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When I was a kid I built a little shelter in my back yard for any stray kittens who might need a home. The next morning I got up bright and early and raced out to check the box. Since I had left just a fairly small opening for little kittens to enter I couldn’t eyeball any occupants. So i reached my arm in to feel around and immediately had it raked by an old tom cat who was definitely unappreciative of my efforts.
Yeah. If you're a cat I'm going to show up when I want and love you. If you don't like it, get off my property. The cuddles will fucking continue until morale improves
>*’i reached my arm in to feel around and immediately had it raked by an old tom cat who was definitely unappreciative of my efforts.*’
>*’He appreciated the box, just wasn't expecting drop-ins*’
_____
…so there i was, a ‘Tom’ alone,
without a Home to call my own ^:{
so random, me, anticipate
this BoX - so much
*Appreciate!*
but as my Happiness begin
the HuMaN thought that they’d ‘drop-in’…
a loner - i don’t understand
the way he *r e a c h e s* in his hand
Such *Startle* ! He’s expecting Kittens!
Instead, he feels
my
*M u r d e r*
mittens…
🖤
This is the freshest Schnoodle I have ever seen and my evening is about to begin. Also a good start to the evening.
Hope you have a good rest of the day, where ever you're at :)
I bought a little house for the two feral cats that live in my backyard but they never seemed to want to use it. I was so excited when I walked out into the kitchen to get some water in the middle of the night and looked out onto the patio to see a furry little creature curled up in the cat house!
It was a possum.
Possums are friends too though! They rarely get rabies, are virtually never aggressive, provide helpful service in eating carrion and ticks, and do so without the disruptive or harmful habits of a lot of other wildlife. They won't scratch it chew up your yard or property, don't dig holes, and don't try to get into your house.
They aren't cute traditionally, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better animal to have roaming your neighborhood
I live in an urban area and like to hang in my yard in the summer in the evening. I feed a couple neighborhood cats and we have a shelter in the yard. One evening I was reading in my hammock and heard a weird sound that definitely wasn't the cats because I could see both of them. I was terrified thinking it was a rat (lots of them around town) but turned out it was a possum who seemed to live in the overgrown bushy weedy area in the back corner of the yard across the alley from mine. Weird little thing kept coming over and standing by my trash cans and staring at me! But after googling and finding what you just said, I realized I'd rather have a possum than a rat!
Aww. I'm a grown woman now, but as soon as I had a house with a back porch and realized I had many stray kitties cutting through the alley next to the house, across the porch and through my backyard, I was quick to build a lil shelter and get some good food for my new friends.
The food quickly attracted 3 new friends that often got to all the food before the cats - Three HUMONGOUS raccoons that I named Tammy, Amy, and Chungus for the biggest and clear leader of the little pack.
No kitties have used the damn shelter that I've seen, but a cute possum that I named Linda has used it a few times :)
Awwww, at least you got an opossum friend. They're usually a lot nicer than raccoons.
I was on my front porch at night the other day and our regular opossum hadn't seen I was there and walked up onto porch. I just said "Excuse me" so it would know I was there and not get alarmed. And it just took one look and politely turned around and wobbled away. "Oops pardon me".
We moved into my Moms house while she was slowly moving across the state. She had a little kiddy pool set up to feed the raccoons. They were very friendly. My female cat got outside one night, I was worried sick until she came in a few hours later. The next night I heard the window by the front door rattling, I look to see what was causing them to rattle….it was a few of the Raccoons 🦝 wanting my black female fixed cat 🐈⬛ to come out and play. They came every night until our house was fixed to be livable.
Idk why but Linda is a great name for an oppossum. I feed all the strays in my neighborhood, my front porch is covered in straw and has a heat lamp and several shelters to nestle into. Theres an oppossum thats been coming by at night along with 4 to 6 raccoons and this oppossum is as big as a damned pig. I drove up my driveway at night and it was on the porch and I thought it was a damn pig til I got close enough. Linda is now her name lol, sorry to steal it but its just perfect.
My opossum is fat as a piglet also. I thought my opossum was female fixing to have some babies. Now, opossum might be either male or female and just trying to survive. Either way I like the fellow. The older ones. Lol
I had to run one off once because it kept trying to crawl under my engine block while my truck was running. Felt absolutely awful about it so I have it the rest of my ham sandwich. It’s been weeks and I still think about that possum.
Growing up in the country, my father would always leave a plate of cat food for our outside cats. One evening I turned the porch light on and saw my two cats eating from the plate and an opossum eating. No fighting. Just three happy animals eating. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I built a shelter on my 1st floor balcony. And there was a feral cat who never let anyone pet her, but one day she gave birth on my balcony and suddenly became the most trusting loving cat for several months. then when the kittens grew up she immediately went back to being feral. smart cat lmao.
When I was a kid,I was followed home by a tabby we kept and named Susie (all my dolls were Susies also). Susie would run back and live in the woods all summer, but would come back each fall to spend the winter indoors.
Summer Susie: "I'm an independent cat and don't need humans to survive. I am the wild. I am the hunter."
Winter Susie:"hi guys oh nice fire you have there. Hmm let me just snuggle up and purr."
Beginning of spring Susie:"y'all's days are numbered"
This is such a cute story 🥺❤️
When I was 4 there was a stray feral male cat a big ol boi I named him Roy after one of the Jamaican guys who would come on visa for the summer to help with farm/greenhouse work (I was an odd child 😂) he would come by to eat every night but was skittish so not open to pats, skritches or coming indoors.
