a new one will show up and ingratiate itself in to the "family." But it never gets above four, because they are territorial and at that point they drive other cats away.

One of them just showed up late this winter. We try to get them all spayed and neutered, but she was quite shy when she first showed up. Lo and behold a couple weeks ago, she showed up with five kittens. We never even knew she was pregnant and we never saw the kittens until they were probably 6 wks old and ready to be weaned. She brought them all to the basement door where the cat crunchies get put out.

So now we are working on trapping them all and taking them to a shelter -- got two of them caught, today should be the rest of them. Then we will get the mother spayed - she's a lot tamer now.

Some of them are beautiful cats. One the vet said is a Norwegian Forest cat and was already spayed when he showed up. He is the most affectionate one, loves to sit in laps, lets kids play with him. Very smart and a good hunter. We never know if people dump these cats or if they just wander off.

https://www.cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsKthruR/ ... stCat.aspx

ours is gray with a big white ruff. Very long bodied, very tall when standing on hind legs, big head, looks a bit like a small lion.

tomf, it does my spirit good to know that there are warm-hearted people who take in at least a few of these dumped animals--the ones they find at their door. I've volunteered at two shelters, and the number of animals that people want to give up is amazing. (Of course, the numbers jumped terribly with the housing and financial crisis that began in 2008.)

What really worries me is the message that this gives to any children in these families--that animals are disposable, that they can be tossed aside when things get tough. Sure, some families try to do the responsible thing: find a new family for the cat (less often, dog) or surrender it to a no-kill shelter, but far too many seem to go the route you're experiencing.

Kudos to imafan and rainbowgardener, too, for supporting cats in need of homes. Our house is populated by 2 people, 2 dogs, and 3 cats right now. None of these cats came directly off the street, but I've taken in homeless cats before as well.... How could I not?

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Dumpers drive me crazy. The boyfriend's parents are out in the country and end up absorbing a lot of cast-aways, but sometimes people do it in the suburbs, too.

We had these awful neighbors for a while who wouldn't get their Manx spayed, but they wouldn't let her in the house, either. We watched one litter die in the snow because they wouldn't let us take them in, and then took in the next without asking and found them all homes. Then they moved away and just left her there, pregnant for the umpteenth time. That time we found a home for her, as well.

My male cat was one of her kittens, but I got the little girl from my aunt. Someone tossed her out of a car in front my aunt's house and she'd gotten all scraped up on the pavement. My aunt kept her littermate, a brown tabby with green eyes, but she's just a mess of patterns and colors. I guess I'd describe her as torbie point with white paws? Anyway, she's been the most affectionate cat I've ever had. If you lay down for a nap she'll purr really fast and walk all over you until she finds the perfect nook to snuggle into, and I can walk all around the house and do all kinds of things with her riding on my shoulder giving me little head-butts. I can't help but think whoever threw her away really missed out.

I've always wondered what kind of a person could just abandon a pet that way.
Maybe they think the cats can fend for themselves a bit... but I think just not caring is maybe more likely. Or, believing someone in the area will care for them.

I don't think cats who have access to human tending for any length of time make good wild hunters if allowed.
Frankly I think "domestic" cats are domestic... they rely on a relationship with human civilization.

My indoor-only cat is thin...
She caught & killed a mouse once... I had noticed she'd been seeming like she was hunting something for 2 days in our tiny house before the carcass turned up.
I think the energy she spent hunting that little mouse... greatly exceeded the energy she would've gotten from eating it.
She did not eat it. I don't think she had any interest in eating it... and I'm not saying she's above it. She hasn't been above, at times, diving into the garbage bin under the sink!
And I think that's typical of a "domestic" cat.
They're more likely to dumpster dive for human scraps than catch & eat the rats visiting the dumpster. The "wild" is not someplace that is amenable to a DOMESTICATED animal.

