Feral cats

[golferling]

A friend of mine found out there is a mother cat with four adorable kittens living in the brush on one of the executive courses in The Villages.
A couple of years ago, there was a husband and wife team and some volunteers that captured golf course cats and found them loving homes.
There was even an article about it in The Daily Sun. Can anyone tell me a name and a phone number so that we can find loving homes for these needy, adorable cats? Thanks. I already have my cats.

[nanci2539]

There is a Pet Lover's Rescue group in Oxford that may be able to help.

Barbara at 352-753-2321 or Carole at 259-7727.

If at all possible, can somebody bring the mom cat milk (not regular milk). Or even catg food. She needs the nutrition to feed her babies.

[Ooper]

There is a number of sites available about feral cats. One very informative site is

http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=434&srcid=191

They mention that unless you capture the feral cat when very young, they do not socialize well with humans. I also believe that Florida law prohibits feeding any wild animal, including feral cats... not to say that it isn't done.

[Lyn Comans]

The problem with many feral cats is that to have survived a couple of generations they have developed a strong avoidance response so even if they are sometimes affectionate and content in the house they usually are happiest hiding under the bed, no real problem, just don't take it personally!

[chuckinca]

We have a 10 year old former feral kitten that we saved from a dog when she was about 3 weeks old. She still spends most of her time in the closet (while I on the other hand, spend most of my time at a computer screen)



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[Barefoot]

I am a huge admirer of anyone who helps abandoned animals. I back on a golf course and the feral cats just break my heart. I've tried to feed them and befriend them. To no avail.

I think anyone who abandons an animal is a horrrible, heartless, poor excuse for a human being.

I'm planning to join "Pet Lovers" soon. I'm hoping they may have some positive solutions.

[chuckinca]

Barefoot:

I can help that desire to feed and befriend feral kittens. We currently have two 4 month old and one 6 weeks old kittens living in our house in Norcal and will probably bring them with us when we come down to TV in January for the winter. If you twist my arm really hard, I might be convinced to part with one of them - but we would have a tough time deciding which one to let go!

We originally had 5 of the older ones and managed to give three of them to the people who bought our house ten years ago up in the hills adjacent to a 4000 acre ranch. When we sold the house to them they inherited the feral cat colony we had of five cats. They were down to one and were happy to get replacements kittens that were fixed and had shots.

The day after we parted with the three, our next door neighbor knocked on the door and asked if we still had the kitten cage because there was a cat crying all the time across the street. We checked it out and it was a three week old abandoned kitten - who now sleeps in our bed every night.

What can you do?



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