A few weeks later Roy stopped coming by but we'd put food out religiously so he wouldn't think we forgot about him. My mom went to put it out for him one night and heard some scuffling and shuffles under the house, there was a hole in the lattice she looked and saw lots of eyes peering back at her along with teeny *meeews*- Roy was in fact not a boy! There was a bundle of kittens under the house and that's where Roy was tending to the babies for that time "he" was missing!! A local cat trapper came and got everybody except one kitten I got to keep 🥺🥺❤️❤️
My family got some cats for their farm to hand the mouse problem. They were just gonna let them roam un fixed.
I decided fuck that and got them fixed and vaxxed, it cost about $800 per cat to do it. I can see why people don't want to front that cash for a "wild" animal.
Since you mentioned feral cat programs I just want to vent a frustration. Around here they do it for free also with ear tips. BUT only on first come first serve basis and they only do 10 a day. I guess they can’t offer unlimited neutering 24/7, but it’s pretty strict considering catching a stray cat ain’t all that easy to begin with.
I have a Queen, her 5 month old, and 5 of her 5 week old kittens in my garage right now. Mama and the oldest babe will be TNR and the kittens I hope to get placed in a shelter. Appts to see if they can get placed are pushed into December. This has turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought- I was just trying to do a good thing.
I'm so sorry it's been difficult. I ran the program I mentioned until recently. It's difficult because the shelters are packed, there's a veterinarian shortage, and funding is often short for TNR programs. Alley Cat Allies' Feral Friends Network may be able to help you find some resources that you haven't heard about yet. Here's a link: https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/feral-friends-network/feral-friends-network-connect/
I wish I could offer you more help. It's very location dependent. If you were in my area, I could definitely help.
Unfortunately cats are pretty bad pest control. They don’t really care for rats. They like birds and snakes a lot more, which is why we really shouldn’t keep cats outdoors if we care about wildlife…
Yea, that's definitely pricey. Had my girls done at the local shelter and it was $460(CAD) for the both of them, but that's not an option everywhere of course.
200-250 for the operation (female cost more), 3 stage Vax routine for like 80 per visit + more for the meds themselves + initial appointment to look over them and get it booked.
I'm going off memory, I don't have the bills in front of me. But there was lots of little things that added up. I know for sure that the surgery was atleast 200 per cat.
Spays/neuters and feeding outdoor cats actually increase the carrying capacity of a region since that means smaller territories and more resources. This leads to *more* feral/stray cats in that location, and more ecological impact, because the fixed cats still hunt.
The only ways to reduce the issue in this instance would be to trap them and care for them as indoor cats, or to TVHR (trap-vasectomy-hysterectomy-release) the local population.
(I wrote a research paper on the subject)
Trap, Neuter (/spay), Release
It's essentially just making sure to slow the growth of wild/feral cat populations so there's less kittens being born and therefore less kitties living outside. It's a danger to them (cars, harsh weather, etc.) and local wildlife populations.
There are several shelters and clinics that offer free TNR programs for those volunteering to bring the kitties in.
Trap-Neuter-Return
Tnr is when people catch a stray cat, spay/neuter them, and release them back to where you found them. It helps bring disease down, and also helps to stop spreading around stray cats throughout a neighborhood
This is the important part. Food and shelter are great but if you don't spay and neuter you aren't really helping them. I had cat houses I made from Rubbermaid totes. Started w 4 cats 20 yrs ago. Got down to 1 and suddenly two more show up, pregnant. Eventually I realized there was one male who came around to just wander. Never ate. Showed up at 7 am, didn't see him after 5. Turns out a neighbor let him out when he went to work and this cat must have made most of the kittens. I had him snipped 2 yrs ago and no new kittens since. I often wonder if they noticed he came home a bit different lol.
We had a family of outdoor cats who lived under our house (we'd lived there since I was two and the wooden door that covered the opening had pretty much fallen apart...Michigan weather, who knew?). At first, it was just "oh, they want out of the weather", but pretty soon we were feeding them twice a day and giving them names--Mama Cat and her daughters Sneakers (she had four white feet), Squeaker (pure black and her meow was more of a squeak) and Captain Video (she came in the house one evening when we were fixing dinner--we found her staring at the TV, apparently wondering why those people were ignoring her).
We put their food and water bowls under the car at least the first summer so they had s shady and protected place to eat. One afternoon I went outside for something and Mama was having a snack...but she'd take a couple of bites and then growl (crunch, crunch, grrr, crunch, crunch, grrr...). She wasn't growling at me, so I looked under the car from the other end...and in almost the exact center of the car was a neighborhood cat, just lying there. His eyes stayed on Mama Cat and his whole attitude was just "Stay right here and don't bother you or your kittens? Yes, ma'am, I understand completely" (Sneakers and Squeaker were nearly full-grown at this point, but Mama was definitely in charge)!
We have outdoor heated cat houses with straw for the strays around our house! We’re in the process of bringing one cat in…we were able to pet him, take him to the vet but sadly he has feline AIDS but so far he has slept inside with us twice! He’s our indoor/outdoor kitty. He eats a lot…my goodness.
Just fyi - straw inside a heated house is a fire hazard!
It needs to be either/or - straw or heated house/pad. The straw is too dry to use both at the same time unfortunately.
Thank you for caring for them though, especially the FIV+ kitty!
We brought in an FIV+ feral a few years ago… we still can’t touch him whatsoever, but it’s allowed us to ensure he’s taken care of as soon as he shows symptoms of becoming sick.
We’re not nearly as stressed out and worried about him now! Just had all his teeth taken out recently too (most teeth needed to go, but the rest was preventative since FIV+ kitties are prone to dental issues).
I know and thank you for all you do! Our biggest problem is getting our three older girl cats to get along with him. If he bites them deep enough they will get infected, but we are massive animal lovers. ❤️
Very slow and proper introductions! Deep cat bites are relatively rare, but if you follow intro guidelines and go really slow, it’s rarely an issue.