That's not to say I think they're no benefit for the purpose of chasing away rodents, or reducing a rodent population. Or that they're no threat to desirable wildlife outdoors.
For sure many cats left loose can kill birds and other small animals. Just wouldn't be enough to necessarily sustain them at a healthy level. And I think it's been proven in studies that outdoor cats have a generally much shorter average lifespan... and that's really kind of obvious why I should think.

There are 4 cats in our neighborhood who roam about and they are all pretty fat. Pretty sure they're all in their respective indoors at least part time. One is small & very chubby & friendly, the other 3 run away - 1 is merely husky, the other 2 are large & fairly fat.

None would be capable of climbing trees... unless the tree had one of those daschund sofa ramps. Or better yet, an elevator. LOL
Never seen any of them on anything higher than a wooden flowerbed border!
Rabbits sit in lawns eating clover for ages without being chased by these cats.
I've never seen any of them run as fast as my indoor cat does!!

I've never fed any of them because frankly they look like they're being fed enough already, in fact, if anything I would feel compelled to try & exercise them a bit. LOL

At times I've actually been worried that they themselves will wind up the prey of the brown foxes I've seen in the field. :/

Thanks to all of you for taking in dumped, abandoned or feral cats. I have 2 girls. Sallie Sue is 20 months old. She was abandoned by a feral mom at 2 weeks old. I bottle fed her every 4 hours 24/7 for 5 weeks. From this tiny thing she has grown to be a big girl. Very soft spoken and affectionate on her terms. Daisy Faye is 15 months old. She was a farm cat belonging to G's friend. Friend said the cat was 6 weeks old and eating on her own. When I picked her up I knew she was more like 3 or 4 weeks old and still nursing. Bottle fed her for 3 weeks. Daisy Fay is a beautiful long hair calico. Her nick name is Crazy Daisy. She has a favorite toy - a stick with strings attached that she will fetch and bring to our feet then sit and beg to play. We adore both of our girls. We have always had cats - the most was 4 at one time. They have all been strictly indoor cats and have all lived to be very old as in 18 to 22 years old. We make their food - a mix of raw chicken thighs - meat, skin and bones ground with chicken liver, vitamins, fish oil, raw egg yolks, lightly cooked egg whites and taurine. When we travel we give them premium dry food in a feeder. When we return the stink is disgusting. Their feces does not smell so bad when they are on their raw food diet. Even the best dry food has too much vegetables and additives. Also too much salt. Reading the content is enough to gross me out.

There I go rambling again. Thanks for taking in abandoned kitties. Love my girls. G is really funny because the girls like to sit on his big soft belly while he scratches their ears.

Some people can be so heartless and dumb! My mother ends up with a bunch of cats at her house because of people dumping them out in the farm fields behind her house. I got a bunch of them adopted into homes, and some passed away from age, but she is down to just 2 cats right now from 9. But that is an unbelievable number of abandoned animals, and people will dump more out there later this year I am sure.

This is the stray cat that started showing up, we think it is a girl.



This is the cat that came to our door and asked to come in last year.

They're absolutely beautiful kitties. Thx for the photos!

On a related subject: I spent some time (1.5 hours) at a local rabbit rescue org. yesterday afternoon. I've decided to adopt one (or two, if bonded pair) Angora rabbits, both for their companionship and for their fur/fiber. As I was talking to the three young (two of them probably in middle school) volunteers, it turned out that *all* of their bunnies are "sprung" from shelters just at the brink of euthanization. They keep the bunnies until homes/adopters turn up. Angoras are especially difficult to place, they said, because of their long coats. Since I already have two Bernese Mtn. Dogs (long-haired doggies) and one long-haired Maine Coon mix cat and two others with shorter coats, rabbits with long hair won't be anything difficult by a long shot.

Especially because, as long-term members of this board remember, I worked in two grooming shops and volunteered in two shelters from 2005 to 2010 and groomed...cats. There is no dog on earth (well, maybe my current 105-lb rescue boy) who can fight grooming like a really determined cat can. I have the scars to prove it from attempts on my life by a couple of cats early in my tenure at each shop *before* the owners of each clarified their policies: "Cats who aren't in the mood to be groomed today may be sent home and rescheduled for another day." I definitely could've used that information before being savaged! Cat bites are extremely painful, since they're so deep, and the scratches likewise. Believe me: my doctor was involved in my recoveries from these cat attacks. (Note: I had to stop grooming at the shelter in May 2010 because a fire destroyed the building; see https://www.berkeleyhumane.org/about/mission , last paragraph.)