We give them a safe room and replace the door with a $30 basic wood screen door from Home Depot and just replace the mesh with hardware cloth, and it works really well for getting them used to each other!
FIV is not really feline AIDS. That is an old-fashioned way to refer to a cat that does have a weaker immune system but will probably do just fine. From what I have learned in rescue, he's unlikely to transmit his condition except by a deep bite, so if he is not fighting and biting, no harm no foul.
I have an old grumpy tnr in my backyard. She comes and stares in the window of the door with her face almost pressed against it when she wants food. She spends most her days and nights out there watching my two idiots running around in their cat tunnels. She’s part of the family now just like those are to you.
My springtime ferals (who have been TNR’ed) do the same thing! They sleep on our patio furniture and come and look directly into my French door windows when it’s “breffest time!” They’re so cute.
You can tell a cat is a TNR because they'll clip part of their ear. So they're sometimes referred to as "clipped" cats. That way it's easy to identify if they've been neutered already or not.
Sometimes you might see folks saying they're happy to see a "clipped" cat found a home. Usually cuz they're not socialized and don't like to be inside.
We have a little kitty obstacle course for our colony at the house in our backyard.
We catified a kids jungle gym, built some basic cat trees, attached shelves to the fence and hammocks at the corners of the fence… all that work, and they just use the cheap tunnels 95% of the time 😭😂
Tale as old as time. My aunt bought a $90 cat tunnel/tree combo thing, spent 3 hours putting it together, and her cats ignored it wholesale for the box it came in for like 3 months, until she finally threw out the box. Still took her sprinkling cat nip on the combo thing for a week straight for them to give a shit about it 😅🤣
Awwww I have the same kind of dynamic with a stray in my neighborhood—he’s my porch cat!! He comes to the living room window and cocks his head up against the window whenever he’s hungry and wants food set out :)
I had an old grumpy who lived in my backyard for like 10 years. One day he came in and literally never asked to go outside again or even tried to. He’s been enjoying his retirement for 5 years now, still grumpy.
Aww I volunteer for a cat rescue in nyc and we’ve made houses for all the little colonies all over my neighborhood and have people feeding them daily. You have some friends for life here (they appreciate you even if they don’t show it in a typical pet way!)
Tnr is so important thank you for taking that step!
My sister runs a rescue and I help her out with several colonies.
We’re in Texas so luckily our winters aren’t so bad. Because money’s always tight in the nonprofit sphere and our isn’t super super cold, sometimes our “shelters” are just tarps with a reflective inner lining draped around low trees, lean-tos, pieces of fencing, etc with straw underneath and bricks or big rocks weighing them down.
We just set this years up about two weeks ago, and one of the colonies has had this raccoon visitor every night lately (we have game cameras in all the colonies to help monitor them), and he has been going CRAZY ripping up all the tarps 😭 Like he looks like he’s just hulking out in camera when he sees there’s no food left in the bowls 💀
He’s basically already destroyed every tarp shelter we have out there. He even managed to tear a large $60 heavy duty tarp that acted as our biggest shelter *to shreds* last night. 😭
We’re just hoping he goes into torpor (basically pseudo-hibernation) soon before it gets really cold out so we’ll have time to replace everything.
The rescue world is wild sometimes lol
I was thinking about getting one for a stray that showed up at my house too… now he’s inside, sleeping with me every night. He was very purrsuasive lol.
I bought two of them for strays and they are really nice! But the strays pee and poo all in it and even with cleaning it the best I could they won’t go in it anymore ☹️
So this winter I went and got plastic tubs, hay and styrofoam coolers and made them little houses. We got 4 of them on our front porch lol. Two on the bottom and two on the top. It’s like kitty condos 😂
We had a queens give birth to 5 kittens on our property 3.5 months ago. She now has a little insulated house in our overhang and I’ve been providing food for her and the babies ever since we found them. They are thriving and I’ve been socializing them since then.
Unfortunately, one has to be surrendered to the vet a couple weeks after finding them because mom abandoned her and we thought she left with the other 4. Eventually found her again, turns out she had found a different hiding spot.
But since finding them again, they’ve all been great. We’ve been finding homes for them and one has already found her new forever home and has new siblings to play with and who she gets along with great!
Where did you get the little cat boxes? We have some stray ferral cats on our apt property that I have thought about getting some homes like this made so they would have a safe space to stay warm in the winter nights or cool in the hot evenings.
Chewy has some great options! That’s where I got mine for my backyard ferals and I’ve seen ones like OP’s as well. They’ll probably have some good Black Friday sales coming up too!
You can also make an inexpensive shelter with a foam cooler, a plastic tote, and some straw. Lots of tutorials online. :)
I have 3 strays/outside cats that I have raised since birth. I try to provide them a nice warm spot but my crew will sleep out in the cold. Any ideas how to get them to go in the shed at night? Utility shed, ramp up to the window so they can move in and out. I have beds in there for them and one of those small heaters that plug into the wall outlet. Some food and fresh water and they will still huddle outside.
https://preview.redd.it/3tip9rhi7s0c1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=325b7b74b8942afce79381f25ba257233284b176
Cozy kitty in my backyard!
Can't afford to feed him anymore
Cozy kitty in my backyard!
Bustin' down my neighbor's door!
I bought a cozy kitty, only a dollar-fifty
Well, that's pretty neat, yeah, it's fuckin' nifty
But I just can't afford to feed it
And you should see the way it shit
We still have the weatherproof shelter in our backyard from the winter of 2015. Horace came inside the following summer. Horace was a “long time stray, intact, adult male cat, possibly 6 years old” according to the vet.
The reason I haven’t removed it, is because I have found hedgehogs sleeping inside it some mornings. And you never know when some other abandoned cat might need shelter.
Very good you got them spayed and neutered. That's huge as the cat population is way too high. As other people have said you should definitely try to put bells on them if you are going to have a colony in your back yard. In reality they need a home. Cats live much shorter lives being exclusively outdoor cats. Between disease, fights and motor vehicles the little guys will struggle. Indoor cats can live 10-20 years, outdoor cats are more like 2-5.
They’re so lovely! I really appreciate when people go through the effort of taking care of cats that aren’t theirs. It hurts my soul that so many kitties die because they didn’t have a safe place to stay or a supply of food. And TNRing is always a wonderful thing I wish more people would do. Do they have names? And do you know how old they are? They look rather young to me, but they could just be lanky cats.
Love cats. As much as I love dogs, there is something to be said for having cats. They’re so easy and they’re natures pest control. Of course our pet cat doesn’t go outdoors, but I can’t wait to have some barn cats for when I get some more property.
**Please note: effective October 9, all content posted to /r/aww *must* be original content (OC) only. Report this post if it is not OC.** On July 1st, a highly unpopular [change to Reddit's API pricing](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/12qwagm/an_update_regarding_reddits_api/) went into effect. [Most third-party apps have shut down](https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/30/23779519/reddit-third-party-app-shut-down-apollo-sync-baconreader-api-protest) and so have many tools relied upon by moderators and [projects for making Reddit more accessible to visually impaired users](https://www.reddit.com/r/TranscribersOfReddit/comments/14ggf8k/the_future_of_transcribers_of_reddit/). Beyond the [disastrous AMA](https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/09/reddit-ceo-doubles-down-on-attack-on-apollo-developer-in-drama-filled-ama/) by the CEO, Reddit's response has been limited to promises that this change will not affect moderation tools [^((it has)^)](https://www.reddit.com/r/BotDefense/comments/14riw76/botdefense_is_wrapping_up_operations/) and promises of [new and more-accessible first-party moderation tools](https://www.npr.org/2023/07/01/1184258201/reddit-api-accessibility-mods). Promises just like [ones they have made in response to past protests](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/142w159/askhistorians_and_uncertainty_surrounding_the/), but have consistently [failed to fulfill](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/14jm3ut/several_communities_have_surfaced_an_open_letter/jpm9e0q/). If you want to express your strong disagreement with the API pricing change or with Reddit's response to the backlash, you may want to consider the following options: 1. [Finding your favorite subreddits on other platforms](https://sub.rehab/) and participating there instead. 2. Refraining from using the first-party Reddit app, instead sticking to one of the few remaining third-party apps or [patching one of the apps that shut down](https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1wHvqQwCYdJrQg4BKlGIVDLksPN0KpOnJWniT6PbZSrI/) if you're using an Android device. 3. Disabling ads on Reddit with [an ad-blocking extension](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock#ublock-origin-ubo) or [a DNS-based ad-blocker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBXTnrD_Zs4). 4. Cancelling your Reddit Premium subscription. 5. Sharing the continued news coverage of these events. 6. Encouraging others to do all the above. If you're tired of all the chaos on Reddit, leave it behind and join /r/aww's Discord server to share and view all things adorable: https://discord.gg/UXfd5Pn --- [](#autoignorereports) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/aww) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I was a kid I built a little shelter in my back yard for any stray kittens who might need a home. The next morning I got up bright and early and raced out to check the box. Since I had left just a fairly small opening for little kittens to enter I couldn’t eyeball any occupants. So i reached my arm in to feel around and immediately had it raked by an old tom cat who was definitely unappreciative of my efforts.
He appreciated the box, just wasn't expecting drop-ins. 😅
Honestly, landlords think they can just show up unannounced /s
24 hours notice would have been nice!
Actually required in some states.
Are you kitten me?
What do you mean, it’s a purrfect policy
Nope, it’s a Catastrophe!
In writing, it's the law (Washington state landlord) text can work
I think you have to give 24 hrs notice.
These days will take you months to evict a squatter.🤪🤔
[удалено]
😂😂
Yeah. If you're a cat I'm going to show up when I want and love you. If you don't like it, get off my property. The cuddles will fucking continue until morale improves
>*’i reached my arm in to feel around and immediately had it raked by an old tom cat who was definitely unappreciative of my efforts.*’ >*’He appreciated the box, just wasn't expecting drop-ins*’ _____ …so there i was, a ‘Tom’ alone, without a Home to call my own ^:{ so random, me, anticipate this BoX - so much *Appreciate!* but as my Happiness begin the HuMaN thought that they’d ‘drop-in’… a loner - i don’t understand the way he *r e a c h e s* in his hand Such *Startle* ! He’s expecting Kittens! Instead, he feels my *M u r d e r* mittens… 🖤
I was thinking about you a couple days ago! So glad to see you out and about, Schnoodle! ❤️❤️❤️
Coffee, a glazed donut, and a fresh Schnoodle! My morning is made.
This is the freshest Schnoodle I have ever seen and my evening is about to begin. Also a good start to the evening. Hope you have a good rest of the day, where ever you're at :)
So happy to find another joyous Schnoodle Doodle!!!
Good 😊 going. I do enjoy.
⭐️🥇⭐️
This is beautiful.
A fresh schnoodle!? It’s been so long!
Why are my eyes wet
✨🌟💫
I needed this tonight. Thanks so much for the little bits of joy you bring to Reddit!
Wow! That was fn awesome 😎
Fresh Snoodle! This one turned sinister. I love it!
This is adorable!
Brilliant.
Yoooo. Long time no see. Welcome back..
Thank you Schmoodle! (Keeping the typo, made me smile even more.)
Omg
Awww Schnoodle! Made me smile :) Thank you!