So, after the grooming-shop experiences with Orangie and Delilah, Angora bunnies will be positively vacation-like. And, of course, they'll never know that...I have a garden. They'll live in the house and have exercise in an ex-pen, like they do now at the center. There are huge crows--maybe 15 inches (37 cm) from front of head to base of tail--in the redwood tree behind the house, and I wouldn't put it past them to make attempts on small rabbits.

How difficult is it to place Angora rabbits? I asked questions about the bunnies RabbitEARS (https://www.rabbitears.org/ -- website is very much out of date) currently has.

--White Angora female: since July 2012
--Black Angora male with lionhead bonded partner: since July 2012 (littermate of white Angora female)
--One white Angora female I didn't get to meet: since June 2012 (mother of previous two; pregnant when sprung, center didn't know she was pregnant but would've sprung her anyway )
--One white Angora, don't remember male/female or how long it's been with the center
--Large white Angora female with large white male bonded partner: since...well...she's been living at the center for five. long. years.

It's just too bad that the two littermates didn't bond to one another, but rabbits, like people, dogs, and cats, choose their own friends. I had the first two Angoras on my lap for about 40 minutes each, but when I asked for "the next bunny," I was told that "she's eating now." "OK, how about another one?" "Oh, they're *all* eating now."

I was a little surprised. If I'd known they'd be eating at 4:00 in the afternoon, I could've communed with them for a shorter time each and made at least an acquaintance with each of the bunnies in question (seven) yesterday. But the place was a center of very slightly controlled chaos the entire time I was there. The oldest staffer was maybe 22 years old? and a bunny person although not a business person or, apparently, very organized, for all that the center raises funds by selling pet supplies (dog, cat, rabbit, pocket pets).

My plans were to return today and meet the other Relevant Rabbits, but Rescue Boy here at the house took care of *that plan* last night: he decided that my left wrist bends more than the normal amount in the normal direction and put his full weight behind that decision ("No, Mommy, I want you to scratch me HERE!" "ACK! Nooooo!"). I spent most of today reading, with an immobilizing splint on my left hand and wrist, unable to cradle bunnies on my lap, comb them, or do much of anything.

So, if anyone reading this thinks that a bunny for Easter or Christmas is a great gift, please: make it a stuffed rabbit toy. There were maybe 30 rabbits in ex-pens and/or double-occupancy former cat kennels (donated by the remodeled City of Berkeley shelter) looking for homes. The most I can adopt is only 2, but I'll be taking at least 1 hard-to-adopt long-haired rabbit (each of the bonded Angoras is bonded to a non-Angora, so I won't be able to adopt 2 Angoras at once, which was my original hope). Each and every one of these rabbits was surrendered or dumped at a shelter and was then on the Put To Sleep (PTS) schedule. Some were sprung within 2 hours of their PTS time, one of the Angoras within only 40 minutes of PTS. <shudder>

Yet another reason I miss working at BEBHS: we never did PTS except for animals whose medical condition was such that they would never again enjoy any quality of life *or* animals who were so dangerous to people that even the lead trainer couldn't work safely with them. Perhaps, I was told, 1 or 2% of the animals taken in.

Is it just me, or does it seem to others that gardeners have tender souls when it comes to our furry companions? (as long as those furry companions don't threaten our tender plants!)

Cynthia

Cynthia you are a compassionate person. I always thought it was such a sad thing to give live animals that were not going to be kept for Easter.
We go to the state Fair and we love checking out all the animals, we have seen some really beautiful rabbits there. Now as for rabbits, I have toons wild ones, there appears to be two kinds, one is bigger than the other with a big white tail.