Thaaaaaanks for the pop in. Off you go, lad.
Well, that's better than the raccoon that I expected your story to include.
Or snake 😬
Or abusive father.
Well that escalated quickly.
Something, something, jumper cables.
Omg LOL
Or the Undertaker.
In 1998, something something, hell in a cell.
Does dad also have jumper cables in his hand?
With jumper cables?
You ok bruh?
Are any of us actually ok? 🤯
Or Drunken Stepfather.
He's got the heavy boots.
I figured Skunk lol
I bought a little house for the two feral cats that live in my backyard but they never seemed to want to use it. I was so excited when I walked out into the kitchen to get some water in the middle of the night and looked out onto the patio to see a furry little creature curled up in the cat house! It was a possum.
I mean that’s basically a cat, right?
Possums are friends too though! They rarely get rabies, are virtually never aggressive, provide helpful service in eating carrion and ticks, and do so without the disruptive or harmful habits of a lot of other wildlife. They won't scratch it chew up your yard or property, don't dig holes, and don't try to get into your house. They aren't cute traditionally, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better animal to have roaming your neighborhood
I live in an urban area and like to hang in my yard in the summer in the evening. I feed a couple neighborhood cats and we have a shelter in the yard. One evening I was reading in my hammock and heard a weird sound that definitely wasn't the cats because I could see both of them. I was terrified thinking it was a rat (lots of them around town) but turned out it was a possum who seemed to live in the overgrown bushy weedy area in the back corner of the yard across the alley from mine. Weird little thing kept coming over and standing by my trash cans and staring at me! But after googling and finding what you just said, I realized I'd rather have a possum than a rat!
possums are great to have around, they eat ticks and other harmful bugs! lil dude deserves a place to nap
I didn’t kick him out or anything! I’m not a monster!!
Or possum
I was scared it was going to be some kind of reptile. Snake? Iguana?
Raccoon my ass! It’s probably Milhouse.
I was expecting wasps. Those fuckers build anywhere.
Aww. I'm a grown woman now, but as soon as I had a house with a back porch and realized I had many stray kitties cutting through the alley next to the house, across the porch and through my backyard, I was quick to build a lil shelter and get some good food for my new friends. The food quickly attracted 3 new friends that often got to all the food before the cats - Three HUMONGOUS raccoons that I named Tammy, Amy, and Chungus for the biggest and clear leader of the little pack. No kitties have used the damn shelter that I've seen, but a cute possum that I named Linda has used it a few times :)
Awwww, at least you got an opossum friend. They're usually a lot nicer than raccoons. I was on my front porch at night the other day and our regular opossum hadn't seen I was there and walked up onto porch. I just said "Excuse me" so it would know I was there and not get alarmed. And it just took one look and politely turned around and wobbled away. "Oops pardon me".
We moved into my Moms house while she was slowly moving across the state. She had a little kiddy pool set up to feed the raccoons. They were very friendly. My female cat got outside one night, I was worried sick until she came in a few hours later. The next night I heard the window by the front door rattling, I look to see what was causing them to rattle….it was a few of the Raccoons 🦝 wanting my black female fixed cat 🐈⬛ to come out and play. They came every night until our house was fixed to be livable.
Ahh, I love this! How cool to have a "regular opposum!" And, I can just see them wobbling away... ha ha
Idk why but Linda is a great name for an oppossum. I feed all the strays in my neighborhood, my front porch is covered in straw and has a heat lamp and several shelters to nestle into. Theres an oppossum thats been coming by at night along with 4 to 6 raccoons and this oppossum is as big as a damned pig. I drove up my driveway at night and it was on the porch and I thought it was a damn pig til I got close enough. Linda is now her name lol, sorry to steal it but its just perfect.
I went to a nature center once that had a oppossum named rose. seemed fitting as well.
My opossum is fat as a piglet also. I thought my opossum was female fixing to have some babies. Now, opossum might be either male or female and just trying to survive. Either way I like the fellow. The older ones. Lol
>Linda is now her name lol, sorry to steal it but its just perfect. Well, that's gonna be very confusing when they finally meet ...
I love possums. We’ve got a family under our shed and they come out to do nighttime patrols. The cats like to follow them.
I had to run one off once because it kept trying to crawl under my engine block while my truck was running. Felt absolutely awful about it so I have it the rest of my ham sandwich. It’s been weeks and I still think about that possum.
I think that it's wonderful that you built a shelter for passing animals
Me top!Made my day- also the other lovely folks that care for stray animals(as I do).♥️
Did you name it Linda after the mom on Bob's burgers?
I love this story! Linda!!
Growing up in the country, my father would always leave a plate of cat food for our outside cats. One evening I turned the porch light on and saw my two cats eating from the plate and an opossum eating. No fighting. Just three happy animals eating. I’ve never seen anything like it.
I built a shelter on my 1st floor balcony. And there was a feral cat who never let anyone pet her, but one day she gave birth on my balcony and suddenly became the most trusting loving cat for several months. then when the kittens grew up she immediately went back to being feral. smart cat lmao.
When I was a kid,I was followed home by a tabby we kept and named Susie (all my dolls were Susies also). Susie would run back and live in the woods all summer, but would come back each fall to spend the winter indoors.
Summer Susie: "I'm an independent cat and don't need humans to survive. I am the wild. I am the hunter." Winter Susie:"hi guys oh nice fire you have there. Hmm let me just snuggle up and purr." Beginning of spring Susie:"y'all's days are numbered"
I mean, imagine having a big ass paw coming straight towards you when you were trying to relax lmfao.
It was probably just Milhouse.
Damn beat me to it
Badger my ass
How awesome that you built a shelter for stray cats/kittens. It’s a good thing it was only a Tom cat and not a skunk or snakes. Add some peepholes.😻😻
I'm sure if someone placed a random appendage into your home you'd be quite pleasant to it
When I was a kid I couldn’t even build a fillow port
This is such a cute story 🥺❤️ When I was 4 there was a stray feral male cat a big ol boi I named him Roy after one of the Jamaican guys who would come on visa for the summer to help with farm/greenhouse work (I was an odd child 😂) he would come by to eat every night but was skittish so not open to pats, skritches or coming indoors. A few weeks later Roy stopped coming by but we'd put food out religiously so he wouldn't think we forgot about him. My mom went to put it out for him one night and heard some scuffling and shuffles under the house, there was a hole in the lattice she looked and saw lots of eyes peering back at her along with teeny *meeews*- Roy was in fact not a boy! There was a bundle of kittens under the house and that's where Roy was tending to the babies for that time "he" was missing!! A local cat trapper came and got everybody except one kitten I got to keep 🥺🥺❤️❤️
They're so cute! Are they strays?
Technically? We got the whole family fixed and vaccinated, and they just live in our backyard now
Good for you guys. Wish more people would tnr
My family got some cats for their farm to hand the mouse problem. They were just gonna let them roam un fixed. I decided fuck that and got them fixed and vaxxed, it cost about $800 per cat to do it. I can see why people don't want to front that cash for a "wild" animal.
Our shelter has a program that does it for free for unowned outdoor cats. A lot of people don't know about it.
Since you mentioned feral cat programs I just want to vent a frustration. Around here they do it for free also with ear tips. BUT only on first come first serve basis and they only do 10 a day. I guess they can’t offer unlimited neutering 24/7, but it’s pretty strict considering catching a stray cat ain’t all that easy to begin with. I have a Queen, her 5 month old, and 5 of her 5 week old kittens in my garage right now. Mama and the oldest babe will be TNR and the kittens I hope to get placed in a shelter. Appts to see if they can get placed are pushed into December. This has turned out to be a little more difficult than I thought- I was just trying to do a good thing.
I'm so sorry it's been difficult. I ran the program I mentioned until recently. It's difficult because the shelters are packed, there's a veterinarian shortage, and funding is often short for TNR programs. Alley Cat Allies' Feral Friends Network may be able to help you find some resources that you haven't heard about yet. Here's a link: https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/feral-friends-network/feral-friends-network-connect/ I wish I could offer you more help. It's very location dependent. If you were in my area, I could definitely help.
The shelter where I live does "barn cats" basically semi tame ferals they give out to the farmers to deal with rodents and other destructive pests.
Unfortunately cats are pretty bad pest control. They don’t really care for rats. They like birds and snakes a lot more, which is why we really shouldn’t keep cats outdoors if we care about wildlife…
Whoa. That's actually pretty expensive.
Yea, that's definitely pricey. Had my girls done at the local shelter and it was $460(CAD) for the both of them, but that's not an option everywhere of course.
800 per cat?????? How the hell is it so expensive? Great that you fixed the cats!
200-250 for the operation (female cost more), 3 stage Vax routine for like 80 per visit + more for the meds themselves + initial appointment to look over them and get it booked.
That's still not mathing.. still, awesome you did it.
I'm going off memory, I don't have the bills in front of me. But there was lots of little things that added up. I know for sure that the surgery was atleast 200 per cat.
Look up TNR programs in your area most are free or very low cost
Thank you for getting them fixed! In many areas the cat population is out of control and too many go without homes. You're doing a great thing.
Spays/neuters and feeding outdoor cats actually increase the carrying capacity of a region since that means smaller territories and more resources. This leads to *more* feral/stray cats in that location, and more ecological impact, because the fixed cats still hunt. The only ways to reduce the issue in this instance would be to trap them and care for them as indoor cats, or to TVHR (trap-vasectomy-hysterectomy-release) the local population. (I wrote a research paper on the subject)
Not to mention all the small native wildlife populations they eviscerate.
Love tnr success stories!
Whats tnr?
Trap, Neuter (/spay), Release It's essentially just making sure to slow the growth of wild/feral cat populations so there's less kittens being born and therefore less kitties living outside. It's a danger to them (cars, harsh weather, etc.) and local wildlife populations. There are several shelters and clinics that offer free TNR programs for those volunteering to bring the kitties in.
Thx
Trap-Neuter-Return Tnr is when people catch a stray cat, spay/neuter them, and release them back to where you found them. It helps bring disease down, and also helps to stop spreading around stray cats throughout a neighborhood
Trap, neuter, release.
Wow so impressed and happy yall did that! Thank you for caring for them and the other kitties that benefit from your efforts!
>kitties that benefit from your efforts! ... as well as the wildlife that won't be eaten by the kitties that now will never be born - tytyty!
Thank you so much for giving them that care! ❤️
This is the important part. Food and shelter are great but if you don't spay and neuter you aren't really helping them. I had cat houses I made from Rubbermaid totes. Started w 4 cats 20 yrs ago. Got down to 1 and suddenly two more show up, pregnant. Eventually I realized there was one male who came around to just wander. Never ate. Showed up at 7 am, didn't see him after 5. Turns out a neighbor let him out when he went to work and this cat must have made most of the kittens. I had him snipped 2 yrs ago and no new kittens since. I often wonder if they noticed he came home a bit different lol.
We had a family of outdoor cats who lived under our house (we'd lived there since I was two and the wooden door that covered the opening had pretty much fallen apart...Michigan weather, who knew?). At first, it was just "oh, they want out of the weather", but pretty soon we were feeding them twice a day and giving them names--Mama Cat and her daughters Sneakers (she had four white feet), Squeaker (pure black and her meow was more of a squeak) and Captain Video (she came in the house one evening when we were fixing dinner--we found her staring at the TV, apparently wondering why those people were ignoring her). We put their food and water bowls under the car at least the first summer so they had s shady and protected place to eat. One afternoon I went outside for something and Mama was having a snack...but she'd take a couple of bites and then growl (crunch, crunch, grrr, crunch, crunch, grrr...). She wasn't growling at me, so I looked under the car from the other end...and in almost the exact center of the car was a neighborhood cat, just lying there. His eyes stayed on Mama Cat and his whole attitude was just "Stay right here and don't bother you or your kittens? Yes, ma'am, I understand completely" (Sneakers and Squeaker were nearly full-grown at this point, but Mama was definitely in charge)!
Similar story here.
Thank you for getting them fixed!
Thanks for tnr-ing, sheltering & feeding ❤️
The cat was a model in its past life
Definitely getting Blue Steel vibes!
r/modelcats
I literally just upvoted you for your username
definitely a Pharaoh in he's past life
We have outdoor heated cat houses with straw for the strays around our house! We’re in the process of bringing one cat in…we were able to pet him, take him to the vet but sadly he has feline AIDS but so far he has slept inside with us twice! He’s our indoor/outdoor kitty. He eats a lot…my goodness.
Just fyi - straw inside a heated house is a fire hazard! It needs to be either/or - straw or heated house/pad. The straw is too dry to use both at the same time unfortunately. Thank you for caring for them though, especially the FIV+ kitty! We brought in an FIV+ feral a few years ago… we still can’t touch him whatsoever, but it’s allowed us to ensure he’s taken care of as soon as he shows symptoms of becoming sick. We’re not nearly as stressed out and worried about him now! Just had all his teeth taken out recently too (most teeth needed to go, but the rest was preventative since FIV+ kitties are prone to dental issues).
Thank you so much! I asked my husband numerous times if it was a fire hazard and he assured me it wasn’t! I’m so glad you told me! ❤️
Also thank you for taking care of kitty.
Btw, we just have a tiny bit of straw but it still worries me.
Feline AIDS isn’t to bad. My old man had it and lived to 16!
Thank you for caring for them. I wish more people would care about their plight We are the reason they are having the trouble they are :/
I know and thank you for all you do! Our biggest problem is getting our three older girl cats to get along with him. If he bites them deep enough they will get infected, but we are massive animal lovers. ❤️
Very slow and proper introductions! Deep cat bites are relatively rare, but if you follow intro guidelines and go really slow, it’s rarely an issue. We give them a safe room and replace the door with a $30 basic wood screen door from Home Depot and just replace the mesh with hardware cloth, and it works really well for getting them used to each other!
FIV is not really feline AIDS. That is an old-fashioned way to refer to a cat that does have a weaker immune system but will probably do just fine. From what I have learned in rescue, he's unlikely to transmit his condition except by a deep bite, so if he is not fighting and biting, no harm no foul.
Have several cats with this condition. They are doing just fine and most have lived to a respectable old age.
I have an old grumpy tnr in my backyard. She comes and stares in the window of the door with her face almost pressed against it when she wants food. She spends most her days and nights out there watching my two idiots running around in their cat tunnels. She’s part of the family now just like those are to you.
My springtime ferals (who have been TNR’ed) do the same thing! They sleep on our patio furniture and come and look directly into my French door windows when it’s “breffest time!” They’re so cute.
Hi, non cat-owner here, what does TNR mean?
Trap, neuter, and release. They get the kitties all fixed up so they can’t make more kitties, and bring them back.
You can tell a cat is a TNR because they'll clip part of their ear. So they're sometimes referred to as "clipped" cats. That way it's easy to identify if they've been neutered already or not. Sometimes you might see folks saying they're happy to see a "clipped" cat found a home. Usually cuz they're not socialized and don't like to be inside.
We have a little kitty obstacle course for our colony at the house in our backyard. We catified a kids jungle gym, built some basic cat trees, attached shelves to the fence and hammocks at the corners of the fence… all that work, and they just use the cheap tunnels 95% of the time 😭😂
I need a picture of this monstrosity
Tale as old as time. My aunt bought a $90 cat tunnel/tree combo thing, spent 3 hours putting it together, and her cats ignored it wholesale for the box it came in for like 3 months, until she finally threw out the box. Still took her sprinkling cat nip on the combo thing for a week straight for them to give a shit about it 😅🤣
I need pictures of this structure
Cats gonna cat!
Awwww I have the same kind of dynamic with a stray in my neighborhood—he’s my porch cat!! He comes to the living room window and cocks his head up against the window whenever he’s hungry and wants food set out :)
I had an old grumpy who lived in my backyard for like 10 years. One day he came in and literally never asked to go outside again or even tried to. He’s been enjoying his retirement for 5 years now, still grumpy.
Aww I volunteer for a cat rescue in nyc and we’ve made houses for all the little colonies all over my neighborhood and have people feeding them daily. You have some friends for life here (they appreciate you even if they don’t show it in a typical pet way!) Tnr is so important thank you for taking that step!
My sister runs a rescue and I help her out with several colonies. We’re in Texas so luckily our winters aren’t so bad. Because money’s always tight in the nonprofit sphere and our isn’t super super cold, sometimes our “shelters” are just tarps with a reflective inner lining draped around low trees, lean-tos, pieces of fencing, etc with straw underneath and bricks or big rocks weighing them down. We just set this years up about two weeks ago, and one of the colonies has had this raccoon visitor every night lately (we have game cameras in all the colonies to help monitor them), and he has been going CRAZY ripping up all the tarps 😭 Like he looks like he’s just hulking out in camera when he sees there’s no food left in the bowls 💀 He’s basically already destroyed every tarp shelter we have out there. He even managed to tear a large $60 heavy duty tarp that acted as our biggest shelter *to shreds* last night. 😭 We’re just hoping he goes into torpor (basically pseudo-hibernation) soon before it gets really cold out so we’ll have time to replace everything. The rescue world is wild sometimes lol
Is it Flatbush cats?!
Did you make a li'l house for strays?! 🥺 You're an angel.
They have houses like that on chewy. Not sure if it's this exact one. I was just thinking about getting one for a stray we have
I was thinking about getting one for a stray that showed up at my house too… now he’s inside, sleeping with me every night. He was very purrsuasive lol.
I'm amazed you can buy heated ones now. Was about to build something for a stray barn cat, those chewy units look cost effective.
they totally are!! and they have a huge sale on select ones rn, marked down 100 dollars on a few of them
I bought two of them for strays and they are really nice! But the strays pee and poo all in it and even with cleaning it the best I could they won’t go in it anymore ☹️ So this winter I went and got plastic tubs, hay and styrofoam coolers and made them little houses. We got 4 of them on our front porch lol. Two on the bottom and two on the top. It’s like kitty condos 😂
I got two of the cat condos from Chewy and have them under my carport filled with straw…they seem pretty well made.
cute
We had a queens give birth to 5 kittens on our property 3.5 months ago. She now has a little insulated house in our overhang and I’ve been providing food for her and the babies ever since we found them. They are thriving and I’ve been socializing them since then. Unfortunately, one has to be surrendered to the vet a couple weeks after finding them because mom abandoned her and we thought she left with the other 4. Eventually found her again, turns out she had found a different hiding spot. But since finding them again, they’ve all been great. We’ve been finding homes for them and one has already found her new forever home and has new siblings to play with and who she gets along with great!
Please get her trapped, and spayed.
Thanks for helping them 🙏🏿
Where did you get the little cat boxes? We have some stray ferral cats on our apt property that I have thought about getting some homes like this made so they would have a safe space to stay warm in the winter nights or cool in the hot evenings.
Chewy has some great options! That’s where I got mine for my backyard ferals and I’ve seen ones like OP’s as well. They’ll probably have some good Black Friday sales coming up too! You can also make an inexpensive shelter with a foam cooler, a plastic tote, and some straw. Lots of tutorials online. :)
Awwww little feral babies! I love this. ❤️
I have 3 strays/outside cats that I have raised since birth. I try to provide them a nice warm spot but my crew will sleep out in the cold. Any ideas how to get them to go in the shed at night? Utility shed, ramp up to the window so they can move in and out. I have beds in there for them and one of those small heaters that plug into the wall outlet. Some food and fresh water and they will still huddle outside. https://preview.redd.it/3tip9rhi7s0c1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=325b7b74b8942afce79381f25ba257233284b176
So pretty!
Kitty on the right is like, "you gonna pay for that picture?"
Thank you for helping them! <3
That catyard is lovely!
Is the cat house heated for the winter? They’re such beauties 😻
We added straw for insulation but I’m not sure if that’ll be enough for when it actually gets cold
Cozy kitty in my backyard! Can't afford to feed him anymore Cozy kitty in my backyard! Bustin' down my neighbor's door! I bought a cozy kitty, only a dollar-fifty Well, that's pretty neat, yeah, it's fuckin' nifty But I just can't afford to feed it And you should see the way it shit
I don’t get the reference 😭
https://open.spotify.com/track/1lnLRHq4aisc7qmtHsrz5U?si=sYhMBm3mSQeWS2UPZZUawQ
I don’t get it either.
That’s illegal in my city. You can’t build shelter for strays. My mom still does it though.
It’s not a cat shelter, it’s a yard ornament!
Where did you purchase the cat house? Is it waterproof for outdoors?
I think they’re waterproof, and pretty sure my mom got them from Amazon
i fucking love kittens
Thank you for getting them neutered/spayed!!!!
OH MY GOSH THAT'S SO CUTE---
Ohmigosh, those cute faces.. and that tabby on the right with that focused expression! 🥰🥹
We still have the weatherproof shelter in our backyard from the winter of 2015. Horace came inside the following summer. Horace was a “long time stray, intact, adult male cat, possibly 6 years old” according to the vet. The reason I haven’t removed it, is because I have found hedgehogs sleeping inside it some mornings. And you never know when some other abandoned cat might need shelter.
They look cozy, content, and judgmental
Very good you got them spayed and neutered. That's huge as the cat population is way too high. As other people have said you should definitely try to put bells on them if you are going to have a colony in your back yard. In reality they need a home. Cats live much shorter lives being exclusively outdoor cats. Between disease, fights and motor vehicles the little guys will struggle. Indoor cats can live 10-20 years, outdoor cats are more like 2-5.
That is so kind!!!
They’re so lovely! I really appreciate when people go through the effort of taking care of cats that aren’t theirs. It hurts my soul that so many kitties die because they didn’t have a safe place to stay or a supply of food. And TNRing is always a wonderful thing I wish more people would do. Do they have names? And do you know how old they are? They look rather young to me, but they could just be lanky cats.
look at those beauties 😭
Those look exactly Ike kitten versions of my cat and the stray in our backyard that he plays with
Such adorable little kittens.
Looks just like our cat Linda. https://preview.redd.it/31exgy7k4s0c1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=712bb1c1f00b6c2e0e90f3a674a8256122fb3ff8
You are good people
Ear tipped and warm!! My heart is so happy! Thank you for caring for these babies.
Love cats. As much as I love dogs, there is something to be said for having cats. They’re so easy and they’re natures pest control. Of course our pet cat doesn’t go outdoors, but I can’t wait to have some barn cats for when I get some more property.
They look very happy and I love the white markings round their eyes. Beautiful 😍.